Trayvon And The Myth Of The Juvenile Indicator Analysis

Analysis of Media Representations of Juvenile Delinquency or Juvenile Justice System In the article Trayvon and the Myth of the ‘Juvenile Superpredator’, Steve Drizin discusses the case of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman in relation to the myth of the juvenile superpredator coined by John Dilulio. As we discussed in class, while this supposed new breed of criminals never surfaced, the myth that they would has changed how society sees certain adolescents. Drizin speaks on the fact that by 2001, the Surgeon General of the United States stated there was no evidence of these superpredators. However, George Zimmerman would have been in his mid-teens during the height of the myth and therefore at least had heard of it. Drizin’s theory is that …show more content…
In the first paragraph, Drizin states that he couldn’t help but think that Trayvon was “just the latest casualty of the myth” and that the myth causes people to assume young black men in hoodies are “up to no good.” He continues in the second paragraph to call the phrase superpredator “demonizing”, defining urban youth as “i.e. black and brown”, and stating that the new wave of laws following the term were designed to “prosecute children as adults”. Many of the statements Drizin references Zimmerman using in his call with the police dispatcher are also politically and/or emotionally charged. For instance, Zimmerman states that Trayvon “looked like he was on drugs” and when Trayvon began to run he stated, “These assholes, they always get away.” Drizin follows these statements by Zimmerman by addressing that the features he described do indeed fit the profile of Dilulio’s superpredator, but that they also fit the profile of “many innocent young kids”. By ending the article with his worry that Zimmerman’s acquittal will bring about other armed vigilantes or wanna-be cops, a so-called new breed of real superpredators, it’s clear that Drizin wants the reader to be worried about this as well and …show more content…
The generation that was growing up when this myth began is now in adulthood, is making the laws and running society, and the evidence of this myth is being seen. The major difference I see now is that in the Central Park Five case, the youth were dangerous and needed to be put away whereas today, the youth that fit the same mold are being shot in the streets instead of going through the courts. The problems and fear that began with Houses of Refuge movement in the 1820s are still alive today and only seem to be getting