Color, Crime and Community: From Criminological Contradictions to the Routine Racialization of Rights

• In Event: Material Manifestations of Insidious Ideological Injunctions: Criminalizing Youth Conformities

Abstract

Recently, the criminalization of racialized youths represent a special case of entitled self- protection (“standing one’s ground”) and a flawed community integration (“over policing of priority neighborhoods) which contribute to a pernicious disregard for any authentic community engagement. By presenting this paper as a contemplative process, the concepts put forward indicate a form of imagining, an exploration of the intersections of race and rights that shape perceptions of youth controversies past and present. Critical race and critical criminological approaches assist us in interrogating dominant ideological structures in an effort to resist canonical narratives and open up possibilities for change.

Author

• David N. Baker, Texas Southern University