THE RAGE OF INNOCENCE

A sobering assessment of the separate and decidedly unequal legal regimes that govern the juvenile justice system.

“Our nation’s obsession with policing and incarcerating Black America begins with Black children.” So writes Henning, a law professor who served as lead attorney with the District of Columbia public defender’s office, specializing in youth crime. Rarely did any of the cases put before her involve White defendants. As she writes, where one young Black student was accused of bringing a Molotov cocktail to school and went through a hellish legal ordeal, a White student who confessed to the same crime was barely punished. “Black children are accosted all over the nation for the most ordinary adolescent activities,” she writes, whether hanging out in a park or shopping at the mall. When those children do commit infractions, mostly involving underage drinking or minor acts of vandalism, they are punished far more severely than their White peers. Henning serves up numerous (and sometimes repetitive) cases from her legal files, documenting this unequal administration of justice with statistics and anecdotes alike. On the latter point, she gamely notes, “I could write this entire chapter in anecdotes, but then you wouldn’t believe me when I say that White kids are treated differently than Black kids for committing the same kinds of crimes all over the country. So let’s look at the history, the science, and the data.” She does, and deeply. The author observes that White adolescents, particularly in groups, are far more likely than Black youth to use drugs, drink alcohol, and carry weapons to school. Yet arrest rates for Blacks are proportionally higher, as are bail and punishment. “Every state actor who does not take an active stance against racial inequities is at least complicit—and at worst active—in perpetuating the criminalization and overpolicing of Black youth,” Henning concludes, insisting that all involved examine their biases and combat them in favor of equitable treatment.

A powerful argument that the legal and social oppression of Black Americans begins at birth.