New Study Shows Black Girls Aren’t Being Allowed To Be Kids (VIDEO)


In recent years, studies have showed that black children are disciplined more severely than their white counterparts in school, and also face more heavy-handed treatment by police and the courts. A recent study from Georgetown Law’s Center on Poverty and Inequality suggests that part of the answer may be that black girls are perceived as being less innocent than their white counterparts.


The study was rolled out on Tuesday night. Watch a video accompanying its announcement here.

The findings are nothing short of staggering. Center director Rebecca Epstein and her two colleagues, Jamilia Blake of Texas A&M and Thalia Gonzalez of Occidental College, asked 325 adults a series of questions about white girls and black girls. The respondents were 74 percent white, and 69 percent of them had advanced degrees.

They discovered that black girls are seen as being more independent, more sexually mature, and more aware about adult topics than white girls. They are also seen as needing less nurturing, protection, support, and comfort than white girls. The discrepancy was especially pronounced regarding girls between the ages of 5 and 14–from kindergarten to middle school age.

In a statement, Epstein said that her research revealed black girls experience what she and her colleagues call “adultification”–the perception that black girls are older than they really are. As she and her colleagues see it, this trend strips black children of “the very essence of what makes childhood distinct from all other developmental periods: innocence.” As a result, their mistakes are seen as deliberate, rather than the product of “immature decision-making.” Small wonder that the study is entitled “Girlhood Interrupted.”

The findings of Epstein’s team closely match a number of earlier studies which found that society often treats black girls in the same manner as full-grown women. Many of these studies show that black girls are frequently disciplined more harshly for perceived misbehavior than their white counterparts.


They also closely track with a study conducted in 2014 by Philip Goff that revealed black boys from age 10 onward are seen as older and more culpable than their white counterparts. Significantly, a number of veteran police officers interviewed by Goff’s team believed that black teens suspected of committing felonies were as much as 4.5 years older than they actually were.

This is an important consideration. On paper, children are supposed to receive greater leniency from the criminal-justice system. However, as the authors point out in the introduction, this assumes that “the particular child who stands before the court is, in fact, a child.” Childhood is considered a social construct–and a number of studies show that perception is “informed by race.” Indeed, an earlier study by Priscilla Ocen suggested that as the courts began finding that children should be treated more leniently for their actions, black children’s legal position remained largely unchanged in practice.

Epstein and her team found that the discrepancies black girls face at school and in the juvenile justice system compared to their white counterparts are directly linked to this trend of “adultification.” They found that black girls are five times more likely to be suspended from school than their white counterparts. As Epstein and her team see it, this is a natural result of black girls being seen as less innocent than white girls.

“Simply put, if authorities in public systems view black girls as less innocent, less needing of protection, and generally more like adults, it appears likely that they would also view black girls as more culpable for their actions and, on that basis, punish them more harshly despite their status as children.”

Additionally, the perception that black girls do not need as much mentoring or support as their white counterparts could affect their chances at getting leadership and mentorship opportunities.


Epstein and her team found enough alarm bells to call for greater research into the potential links between adultification of black girls and the treatment they face at school and from the justice system. Additionally, they called for policymakers and lawmakers to take a long hard look at the disparities they discovered, and urged teachers and law enforcement to receive “training on adultification” in order to address the “implicit bias against black girls.”

Hopefully someone takes a cue and does more research into this matter. If black kids are effectively being robbed of the chance to be kids, something is very wrong.

(featured image courtesy Steven Depolo, available under a Creative Commons-BY license)

Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.