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Kentucky Bill Puts Youth Contact With The Justice System Under The Microscope

LRC Public information

A bill that would track youth interaction with law enforcement and the justice system to determine whether there is disproportionate contact with minority youth — and create plans to remedy that — is on its way to the Kentucky Senate.

Republican senator Whitney Westerfield'sSenate Bill 20 seeks to gather statistics on just how often members of different youth populations come into contact with the justice system. But Reverend Edward Palmer says there's already enough data to show that, as young people move through the system, minority kids are more likely to wind up referred to adult court.

"We see the same system, two different outcomes," he says. "This bill allows us to identify that and then institutionalize a process in which agencies will strategize to address those disparities."

Not all are on board with the bill's approach. Boone County Republican John Schickel outlined what he called "philosophical differences" with the authors of the bill.

"If you believe that these disproportionate numbers are the result of racism... this makes sense, but I don't believe that because we have disproportionate contact on a lot of things in the criminal justice system," the lawmaker said, pointing to the number of white males on death row and minority crime victims.

Palmer pushed back on the idea in a rebuttal.

"Do I think that the majority of our racial disparities in any of our systems has to do with racism? Probably not. I think sometimes it's embedded in our policies and our practices," the reverend said, pointing to implicit biases and a cultural "gap of understanding."

Senate Bill 20 won approval and is now headed for the full chamber.

Josh James fell in love with college radio at Western Kentucky University's student station, New Rock 92 (now Revolution 91.7). After working as a DJ and program director, he knew he wanted to come home to Lexington and try his hand in public radio.
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