Girlhood
Interrupted:
The Erasure of BlackGirls’ Childhood

REBECCA EPSTEIN
JAMILIA J. BLAKETHALIA GONZÁLEZ

AcknowledgementsT

his report was made possible by the generous support of the Open Society Foundations, theNoVo Foundation, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Views expressed in this report are theauthors’ alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of these foundations.

The authors of this report are Rebecca Epstein, the Executive Director of the Georgetown Center on
Poverty and Inequality; Jamilia J. Blake, Associate Professor at Texas A&M University, and Thalia González,Associate Professor at Occidental College.
The Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality, which published this report, works with
policymakers, researchers, practitioners, and advocates to develop effective policies and practices that
alleviate poverty and inequality in the United States. The Center’s areas of anti-poverty work include national,
state, and local policy and program recommendations that help marginalized girls, promote effective
workforce and education policies and programs for disconnected youth, and develop policy to combat
deep poverty. Our strategies are to partner with agencies and non-profit organizations to host national
conferences, produce and widely disseminate in-depth reports, engage in public speaking, and participate innational coalitions and working groups.

The authors extend their deep thanks to those who offered their expertise reviewing drafts of this report:
Peter Edelman, Anne Gregory, Daniel J. Losen, and Monique W. Morris. We are also grateful for theassistance of the Center on Poverty’s Assistant, Becca Shopiro; the Center’s Research Assistants, Greg
Carter and Rachel Smith; and Professor Blake’s Research Assistants, Asha Unni and Yan Wang.

Executive SummaryT

his groundbreaking study by the
Georgetown Law Center on Poverty andInequality provides—for the first time—
data showing that adults view Black girls as
less innocent and more adult-like than their white
peers, especially in the age range of 5–14.
The report builds on similar results that haveemerged from studies of adult perceptions of Blackboys. In 2014, for example, research by Professor
Phillip Goff and colleagues revealed that beginningat the age of 10, Black boys are more likely thantheir white peers to be misperceived as older,viewed as guilty of suspected crimes, and facepolice violence if accused of a crime.1
SNAPSHOT OF THE DATA

Compared to white girls of the same age, survey
participants perceive that
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Black girls need less nurturing
Black girls need less protection
Black girls need to be supported lessBlack girls need to be comforted lessBlack girls are more independent
Black girls know more about adult topics
Black girls know more about sex

These results are profound, with far-reaching
implications. Our findings reveal a potential
contributing factor to the disproportionate rates
of punitive treatment in the education and juvenile
justice systems for Black girls.
IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM
In light of proven disparities in school discipline, wesuggest that the perception of Black girls as lessinnocent may contribute to harsher punishmentby educators and school resource officers.
Furthermore, the view that Black girls need lessnurturing, protection, and support and are more
independent may translate into fewer leadershipand mentorship opportunities in schools.

1

IN THE JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM
Given established discrepancies in law
enforcement and juvenile court practices that
disproportionately affect Black girls, the perceptionof Black girls as less innocent and more adult-likemay contribute to more punitive exercise of discretionby those in positions of authority, greater use offorce, and harsher penalties.

Call to Action
This report represents a key step in
addressing the disparate treatment
of Black girls in public systems. We
challenge researchers to develop newstudies to investigate the degree andprevalence of the adultification of Blackgirls—a term used in this report to referto the perception of Black girls as lessinnocent and more adult-like than whitegirls of the same age—as well as its
possible causal connection with negative
outcomes across a diverse range of
public systems, including education,
juvenile justice, and child welfare.
Further, we urge legislators, advocates,and policymakers to examine thedisparities that exist for Black girls in the
education and juvenile justice systems
and engage in necessary reform. Lastly,
we recommend providing individuals who
have authority over children—including
teachers and law enforcement officials—
with training on adultification to addressand counteract this manifestation of
implicit bias against Black girls. Above
all, further efforts must ensure that thevoices of Black girls themselves remain
front and center to the work.

Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood

Introduction.
The Construct of Childhood andthe Consequences of CulpabilityChildren occupy a unique position in
our public systems. Once treatedas miniature adults, our perceptionof young people’s innocence and ongoingdevelopment has led, over time, to granting
children leniency when determining theconsequences of their behavior.2 The
special legal status bestowed on youth, inparticular, is based on a well-establishedunderstanding of children’s social andpsychological development—that they shouldbe held less responsible and culpable for
their actions, and that they are capable,
through the ongoing developmental process,of rehabilitation.3 These foundational legal
and moral principles protect children from
criminalization and extend safeguards thatshield them from the harsh penalties leviedon adults.4
The United States Supreme Court has relied onthese principles to establish that children are lessculpable than adults.5 A seminal opinion, Roper
v. Simmons, held that the Eighth Amendment’s
ban on cruel and unusual punishment prohibits
the imposition of the death penalty in juvenile
cases.6 In reaching this holding, the Court
highlighted three key characteristics of youththat differentiate children from adults: theirlack of maturity, which contributes to making
impetuous decisions; their greater susceptibility
to negative influences from peers or otheroutside factors; and their still-developing
character and personality.7 Subsequent opinions
further strengthened the Court’s recognitionof distinctions between children and adults.8 In
Miller v. Alabama, the Court specifically notedthat “[j]uveniles have diminished culpability andgreater prospects for reform.”9Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood

Despite widespread recognition of children’s
unique attributes and legal status, any single
exercise of leniency is necessarily predicated on
an initial recognition that the particular child who
stands before the court is, in fact, a child—and thisrecognition is more nuanced than it might seem.
The notion of childhood is a social construct—one
that is informed by race, among other factors.10
Research has shown that Black boys, in particular,
are often perceived as less innocent and more
adult than their white male peers and, as aresult, they are more likely to be assigned greater
culpability for their actions, which increases theirrisk of contact with the juvenile justice system.11
This report refers to this phenomenon, which
effectively reduces or removes the considerationof childhood as a mediating factor in Black youths’
behavior, as “adultification”.12
To date, limited quantitative research has assessed
the existence of adultification for Black girls—that
is, the extent to which race and gender, taken
together, influence our perception of Black girls as
less innocent and more adult-like than their white
peers.13 However, preliminary hypotheses based on
research and guided by ethnographic and historicalstudies support this theory.14
Given the dearth of existing research and thesignificance of adultification to understanding theexperience of Black girls, the Center on Poverty
and Inequality and Professor Jamilia J. Blake ofTexas A&M University conducted a precedentsetting study to measure this phenomenon. Thisgroundbreaking study provides data for the firsttime revealing that adults surveyed view Black girls
as less innocent and more adult-like than whitegirls of the same age, especially between 5–14
years old.

2

This report and its underlying findings represent
a key step in addressing the disparate treatment
of Black girls in public systems. The report first
introduces the concept of adultification as it has
been applied to Black children. It then presents theresults of our research assessing whether Blackgirls are viewed as more adult and less innocent
than their white peers. Finally, it discusses theimplications of these results for Black girls in two
major public systems: education and juvenile
justice.

3

While the scope of our research is limited, the po­tential implications are profound. Further explora­tion of the implicit bias manifested in adultification
could lead legislators, advocates, and policymakers
to engage in reform to counteract negative out­
comes for Black girls. We challenge researchers todevelop new studies to investigate the degree andprevalence of adultification of Black girls, as well as
its causal connections to harmful outcomes for girls
across a diverse range of public systems, including
the education, juvenile justice, and child welfare
systems. In any such work, the voices of Black girls
themselves should remain at the center.

Girlhood
ood Inter Interrupted:
upted: The EThe Erasure
e of Blackof Black
Girls’Girls’
ChildhoodChildhood

