- April 26, 2024
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As a part of a nationwide mandate, Flagler County is examining its rate of minority contact with law enforcement, which is disproportionate to the size of the minority population in the county.
The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 2002 requires that all states study and address any problems with overrepresentation of minorities in the justice system. Failure to do so could result in loss of funding from certain grants.
District 7, to which Flagler County belongs, is implementing an awareness method to addressing its problem.
“This is the problem: Black students make up a much smaller percentage of our population, but they’re referred to law enforcement much more often,” said Cheryl Massaro, chair of the Department of Juvenile Justice Circuit 7 Board. “It starts in schools and continues after.”
In Florida, the rate of disproportionate minority contact with law enforcement has increased over the last decade, reaching its peak in 2009-2010, the last year for which data is available.
In that year, black youths were referred to law enforcement 2.73 times more often than white students, according to the Department of Juvenile Justice. U.S. Census data from the same year shows that Florida’s population is 16.5% black.
In Flagler County, black youths are 3.73 times more likely to be referred to law enforcement for discipline or arrest. Black students account for 17.4% of the district’s population. This gives Flagler the 13th-highest rate in the state.
Massaro said overrepresentation of minorities in the justice system has long been a problem. She and the Department of Juvenile Justice Circuit 7 Board have spent time analyzing data from Flagler County and are now ready to implement a plan to make changes.
The first step of that plan is to increase community awareness, Massaro said. She gave a presentation about disproportionate minority contact Dec. 4 before the Flagler County School Board, and plans to present before other governing bodies as well.
Change comes not just from awareness, but from a change of attitudes as well, said Anthony Major, director of African American studies at the University of Central Florida. This shift also begins in the schools.
“We could instill a greater pride in our black students, and a greater understanding in white students of our culture, if the achievements and history of our race were taught more in schools,” Major said.
Major said much of Florida’s minority population is in a lower socioeconomic class, which not only can lead to crime, but also means that many minority students receive a substandard education in underfunded schools.
So, Major said, not only does living at a lower income level increase the likelihood for criminal activity, but also makes increasing income difficult because of limited education.
He said prejudices in law enforcement cause disproportionate minority contact, and those prejudices are propagated by the circumstances in which minority children find themselves.
In Florida, two-thirds of black children live below the poverty line, according to a report issued by Voices for Florida.
“This is an issue of attitudes and prejudices,” Major said. “But it’s wrapped up in a system that’s been around as long as our nation — and systems aren’t easy to change.”
That system — in which 60% of the nation’s prison population is black, according to a Penn Law study, and minorities are nine times more likely to be stopped by police than white people are, according to data from the Center of Constitutional Rights — is something Massaro hopes to change.
Her board is focused on community activities and outreach now, and she says she hopes that will prompt change in Circuit 7.
“This isn’t just a Flagler issue; it’s a federal issue,” she said. “But for how widespread it is, not many people know about it, or know it happens on a local level. We’re trying to change that.”
