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The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

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<strong>The</strong> youth have taken <strong>in</strong>to consideration discrim<strong>in</strong>ation from a broad perspective<br />

that entails job opportunities (present and future), trust <strong>of</strong> people, police <strong>of</strong>ficers,<br />

probation <strong>of</strong>ficers, school (present and future) and blame <strong>in</strong> general. Both white and<br />

m<strong>in</strong>ority youth agree that racial discrim<strong>in</strong>ation exists <strong>in</strong> many <strong>of</strong> the above areas <strong>in</strong> their<br />

own community. However, the youth believe that discrim<strong>in</strong>ation is probably worse <strong>in</strong> the<br />

“big cities” or somewhere else than <strong>in</strong> Woodbury county.<br />

Job opportunities were seen by the majority <strong>of</strong> all youth as be<strong>in</strong>g equal. <strong>The</strong> few<br />

that saw racial discrim<strong>in</strong>ation <strong>in</strong> the job market felt it was due to the employers. All youth<br />

are optimistic about future job opportunities. <strong>The</strong> majority view future opportunities as<br />

gett<strong>in</strong>g better or improv<strong>in</strong>g. Hispanics, on the other hand, were more negative on this<br />

issue.<br />

Trust, for the most part, is seen by youth as someth<strong>in</strong>g that is earned. Nearly all <strong>of</strong><br />

the youth consistently held this particular belief. Hispanic youth were the only group that<br />

expressed a slight lack <strong>of</strong> trust towards blacks.<br />

<strong>Youth</strong> felt that they, as <strong>in</strong>dividuals, were treated fairly by police <strong>of</strong>ficers. Whites<br />

and m<strong>in</strong>orities varied <strong>in</strong> their responses concern<strong>in</strong>g how police <strong>of</strong>ficers treat all people <strong>in</strong><br />

general. M<strong>in</strong>orities felt that they were picked on, while white youth felt that police picked<br />

on “kids” <strong>in</strong> general. Thus, for whites differential treatment was not viewed as a racial<br />

problem. All youth <strong>in</strong>dicated a vast amount <strong>of</strong> respect towards the police. With the<br />

exception <strong>of</strong> Native American youth, youth unanimously would not like to be police<br />

<strong>of</strong>ficers.

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