A systematic review of systems-level strategies to reduce disproportionate minority contact in juvenile justice systems

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The continued existence of racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system is of critical importance. The purpose of this systematic literature review is to determine how effectively systems-level interventions have reduced disproportionate minority contact in the juvenile justice system. Eleven identified studies assessed the effectiveness of systems-level interventions and met the inclusion criteria for this review. Implementing a risk assessment tool was the most common strategy in the literature. Although several articles described strategies that decreased juvenile detention and other negative outcomes overall, few strategies were associated with reducing disproportionate minority contact. Local attempts to influence how decisions are made seem to work, but jurisdictions must focus these efforts specifically on disproportionality to combat the intractable issue of disparities in juvenile justice system outcomes.