The Theory of Adultificationof Black Children

In tracing the legal history of differential
treatment of children based on race,
Professor Priscilla Ocen has written: “[A]sthe notion of the innocent, developmental childemerged, white children began to enjoy greater[legal] protections[,] while Black children’s position
remained relatively unchanged.”15 This result isrooted in the legacy of racial discrimination in thiscountry, which historically included responding toBlack youths’ child-like behavior more punitively.16
According to Professors Michael J. Dumas andJoseph Derrick Nelson:
Beginning in slavery, Black boys and girls wereimagined as chattel and were often put to work
as young as two and three years old. Subjected
to much of the same dehumanization suffered
by Black adults, Black children were rarely
perceived as being worthy of playtime andwere severely punished for exhibiting normalchild-like behaviors.17
Recent research reveals that differential treatment
of Black male youth based on race continues
today.18 Most notably, in 2014, Professor Philip Goffand colleagues published an experimental study
demonstrating that from the age of 10, Black boys
are perceived as older and more likely to be guilty
than their white peers, and that police violenceagainst them is more justified.19 Even seasoned
police officers sampled in the study consistently
overestimated the age of Black adolescent felonysuspects by approximately 4.5 years.20 In addition,these officers assigned greater culpability toBlack male felony suspects than to white felonysuspects—whom they estimated as younger thantheir actual age.21 In essence, consistent with otherstudies, Goff’s study found that Black boys areafforded the privilege of innocence to a far lesser
extent than their white counterparts.22

Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood

Adultification Can Take
Two Essential Forms:
1.
A process of socialization, in which children function at a more mature devel
opmental stage because of situational
context and necessity, especially in lowresource community environments;23
and2.
A social or cultural stereotype that isbased on how adults perceive children“in the absence of knowledge of children’s behavior and verbalizations.24
This latter form of adultification, which isbased in part on race,25 is the subject of
this report.

Scholars have observed that Black girls, too, aresubject to adultification. Noting that our society“regularly respond[s] to Black girls as if they are
fully developed adults,” Dr. Monique W. Morris has
observed:
The assignment of more adult-likecharacteristics to the expressions of young
Black girls is a form of age compression. Alongthis truncated age continuum, Black girls arelikened more to adults than to children and aretreated as if they are willfully engaging inbehaviors typically expected of Black women .
This compression [has] stripped Black girls of
their childhood freedoms [and] renders
Black girlhood interchangeable with Black
womanhood.30

4

These perceptions are consistent with viewing Blackgirls as older than their age. In the words of one
teacher captured in a recent study by Professor
Edward W. Morris, “[T]hey think they are adults too,and they try to act like they should have control
sometimes.”31 Such comments demonstrate thatstereotypes of Black girls, interpreted as “loud,” areimbued with adult-like aspirations, and perceived,in turn, as a threat. The same study recordedteachers’ describing Black girls as exhibiting “very‘mature’ behavior socially (but not academically)sophisticated32 and ‘controlling at a young age.’ ”33
This interpretation of Black girls’ outspokenness
may be associated with the stereotype of Black
women as aggressive and dominating.34 Differencesin physical development based on the onset ofpuberty may also play a role in adultification, in lightof evidence that “on average, African American girls
mature physically at a faster rate than [w]hite girls
and as a result can be perceived as older.”35
Another important aspect of adultification forBlack girls lies in culturally rooted fantasies ofBlack girls’ sexualization.36 The commonly held
stereotype of Black girls as hypersexualized isdefined by “society’s attribution of sex as part ofthe ‘natural’ role of Black women and girls.”37 Noting
the long history of perceiving Black women as
hypersexualized, Monique W. Morris has observedthat adultification results in applying thesestereotypes to Black girls:
Caricatures of Black femininity are often
deposited into distinct chambers of our public
consciousness, narrowly defining Black female
identity and movement according to thestereotypes described by Pauli Murray as“‘female dominance’ on the one hand and loose
morals on the other hand, both growing out of
the roles forced upon them during the slavery
experience and its aftermath.” As such, in the
public’s collective consciousness, latent ideas
about Black females as hypersexual, conniving,
loud, and sassy predominate . However, age
compression renders Black girls just as
vulnerable to these aspersive representations.38

5

Three dominant paradigms of Black femi
ninity that originated in the South during
the period of slavery have persisted into
present-day culture, which “paint Black
females as hypersexual, boisterous, ag
gressive, and unscrupulous”26:•••

Sapphire (e.g., emasculating, loud,aggressive, angry, stubborn, andunfeminine);
Jezebel (e.g., hypersexualized, seductive and exploiter of men’s weaknesses); andMammy (e.g., self-sacrificing, nurtur
ing, loving, asexual).

