NCJ Number
166006
Date Published
1996
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This study examines the relationship between minority youth and the Toronto police (Canada).
Abstract
The material in this chapter is part of a larger, ongoing 5- year longitudinal project designed to track developing relations between police and various ethno-racial communities. This specific study of police-minority youth relations incorporates a multi-method design that includes informal interviews with youths conducted between May 1994 and February 1995 in Metropolitan Toronto and York Region; observations at community centers; street-corner transactions; and structured diaries. The sample consisted of 63 youths, 37 of whom were black and 26 white. Forty-two of the participants were boys between 15 and 18; 21 were girls aged 16 to 19. Findings show that all youths reported varying degrees of police harassment; and all youths were suspicious of police. White and black youths agreed that the level of police abuse (physical and verbal) was related to the race of the youth. This study confirms Bolaria and Li's (1988) findings that black youths feel categorized as a problem group by the police, who are more likely to question or arrest them; that the police use excessive physical violence in their dealings with black suspects; and that the police perpetrate popular rumors about the behaviors of youth. Police reform is long overdue; however, better training of police as well as the recruitment and promotion of nonwhites cannot by itself eliminate institutional racism, the roots of which are embedded in the culture and socioeconomic conditions. 37 references