This article was first published in "Dog Justice for Mentally Ill" blog. It has one embedded video and six photographs.
The American Psychological Association (APA) conducted a study indicating that black boys are perceived as being older and less innocent than their white peers by Caucasian police officers and college women. The APA study was discussed during two Blogtalkradio shows: "Human Rights for Prisoners March" on March 17 and "Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill (AIMI)" broadcast on March 19. Links to both shows are below in this article. Discussions will continue Sunday, March 23 on "Human Rights Demand" channel at Blogtalkradio.
The APA study exposed the fact that Caucasian police officers who dehumanize blacks are more likely to use force on black boys like those featured in five photographs in this article. See a Texas officer break a black school boy's arm on the video embedded below. Juries comprised of whites (like white college students in the APA study) seem predisposed to attribute guilt to black boys. The white research participants generally believed black boys, even 10-year-olds, to be 4.5 years older than they actually were and therefore more responsible. The research also indicates that black boys accused of crimes were likely to be presumed guilty by the white study participants. This explains why prosecutors seldom charge, and Caucasians on grand juries seldom indict, police officers who brutalize or kill black boys.
“Children in most societies are considered to be in a distinct group with characteristics such as innocence and the need for protection. Our research found that black boys can be seen as responsible for their actions at an age when white boys still benefit from the assumption that children are essentially innocent,” said author Phillip Atiba Goff, PhD, of the University of California, Los Angeles.
Discipline for Black Boys with Mental Disabilities Compared with White Peers
According to another report released in March, “African-American students and students with disabilities are suspended at hugely disproportionate rates compared to white students.” This report was provided by the Discipline Disparities Research-to-Practice Collaborative. Its results were published in the Washington Post (link below). An excerpt:
"'In the 1972-73 school year, suspension rates were 6 percent for whites and 12 percent for African Americans at the secondary school level. [Racism is getting worse.] The most recent federal figures, for 2009-10, show rates of 7 percent for whites and 24 percent for African Americans in those grades,' said researcher Daniel J. Losen, director of the Center for Civil Rights Remedies, at University of California, Los Angeles.
"For some student groups, the rates are markedly higher. For example, among middle and high school students, 36 percent of black males with disabilities were suspended at least once in 2009-10,' Losen said."
Mentally challenged black boys are extremely likely to experience out-of-school suspensions - not wholly because of their behavior but also because of systemic prejudice against them and the dehumanization of black boys, especially those with mental disparities. "Out-of-school suspensions are linked to academic disengagement, lower achievement and greater risks of school dropout and contact with the juvenile justice system," researchers said.
Disparity of Treatment for Black Mentally Ill Men in the Prison System
Mentally ill inmates generally receive harsher prison sentences regardless of their race, possibly because they are less able to participate in their own defense. Once incarcerated, people with serious mental illness are unlikely to have their sentences shortened by doing prison labor or being "model prisoners." In fact, prison sentences of mentally challenged inmates are often lengthened due to their lack of understanding or ability to follow CO's instructions and prison rules. One might assume from the two research studies referenced herein that mentally challenged black men are also more harshly punished in correctional institutions, like they were in school.
Intolerance of black boys and men, especially if they have mental illness, is reflected in our prison rates. According to the United States Department of Justice, blacks comprised 12 percent to 13 percent of the nation's population but over 40 percent of the prisoners. Solitary confinement is one of the punitive methods used in corrections, and more than 80 percent of the inmates enduring solitary confinement torture in the United States are black people.
Referenced radio show and research reports:
Mary Neal, host; former school teacher Wendy Benedetti, guest
"Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill" Radio Show, March 19, 2014
Mary Neal, host; organizational psychologist Dr. Jean Kennedy, guest
(You will need to copy the link above and place it into a tab to hear it. NSA prevented it from linking automatically. They allowed the radio show with a retired Caucasian school teacher to link automatically but not the interview with the black psychologist. They probably plan to substitute the Dr. Jean Kennedy interview regarding the APA study with an earlier show. This has happened before.)
APA press release about its research regarding perceptions of black boys
Washington Post report about disparities in discipline based on disabilities and race
(Line breaks were placed before each of the four links above to help assure your access.)
At Baldwin South Intermediate School in Quincy, Illinois, a 9-year-old Autistic child was taken from his special needs classroom with bruises all over his face and incarcerated after he was beat up by police. See a report by CopBlock.org
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