These images and historical stereotypes
of Black women have real-life conse
quences for Black girls today. Accord
ing to Blake and colleagues, “thesestereotypes underlie the implicit biasthat shapes many [adult’s] view of Black
females [as] … sexually promiscuous,hedonistic, and in need of socialization.”27
For example, “teachers may subcon
sciously use stereotypical images ofBlack females … to interpret Black girls’
behaviors and respond more harshly toBlack girls who display behaviors that do
not align with traditional standards offemininity in which girls are expected to
be docile, diffident, and selfless.”28 Such“tainted perceptions … result in patternsof discipline intended to re-form thefemininity of African-American girls into
something more ‘acceptable.’”29

The consequences of educators’ tendencies toassociate Black girls’ behavior with stereotypesof adult Black women can be far-reaching. For
example, Edward Morris observed that Black
female students “appeared less restrained by theview of femininity as docile and compliant, andGirlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood

less expectant of male protection than [w]hite
girls in other educational research.”39 Morris foundthat teachers trained their focus on condemningsuch comportment at the expense of guiding theiracademic progress—effectively disciplining Blackgirls for perceived loud and un-ladylike behavior
that challenged their authority.40 Others have
similarly observed that Black girls are under greater
surveillance of their decorum than their white
peers.41
Perhaps most concretely, researchers suggest thatthe phenomenon of adultification may contributeto increasingly disproportionate rates of school
discipline for Black girls.42 This theme is explored indetail in this report.

“ The dominant discourses that frame
Black girls as less innocent and feminine
than all other girls likely influencethese [disproportionate] exclusionary
discipline outcomes.” 43

crimes.46 The potential effects of adultificationin the juvenile justice system for Black girls are
explored in more detail below.

Adultification Can Be
Straightforward
In addition to being perceived as more
adult-like, Black girls are also often mis
takenly perceived to be biologically older
than they are. Recently, for example, a15-year-old Black girl in New York wasarrested by police for using a student
Metrocard that is valid only for youth
younger than 19. The officers did not believe the girl’s claim that she was 15 years
old, nor the affirmations of her age thatthey obtained from each of her parents
when reached by phone. Police held thegirl in handcuffs until the girl’s motherbrought her birth certificate to the police
station. The girl was treated at a hospitalfor the damage the handcuffs inflicted
on her wrists.47 The role of stereotypes
in mistaken calculations of biologicalage for Black girls is a phenomenon thatmerits further research.

The adultification of Black girls in school canbe viewed as a reflection of similar inequities
in other public systems. As Edward Morris has
noted,“[S]chools not only serve as sites for theconstruction of race, class, and gender identities[;]
they also reproduce existing inequalities in theseareas . [S]chools solidify, or even exaggerate, theinequalities children bring with them to school.”44
One example is the differential treatment of Blackgirls in the juvenile justice system. Ocen argues
that the legacy of gender and race discrimination
has been layered onto Black girls to contributeto higher rates of criminalization: “[H]istoriesof racial and gender subordination, including
slavery and Jim Crow, have interacted with thecategory of childhood to create a liminal categoryof childhood that renders Black girls vulnerable tocriminalization.”45 Indeed, Goff’s study showedjust this result for Black boys: officers not only
perceived Black boys as older, but also assigned
them greater culpability for suspected felony

Ultimately, adultification is a form of
dehumanization, robbing Black children of thevery essence of what makes childhood distinct
from all other developmental periods: innocence.
Adultification contributes to a false narrativethat Black youths’ transgressions are intentionaland malicious, instead of the result of immature
decision-making—a key characteristic of childhood.
In essence, “the adultification stereotype resultsin some [Black] children not being afforded theopportunity”48 to make mistakes and to learn, grow,and benefit from correction for youthful missteps
to the same degree as white children. Our study
shows that Black girls experience this stereotype
directly.

Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood

6

Our Study:
Adults’ Perceptions of Black Girlhood

O

METHODOLOGY

ur study sought to determine whether
adults assign Black girls qualities that
render them more like adults—and lessinnocent—than their white peers. To do so, we
adapted a scale assessing childhood innocencethat was originally developed by Goff andcolleagues. Our scale was comprised of items
associated with adultification and stereotypes
about Black women and girls.49 Similar to Goff’s
study, we divided the period of childhood andadolescence into four age brackets: 0–4; 5–9;
10–14; and 15–19 years old.
We surveyed 325 adults from various racial andethnic backgrounds and different educational
levels across the United States who were recruited
through an online service in order to obtain acommunity sample of typical adults.50 Participants
were predominantly white (74 percent)51 and female(62 percent). Thirty-nine percent were 25–34 years
old. Information regarding respondents’ occupations
was not assessed, but sixty-nine percent held adegree beyond a high school diploma.
Participants completed a nine-item questionnaire.
Respondents were not informed of the survey’s
purpose, but instead were asked only to complete
a questionnaire about their beliefs about children’sdevelopment in the 21st century. Each participant
was randomly assigned either to a questionnairethat asked about the respondent’s perceptionof Black girls, or to a questionnaire that asked
the same questions about the respondent’s
perception of white girls. This allowed us to obtainan independent evaluation of respondents’ viewsof Black and white girls irrespective of girls of otherethnic/racial groups. The questionnaires asked
participants to respond to inquiries for each age
bracket, including the following:

7

How often do Black [or white] females take on
adult responsibilities?
How much do Black [or white] females seem
older than their age?
How much do Black [or white] females need tobe supported?
How much do Black [or white] females need tobe comforted?
How independent are Black [or white] females?
How knowledgeable are Black [or white]females about sex?
For each item, respondents used the following
5-point response scale: (1) not at all; (2) a little;(3) undecided; (4) somewhat; and (5) a greatdeal. We compared the ratings by respondents
who completed the questionnaire for Blackgirls to those by respondents who completed
questionnaire for white girls using measurement
invariance analyses. This advanced statisticaltechnique allowed us to examine whether
differences existed in adults’ perceptions ofBlack and white females at differing age groups
and provided a test of mean differences in thelatent construct of adultification between Blackand white girls. Latent mean comparisons betteraccount for measurement error across groups
that might bias or undermine results, which could
contribute to misinterpretation of the findings.52
This approach strengthens the basis of our findingsof adultification ratings.

Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood

0.40

Adultification

0.35
0.30

Black Girls

0.25
0.20
0.15
0.10

White Girls

0.05
Age Group 1(0-4)

Age Group 2(5-9)

Age Group 3(10-14)Age Group 4(15-19)Note: Adultification scores presented in the figure represent latent mean scores. White females serve as the reference group (i.e., the control group),
and as such their adultification score is fixed at zero. The magnitude of the latent mean scores for each group shown is not based on the response
scale as it represents a latent composite of all the items. Thus, the magnitude of these scores cannot be interpreted literally (e.g., as a percentage).
Higher latent scores of adultification presented on the y-axis in the figure reflect respondents’ greater perceptions of adultification for that group.

RESULTSSIGNIFICANCE

Across all age ranges, participants viewed Blackgirls collectively as more adult than white girls.
Responses revealed, in particular, that participants
perceived Black girls as needing less protection andnurturing than white girls, and that Black girls wereperceived to know more about adult topics and are
more knowledgeable about sex than their white
peers. The most significant differences were foundin the age brackets that encompass mid-childhoodand early adolescence—ages 5–9 and 10–14—
and continued to a lesser degree in the 15- to
19-year-old age bracket. No statistically significant
differences were found in the age group 0–4.

These results suggest that Black girls are viewed
as more adult than their white peers at almost allstages of childhood, beginning most significantly
at the age of 5, peaking during the ages of 10 to14, and continuing during the ages of 15 to 19. In
essence, adults appear to place distinct views andexpectations on Black girls that characterize themas developmentally older than their white peers,
especially in mid-childhood and early adolescence—
critical periods for healthy identity development.

That is, beginning as early as 5 years of age, Blackgirls were more likely to be viewed as behavingand seeming older than their stated age; more
knowledgeable about adult topics, including sex; andmore likely to take on adult roles and responsibilities
than what would have been expected for their age.

Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood

The significance of this result lies in the potential
for adultification to act as a contributing cause of
the demonstrated harsher treatment of Black girls
when compared to white girls of the same age.
Simply put, if authorities in public systems view Blackgirls as less innocent, less needing of protection,and generally more like adults, it appears likely thatthey would also view Black girls as more culpablefor their actions and, on that basis, punish themmore harshly despite their status as children. Thus,
adultification may serve as a contributing cause of
the disproportionality in school discipline outcomes,harsher treatment by law enforcement, and thedifferentiated exercise of discretion by officials
across the spectrum of the juvenile justice system.

