Critical race theory and hypercriminalization illuminate the impact of privilege and urban status on criminal justice outcomes for youth in the United States. Zero tolerance policing, lengthy sentences for repeat offenders, and the aggressive policing of quality of life crimes, such as drug use, feed into and rationalize a racialized mass incarceration system. These policies particularly target young African American males in urban areas who are routinely described as threats to public order as though their identity characteristics, rather than behaviors, determine who should be brought under criminal control.
In order to critique these policies and this language, we contrast “risk behaviors†and “threat assessments.†Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent and Adult Health, Waves 1 through 3, two hypotheses are tested. First, that urbanicity predicts risk and drug use while race and privilege mediate these relationships. Second, that urbanicity predicts contact with the criminal justice system, mediated by race, risk, and privilege. These findings confirm previous work on patterns in arrest for African American, Native American, and white youth. While white suburban youth report more risk activities, urban youth are more at risk of arrest. That risk is much greater for African Americans. Because the drug war and mass incarceration have been devastating to entire communities, it is important to investigate the policing of risk and perceived threat that leads into the pathway to prison. While each early contact with the criminal justice system accelerates this pathway, family privilege slows it down.