District of Columbia Responses to Youth Violence: Impact on the Latino Community

Publication Date: September 2004

Publisher: National Council of La Raza

Author(s):

Research Area: Justice

Keywords: Hispanic population; Social inequality; Urban youth; Incarceration

Type: Report

Abstract:

A consortium of Latino organizations released a report on Latino youth in the District’s justice system and called on the D.C. Council to reject the harsh juvenile justice proposals they have considered in the past year when they take a final vote this month. The report, District of Columbia Responses to Youth Violence: Impact on the Latino Community, finds that some policies proposed by Council members and Mayor Anthony Williams to combat youth violence - making it easier to transfer youth to the adult criminal justice system and punishing parents of delinquent children - would be ineffective in reducing crime and would negatively impact Latino families if they became law.