The Political Dynamics of Justice Reform in The U.S.

And starting next month, the office will sharply cut back on its oversight of states’
attempts to reduce what is called “disproportionate minority contact” with the criminal
justice system, largely by slashing the kinds of data that local agencies must collect. It
has also rescinded multiple training manuals that juvenile justice officials around the
country had been using to improve racial disparities, in what Attorney General Jeff
Sessions said was a correction of unnecessary regulation.
“OJJDP is dismantling protections for kids of color. It’s that simple,” said Lisa Thurau,
executive director of Strategies for Youth, an advocacy organization based in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, that focuses on police interactions with teens.
Harp, a former prosecutor and professor at the evangelical Liberty University in
Lynchburg, Virginia, said in an interview with The Marshall Project that after so many
years of so little progress on racial disparities, something had to change. “I can’t put 50
million more dollars into the exact same process,” she said.
According to Harp, states have been spending too much time and money compiling
data without improving real-life outcomes.
She also said the agency’s research on racial disparities will continue under the
auspices of the adult-focused National Institute of Justice, although experts have
warned that studies on juveniles specifically might get sidelined as a result.
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