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Youth Control Complex

The youth control complex theory is a sociological concept, introduced by Victor Rios, which describes the state’s criminalization, stigmatization, and punishment of youth. Rios coined the term in his 2006 article “The Hyper-Criminalization of Black and Latino Male Youth in the Era of Mass Incarceration.”

Background

Popular theories of criminal behavior in juveniles are founded on the ideological developments presented in the Chicago school between the 1920s and 1930s. The "Chicago school" refers to the body of works created by Chicago-based scholars in the sociology and criminology fields, but can also be used to refer specifically to the sociology department at the University of Chicago. Sociologists in the Chicago school utilize socioecological models in urban studies. This approach views the relationship between people and nature as co-existent. People's behaviors are linked to the environment that they are in. This model challenges theories which view criminal behavior as a result of individual choices.

The culture of poverty theory was introduced by Oscar Lewis to describe the cyclical way impoverished people develop behaviors and attitudes which maintain their position as a social underclass. Lewis's 1959 ethnography Five Families: Mexican Case Studies in the Culture of Poverty conceptualized this theory and directly influenced American policy on poverty. The Moynihan Report, written by Daniel Patrick Moynihan in 1965, the Assistant Secretary of Labor under Lyndon B. Johnson. He published the report using data from the Labor Department.

[T]he Negro community has been forced into a matriarchal structure which, because it is so out of line with the rest of the American society, seriously retards the progress of the group as a whole ... it is clearly a disadvantage for a minority group to be operating on one principle, while the great majority of the population, and the one with the most advantages to begin with, is operating on another.

Moynihan's pathologizing of poverty among African Americans as a result of a cultural environment maintained by African Americans essentializes poverty as a function of the African American "subculture". Both Lewis and Moynihan's theorizations of poverty are types of cultural deviance theories. Cultural deviance theories assert delinquent behavior is a result of socialization through the "deviant" norms and practices of a particular social group or subculture. Rios's theory of the youth control complex differs from these theories by approaching delinquent behavior in juveniles as a result of the environment created by social institutions on a systemic level.

Ultimately, in the era of mass incarceration, a "youth control complex" created by a network of racialized criminalization and punishment deployed from various institutions of control and socialization has formed to manage, control, and incapacitate Black and Latino youth.

Rios's study uses ethnographic interviews to document the experiences of 20 Black and 20 Latino boys between the ages of 14-18 living in the Bay Area of northern California. 10 of the boys had never been arrested and served as a control group for the study. Rios found that the majority of the boys who had been arrested had not committed violent crimes. However, non-violent offenders still experience the fullest extent of criminalization and punishment under the punitive juvenile justice system.

History of Juvenile Justice in the US

See also: American juvenile justice system

The juvenile justice system in the United States began in the Reformation Era of the 1900s under the ideology that juvenile offenders should "be made to feel that [they are] the object of [the state's] care and solicitude" for the state to effectively rehabilitate them. Under the legal doctrine of Parens patriae, the state becomes the parent of juvenile offenders and assumes responsibility for the offender's best interests. This legal doctrine was introduced in the Juvenile Court Act which was passed in Illinois in 1899. The Juvenile Court Act became the standard for handling juvenile cases throughout the country and established a separation between the process of handling juvenile and adult offenders in court. The Act served to protect children under the age of 16 who were considered dependent or neglected according to a list of characteristics which included houselessness and lack of "proper parental care or guardianship".

With the beginning of the War on Poverty in 1964, under the administration of Lyndon B. Johnson, the juvenile justice system began to move from an ethos of reform and care towards a system of punishment. The legal doctrine of just deserts created a system where justice is conceptualized as the return of suffering onto an offender when that offender causes suffering by breaking the law. In re Gault 387 U.S. 1 (1967) is an establishing case for the use of retributive justice in the juvenile court system. 15-year old Gerald Gault was sentenced to serve six years in juvenile detention for making a lewd phone call to a woman neighbor. The procedural choices of the court during Gault's case resulted in his parents not being notified of his arrest or detention, his accuser not being present during his hearings, his hearings not being recorded, and neither Gault nor his parents being made aware of court documents relevant to his case, such as reports made by probation officers. An adult in Gault's position would have faced a maximum of $50 in fines and up to two months in jail. Gault's parents ultimately succeeded in the Supreme Court of the United States and Gault's case was overturned. The Court decided that Gault had a right to the same protections under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. While this decision benefited Gault, it set precedent for the juvenile court system to begin to operate on some of the same terms as the adult criminal system.

