The intent of this guidance is to ensure the reporting of information on justice-involved youth complies with Federal policy while preserving the flexibility to describe local ethnic diversity of juveniles referred to the juvenile justice system. The relevant Federal mandate under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act is that States assess the extent of disproportionate minority contact (DMC) of youth of color at all stages of the juvenile justice system and take steps to address any disproportionality. Federal guidelines recommend asking two separate and distinct questions, one about race and a second about ethnicity. This distinction between race and ethnicity is important, since the term "African-American" refers to race and "Hispanic" or "Latino" refers to ethnicity. This guide recommends that the collection and recording of racial and ethnicity data be handled with three questions or variables, with the first two limited to fixed responses: (1) Hispanic/Latino? (Yes, No); (2) Race (American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African-American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and White); (3) National Origin, Ancestry, or Tribal Affiliation (Optional). It is expected that these changes will make it easier for local staff to code racial data, thereby reducing the instances of unknown or missing data and improving accuracy and consistency of the racial data collected by juvenile courts state-wide. Although self-identification is the preferred source of the information on race, guidelines are provided for coding racial data depending on the source of the information, i.e., self-identification, observer-identification, or some other source on the basis of a report, face sheet, or complaint filed with the court.