The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

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Some of those blacks who did consider the possibility of becoming a probation
officer believed it was a logical choice to work with delinquent youth due to their
experience in the system. One black youth said, “I would help people out.” Another said
he would not mind being a probation officer but “would like to be a lawyer more because
I think I would be able to tell what the truth is because I can understand the kids.”
The rest of the youth had a variety of reasons for not being interested in this line
of work job. One reason is that they do not want to have to interact with youth like
themselves. As a white youth said, “I wouldn’t want to go through that knowing that the
kids are out there doing the same thing that I was doing.” Others did not want to be in a
position where they would have to do some of the things probation officers sometimes
have to do. A black youth says,
I wouldn’t want to lock nobody up cuz I know how it feels to be locked
up. I wouldn’t want to lock no other kid up.
A number of them were not interested because they had other careers in mind or
just plain did not want to be a probation officer.
Problems in the System and in the Schools
There was a distinction between whites and blacks in terms of things they deemed
wrong with the juvenile justice system. The white youth tended to show a sense of
remorse for what they had done and therefore felt they were getting what they deserved.
For the most part, the white youth blamed only themselves for