In the last decade, the Modesto Police Department has arrested Black juveniles at a rate of more than four times their population, according to police data.
Though Black youth have made up only an average of 3.3% of the population over that period, they represented nearly 14% of juvenile arrests since 2013. In the most disproportionate year of the past decade, 2022, Black juveniles accounted for over 16.5% of arrests, which was more than six times their population proportion.
The arrest data, provided by the MPD, comes from the Department of Justice and combines bookings and citations while excluding warrants and certain minor traffic citations, such as unlicensed drivers or suspended licenses, according to MPD spokeswoman Sharon Bear.
Bookings generally involve more serious offenses and result in the individual being taken into custody. In contrast, citations usually are issued for less severe offenses, such as petty theft, and may involve a written notice to appear in court rather than immediate detention.
“Racial and ethnic disparities in the U.S. juvenile justice system are incredibly complex,” Chief Brandon Gillespie said in a statement to The Bee. “We recognize the concern about disproportionate juvenile arrest rates among Black youths. This issue is not unique to Modesto but is seen across California and the nation, influenced by factors beyond policing. Addressing this issue requires a multifaceted approach involving entire communities and multiple systems. The Modesto Police Department is committed to being a strategic partner in this critical discussion.”
While Latino and white populations in Modesto make up the majority of juvenile arrests, their percentages are generally proportional or slightly disproportionate to their population sizes. In contrast, Black juveniles have been arrested at disproportionate rates every year in the last decade and on average at about four times more than white juveniles.
“It’s not surprising because it all works hand in hand, created by the same old playbook,” said Wendy Byrd, president of the Modesto/Stanislaus NAACP.
Presentation to the Modesto Community Police Review Board
Reducing youth arrests, especially among Latino youth, has been a key priority for the Modesto Community Police Review Board since its inception. The goal arose from community groups expressing concerns about the disproportionate arrests of Latino youth.
In August, Gillespie presented data on juvenile arrests to the board. His presentation covered 2023 statistics on booking and citation demographics, the sources of booking incidents and the most common juvenile offenses.
The data presented separated bookings and citations and also included warrants and some traffic citations, according to Bear.
“It’s a national trend that we’ve seen for a very long time, and it requires a much deeper conversation about policing, about social issues in general,” Gillespie said during the meeting.
In the chief’s presentation, the population data used to compare arrest data was based on Modesto City Schools’ student enrollment, which includes students from kindergarten through high school.
The Bee chose to compare arrest data across all of Modesto’s school districts, specifically focusing on sixth-graders through high school seniors, as most youth in the juvenile justice system are between 15 and 17 years old . Those other districts are Sylvan Union, Stanislaus Union, Shiloh Elementary, Paradise Elementary, Hart-Ransom Union Elementary and Empire Union.
This age distinction matters because in Gillespie’s presentation to the board, his data shows that in 2023, Latinos made up 71.6% of the population and 68.9% of arrests in Modesto, suggesting a fairly proportional comparison. However, when excluding youth under age 11, the population of Latino youth drops to 62.8%, revealing a negatively disproportionate arrest rate.
The data from the presentation also showed that Black juveniles were about 1.6 times more likely to be booked than cited in 2023, while white juveniles were only slightly more likely to be cited than booked.
Generally, across all races, booking and citation incidents were more often the result of calls to police rather than officer-initiated activities. The most common offenses leading to bookings were criminal conspiracy (when two or more people plan to commit a crime and at least one of them acts upon it), battery and vehicle theft.
Board member Trish Christensen remarked that observing the difference between police-initiated actions and dispatch calls was eye-opening, as it could reveal potential community biases rather than solely reflecting police behavior.
“Whether it be bias or opinion or perspective, human nature has all of that wrapped into it as well. So if the community is calling and there’s a disparity there… How do we engage at that level?” Christensen said.
Subjective discretion
Nancy Brown, an assistant professor of criminal justice at Stanislaus State University, said the higher arrest rates for Black juveniles in Modesto could be connected to the discretionary power law enforcement officers have under current laws and regulations.
She believes that fear and bias play significant roles in who gets stopped by the police, with Black youth often being perceived as suspicious simply due to their presence in certain situations.
“There is a predisposition to expect something going on,” she said.
One report found that Black and Latino adolescent boys who are stopped by police tend to engage in more delinquent behavior later on, regardless of their previous behavior. Another study found that Black youth feel targeted by police and see systemic racism affecting how officers view them.
Brown pointed out that while it’s challenging to directly label these actions as racist, the language and structure of the law allow for a wide range of subjective discretion by officers. This often leads to situations where white youth might be cited and released while Black youth are detained and pulled deeper into the criminal justice system.
She stressed the importance of addressing this issue at the juvenile level, advocating for alternatives to arrest, such as restorative justice programs, to keep young people out of the system. Brown added that once someone becomes involved in the juvenile justice system, the likelihood of them remaining in it is exponentially high.
She said that while more training and education for officers is important, the real solution lies in changing the laws that grant such broad discretion.
“When law changes, behavior changes,” Brown said.
At the CPRB meeting, Board member Byrd remarked, “I used to tell my son before he left out the house, ‘Remember, you’re Black, and even though you may be with other people, you’re always going to be looked at.’”
“I think it’s a very, very common perception that I hear. I’ve heard throughout my career, especially from our minority community members,” Gillespie responded.
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