Criminalization of Girls

While Rios's essay focuses on the stories of boys, there is a global "girls crisis" in the justice system. The global population of women and girls in prison increased from 466,000 in 2000 to 714,000 in 2017. The rate of incarceration for women and girls has outpaced the rate of incarceration for men and boys by 50% since the 1980s. On average, 1 in 56 women will likely be incarcerated in their lifetime. These rates increase to 1 in 18 for Black women and 1 in 45 for Latina women. The rate for white women is 1 in 111.

Early conceptions of criminality in women and girls took stances invested in the maintenance of the purity and virtue of women. Prevailing narratives characterized criminality as a result of the demoralization of women and girls, or the lack of proper socialization into the framework of femininity embraced by society. American sociologist William Isaac Thomas published The Unadjusted Girl in 1923. In this book, Thomas argued that a girl's sex is a source of capital used to achieve non-sexual wishes. He believed that vanity and self-satisfying activities were the root causes of delinquency in girls, and that girls participated in criminal behaviors due to their efforts to have a good time through the acquirement of material goods and affection.

However, feminist scholars of criminology challenge these man-centric conceptions of women and girl's crimes by analyzing the social factors which lead women and girls into criminal behavior. One feminist viewpoint is the "evil women" hypothesis which asserts that women and girls receive harsher punishment under the law because their offenses violate both legal and social expectations. As women and girls commit crimes, they are stepping outside of the roles established for them based on their gender. This view can be supported by the fact that girls tend to be incarcerated on status offenses. In 2001, 40.5% of all girls in detention in the United States were charged with status offenses or violations of probation, while only 25% of boys were incarcerated on the same charges. As status offenses are limited by age, they are also influenced by the social expectations placed on minors. Girls are more likely to be punished for offenses like truancy and curfew violations, while boys are granted more freedom along these lines.

Within these statistics, girls of color are more harshly impacted and punished for defying social norms and legal rules. White girls' deviant behavior is associated more frequently with a failure on the part of society to properly care for the girl, while girls of color's deviant behavior is blamed on their individual lifestyle choices. Studies show that Black girls, even when compared to Black boys, are subjected to adultification at earlier ages than their peers. This results in Black girls facing more harsh and more frequent disciplinary action in schools and the juvenile justice system.

Combating the Youth Control Complex

The issues facing youth in the age of the prison industrial complex are deeply rooted in the way that society chooses to position youth as a social class. The "undoing" of the youth control complex requires a willingness to dismantle the structures of oppression used to target youth for stigmatization, criminalization, and punishment. Rather than treating young people as a disposable surplus population whose only capital is their ability to take up space in the carceral state, society must reposition youth as valuable in their personhood. There are various organizations and non-profit efforts working towards the rehumanization of youth.

Free-Dem Foundations

Free-Dem Foundations, an organization established in 2017 by three Black men who were wrongly convicted and sentenced to die in Angola Prison, has a mission to "help our disregarded youth with the critical transition from childhood to adulthood [through] vocational training, community engagement, youth leadership/advocacy and pre-adult transitional services." Robert Jones, Jerome Morgan, and Daniel Rideau were convicted of crimes when they were 21, 17, and 19 years old respectively, and were all sentenced to "life" in prison; the three men characterize the sentences as death in prison.

Morgan and Rideau re-established themselves after their exoneration through the Resurrection After Exoneration (RAE) program. RAE was established in 2007 by John Thompson, another Black man arrested at 22 years old and sentenced to death row in Angola Prison, to support formerly incarcerated people by providing access to educational opportunities and counseling. In its earliest days, RAE operated as a residential educational program in a "run-down" building, which Thompson personally remodeled, in the Tremé neighborhood of Louisiana. Thompson provided overflow housing out of his own home, offered computer classes, answered emergency calls, and helped people recover from their substance abuse. RAE also operated a barbershop where Black youth could develop barbering skills under the mentorship of previously incarcerated people. This vocational training is what helped Morgan and Rideau get on their feet after their releases. Unfortunately, RAE was burglarized in 2016 and robbed of all the equipment and resources used for its outreach projects. John Thompson passed away from a heart attack in October of 2017.

