Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Spring 2002

Abstract

In this Article, I will focus on the treatment of African American children as the "other" in the juvenile justice system. As previously stated, African American children are not the only ones who may be treated as the "other." Latino, Native American, Asian, and even white children may be "othered" in the appropriate social context. My concern here, however, is with African American children. I focus on their condition because I believe it is exemplary of how all children who are perceived as children of the "other" are treated and because, in some ways, the treatment of African American children, in a bipolar racial hierarchy, is unique.

In Part I of this Article, I will describe the extent and nature of the racial disparities that exist in the juvenile justice system. Next, I will discuss the concept of "otherness" in Part II. In Part III, I will discuss the child as "other," which will be followed by a discussion in Part IV of the impact of the "other" in the juvenile justice system. Finally, I conclude that if white children were its predominant subjects, the juvenile justice system would look entirely different. It would focus on rehabilitation and reeducation rather than its present emphasis on repression, isolation, and control.

Comments

A part of the Eleventh Annual DePaul Law Review Symposium. It was called The End of Adolescence.

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