The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

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consequences. “Well, I did something wrong they’re going to have to do something.”
A small number of the youth believed they were treated unfairly. A black man felt
he was treated unfairly due to his race because society tends to focus on the actions of
black people. “Unfairly, because I figure it’s a black and white thing. It’s like wrote in
black and white. But they figure it’s based mostly on a white situation, but they don’t like
to listen to the black thing. That’s why if you read in the paper, it’s mostly blacks doing
crimes instead of whites, it cuz they never go after them. Like that L.A. thing, when that
dude got beat. That was unnecessary. They’re out for blacks.” Another black indicated
she was treated unfairly because... “he pushed me down. He was really rude, he was
getting smart and asking me questions over like I was lying to him. Calling me names
and stuff.” A white youth perceived he was not treated fairly and suggested an individual
officer may be bias. “...it depends on which one arrests you.”
Next, the youth were also asked if they believed the police treat all people alike.
The responses from the self reports suggest that both races feel that the police do not treat
everyone alike (84 percent of the whites and 78 percent of the blacks expressed that the
police sometimes or never treat all people equally). The results from the interviews
indicated that none of the youth felt the police treated all people alike. A number of
reasons were provided for this belief.