Policing Boys Analysis

As part of our class readings for this year, our last assigned reading tackles the very controversial topic of race in this country. As we have learned about class in our discussions, we have also learned about how race can serve as a precursor to division in our country. One of these examples of this division in race occurs with the ongoing discussion of police brutality in our local communities. From Ferguson to Baltimore, this has been a fervent discussion for many years. One of the books that discusses this policing in local communities is ”Punished: Policing The Lives of Black and Latino Boys”. Written by Victor Rios, an associate professor at the University of California Berkeley as well as former gang member, Rios undertakes the task …show more content…
This question will be answered through two core concepts, but the first one that can answer this question is socialization. Socialization, one of the first topics discussed in this class, can be best described as the process through which people learn the beliefs and expectations of a group and how to play their roles properly. One of the issues that these minority youths face is a lack of understanding. Many of these youths come from areas in which extreme poverty or crime is evident and in no means scarce. As a result, they lack the resources to make it out of the neighborhood that traps them, due to the negative presence of crime and other negative influences such as drugs that persist in their neighborhood. Basically, they lack positive influences. Rios mentions that one of these positive influences is the presence of role models. This can best be seen in the case of Tyrell, the individual whose dad could not find work and his mom left him for a drug addiction. Another one of these positive influences is education. Rios is a proud champion of trying to use education as tool to rehabilitate these “at-risk” youths in this book. He states that education helped him “get out of the game” (Rios 11). However, many of the individuals Rios studied did not tend to do well in school, though it was not unanimous. This is where socialization comes into play. As a result of these negative influences, these …show more content…
The second core concept that can best explain why things are the way they are is labeling hype. As discussed in class, the core concept of labeling hype can best be defined as the process by which agencies of social control further stigmatize and mark the boys in response to their original labels. There are many consequences that come as a result of such a label. For one, this label is very sticky. In saying that, it is very hard to get rid of this label. As an example of the stickiness, one could point to the societal reaction of convicts after jail. Though one would assume that they have been assisted in how to reenter society, it is very hard for an ex-convict to find a job, or that is a job that is substantial. On the other hand, comes the response to such labels. When it comes to the labeling hype, these formal institutions turn away these minority individuals, regardless of the individual’s intentions. A separate case of the consequences that come from the labeling hype would be with Jamal in the NPR podcast. Jamal, an innocent minority that had done nothing wrong, was turned away from his school because he was Muslim. As a response, Jamal started to engage in activities that were harmful, such as joining a local ISIS branch. Though this is not part of “Punished”, it is an important example as the labeling hype naturally evokes a negative response out of the