“Black youth make up just 16 percent of the overall youth population, but more than half of the juvenile population arrested for committing a violent crime,” Mason said.
Mason said focusing on the country’s youth is vital to changing the US criminal justice system. She underscored the importance of education in keeping children away from crime.
In March 2015, the Sentencing Project State Advocacy Associate Josh Rovner told Sputnik the United States incarcerates disproportionally African American and Latino youth.
A study by the US Justice Department found that most serious juvenile offenders tend to commit less crime over time, and their original offenses do not predict whether they will be persistently involved in criminal activities, according to Juvenile Offenders and Victims 2014 National Report.