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This article explores the treatment of African American children in the 19th century, from being enslaved to facing separate and unequal treatment during the Reconstruction era. It highlights the lack of education, constant fear of separation from family, and severe penalties they endured. It also discusses the discriminatory practices in houses of refuge and the limited opportunities for upward mobility in the post-slavery era. The article concludes with an examination of racial disparities in the modern juvenile justice system.
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African American Children and Juvenile Justice in the 19th Century Enslavement to Separate and Unequal
Treatment of Children during the Slave System and Reconstruction
Enslaved Children in 19th Century America Considered property of the slave owner for the purpose of providing free labor No hope of upward mobility Education was forbidden (literacy rate less than 5%) Constant fear of being sold and separated from family No special institutions for children (Slave states) Severe penalties including death for breaking the law
Houses of Refuge and African American Children • Black children often excluded from most houses of refuge • When admitted they were often subject to worse treatment than other youth • Placed in adult jails and prisons • Black children viewed as less salvageable but in need of “removal from temptation and evil example and put under restraint and discipline”
House of Refuge for Colored Juvenile Delinquents Opened in Philadelphia in1849 Only 19th century segregated institution opened in a Northern state Funded by anti slavery groups
African American Children in the Post Slavery Era White backlash, the KKK and constant threat of violence Jim Crow laws after 1877 Extreme poverty and the struggle to survive Limited access to education No legal protections from discrimination Little opportunity for upward mobility
Plessey v Ferguson (1896) Upheld state laws requiring racial separation. Established the doctrine of separate but equal and became the basis for maintaining separate institutions for white and black children until 1954
Jane Serepta “Jennie” Dean (1837-1926) Founded Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth (1893)
Janie Porter Barrett (1865 –1948) Established Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls (1915)
Characteristics of African American Institutions in post slavery era • Followed the practices of other children’s institutions • Based on the need to impose social control • Daily regime based on hard work, education, and religious teaching • Institutions remained segregated into the 1960s
The path from Separate but Equal • Brown v Board of Education • Civil rights act of 1964
What is a racial disparity? The meaning of racial disparity. The term racial disparity refers to a difference that may or may not be related to discrimination. Criminal justice experts distinguish between legal and extralegal factors to explain racial disparities in criminal justice.
Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) refers to the disproportionate number of minority youth who come into contact with the juvenile justice system.
African American Youth in the Juvenile Justice System Today • Discrimination in arrests • Discrimination in prosecutions • Discrimination in disposition
Racial disparity in African American in arrests • No clear evidence of overall bias in arrests of Black vs White youth • Evidence of bias in arrests of Black youth when the victim is White Race as a Factor in Juvenile Arrests Carl E. Pope and Howard N. Snyder 2003
Disproportionate contact of African Americans youth • Overall arrest rates declining but disproportionate racial impact persists • Youth of color experience higher commitment rates than Whites The Sentencing Project
