Data shows that Native American children are more likely to be arrested or detained in Washington compared to white kids.
The state's courts and Washington Department of Youth and Families have acknowledged the troubling disparity, which is that the justice system continues to hold back Native American youth. They are now funding committees and producing action plans to address racial inequities in the juvenile legal system.
Racial Disparities Affecting Native American Children
Additionally, advocates are now calling for fewer arrests, many of which are discretionary, as lawmakers are demanding more data on juvenile arrests. Despite all these efforts, the gaps have actually worsened.
Data from the non-profit Sentencing Project and the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention from 2019 to 2023 supported this. The statistics show that Native American children in Washington are more than 4.5 times more likely to be incarcerated compared to their white peers, which is an increase from the 2.7 times found in 2001, according to OPB.
A senior research analyst, Joshua Rovner, who was also the former youth policy director for the Sentencing Project, said that for as long as they have looked at data for Washington state, Native American youth are much more likely to be incarcerated compared to white children.
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Despite all youth of color experiencing unequal treatment in the state's legal system, the inequities affecting Native American children are especially stark. They have been found to exceed national averages, particularly for non-violent offenses.
While there are no clear disparities in arrests and referrals present in every county of Washington state, the gaps do exist, and are so great that they have shaped the statewide numbers, Investigate West reported.
Effect on Other Races
Furthermore, in rural counties such as Whitman County, the issues only get worse, as Native American children in the area are almost seven times more likely to be arrested compared to white kids. This is the largest disparity in the state based on data from 2023.
Other than Native American children, data also show racial disparities affecting other people, including Black kids who were nearly six times more likely to be incarcerated than white children, based on 2023 data. Additionally, Indian kids were almost four times more likely to be arrested than white children.
Rovner described it as the largest Black-white disparity on record and the largest Native-white disparity on record. He and many others emphasized that there are no major differences in the racial backgrounds of children who commit crimes. However, there are differences in which neighborhoods are heavily policed, as per NPR.
