Citation

Boyd RW. Pediatrics 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, American Academy of Pediatrics)

DOI

10.1542/peds.2021-050314

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

We live in a country that adultifies and criminalizes children simply for not being white. Adultification is the process by which certain children are perceived as older than their actual age, and as a result, regarded as less innocent and subject to callous and sometimes violent treatment. This misperception of Black children begins as young as age 5 for Black girls and age 10 for Black boys and is far from benign.

Misperceptions of children that deny them the presumption of innocence affect the ways we, as a society, protect children, legally and socially. Consequently, when children of color are routinely misperceived as older, the protections typically afforded all children as a function of their age and developmental stage can come to uniquely benefit white children, as a material advantage of their whiteness. This process has two related effects: It absolves white children from scrutiny and contributes to the inordinate policing of children of color.

Keywords: Juvenile justice

Language: en