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From School to Prison: Why Are America's Teenagers Suffering from the 'Youth Control Complex'?
The Juvenile Control Complex is a theory proposed by Mexican-American scholar Victor M. Rios that seeks to describe a primarily penal system that treats people of color in the United States. Ethnic boys exerted systematic control and punishment. Rios emphasizes that this complex has multiple dimensions and is present throughout the daily lives of these adolescents. For example, "When a young person is casually called a 'bum,' it may seem trivial to some, but when they are told 'you will never make a difference' by a teacher and questioned by the police in the same day, The combination transcends the impact of its individual parts."
"These young people experience a kind of social death; they become outsiders before committing a crime. This positioning produces a brutal symbolic and physical violence against young people."
The origins of the complex date back to the mid-1970s. Scholars point to trends in the criminalization and surveillance of black and Latino bodies that have intensified since 9/11. Rios noted that the teen control complex shapes how young people view their future and has profound negative impacts on the mental health of black and Latino boys, while also normalizing harmful practices such as transforming schools into prison-like institutions and exacerbate child abuse.
Historical background
According to scholar Henry A. Giroux, the origins of the youth control complex began with the shift to the neoliberal state in the mid-1970s. In the context of the War on Poverty, which effectively transformed into a war on crime, law enforcement began targeting black and brown communities in the 1980s. As high-volume school shootings increased in the mid-1990s, more law enforcement agencies began entering schools. Ultimately, the Bush administration's post-9/11 war on terror led a race-war state that relied on the surveillance and criminalization of children of color. All of these historical events contributed to the creation of the school-to-prison pipeline within America’s public schools.
"Rather than spark concern for young people, Columbine prompted the development of a juvenile control complex in which crime became a fundamental axis of children's lives."
Implementation
The youth control complex exerts influence over boys of color through multiple channels including "schools, families, businesses, residents, mass media, community centers, and the criminal justice system," a system that targets boys of color long before they have the potential to engage in criminal behavior. Social control began. Rios noted that this zero-tolerance management approach imposes harsh punishments on young people from an early age and disproportionately punishes them when they fail to follow instructions.
"The ultimate intent of this complex is to subject youth of color to management, control, and powerlessness, ultimately leading them to prison, recidivism, submission, exploitation, and death."
Statistical evidence
There are many statistics showing the existence of the juvenile control complex: 95% of minors sent to adult court (tried as adults) are people of color; the odds of California youths of color being tried as adults are 2.5 times that of white children. In Florida, pretrial juvenile detention has a significant negative impact on downstream case outcomes for black juveniles, including dismissals, convictions, and sentences. In 2003, 12 percent of black men in their 20s were incarcerated, and almost 4 percent of Latino men were similarly incarcerated. A black man born in 2001 has a 3/1 chance of being incarcerated, while a Latino man has a 6/1 chance. Particularly in California, Latino youth make up 60% of the state's juvenile detainees and 36% of the state's youth prison population.
Consequences
Scholars have noted that the effects of the adolescent control complex often have long-term consequences for boys of color, including extreme anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and behavioral disorders. As this complex unfolds, young people of color begin to internalize self-criminalization because “they are already viewed as suspects in their communities.” This ultimately leads them to develop "identities that they often wish they could give up" and sometimes even embrace the criminal behavior that is expected of them.
Solution
Victor M. Rios proposes the Youth Support Complex as a solution to the Youth Control Complex, calling on legislators, law enforcement, educators and community members to work together to create a system that empowers young people To correct your own mistakes and participate in building your own future. He also called for an end to the school's zero-tolerance policy. Other scholars, meanwhile, support restorative justice in schools, which emphasizes conflict resolution rather than punishment. Local lawmakers are also working to pass legislation to end the school-to-prison pipeline. For example, Virginia Senate Bill 3 no longer allows students to be charged with misdemeanors while in school. The purpose of these changes is to fundamentally improve the situation of adolescents and guide them towards a healthy life path.
In such challenging times, can we overcome the current systemic exploitation and build a more inclusive and supportive environment for the next generation?