8

Potential Implicationsof Our FindingsAlthough the precise nature of the causal
connection between adultification andpunishment/criminalization lies beyond
the scope of this report, this section outlines
potential implications of our findings in two
public systems: education and juvenile justice.
Future research is needed to delve deeper into
these and other consequences of adultification.
ADULTIFICATION’S POTENTIAL ROLE INSCHOOL DISPARITIES FOR BLACK GIRLS“experience exclusionary discipline outcomes for
subjective reasons, such as disobedience/defiance,
detrimental behavior, and third-degree assault,
all of which depend on the subjective judgment ofschool personnel.”54 Some research indicates that
Black girls may also be punished more harshly thantheir peers for the same behaviors when referredto the disciplinary office.55 These subjective
determinations can turn on school authorities’
adultification of Black girls.

The disproportionate rates of school discipline forBlack girls are well established.53 Significant to theresults of our study, Black girls are more likely to

The consequences for such punishment are
profound: researchers have determined thatstudents are more likely to be arrested on days they
are suspended from school, and that suspensions
are connected to higher dropout rates and increased
risk of contact with the juvenile justice system.56

Rates of Suspensions for
Girls in K-12 in the 2013-2014
School Year by Race

Percentage of Girls Referred to Law
Enforcement or Arrested at School in
the 2013-14 School Year by RaceDISCIPLINE% of All Girls Enrolled% of Enrollment% of Single Suspensions% of All Girls Referred to Law Enforcement% of In-School Suspensions% of Multiple Suspensions% of All Girls Arrested

60%

60%
52.0%

50.1%

50.1%

50%

50%
41.6%

40%

40%

36.6%

37.3%
34.3%

32.9%
28.4%

30%

28.2%

30%

30.2%

22.7%

20%

20%

15.6%

10%

15.6%

10%

Black Girls

White GirlsBlack Girls

White Girls

Source: Nat’l WomeN’s laW Ctr., stoppiNg sChool pushout for girls ofColor 15 fig.6 (2017).

Source: Nat’l WomeN’s laW Ctr., stoppiNg sChool pushout for girls ofColor 13 fig.5 (2017).

9

Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood

Black Girls Are More Likely to Be
Disciplined for Subjective Infractions*Suspension Risk
for Black Girls AcrossDevelopmental Periods(2013-2014)

For Minor Violations(Dress code violations, Inappropriate Cell Phone Use, Loitering)

1.3x

2x

White
Girls

Black
Girls

White
Boys

Black
Boys

For Disobedience

1.5x

2.5x

White
Girls

Black
Girls

White
Boys

1.5x

3x

Black
Girls

White
Boys

Black
Boys

1.6x

3x

Black
Girls

13%
OF STUDENTS
SUSPENDED*For Fighting

White
Girls

8%

OF ENROLLMENT

Black
Boys

For Disruptive Behavior

White
Girls

Black Girls in
K-12 Schools:

White
Boys

Black
Boys

For Bullying/Harassment

1.5x

3x

White
Girls

Black
Girls

White
Boys

Black
Boys

* One or more out-of-school suspensions* Note: This study was conducted in one school district in Kentucky

Source: Edward W. Morris & Brea L. Perry, Girls Behaving Badly? Race, Gender, & Subjective
Evaluation in the Discipline of Af. Am. Girls, 90 soCiology of eduC. 127 (2017).

Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood

Source: off. for Civ. rts., u.s. dep’t of eduC.,
Civil rights data ColleCtioN: a first look: key
data highlights oN equity & opportuNity gaps
iN our NatioN’s publiC sChools (2016).

