A 61-page report from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division concludes that black juvenile offenders are treated more harshly than their white counterparts, and low-income youths of both races are being deprived of their basic rights, according to the New York Times.
St. Louis County includes suburbs of the city, though it does not include St. Louis city itself. This is the same county that has been in the press in the past due to the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO.
This report is not related to the justice department's investigation in Ferguson, according to the New York Times. It does, however, raise concerns about racism in the justice system on a county-wide level.
"In short, black children are subjected to harsher treatment because of their race," Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta said in a letter written to Governor Jay Nixon, according to the Wall Street Journal.
"All Missourians have a right to a fair and equitable justice system, and our young people are no exception," Gov. Nixon said in a statement.
The report calls for complaints to be resolved by the Justice Department through negotiation. Almost 33,000 juvenile cases were assessed to create the report. Investigators looked through transcripts, external reports, court records and policies, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The report found that black children in the St. Louis county justice system are two and half times more likely than whites to be detained before trial, and one and half times more likely to go without referral to alternative programs, according to New York Daily News.
