Systematic Racism: White Youth Get Breaks not Shared with Youth of Color

Chicago Reporter and WBEZ-FM (91.5) report that more African-American and Latino teenagers from Chicago are being prosecuted as adults for the sale of drugs near schools than their suburban counterparts. Although, nationwide, illicit drug use is slightly higher among white teens than black teens or Latino teens, but teens of color are more often arrested and charged with drug crimes, the report said.

About one in three youths - ages 15-16 in Illinois belong to a racial or ethnic group other than white, but 95 percent of the youths before both juvenile and adult criminal court judges in Cook County in 1998 were black or Latino. If white teens went through the system at an equal rate their drug use they would go to criminal court 14 times their present rate.

The Illinois Juvenile Court Act of 1987 automatically transfers 15 and 16 year olds to adult court if charged with selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a school or public housing development.

Of the 363 juvenile drug cases transferred to Cook County Criminal Court from 1995 through 1999, 99 percent of the teens charged were other than white and 97 percent lived in Chicago. Only 10 suburban Cook County juveniles were transferred to adult court under the law, and all were African-American.

No other state imposes this kind of mandatory penalty on young drug offenders, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Read more about the harsh consequences of this law at the Chicago Reporter's website - http://www.chicagoreporter.com/