Coalition’s Sub-Committee (examples)
Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC): DMC refers to disparities in the racial and ethnic composition of people who come in contact with the criminal and juvenile justice systems. Youth come into contact with the juvenile justice system in several ways, including arrest, referral, diversion, detention, petition, adjudication, probation, confinement, and transfer to adult court. To understand why minority youth are disproportionately overrepresented in the juvenile justice system, the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1988 required all states receiving federal funding to examine their juvenile justice populations. In 1992, Congress mandated that states prove their efforts to reduce DMC.
To understand and reduce DMC, states must first identify the extent to which DMC is currently present, assess the specific factors that contribute to DMC, develop strategies to intervene. OJJDP recommends a five-phase DMC Reduction Model to assist in understanding whether disproportionality exits within a state, assess factors that contribute to DMC, develop and implement programs/services to reduce disproportionality, conduct an objective evaluation of interventions, and monitor changes and fluctuations in racial composition of juvenile contact with the criminal juvenile justice system.
The DMC sub-committee will work to understand both the mechanism that lead to DMC and design appropriate intervention strategies to address these contributing mechanisms. Data sets are essential and will be used to determine if minority youth come into contact at disproportionate rates with the juvenile justice system, at which decision points, to what extent, and for which racial or ethnic groups. The DMC reduction efforts must occur on a local level based on the data collected regarding the existence, extent, and nature of DMC. The ultimate success of the DMC initiative is measured not only by states in compliance with the DMC core requirement but also by the effectiveness of the DMC activities in actually reducing the minority overrepresentation at every decision point of the juvenile system. The DMC Coordinator will provide guidance and technical assistance in the DMC effort.
Health and Wellness: Health and Wellness are the two of the best assets a human being can achieve during his lifetime, and this can be approached in eight different dimensions – combined together in a sensible way to make who we are in our lives. Wellness is more than health, it is living fully. We believe wellness is conscious and inclusive, self-directed and evolving, holistic and multidimensional, positive and affirming. Wellness is fueling your body, engaging your mind, nurturing your spirit and being in good physical and mental health. Because mental health and physical health are linked, problems in one area can impact the other. At the same time, improving your physical health can also benefit your mental health, and vice versa. It is important to make healthy choices for both your physical and mental well-being. Learning about the Eight Dimensions of Wellness can help you choose how to make wellness a part of your everyday life.
Substance Abuse: (Example) Lead & Seed is a youth empowered adult supported, environmental, balanced approach to initiating healthy choices and lifestyles. Lead & Seed is an intervention for youth designed to increase their knowledge and problem–solving skills for preventing and reducing alcohol, tobacco and other drug use; and it gives guidance in developing a strategic prevention plan for use in their schools and communities; and it helps them in knowing how to implement these plans. The intervention aims to affect alcohol, tobacco and other drug use risk factors for the youth, increase perception of risk of harm from use, and decrease their use of those substances.
