Criminal Justice
Punished: Louisville Teens Charged As Adults Are Almost Always Black
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Of 126 individuals charged as “youthful offenders” in Jefferson County, 117 of them — 93 percent — were black.
Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting (https://kycir.org/tag/disproportionate-minority-contact/)
Of 126 individuals charged as “youthful offenders” in Jefferson County, 117 of them — 93 percent — were black.
If Louisville closes its juvenile jail, it’s still unclear whether the state would open a new facility or send Louisville youth to other regional detention centers.
When a youth is accused of a crime in Kentucky, an adult has to make a choice in nearly every step that follows.
Allow the youth to avoid a formal charge, or bring the case to a judge? Send him home or to sleep in a cell? Put another way: Offer another chance, or deny it?
Disproportionately, the Kentucky youth denied that second chance are black.