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Abstract
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For children who have family members who can relate to this quote, or worst, have experienced it themselves, there are consequences detrimental to their health as adults. Extant literature has well established that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are contributory to such public health outcomes as emotional and cognitive impairment, adoption of high-risk behaviors, and premature death. A person with four or more adverse childhood experiences is 2•4 times more likely to have a stroke and 2•2 times more likely to have ischemic heart disease. While there is abundant research on the original ACEs: child abuse, neglect, parental mental illness and witnessed domestic violence, there is less on specific effects of recurrent childhood exposure to events such as the death of George Floyd. We now know Black children have higher ACE scores than White, age-matched counterparts.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fifth Edition defines trauma as (a) witnessing a traumatic event, (b) witnessing trauma in others, (c) indirect exposure to a traumatic experience of a family member or close associate. Trauma increases with increased frequency of police contact. Black youth disproportionately meet these criteria through exposure to violence experienced in interactions with police. They are also more likely to be seen as adults, more responsible for their behavior and at increase of being treated more harshly by police. Imprisonment of Black males, at all ages, is 3.8 to 10.5 times higher than for White males. Youth exposed to police violence are at increased risk of arrest and incarceration which can result in post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, poor school attendance and performance. Shouldering more blame for trauma due to police violence separates this from other forms of trauma.
Police violence is one component of structuralized racism contributing to health inequities in Black youth. Between January 2005 and December 2017, 15, 967 youth were treated in California hospitals for injuries sustained during police intervention. The percentage of youth who have been arrested between ages 8-23 ranges from 15•9% to 26•8%. Black boys aged 15-19 had the highest rate, with 143.2 additional injuries per 100,000 person-years as compared to age-matched White boys. And, compared to White boys, they were 5.3 times more likely to be injured. Black boys experience more frequent vehicular stops than White boys (45% vs. 26%, respectively). Of those stopped by police, Black boys have more of the following interactions as compared to White boys: frisked (43% vs. 7%); searched (46% vs. 19%); received racial slurs (16% vs. <1%) or threatened force (19% vs. 4%).
With the increase in school shootings over the years has come an increase in the percentage of schools with school resource officers (SROs) from 1%, in 1975, to 58% in 2018...
Language: en |