law and juvenile justice for people of color in elementary and secondary schools, The

Journal of Negro Education, The, Summer 2002 by Brown, Frank, Russo, Charles J, Hunter, Richard C

In addition to changing the rules of the game for juvenile justice, states are now requiring schools to share juvenile delinquent behavior with law enforcement and social service agencies. In 2000, school personnel and school boards in 10 states increased requirements to improve school safety and several went further to foster greater cooperation between schools, the police, and the courts (Dagley, 2001). Colorado authorized information sharing between schools and other service and law enforcement agencies. Information to be shared includes incidents such as truancy and disciplinary records maintained by school authorities. In Florida, schools must provide access to the school district's database on students' records. Iowa authorized peace officers to make reasonable efforts to notify parents of students who violate school rules and share these data with juvenile courts and social service agencies. Maine, Minnesota, and Missouri permit the disclosure of school records of preadjudicated juveniles to their criminal justice systems. New York requires juvenile courts to provide notice to schools of enrolled juveniles sentenced for crimes. Virginia requires law enforcement officers to inform schools of drug law violations. Washington requires education records to be provided upon request by social service agencies and the state courts set a minimum sentence for the allowable number of days of suspension for the consumption of controlled substances and alcohol on school grounds.

In a technology-based society, the sharing of information has important life implications for young delinquents. In the past, young delinquents who appeared before a juvenile justice system were accorded a certain degree of privacy; their records were closed to all public agencies. If juvenile delinquent records must be shared with law enforcement agencies now, later in life when they seek employment where criminal background checks are required, finding employment may be difficult or impossible. Research tells us that African American males who cannot find employment and have little chances of finding legal employment cannot find a female who will marry them, even when they father children with their female companions (Stack, 1974) and it appears logically that this situation holds true for other minority males. This situation will increase the number of single-parent head of households and poverty for children of color.

MINORITY POPULATION CHANGES

Changes in the size and composition of the K-12 student population should have enormous consequences for schools. The minority student population in America increased from 10.4 million in 1985-86 to 13.7 million in 1994-95, which constitutes 34% of K-12 school enrollment in 1994-95 from 29% in 1985-86 (Garcia, 2001). Already a majority of the high school graduates in California, Hawaii, Mississippi, New Mexico, and the District of Columbia are from racial and ethnic minority groups. By 2006, about 50% of all K-12 students will be minority students (Garcia, 2001). In 2000, only 64% of schoolchildren were White, non-Hispanic American; 15% were Black, 4% were Asian, 1% was Native American, and 16% were Hispanic American (Imig, 2002). Also, the percentage of school age students speaking a language other than English or have difficulty speaking English has doubled over the past two decades, increasing from 2.8% to 5.0% in 1999 (Imig, 2002).