National Council of La Raza: Balancing the Scales for Latino Youth

Posted on: May 28th, 2008
Filed Under: [ Press Releases ] [ Youth ]
Tags: La Raza, NCLR
Knowledge is Power!

The National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, today released Overcoming Language and Cultural Barriers Using Evidence-Based Practices—a transcript of a panel discussion on the use of evidence-based practices in the juvenile justice system. Expert panelists focused on Latino youth who have benefitted from evidence-based practices and how changes in juvenile justice policies, practices, and programs could ensure fairness and improved outcomes.

Barriers such as cultural and linguistic discrepancies surface in every step of the juvenile justice process through interactions with law enforcement, courts, jails, and probation and threaten to unfairly impact Latino youth in the juvenile justice system. Inaccurate information also distorts realities in the juvenile justice system. For example, Latino youth are often counted as “White” in profile data rather than Latino or Hispanic, making them invisible in the system. Juvenile justice systems must find more effective ways to treat its youth. One way they can become more effective is by assessing whether their services address the cultural needs of Latino youth.

NCLR produced this transcript in collaboration with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s Models for Change initiative. The initiative seeks to create successful models of juvenile justice reform through targeted investments in key states. As a key partner in the Models for Change initiative, NCLR is committed to educating the public, policymakers, and juvenile justice systems personnel about the challenges that Latino youth and their families encounter when getting involved with juvenile justice programs.

Visit www.nclr.org/content/publications/detail/52033/ to download a copy of the transcript. “*