A Further Look at Latino Youth

1
A Further Look at Latino Youth

• Multnomah County Dept. of Community Justice
• Kim Pascual, Research Evaluation
• February 27, 2006

2
Purpose of Report

• The 2004 Minority Over-Representation report
  indicated a concerning increase in the percentage
  of Latino youth being detained.
• This study looks at data for all Latino detention
  episodes in 2004.
• Key Informant interviews

3
Latino Population in Oregon

• Oregon has the 19th largest Latino population.
• Between 1990 and 2000, the growth rate of the
  Latino population in Oregon was ranked 13th.
• 27 of the Latino population in Oregon is between
  the ages of 5 and 19.
• The median household income for Latinos in 2003
  was 28,000 compared to the overall median of
  40,000.

4
All Detention Episodes 2004
10 Latino Detention Episodes are excluded
because of INS holds called in by police at the
time of arrest.
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Most Serious Allegation
6
Age, ORS Severity LOS

• The average length of stay varied by less than a
  day to three days difference between Anglo youth
  and Latino youth.
• The median length of stay

10 Latino Detention Episodes are excluded
because of INS holds called in by police at the
time of arrest.
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Detained Most Serious Allegation Category
The 10 Latino youth had INS holds at the time
they were brought in, all had Felony Drug charges
and account for 13 of the 25 total.
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RAI Indicated DecisionOf those detained
10 Latino Detention Episodes are excluded
because of INS holds called in by police at the
time of arrest.
9
RAI Overrides

• There were 38 Latino youth who had either a
  policy override to detain or a discretionary
  override.
• Policy overrides
• 8 were held because of gun charges
• 3 had domestic violence charges
• 5 had Measure 11 charges
• 8 had INS holds called in by police at time of
  arrest
• 4 were court ordered sanctions
• Discretionary Overrides
• 10 were held because of lack of community ties,
  no available shelter, no less restrictive means,
  or warrant from another county.

10
Recently Immigrated Youth

• There are reports of young men, primarily from
  Honduras, entering the US.
• Threats of harm to themselves or their families
  back home if they refuse to cooperate.

11
Immigrated youth, cont.

• In 2004, there were 19 youth detained on felony
  drug charges
• 12 had notes in their files indicating they were
  Honduran with no community or family ties.
• 16 had charges for Manufacturing or Delivery of a
  Controlled Substance.
• 9 were held in detention because of an INS
  detainer.

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Key Informant Interviews

• Key Informant interviews were conducted with
  staff who work closely with Latino youth.
• Staff were asked about their perceptions of the
  Latino youth we are serving and about their
  experiences working with and providing service to
  this population.

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Possible Reason for Increase

• Recently immigrated youth who are arrested for
  selling drugs and have no community or family
  ties
• Lack of available placements for Latino youth
  especially those with bilingual, bicultural
  staff.
• Increase in Latino population and increase in
  police arresting Latino youth.
• Increase in gang and drug activity.

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Reasons for increase, cont.

• One is that there are young men who come to
  this country without their families. So as soon
  as they walk in the door, theres nobody to
  release them to. Theres less options right
  there.
• the rates of arrest have been higher. What
  were finding is that Im seeing officers call
  INS a lot more quickly to try and get an INS hold
  on kids.

15
Detention Issues

• Lack of bilingual staff available
• Latino youth may indicate their ability to speak
  or comprehend English is better than it is.
• Need for more bicultural staff or greater
  cultural awareness.
• Latino youth are sometimes told not to speak
  Spanish or are reprimanded for speaking Spanish.

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Detention Issues cont.

• the staff are really doing the best they can
  with the tools they have and it often falls short
  of what these kids need and they are much more
  likely to get put on a special program or get
  like a certain type of regimenand when I check
  into it, a lot of times, its just a body language
  issue.
• theres a lot of pride in the culture that you
  would never say youre suicidal, but if you have
  someone speaking Spanish that you can confide in,
  theres a much bigger likelihood that youre
  going to admit a vulnerability.

17
Policy Issues

• Translation of documents and forms.
• Need for bilingual/bicultural staff to do mental
  health and AD assessments.
• Need for bilingual AD residential treatment.
• More focus on overall needs of Latino youth.

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Whats being done well

• Pleased with the increase in bilingual/bicultural
  staff, especially the hiring of a bilingual front
  desk receptionist.
• Appreciate the cultural diversity trainings and
  advocate for more.
• Appreciate the departments support of
  participation in the Latino Network and the
  Concilio.

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Latino youth, family, culture

• Staff highlighted a number of key elements and
  issues to consider about Latino youth and their
  families
• Immense amount of peer pressure to be in a gang
  or to fit in.
• Latino youth are stuck between two cultures.
• Growing gap between bilingual Latino youth and
  their monolingual parents.
• Latino parents have difficulty navigating the
  education system, obtaining services or knowing
  the dangers signs of gangs.

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Latino youth, family, culture

• What I find a lot is that parents are in
  denial or cluelessif you dont have a parent
  whos able to provide stability, because of the
  socioeconomic systems in place or not in place,
  so then you have these kids who are attracted
  specifically what is the ability to join with
  others who they see are like themselves.
• what they try to do is assimilate the American
  culture, and the only place to go and find their
  own is where theyre accepted and thats around
  some of these gangs and the drugs and stuff like
  that.

21
Barriers

• Staff commented on the different barriers facing
  Latino youth and their families
• Lack of documentation and fear of INS
• Poverty
• Parents work schedules impact their ability to be
  at home with youth and to participate in court
  hearings and other probationary meetings.

22
Barriers, cont.

• the majority of my clients are undocumented,
  so I have to seek out agencies that will work
  with them even if they dont have documentation.
  Its hard. Especially when Ive reached a level
  with a client who has turned themselves around
  and really wants to work but they have no
  documentation.
• A majority of my caseload is undocumented. Its
  huge and the problem is that theres no hope for
  the kids.

23
Latino Family System

• In working with Latino youth and their families,
  staff often spoke about the need to understand
  the importance of family and relationship
  building within the Latino culture.
• Staff felt this relationship building was
  essential helping youth achieve successful
  outcomes.

24
Family system, cont.

• With the Latino youth, its much more of a
  circular sort of relationship and communication
  style. And a way to get to work with them, is
  really getting to know their families because
  theres so manytheir families are huge.

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Conclusions

• Upon intake, 40 of Latino detention episodes
  resulted in detainment- 9 higher than the Anglo
  rate of detainment.
• Over 80 of the Latino detention episodes had a
  felony charge as their most serious allegation.
• A substantially higher proportion of Latino
  detention episodes were for felony drug charges.

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Conclusions, cont.

• 63 of those detained on felony drug charges were
  recently immigrated Honduran youth with no family
  or community ties.
• RAI score analysis showed no substantial
  differences in overrides to detain between
  groups.
• Key informant interviews highlighted the need for
  additional bilingual/bicultural staff in
  detention.
• Many barriers and other cultural factors face
  Latino youth and their families.

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Recommendations

• Review and assess need for additional
  bilingual/bicultural staff.
• Assess need for Latino specific shelter beds or
  other community detention alternatives.
• Review need to draft language policy to eliminate
  misunderstanding about youth speaking their
  native language.
• Consider how to deal with increase in the number
  of recently immigrated youth who are arrested for
  selling drugs.

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Questions or comments

• email kim.a.pascual_at_co.multnomah.or.us
• Phone [phone]