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The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

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police brutality. One expressed roughness when, “...they slammed me up aga<strong>in</strong>st the car<br />

for no reason.” Another said, “<strong>The</strong>y stepped on my head and on my back and put the<br />

hand cuffs on real tight.<br />

Next, youth were asked if they believed police treat all people alike. <strong>The</strong> answer<br />

from the self reports show a consensus for both races. It is believed that police do not<br />

treat all people alike (84 percent <strong>of</strong> the blacks and 85 percent <strong>of</strong> the whites expressed<br />

police never or seldom treat everyone equally).<br />

<strong>The</strong> same conclusions could be drawn from the <strong>in</strong>terviews. One black <strong>in</strong>dicated<br />

police show a bias toward the rich. “Like <strong>in</strong> a rich neighborhood, if they called the cops<br />

and said somebody broke <strong>in</strong>to their house or got shot and killed or someth<strong>in</strong>g, they’ll be<br />

over there <strong>in</strong> a hurry, but around here if somebody gets shot or someth<strong>in</strong>g, they’ll take<br />

their sweet old time gett<strong>in</strong>g here. It’s like they don’t care.” Another black said, “I th<strong>in</strong>k<br />

they treat blacks worse than whites. <strong>The</strong>y be say<strong>in</strong>g that all black people live <strong>in</strong> the ghetto<br />

and all black people are thieves and are all the same.”<br />

<strong>The</strong> whites agreed with the blacks on this issue. One stated, “<strong>The</strong>y (police) are<br />

prejudice with the black people and people <strong>in</strong> gangs.” Another <strong>in</strong>dicated that a person’s<br />

economic status had a connection with police treatment. “You can go to a rich person,<br />

that’s why they’re gonna treat them better. If you go to a regular person, that’s why<br />

they’re gonna treat them with less respect.” <strong>The</strong> dom<strong>in</strong>ate theme is that police do express<br />

different treatment to those <strong>of</strong> different race and economic status.

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