The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

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My feeling is that the most common place for bias to occur is at the level
of the police because I think the police are generally more prejudiced than
people with more education. I think that education is a great tool in
overcoming prejudice and I think a lack of education results in more
prejudice.
One decision maker felt sympathetic for the police. According to this decision
maker, the police are more likely to be biased because they do not have a chance to get to
know the youth and therefore are forced to go mostly on appearance, attitude, and
actions. This is apparently due to the fact that the police endure a lot of stress and are
under a lot of pressure to do their jobs and react quickly.
Many of the decision makers feel that blacks and minorities are watched more by
the police, so they are caught more, which explains why there appears to be prejudice in
the system. A majority of decision makers think they are watched more because of the
neighborhoods they reside in, which tend to be high—crime areas.
I think that they are arrested more because they get caught in the act more
because they are in a high crime rate area, so it is harder for them to get
away with things.
I think that most of (the police) deal in the areas where there are a lot of
high crime rates and the fact that there are a lot of low-income blacks and
they do get into trouble, it starts coloring their thinking.
I think that law enforcement is more visible and more active in inner-city
areas and low—income areas, so they catch more kids doing more crimes
in those areas that are predominantly minority in this community.