Discrimination when No-One Discriminates

Sheila Ards, Benedict College
Samuel L. Myers, Jr., University of Minnesota
Allan Malkis, University of Minnesota

In this paper, we demonstrate that it is conceptually possible that children of color may appear to be over-represented in the state-wide child protective services even when they are not over-represented in any specific county. We also show that it is possible that no racial disproportionality exists in the determination of maltreatment conditional upon reports (i.e., substantiation) even when there are wide disparities between the racial distribution of substantiated maltreatment cases and of the child population. We show that it is possible, however, that a state with multiple groups of racial minorities can register no racial disproportionality even when there are statistically significant racial disparities in the probabilities of substantiation.