At the Coalition for Juvenile Justice Conference, DMC — disproportionate minority contact — was the subject that came to dominate the end of what had been, until then, a tame conference presentation by Caren Harp, the new administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s (OJJDP).
“After Harp finished her formal presentation, she invited questions from the room. Nearly all had to do with the phrasing of that one line. Many in the audience said they felt that the sentiment failed to recognize that the problem with disproportionate minority contact is not the behavior of the children, but the prejudices of adults at various points in the system.”