Race, Equity & Disparities

Equity isn’t a side quest—it’s the main plot. This page tracks where disparities emerge across the pipeline and how practice and policy can reduce them without sacrificing public safety or due process.

What We Track

Referrals & Complaints: per-1,000 youth by race/ethnicity; school vs. community sources.
Detention & ALOS: admissions and length of stay; case-processing timeliness (24–48 hr hearings, counsel).
Diversion Access & Completion: eligibility, enrollment, completion, and short follow-up outcomes.
Adjudication & Disposition: plea vs. trial, conditions, and commitment thresholds.
Placement & Step-down: secure/staff-secure vs. therapeutic; parole/aftercare intensity.
Reentry Stability: school persistence, MH/SUD follow-through, and housing proxies.

Core Equity Views

Rate Ratio (RR): group rate ÷ reference rate (e.g., Black ÷ White detention rate).
Risk Difference (RD): group rate − reference rate (absolute gap).
Access Gaps: diversion/MH/SUD enrollment and completion differences.
Timeliness: % hearings within 24–48 hours by group; counsel appointment rates.
Severity Mix: compare offense histories to control for case mix where data allow.

Methods & Flags

Denominators: justice rates normalized to youth 12–17; school metrics to enrolled students.
Small-n pooling: pool 2–3 years and flag pooled cells; suppress extremely small counts to protect privacy.
Series breaks: when definitions or systems change, we mark a break rather than stitch trends.
Context cuts: show rural/urban and disability overlays; avoid single-metric “league tables.”

Pipeline Checkpoints

Referral: Are complaints concentrated in certain schools/precincts? Are alternatives offered equitably?
Detention: Do risk screens and overrides produce different hold rates or ALOS by group?
Diversion: Who gets in, who completes, and who benefits? Are criteria consistently applied?
Disposition: Any gaps in conditions, fines/fees burdens, or availability of non-custodial options?
Placement & Reentry: Are therapeutic slots and step-down supports equitably distributed? Do reentry outcomes diverge?

Practice Moves

Audit overrides, not just tool scores; publish quarterly equity snapshots.
Standardize diversion eligibility; monitor access by race/ethnicity and disability.
Expand alternatives portfolio where access gaps are largest (evening/reporting centers, mentoring, respite).
Protect education continuity and MH/SUD handoffs at reentry; flag missed starts within 7–10 days.

Related Dashboards & Pages

Detention Trends — admissions, ALOS, timeliness.
Diversion Outcomes — access, completion, recurrence.
Reentry Success — school persistence, MH/SUD completion.
Diversion · Detention · Commitment & Placement

Transparency note: We report both relative (rate ratio) and absolute (risk difference) gaps. Small-n values are pooled and flagged; we annotate breaks in series. When case-mix adjustment is feasible, we provide a side-by-side unadjusted view to avoid hiding reality.