Re-Conceptualizing the Criminalization of Youth

Session Submission Type: Roundtable Session

Abstract

This session examines and broadly theorizes processes of criminalization of youth in educative spaces. These processes originate within interlocking systems of oppression (e.g. race, class, gender, and sexuality) to reproduce stereotypical assumptions of marginalized groups. The ongoing work of four panelists will highlight the different ways in which these processes work to result in the criminalization of youth. A theoretical examination of the emergence neoliberalism alongside criminalization of the Black poor will be used to understand the process of criminalization within education settings. A critical interrogation of how whiteness and heteronormativity police young women of color and LGBTQI students of color can be resisted using a Culturally Relevant Intersectional Framework (CRIF). An empirical study will explore how perceptions of Black girls and exclusionary forms of discipline sanctioned against them are informed by the intersectionality of race, gender, and class. A qualitative study uses interviews from young men of a color in an unlocked detention camp to retrospectively discuss their experiences in school. Overall, these research projects examine the theoretical significance of neoliberalism and criminality in education; empirically explore processual meaning behind deviant behavior; and redefine deviance to reposition youth in a more substantial way.

Sub Unit

• Area VIII: Roundtables

Discussants

• Gabby Falzone, University of California, Berkeley

• Gema Cardona, University of California, Berkeley

• Kenly Elizabeth Kelly Brown, University of California, Berkeley

• Mahasan Chaney, University of California, Berkeley