"We Expect Much of You": Enlisting Youth in the Policing of Marginalized Communities

Abstract

In this paper, we examine a police summer program for youth from marginalized communities designed to both provide valuable experiences and opportunities as well as improve the problematic relationship between marginalized youth and police. Using the concepts of racialization, governance, and interest-convergence, we consider how such institutionally sponsored programs socialize youth into a value system that fosters self-governance and restraint, particularly in the case of youth who, because of where they live, are considered to be "at risk." Hence, they are subjected to interventions that operate in subtle ways to regulate them into what are deemed appropriate values and beliefs. We found that after six weeks of working with the police, the attitudes of the youth changed from avoidance to enthusiastic endorsements of police practices. In this way, the program worked to advance the institutional interests of the police without the organization having to confront or adjust any of its own practices and assumptions. Ultimately, the program, with its focus on attitudes, behaviour, and opportunity, promotes and achieves the kind of reform that never questions structural and systemic inequalities. Dans cet article, nous examinons un programme estival organisé par la police de Toronto pour les jeunes de communautés marginalisées, conçu à la fois pour leur offrir des occasions et des expériences utiles et pour améliorer la relation problématique qu'ils ont avec la force publique. À partir des concepts de racialisation, de gouvernance et de convergence d'intérêts, nous constatons comment ces programmes, parrainés par les institutions, les socialisent en leur instillant un système de valeur qui les encourage à se prendre en mains et à se contrôler, surtout dans le cas de ceux qui, en raison de leur lieu de résidence, sont considérés comme « à risque ». En conséquence, ces jeunes sont soumis à des interventions qui fonctionnent de manière subtile afin de les convaincre d'adopter de bonnes valeurs, ou ce qui est jugé comme tel. Nous constatons qu'au bout de 6 semaines de travail avec la police, leur attitude a changé : ils passent de l'évitement à une approbation enthousiaste des pratiques policières. Le programme a fait ainsi progresser les intérêts institutionnels des forces de l'ordre sans que l'organisation ait eu à se remettre en question ou à ajuster ses propres pratiques et méthodes. Finalement, en mettant l'accent sur les attitudes, le comportement et les possibilités qui leur sont offertes, il favorise et obtient un type de réforme qui ne questionne jamais les inégalités du système et des structures.

We’ll Deal with it Later: African Nova Scotian Women’s Perceptions and Experiences of the Police

“…Few studies have explored how Black people in Canada perceive the police. A few have explored youth relations with police (Adorjan et al 2017; Chow 2012), and others have focused on youth encounters with police (Chapman-Nyaho et al 2011;Giwa et al 2014;James 1998). Owusu-Bempah (2014) investigated how Black men experience and perceive the police, and found that Black men reported more frequent and hostile encounters with police than other groups.…”

“…It can be used to explore the close relationships between race, racism, and the state, and "the ongoing challenges posed by racial liberalism, which promises liberty, equity, and social justice but comfortably coexists with deep economic and social inequalities and social exclusion" (Razack et al 2010: 10). It is a race-conscious approach to research, often in relation to education (Huber and Solorzano 2015;Hylton 2012) and the criminal justice system (Chapman-Nyaho et al 2011;Giwa et al 2014;Williams 2013). It challenges the idea of "colourblindness" -the assumption that racism no longer exists, and therefore no decisions in society or by government should are based on race (Aylward 1999;James et al 2010).…”