Reducing Disproportionate Minority Contact in the Juvenile Justice System
Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) refers to the overrepresentation of minority youth in the juvenile justice system as well as in school suspension rates among public school systems. The North Carolina Governor’s Crime Commission selected Guilford County as one of four pilot sites across the state to begin to mobilize the community to take action to combat DMC through awareness, training and strategic planning processes. To assist in the process, the Center has been most intimately connected with measuring disproportionality as part of a federally mandated calculation called the Relative Rate Index (RRI). The purpose of the RRI is to calculate the RATE at which a particular racial group is represented compared to other racial groups. In partnership with many community consultants, the Center utilizes collaborative, participatory, and empowerment approaches to act as facilitators of both individual-level and system-level change.
Reducing Disproportionate Minority Contact in the Juvenile Justice System Publications/Products