10

“ Exploring disciplinary discrepancies
for Black girls, including in relation towhite girls, is critical. “When studies
have explored the discipline experiencesof Black females[,] research has mainly
focused on Black girls’ discipline
sanctions in relation to Black boys, withBlack girls rarely mentioned outside ofdescriptive statistics.” 57
Few scholars have thoroughly investigated why
Black girls are subjected to this differential
treatment. However, our findings on theadultification of Black girls may shed new light ona potential cause of these trends. Similar to Goffand colleagues’ finding that adults’ perception ofBlack boys as older is intertwined with holding
them more culpable for their actions, educatorsand school-based police officers, among others,
may also be more likely to view Black girls as older
and less innocent. In other words, adultification
may result in disciplinary decision-makers’ viewing
Black girls’ behavior as “more [intentionally]
harmful than [similar behavior exhibited by] othergirls”.58“ Black girls possess varied experiences
and skills, all of which need to be viewed
as strengths. In other words, there area multitude of ways of being a Black
girl, and no one set of behaviors should
be expected or demanded from them
to be given equal access to educational
opportunity.” 59

11

Leadership and
Mentorship Opportunities
The consequences of adultification inschool may not necessarily be limited to
discipline. For example, some scholars
have argued that teachers’ perceptionsof students as adult-like may interferewith providing leadership development
opportunities. As revealed in a study in a
public middle school, in which students
overlap with the age ranges in our study
that demonstrated the most significant
rates of adultification: “the adultificationof Black girls can lead to a perceptionof them as aggressively feminine, which
can justify restriction of their inquisitiveness and assertiveness in classrooms.”60
Adultification may also affect mentorship
opportunities. A recent report publishedby the African American Policy Forumand the Center for Intersectionality and
Policy Studies noted: “Black girls sometimes get less attention than their malecounterparts early in their school careers
and … are perceived to be more sociallymature and self-reliant. The lack of attention can become the touchstone ofbenign neglect that may diminish school
attachment in high-achieving female
students.”61A related vignette in Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in
Schools describing a teacher’s response
to a Black girl’s question appears to illustrate this phenomenon: “You alreadyknow that; you are just asking to get
attention.”62 The perception that Blackgirls do not merit nurturing or that theirleadership qualities should be restricted
could be associated with our findingthat adults believe that Black girls do notneed protection or nurturing and could
affect opportunities for success.

Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood

JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM
As stated above, the differential treatment ofBlack girls in public systems extends beyond theclassroom and into the juvenile justice system.
Broad discretion is granted to decision-makers
across the juvenile justice system, including police
officers, probation officers, defense attorneys,63
prosecutors, and judges. And from arrests toprosecutions, Black girls face more punitive
treatment compared to their peers.64 For example,
past research has shown that prosecutors
exercised discretion to dismiss, on average, only
three out of every ten cases for Black girls, but

Racial Disparities
in Formal Petitions

dismissed seven out of every ten cases involving
white girls.65 In addition, Black girls do not receive
equal opportunities for diversion comparedto their white peers—i.e., strategies offered at
the discretion of prosecutors that hold youth
accountable for their actions but which avoid
formal processing.66 Further, Black girls are threetimes more likely to be removed from their homes
and placed in state custody in either a secure or
locked facility67 or a residential facility68 than their
white peers.69 In fact, Black girls consistently receive
more severe dispositions even after accounting forseriousness of the offense, prior record, and age.70

National Portrait of Black Girls’
Experience in Juvenile Justice (2013)

2.7x
MORE LIKELYBLACK GIRLS ARE

20%
MORE LIKELY THAN WHITE GIRLS
TO BE FORMALLY PETITIONED*

than white females to bereferred to juvenile justice

0.8x
LESS LIKELY
than white females tohave their cases diverted

1.2x
MORE LIKELY
than white females
to be detained

Source: fraNCiNe t. shermaN & aNNie balCk, geNder iNjustiCe 6 (2015),
http://nationalcrittenton.org/gender-injustice (citing Charles Puzzanchera & Sarah Hockenberry, Nat’l Disproportionate Minority Contact
Databook, off. of juv. just. & deliNq. preveNtioN, u.s. dep’t. of just., http://
www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/dmcdb/ (last accessed May 24, 2017)).

Source: Charles Puzzanchera & Sarah Hockenberry, Nat’l Disproportionate Minority Contact Databook, off. of juv. just. & deliNq. preveNtioN,
u.s. dep’t. of just., http://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/dmcdb/ (last accessed
May 24, 2017).

