{"id":1511,"date":"2017-06-22T08:00:21","date_gmt":"2017-06-22T13:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=1511"},"modified":"2017-06-22T08:45:00","modified_gmt":"2017-06-22T13:45:00","slug":"framing-violence-against-minority-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2017\/06\/22\/framing-violence-against-minority-youth\/","title":{"rendered":"Framing Violence against Minority Youth"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Wayne Silver, Flickr CC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last month, a Texas law enforcement officer opened fire on a van of several Black teenage boys, killing 15-year-old <\/span>Jordan Edwards<\/span><\/a>. His death reminded many of the cell phone footage showing a <\/span>Los Angeles off-duty white officer<\/span><\/a> dragging a 13-year-old Latino boy by the collar while pointing a gun, or the <\/span>McKinney, TX officer<\/span><\/a> who drew his gun on multiple Black youth at a pool party in 2015. During media coverage of Edwards’ death, the media emphasized his honor roll status and the fact that he was a “good student,” and thus not deserving of this treatment. This is not always the way mistreatment of minority youth is framed, however, and sociological research on youth victimization finds that minority youth are often excluded from the category of “true” or “ideal” victimhood, which ultimately works to legitimize their victimization.<\/span><\/p>\n

Societal notions of childhood characterize children as innocent and pure in contrast to the deviant adult world. Society employs these images of innocence to address children\u2019s vulnerability to physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. However, when children\u2019s behaviors contradict traditional notions of innocence and purity, adults tend to exclude them from the social and legal protection that childhood often affords.\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n