Let's talk about race!

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

The United States Supreme Court recently ruled that it is unconstitutional for juvenile offenders to be sentenced to life sentences without parole in cases not involving murder. The question of juvenile offenders is a very complicated subject. Whether or not to try them as adults is often dependent upon the judgment of the particular psychologist that works for the Court, but sometimes it comes down to statutory requirements with automatic adult sentencing for certain crimes. In this way the deliberation of the jury is colored by the very question of their age, when in other cases a legal adult may receive a certain measure of grace. Any leniency for a child who has been scientifically condemned to a possibly harsher punishment is preempted by the fact that the jury cannot consider him or her a child. At the very least, the ruling of the Court on this matter produces a chilling effect on any such consideration. We are, in effect, levying harsher punishment upon our children than we are our adults- adults who are otherwise considered more culpable. This is a terribly irony.

On the other hand, the general thinking in society today is that adolescents are almost, if not completely, equal to adults in moral consideration. Teenagers are expected to exhibit the same level of moral thinking as any adult, and we are averse to accepting age as a shield against “proper” punishment. Complicating the issue further is that minority youth are tried as adults at incredibly high rates. African-American youth aged 10 to 17 form 15% of their age group, while accounting for 52% of youths subjected to adult sentencing guidelines. This is a 1 in 2 chance that as a minority youth, you will be judged as an adult. It no longer seems like a question of science, but a decision of fate.

Developmental psychology already has an obvious role to play in this issue. Enforcement rates for urban populations far outstrip police activity in suburban and wealthier areas. This inadvertently criminalizes entire populations disproportionately, and leads to inbred cultural biases against minority youth. The least educated, least wealthy and least fed of our nation are subjected to harsher standards. Furthermore, a minority youth who grows up in a gang culture will learn the morals of that culture.

Developmental psychology can study the effects of violent gangs on minority youth, and offer guidance to our justice system on how best to handle the problem of adult sentencing. It can also study the effects of hyper-criminalization upon youth psychology. Charges of “reverse discrimination” are illogical concerning this issue. Non-minority youth would not be tried as adults at a greater rate as a result of this proposal. The “special treatment” such a program would entail is simply the neutralization of the de facto special treatment they are already receiving as minority youth; minority youth who are seen as more culpable than others because they are black.

Comments

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

I agree that a fundamental problem is a social issue.