Morgan and Rideau took the skills they developed in Thompson's barbershop and established the Real Gentleman Barbershop in 2014. The barbershop serves as its own business but works in tandem with Jones, Morgan, and Rideau's efforts through the Free-Dem Foundation. One of their primary outreach models is the mentoring curriculum they call the "Gentleman Course" or "G-Course". The course is six months long and is available to 17-24 year olds who are eligible to be enrolled in a Louisiana apprenticeship or trade program. Their curriculum consists of three phases: (1) the "Green" phase, which covers topics like etiquette and life purpose; (2) the "Red" phase, which covers topics like respect and moral compass; and (3) the "Black" phase, which engages youth on critical thinking and writing skills, financial literacy, and self-empowerment. Youth can achieve the honorary "Gold" status by taking their experience under the mentorship of Free-Dem Foundations and starting their own businesses where they can mentor others in the same mission. By equipping youth with life skills, Free-Dem Foundations provides a sense of self-sustainability and purpose which can prevent youth from engaging in behaviors which may increase their risk of coming into contact with law enforcement and the carceral state.

Black Youth Project 100

The Black Youth Project 100, stylized as BYP100, was established in 2013 as a member-based organization with an "agenda to build Black futures" through a Black, queer, feminist lens. BYP100 was originally a hashtag for a conference lead by Dr. Cathy Cohen called "Beyond November Movement Convening". The purpose of the conference was to build Black movements that extended beyond voting and elections. During this conference, however, participants learned that the George Zimmerman verdict would be announced. After hearing that Zimmerman was found "not guilty" for the murder of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year old Black boy, the participants at the conference decided collectively that they needed to put their "anger into action", and BYP100 was born out of that experience.

Our communities deserve bold shifts in economic policy in order to acquire the resources needed to build healthy lives, strong families, and communities. The Agenda to Build Black Futures is a call for change.

BYP100's Agenda to Build Black Futures consists of six primary matters: (1) Pay for Generational Oppression: Reparations Revisited, (2) Honor Workers's Rights: #BlackWorkMatters, (3) Divest and Eliminate Profit from Punishment, (4) Value the Worth of Women's Work, (5) Support Trans Wealth and Health, and (6) Stabilize and Revitalize Black Communities. The full agenda is 48-pages long and can be accessed for free in its entirety on the Agenda to Build Black Futures website.

Prisons, profit, policing, and poverty are intimately connected. Prisons are warehouses for the poor and policing is the gateway. And increasingly rich people and the multi-billion dollar security industry make money off of mass incarceration. The profit motive in the criminal injustice system is immoral and must be eliminated. Mass incarceration of Black people should not lead to unprecedented profit for corporations, government or any individuals. We must demand that all institutions divest immediately from racist and classist systems of punishment (22).

Membership in BYP100 is reserved for Black 18-35 year old activists and organizers who are committed to BYP100's five core values, which include: (1) engaging in meaningful, democratic, consensus driven action; (2) challenging and promoting the growth of the BYP100 collective; (3) honoring Black experiences and treating Black people as experts of their own experience; (4) being fully present in the work with BYP100; and (5) radically and purposefully including all Black people in BYP100's efforts. These values align with Black Feminist Epistemology, especially in honoring Black experiences. Patricia Hill Collins emphasizes in her book, Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment, that lived experience is a criterion of meaning which "[is] more believable and credible than [claims from those] who have merely read or thought about such experiences."

BYP100 offers a variety of resources and media which complement their dedication to direct action towards Black people's liberation. Through their Agenda to Build Black Futures website, BYP100 hosts shareable graphics with statistics and information regarding the social status of Black people, videos produced by community organizers and individuals sharing their stories and campaigns, links to petitions that seek to change public policy, comprehensive research reports relating to the six primary matters identified by BYP100, as well as links to similar content and a directory of Black owned businesses interested people can support.

