“The basic question it answers is, ‘Is there gross discrimination at the point of arrest?’ The answer is ‘no,’ ” said Jeffrey Butts, senior research associate in the Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center. “It doesn’t put to rest the question, ‘Is there disproportionate minority confinement in the juvenile justice system?’” Continue reading Youth Today – Is Race a Factor in Arrests? Study Sparks Debate by Suggesting ‘No’

“That’s the reality of sending a 15-year-old robbery defendant to the adult system,” says Jeffrey Butts, a senior research associate with the National Center for Juvenile Justice in Pittsburgh. According to studies cited by Butts, half the kids sent to adult criminal court are sentenced to probation, with less stringent terms than juvenile court probation, or have their cases dismissed. Twenty-five percent get longer sentences than they would have gotten in juvenile court, and 25 percent get comparable sentences, Butts says. Continue reading Illinois Issues – What Can we do When our Kids Become Killers?