Unjustified: Youth of Color Navigating Police Presence Across Sociospatial Environments

Abstract

Hyper-surveillance in marginalized communities places Brown and Black boys at a high risk of involuntary police contact. Prior research, however, has primarily focused on the experiences of youth already labeled delinquent, and has only just begun to explore girls’ lived experiences and differentially surveilled spaces. The current study engages a sociospatial qualitative approach to explore how 84 nondelinquent boys and girls of color experience police presence across a racially/ethnically and socioeconomically segregated metropolitan area in the Northeast region of the United States. Specifically, 41 boys and 43 girls, ages 9–17, of African-American, Latina/Latino, Jamaican-American, Nigerian/Saint Lucian, and multiracial/ethnic descent, participated in semistructured interviews at four community youth centers. The results suggest that nondelinquent youth of color experience police presence in gendered and racialized ways in public spaces, and that such experiences vary across racially/ethnically and socioeconomically segregated cities and suburbs.

The impact of race on predictors of parents’ advice to children regarding Miranda waivers.

“…This may reflect that people of color—especially Black and Latine individuals—are disproportionately surveilled and stopped by police officers (Gelman et al, 2007; Ruck et al, 2008). In addition, marginalized communities, including those with large populations of people of color, face higher levels of police presence (Brunson & Weitzer, 2009; Campos-Manzo et al, 2020). Therefore, despite there being no observed behavioral differences across racial groups, youth of color are arrested at a much higher rate compared to White youth and are therefore potentially more likely to be interrogated (Schleiden et al, 2020).…”

Feminine leadership and juvenile justice outcomes: The Florida experience

“…In a study examining the shift in juvenile policy from prevention to sanction, Stevens and Morash (2015) document an increasing trend of punitive measures placed on Black and Brown youth, with the police focusing on illicit substances and drugs rather than addressing the victimization of minorities (Campos‐Manzo et al, 2020). Scholars have also coined the term “school‐to‐prison pipeline” to denote the grim trajectory of many young offenders (Sharma, 2016).…”

Vehicle Stops and Group Position: How Missouri Agencies Use Place and Race to Explain Disparities

“…Empirical studies on racial and ethnic disparities in police-citizen contact are quite broad yet relatively consistent in their findings. Via semi-structured interviews and ethnographies, such studies indicate that minority citizens frequently report being stopped and searched by police and discuss direct and indirect experiences with policing actions they view as bias-based (Campos-Manzo et al, 2020; Gau & Brunson, 2010, 2015; Rios, 2011; Stuart, 2016; Weitzer, 2000). In addition, via the use of officially recorded stop, search, and arrest statistics, researchers have evaluated the presence and prevalence of racial and ethnic disproportionality in various cities and states (Alpert et al, 2005, 2007; Engel et al, 2002; Engel & Johnson, 2006; Headley et al, 2020; Kamalu, 2016; Kochel et al, 2011; Moon & Corley, 2007; Roh & Robinson, 2009; Warren et al, 2006).…”