The BYP100 collective has undertaken a number of causes which will directly affect the livelihoods of Black youth, and youth of color in general, particularly in regards to their contact with law enforcement and the carceral state. In January 2017, BYP100 organized a movement around #EraseTheDatabase to address the Chicago Police Department's use of a gang database that targets Black and Brown people for immigration raids, incarceration and criminalization, and hyperpolicing. Janae Bonsu, a BYP100 organizer and PhD student focusing on state violence against Black women, was a primary researcher for the report on the effects of the Chicago Gang Database on communities of color. She identified that out of the 64,948 people listed as having gang affiliation at the time of her research, 41.6% were Black men under 30, and more than 13,500 of the people listed had never been arrested for the three crimes Chicago Police Department has determined to be gang related.

As of March 2018, Inspector General Joseph M. Ferguson has placed the City of Chicago under review for the use of the Gang Database, citing the year-long campaign lead by BYP100 as the source of exposure for the impact of the Database on communities of color. While the decision by the Inspector General to placed the City under review is a step towards dismantling a large part of Chicago's carceral system, BYP100 remains dedicated to holding City officials accountable. BYP100, and a coalition of other organization in the Chicago community, are pushing for the Mayor and City Council of Chicago to prohibit the Chicago Police Department from sharing information in the Gang Database with other agencies, and to stop adding names to the Gang Database until the Inspector General's office has concluded their review.

BYP100 has nine chapters located in New Orleans, New York, Detroit, Washington D.C., Chicago, Durham, Jackson, Milwaukee, and the San Francisco Bay Area, but also recognize national and "squad" membership for people who live outside of the chapter cities. For all chapters, it is required that applicants are Black, between 18-35 years old, and are committed to the BYP100 mission, visions, and values, as well as a Black queer feminist politic. Squad membership additionally requires a five dollar monthly due payment which grants squad members to social media groups, BYP100 swag, attendance at regional and national events, and the ability to represent BYP100 with "expressed consent" from the organization.

BYP100 is dedicated at every level to the lives of Black people. The national board of directors consists solely of Black people, with various identities, who come from all over the country to serve as ambassadors, liasons, and organizers for BYP100's national structure. Their national staff likewise consists of Black people with various identities who serve in positions that include Communication Manager, National Policy Chair, and Training and Culture Manager. The majority of staff are queer, women, artists, and self-acknowledged unorthodox leaders. Their efforts collectively provide Black youth with the resources to create change in their communities and encourage personal development for Black people as individuals.

James B. Moran Center for Youth Advocacy

The James B. Moran Center for Youth Advocacy, frequently dubbed The Moran Center, is an organization that was established in 1981 to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline through holistic legal and social work programs. The Center is named after James B. Moran, a former U.S. District Judge who served from 1979 to 1995. Moran's career was marked by praise for his fairness and compassion for the people who came into his courtroom. According to the Center, Moran was "committed to public service" and had a passion for youth advocacy. The Center dedicates itself to "ensuring justice and restoring hope...because all kids deserve: justice in the courtroom, access to the classroom, and support in the community." The Center operates in Evanston, Illinois and is a member of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association.

The Center works with youth up to 21 years old and provides free services to participants who are: (1) 21 or younger, or the parents of someone aged 21 or younger; (2) living at or below 80% of the poverty threshold; and (3) live in or attend school in Evanston. The Center provides direct legal representation to appropriately aged people in juvenile, adult criminal, school discipline, school special education, and ordinance violation hearings. In April 2018, the Center opened a free civil legal clinic at Chute Middle School in Evanston, where they provide free information and legal assistance on non-criminal issues from adoption to immigration. Unlike their other programs, this clinic is meant to serve adults and the families of their youth demographic.

In their work to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline, the Moran center provides direct representation and policy advocacy for youth at risk for incarceration. Their comprehensive Redirection Services include an Expungement and Sealing Help Desk which helps youth increase their chances to secure higher education, employment, and housing opportunities by removing their criminal records. They also provide a Voices, Ideas & Perspectives Program (VIP) which preemptively equips youth with communication skills that will prepare them for healthy conflict resolution and positive self-image, which can reduce their chances of engaging in behavior that increases their risk of incarceration.

These three organizations are only a small sample of the work that is being done to combat the youth control complex. While people may have different conceptions of what kind of change is necessary to create a permanent solution to the issues faced by youth in the carceral state today, it is ultimately important that the youth control complex be dismantled from all angles. Mentorship, direct action, and legal representation and reform are all necessary steps towards re-imagining the position of youth in our social structure.

See Also

• Social disorganization theory
• Strain theory
• Merton’s theories of delinquency
• Theory of relative deprivation