What is DMC

Disproportionate Minority Confinement/Contact (DMC)

DMC is “disproportionate minority confinement” in secure detention facilities and “disproportionate minority contact” with the juvenile justice system. DMC occurs when the proportion of youth of color in a community is lower than the proportion of youth of color held in secure detention or involved in the local juvenile justice system. Also referred to as "racial and ethnic disparities."

DMC Nationwide

Across the country, low-level offending youth of color and poor youth who come into the contact with juvenile justice systems are often jailed even though they do not pose a public safety risk. This is because the decision to detain is often based on perception or a lack of alternative programs.

When low-level offending youth of color and poor youth are jailed, the result is a negative impact on their life outcomes, the local economy, and the community’s public safety (because jailed youth are more likely to reoffend).

There are a number of things we can do to ensure that all low-level offending youth are provided opportunities for rehabilitation rather than detention. For example, we can direct juvenile justice funding toward community-based alternatives to detention and the use of Risk Assessment Instruments, which use data to determine the public safety risk a youth presents. We can also use detention as a last resort only for youth who present a risk to public safety. 

Fact: Youth of color are arrested, charged and incarcerated more than White youth for similar conduct, though studies show they do not commit more crimes.
Research demonstrates that youth of color are also treated more harshly than White youth even when charged with the same offenses.

For drug offenses, for example, self-reports show White youth and youth of color using drugs at the same rate. But Black youth are twice as likely as White youth to be sent to locked facilities and are less likely to receive probation. Latino youth are incarcerated for twice as long as White youth for drug offenses and are one and a half times more likely to be admitted to adult prison.

Addressing DMC is a National Priority

States are required to “address” the disproportionate contact of youth of color with the juvenile justice system in order to receive certain federal funds. Since 1988, the Juvenile Justice Detention and Prevention Act (JJDPA) has required states to make an effort to reduce the number of youth of color detained if their numbers are disproportionate. However, not much has been done in the two decades since, as BI staff describes in our publication, Adoration of the Question. Now,  the reauthorization of the JJDPA has been introduced and was approved by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and is currently awaiting action in the Senate and House. Click here to visit the Act4JJ page, and to send a letter to your representative click here.

Reducing Disparities is Possible

Reducing disparities is possible if jurisdictions have political will, determination, leadership, accurate and reliable data and technical assistance. Examples of successes the BI has had with jurisdictions:

• In Baltimore County, Maryland, the Burns Institute worked with system stakeholders to develop policies that decreased the number of youth securely detained for failing to appear in court. The newly implemented strategies helped to reduce the use of secure detention for African American youth failing to appear in court by nearly 50 percent.

• In Peoria County, Illinois, the BI developed a pilot restorative justice project to address "zero tolerance" policies in schools that reduced African American youth admissions to detention for aggravated battery (school fights) by 43 percent. This resulted in better life outcomes for youth of color while also upholding public security and school safety.

• In Pima County, Arizona, the BI worked with probation, the courts and the community to develop alternatives to detention. In doing so, Pima County significantly lower the average daily population of youth of color in detention over the last five years by more than half (from 130 average daily youth population to around 60 average daily).