‘It's Urban Living, Not Ethnicity Itself’: Race, Crime and the Urban Geography of High-Risk Youth

Abstract

In the 1990s, panic about urban youth led to the intensification of punishment within the juvenile justice system. This article places this panic about urban youth within the context of the historical development of the juvenile justice system as an institution of urban governance, and within contemporary ‘new penology’ trends. In doing so, I argue that the idea of ‘risk’ and dangerousness as applied to juvenile offenders has two important consequences. First, these labels act to target juvenile justice interventions at youth of color. Second, these interventions attempt racial neutrality by using urban conditions as indicators of risk, but end up reinscribing racial difference in juvenile offending. In conclusion, I argue that the use of risk assessment in the juvenile court acts to continue a century-long tradition of using law enforcement to contain, control, and dispose of urban youth of color.