Most studies of the treatment of minorities in criminal justice systems show that ethnic minorities are punished more harshly. This paper aims to explain ethnic inequality in prosecutorial decision making in the Dutch juvenile justice system. Based on statistical analyses of 409 case files, it emerged that ethnic minorities are more often summoned to juvenile court. The prevailing source of the ethnic unequal treatment lies in the reporting of troublesome encounters between judicial officials and suspects from ethnic minority descent. A qualitative analysis of 97 descriptions of such troublesome encounters showed that native Dutch suspects were more often regarded as defiant, while ethnic minorities were more often perceived as equivocating. Future research might focus on the ways in which judicial officials interpret the observed and reported behaviour of suspects, and the extent to which these stem from broader cultural stereotypes, ideologies and anxieties regarding ethnic minorities.