Policing The Lives Of Black And Latino Boys

Prior to being assigned the reading of the memoir “Always Running”, by Luis Rodriguez, I had never given much thought on juveniles involved in gang life. Rodriguez achieved success as an award-winning poet; sure the streets would no longer haunt him - until his own son joined a gang. Rodriguez fought for his child by telling his own story in the vivid memoir, “Always Running.” “Always Running” is the compilation of events Luis experienced during his youth in San Gabriel. The theme of the book is to always strive for the best things in life and to always take a stand for what you believe. Lured by the seemingly invincible gang culture of East L.A., he witnessed countless shootings and beatings, as well as senseless acts of street crime against his friends and family members. As a Latino in a poor neighborhood, Luis struggled through criticism, stereotypes, and mistreatment. With the help of his mentor, Chente, Luis saw a way out through education and the power of word to successfully break free from years of violence and desperation.

As I witnessed the videos and sound recordings of the police killings of these Black youth: Trayvon Martin, Aiyana Stanley-Jones, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice and Darnisha Harris, I, too, lost hope for racial equality and developed a fear of law enforcement that still exists to this day. These emotions are quite common amongst Black youth, yet the presence of such is

The continual hyper-criminalization and racialization exhibited by various institutions against young black and latino boys has run rampant in the last decade. Youth in underprivileged communities across America today are subject to an inevitable web of punishment

In There Are No Children Here, Kotlowitz describes the experiences of Pharoah and Lafayette to highlight the racist and classist undertones existing within the criminal justice system of Chicago in the late 1980s. This essay will utilize the theory of critical criminology to illustrate the structures of inequality within the criminal justice system and the subsequent marginalization of youth that exists within the Henry Horner community, leading to youth deviance and violent crime. Beginning with a brief outline of the major characteristics of critical theory, the essay will then address the increasing focus on gang involvement as an explanation for inner-city youth crime, using examples from the Disciples and Vice Lord gangs, and how that focus demonstrates the bias and inequality within the criminal justice system. Next, the necessity of the Henry Horner community creating a system of “self-help” will be analyzed, a result of the perceived inadequacy of the criminal justice system in addressing the problems that the community faces. The theory of critical criminology demonstrates how structures of inequality are represented in the criminal justice system: the incessant focus on gangs and inadequacy of the system to provide protection causes the marginalization of youth like Pharoah and Lafayette, reinforcing instances of youth deviance and crime.

Rios’ observations exposed the boys being hyper-criminalized followed by over policing and stigmatization. To illustrate this, when a research subject and Rios were eating tacos from a truck one day, police officers

Rios describes different situations and plights that afflict the boys of his study. He did so in his book by organizing the ideas by chapter. The first part examines how the police abuse and accuse the boys in their everyday life. They do not need to be

The research done for this paper examines different studies of juveniles and their place in the United States’ justice system based on their race, gender, and social class, as well as looks into policing tactics that may be beneficial to the affected youths. By looking at a wide variety of academic journals and books it was clear to see that youths are looked upon and treated differently depending on what their race is, the sex that they were born, or their family’s economic standing. Resulting in the outcome of these youths being treated more harshly than others due to aspects about themselves that are out of their control. Doing further research into the juvenile justice system and how it is structured to help certain youths while neglecting others, it is clear that the treatment of minority youths is entirely unjust and that a reform of this system is, without question, necessary, not only to maintain an even and fair justice system for juveniles, but also to help these minority youths strive in their lifetime rather than fall victim to a life of crime.

Another common negative stereotype, establishes the African American male as intellectually inferior. Studies directed by psychologist Claude Stale, indicate that African American teenagers are aware that they are stigmatized as being intellectually inferior and the go to school bearing what psychologist Claude has called a “burden of suspicion” Such burden can affect their attitudes and achievements. These shadows hang over stigmatized people no matter their status or accomplishments. These stigmas have the potential to roll them of their individually and debilitate their attempts to break out of the stereotypical roles. Blacks are the repository for the American fear of crime. Ask anyone, of any race, to picture a criminal and the image will have a black face. The linked between blackness and criminality it’s routinized by terms such a “black-on-black crimes” or “black crimes”.

Minority youth are disproportionately represented throughout juvenile justice systems in nearly every state in the nation. Disproportionate minority contact (DMC) in juvenile justice occurs when minority youth come into contact with the system at a higher rate than their white counterparts. African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Pacific Islanders and Native Americans comprise a combined one-third of the nation's youth population. Yet they account for over two-thirds of the youth in secure juvenile facilities (Armour & Hammond, 2009).

For 6th article review, I decided to discuss the article Race, punishment and the Michael Vick experience. This article discusses the relationship between race and crime has been contentious, focusing primarily on offending and incarnation patterns among minorities. Throughout the article it discusses how serval studies have shown that minorities (mainly African Americans) view aspects of the criminal justice system differently than do whites.

“Race, Street Life, and Policing: Implications for Racial Profiling” is a study that looks at whether marginalized youth are stopped by police because of engagement in illegal activities, marginalized status or both. The research conducted studied past interactions that Black Toronto high school students and Toronto street youth have had with the police.

Similar to the last chapter, chapter four focuses on social labels within the criminal justice system and social institutions that control the adolescent’s lives. At an early stage in the boy’s lives they are labeled and categorized by police, school personnel, their families, and society. Police are regularly called into schools and community centers because the boys behave appears threatening or the authority figure miss interprets the boy’s actions because of the stereotype they have labeled them. The boys felt a constant presence of brutalization and negativity among their community. As well, the boys reported feelings of isolation and uncertainty because of the lack of community support and few opportunities to better themselves.

It seems throughout the past 30 years, black and ethnic minority young people’s experiences within the criminal justice system and the youth have been negatively associated.

As City of Miami Police Explorers Jonathan Dave Felix and I (Jerry Paret) are allowed to participate in ride-a-longs and respond to 911 calls as we ride in the passenger seat with police officers. On our ride-a-longs, we realized that many juveniles that were being arrested were either black or Hispanic. These teenagers would retaliate, and racially bash each other. These juveniles were being arrested because of their ignorance and lack of knowledge with race relations. We determined this was a reason of their misconduct, but the main reason was their lack of positive involvement in in the community. Beginning in 2015, we conducted in recruitment of teenagers in Liberty City. Our target was black and Hispanic teenagers, but we accepted all

In the article On the Run: Wanted Men in a Philadelphia Ghetto by Alice Goffman,discussed the large increase of imprisonment concentrated in poor black communities. In these communities supervision by police has risen significantly. In some areas like Philadelphia policing increased 69% percent. In addition the heightened number of mainly black men incarcerated has grown seven times in the last 40 years. There is an undeniable correlation between the increase in black men incarcerated and the amount of policing and surveillance in these neighborhoods. For some of these men a citation for a minor infraction or offense is given. Following this is the option of not showing up for their court dates or inability to