NewsOne - Mar 11, 2014
By Michael Arceneaux
If I were to tell anyone of color with a clue that White children are
given the benefit of the doubt and Black kids are not, I imagine the
response would be, “And water is wet.”
Indeed it is, but it’s always good to know something you know to be true anecdotally confirmed and conflated with analysis. According to new research published by the American Psychological Association, Black boys as young as 10 are proven to not be given the same presumption of childhood innocence as their White peers. Instead,
they’re considered to be much older than what they are, perceived to be
guilty, and face police violence if accused of a crime.
The study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, sought to examine the extent to which the racial bias exists and how significant the consequences are. Speaking on the report, Phillip Atiba Goff,
PhD, explained, “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.”
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