"Disproportionate minority contact" in juvenile justice occurs when minority youth come into contact with the system at a higher rate than their White counterparts when compared with their proportion of the U.S. population. Minority youth are disproportionately represented throughout juvenile justice systems in nearly every State. Research by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency and the Center for Children's Law and Policy indicate that minority youth receive harsher treatment than their White counterparts at nearly every stage of the juvenile justice process. Various explanations have emerged for this disproportionate treatment of minorities in juvenile justice systems throughout the Nation. They range from jurisdictional issues, certain police practices, punitive juvenile crime legislation enacted in the 1990s, and racial bias inherent in case processing decisions. There have been promising efforts to address the issue of disproportionate minority contact with juvenile justice systems. The Federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 directed States to recognize and address racial disparities in their juvenile justice systems. Amendments to this legislation have since broadened its scope in addressing all stages of decisionmaking in dealing with youth in the juvenile justice process. In 2004, the MacArthur Foundation established Models for Chance in four States. This effort has developed a "blueprint" for juvenile justice reform and the accelerating of "progress toward more rational, fair, effective and developmentally sound juvenile justice systems." In 1992, the Annie E. Casey Foundation launched the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI), which aims to reduce disproportionate contact and confinement in the juvenile justice system while developing more and diverse community-based programs for all juveniles. 32 references