Welcome: 

We would like to share some information with you regarding Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) and Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiatives (JDAI). The Pima County Juvenile Court Center (PCJCC) vision describes an organization committed to community protection, restoring victims, and successful youth and families.  To effectively achieve this vision, the issue of DMC/JDAI must be addressed in a manner than ultimately leads not only to a reduction in crime, but also equity within the juvenile justice continuum.

Effective reduction of DMC/JDAI is contingent upon philosophical commitment, development of sound policy and process, organizational prioritization, and adequate resources identification and allocation. Substantive interventions require adequate resources. 

Pima County Juvenile Court Center has been aware of youth of color who are over-represented in every critical stage of the juvenile justice system, and are having less favorable outcomes than other youth.  In addition, in the past five years, while violent juvenile crime has decreased by approximately 27% in Pima County, we have seen a dramatic increase in detention admissions. Data indicates many of these youth may be released without risk to public safety. The data also strongly indicates that detention is not being used in the most effective manner. 

We began our planning regarding DMC in the summer of 2003.  On May 15, 2004, PCJCC, the Court’s Community Advisory Board (CAB), and the PCJCC Minority Overrepresentation Committee coordinated a DMC Symposium with the purpose of seeking background information to develop a collaborative spirit and to bring the best experts with best practices to the discussion.  We continue to work assertively to address the DMC issue within our juvenile justice continuum in Pima County.  Please refer to additional DMC information provided in this website. 

In collaboration with a broad group of community stakeholders and with the support of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, we have undertaken a major initiative to tackle the disproportionate involvement of children of color in the juvenile justice system (DMC) and to eliminate the inappropriate use of juvenile detention through the development of community-based alternatives (JDAI).  Since October 1, 2004 Pima County has collaborated with the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiatives to help address detention reform at the PCJCC. This has enabled us to begin collecting and analyzing data to develop appropriate interventions that will lead to reduction in our detention population.