Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

There are clear patterns of under- and over-representation of ethnic minority groups in the youth justice system. Black and mixed race teenagers are over-represented, relative to their representation in the overall population. Other minority groups are not generally over-represented and some are under-represented.

This study examined whether teenagers from ethnic minorities are treated differently to white teenagers by the youth justice system. It investigated how young people are drawn into the youth justice system, and traced whether disproportionality at the point of entry was preserved, amplified or reduced as they passed through the system.

The data available from the UK Data Archive comprise a database of young offenders. Data were collected from the Youth Offending Information System (YOIS), an electronic system used by most YOTs in the country to case-manage and report on young offenders. A purposive sample of 12 YOTs was used to yield relatively high proportions of offenders from the larger ethnic minority groups. YOIS data on all offenders who had committed an offence in 2006 and their disposals recorded up to December 2007 have been extracted.

Further information is available on the Ethnic Minority Young People: differential treatment in the Youth Justice System ESRC award web page.

Main Topics:

The database includes records of young people charged with an offence in 2006, recorded by 12 YOTs in England. The data collected provide demographic, offence and disposal details for all young people recorded by the YOT.