Note: A formal petition “is the charging document filed in juvenile court by the state. A petition formally initiates a juvenile proceeding alleging thata juvenile is delinquent and describing the alleged offenses committed by that child. It is similar to a complaint in adult court.” See http://njdc.info/
juvenile-court-terminology/

Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood

12

ConclusionWhile a full exploration of potential
implications of adultification lies
beyond the scope of this report,
consequences may be found in other public
sectors as well. For example, adultification may
play a role in the child welfare system, which isbased on the foundational principle of serving
to nurture and protect youth. Authorities
in this system who view Black girls as more
independent and less needing of nurtureand protection may assign them different
placement or treatment plans from white girls.
Regardless of the specific context, all Black girls
are entitled to, and deserve, equal treatment,
including equal access to the protections thatare accepted as necessary and appropriate forchildren. Recognizing the bias underlying theadultification of Black girls is an important step
toward that goal.
New studies are needed to determine the causal
links between adultification of Black girls andpunitive treatment in child-serving public sectors

Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhoodand to investigate differences in results among
the various age brackets. Future research should
also examine whether the same or similar formsof bias is manifested against other girls of color.
The results of such research could help inform thedevelopment of trainings and shape the contoursof policy and practice reform.
The results of our research suggest that Black girls
bear the brunt of a double bind: viewed as more
adult than their white peers, they may be more likely
to be disciplined for their actions, and yet they arealso more vulnerable to the discretionary authorityof teachers and law enforcement than their adultcounterparts. As Ocen writes, “[L]iminal children …
are viewed as dependent, limited rights-bearing
subjects while at the same time imbued with adultcharacteristics such a sexual maturity, individual
agency and criminal responsibility. Thus, they are
directed into rather than out of the juvenile justicesystem.”79 Only by recognizing the phenomenon of
adultification can we overcome the perception that“[i]nnocence, like freedom, is a privilege.”8014Research
Citations
1

Phillip Atiba Goff et al., The Essence of Innocence:
Consequences of Dehumanizing Black Children,
106 j. of persoNality & soC. psyChol. 526 (2014).

2

For a discussion of the evolution of childdevelopment theories, see, for example,
speNCer a. rathus, Childhood & adolesCeNCe:voyages iN developmeNt (5th ed. 2013).

3

4

The MacArthur Foundation’s Network on
Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justicewebsite lists several resources on this topic,
including research finding that psychosocial
maturity is delayed for several years beyond
16, when adolescents reach cognitive maturity,
affecting adolescents’ impulsivity, susceptibility
to peer pressure, sensation seeking and ability
to assess risk at least until the age of 18 and insome cases for years thereafter. See Laurence
Steinberg et al., Are Adolescents Less MatureThan Adults? Minors’ Access to Abortion, the Juv.
Death Penalty, & the Alleged APA “Flip-Flop”, 64
am. psyChol. 583 (2009).
These principles led to the establishment of
the juvenile justice system. Steven M. Cox et al.,Juvenile Justice in Historical Perspective, in juveNile
justiCe iN perspeCtive: a guide to theory, poliCy, &praCtiCe 8-9 (6th ed. 2008) (“The delinquent
child had ceased to be a criminal and had thestatus of a child in need of care, protection,and discipline directed toward rehabilitation.”)(internal citation omitted).

5

See Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551, 602 (2005).

6

Id. at 568.

7

See id. at 569-70.

15

8

See Graham v. Florida, 130 S. Ct. 2011, 2030
(2010) (establishing that life sentences
without possibility of parole are inappropriate
for juveniles convicted of non-homicide
crimes); Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460, 465(2012) (holding that mandatory life-withoutparole sentences for juveniles violate Eighth
Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual
punishment); see also Goff, supra note 1.

9Miller, 567 U.S. at 471.

10

See Priscilla A. Ocen, (E)racing Childhood:
Examining the Racialized Construction ofChildhood & Innocence in the Treatment of
Sexually Exploited Minors, 2 uCla l. rev. 1586,
1600 (2015); Goff, supra note 1, at 527.

11

Id. The topic of adultification of girls of otherraces has been even less explored, and shouldbe pursued.

12

See Goff, supra note 1. Note that the term
“adultification” is sometimes used to refer toa distinct phenomenon in which children who
are assigned adult responsibilities behave inways that are more adult-like than their peers.
For purposes of this report, adultification refers
to adults’ generalized perception of Blackgirls as more adult, without reference to theirindividual behaviors.

13

See, e.g., Jamilia Blake et al., