Barrett, C.J., Courting Kids: Inside an Experimental Youth Court

Authors

Avi Brisman, Eastern Kentucky University

Abstract

"In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the United States witnessed a small increase in youth violence, particularly a rise in gun violence among young African-American urban males. This spike in gun violence was localized and primarily linked to turmoil surrounding the introduction of crack cocaine into many cities around the country—metropolitan areas that were already experiencing crushing economic pressures, unemployment, and decaying neighborhoods. There was no evidence of an overall nationwide surge in “youth crime” or “juvenile crime”—terms that became conflated with serious “youth violence,” which, in turn, became code for “dangerous young black or brown men.” Despite this reality, a racialized moral panic took hold, focusing on an emerging generation of young “superpredators.”"

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Brisman, Avi (2013) "Barrett, C.J., Courting Kids: Inside an Experimental Youth Court," Qualitative Criminology (QC): Vol. 1: No. 2, Article 10.
Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/qc/vol1/iss2/10