Black girls in US seen as ‘less innocent’
Print Edition
ADULTS think that black girls are less innocent, less in need of protection and nurturing, and seem older than similarly aged white girls, which could lead to stiffer punishments in school, a new report said.
The report added that American adults think black girls know more about adult topics and about sex than their white peers. And those perceptions are greater when it comes to younger black girls aged 5 to 14. The discrepancy continues to a lesser degree with girls aged 15-19.
“This new evidence of what we call the adultification of black girls may help explain why black girls in America are disciplined much more often and more severely than white girls, across our schools and in our juvenile justice system,” said Rebecca Epstein, lead author of the report and executive director of the Center on Poverty and Inequality at the Georgetown University Law Center.
The study surveyed 325 adults from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds and educational levels across the United States to come up with its results.
The Department of Education said in 2014 that black girls are suspended at higher rates than girls of any other race or most boys. The data didn’t explain why the disparities exist or why the students were suspended.
The new report mirrors one by the American Psychological Association in 2014 that showed that black boys as young as 10 are more likely to be mistaken as older, be perceived as guilty and face police violence if accused of a crime.
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