Black and Hispanic youth have historically been disproportionately represented in juvenile justice systems in Texas and most states across the US. They are more likely to be committed to residential detention facilities than whites, and in many cases, end up “deeper” in the system.
The reasons are complex, but what providers of services – healthcare, criminal justice, juvenile justice – are learning is that the impacts can be blunted or reversed if they are willing to dig deep to study how racial and ethnic disparities affect their practices.
In 2017, Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) launched a Cultural Equity Course to help staff examine and address biases that can affect outcomes for youth of color. The course is just one part of an umbrella effort known as RED (Racial and Ethnic Disparities) that touches many aspects of operations.
This three-hour interactive training helps raise awareness of the intrinsic biases that can lead to disproportionate impacts on black and Hispanic teens in custody.
The goal: To make the juvenile justice system as fair and equitable as possible for all.
![]() |
Rebecca Walters, director of Youth Placement and Program Development, speaks to staff during a training about RED (Racial and Ethnic Disparities).
|
The training begins at a foundational level, with trainers helping TJJD staff recognize that everyone has biases – conscious and unconscious – that affect decisions they make every day.
Employees learn to identify and scrutinize their biases, a necessary thought exercise that helps people avoid making snap judgements based on race and ethnicity.
![]() |
In Texas, blacks are over-represented in the juvenile justice system, relative to their general population. Hispanics usedto be disproportionately represented, but that has changed as Hispanics now account for half of the population of youth ages 10-16 in Texas.
|
Consider the issue in a different context: Think about yourself driving in busy traffic. You will probably make half a dozen snap decisions about which car you’d rather be following -- the hulking pickup truck, the chugging aging Chevy or the family van loaded with kids. And almost without thinking about it, you’ll pick who you want to avoid, making a speedy assessment about who you believe is a friendly, aggressive or annoying driver and who will confound or facilitate your commute.
The same thing happens at the grocery checkout line, when you ascertain which checker you think will move faster or be the friendliest. Are you always right? Certainly not. Remember that Tesla you got stuck behind? You thought they’d be speeding home. The man in the giant pickup? He didn’t tailgate; he waved you into the lane. Then there’s that frowning grocery clerk. She ran into the parking lot with the bag you forgot.
Surprises happen every day. Assumptions are often just that, preconceived notions.
Similarly, people make judgements about others that are simply based on stereotypes or unexamined personal biases. Cultural equity trainers say we can reduce and understand our biases by first identifying them and rejecting knee-jerk negatives images as the “truth.” This clears the way for us to focus on people as individuals, to ask questions and to exercise humility about our understanding of other cultures.
In this month in which we remember the immortal words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it is worthwhile to reflect on this long struggle and his words: I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
More than 700 TJJD employees have taken the Cultural Equity training since it launched in September 2017, and they have given the course positive reviews in surveys.
Cultural Equity training is just one avenue in which TJJD is addressing RED, which is being infused across the board at the agency, affecting new policies, intake practices and disciplinary approaches.
Achieving equity requires a holistic approach and goes a step beyond simply providing “equal” resources to youth. The RED program recognizes that some people may require extra resources or a different approach in say, education or treatment programs or discipline, to get to the same desired point as others because they started their life journey further behind the starting line.
To learn more about this concept of equity vs. equality, see
this powerful video, which TJJD uses during its Cultural Equity training.
Putting RED into action at TJJD over the past 18 months has “been a lot of work, but it’s been rewarding,” said Shelley McKinley, a former Houston-area principal now working as an assistant superintendent of education at TJJD. “Everyone involved can feel the momentum and is ready to do more. We’re in a good place.”
RED is major component of the Youth in Custody Practice Model (YICPM), which is a long-term program in which TJJD is aligning its operations with the latest national best practices to achieve more positive outcomes for youth, families, staff, and communities. The Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators and the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University selected the Texas Juvenile Justice Department to participate in the pilot phase of YICPM, an 18-month long evaluation and re-alignment designed to drive thoughtful, systemic change informed by research.
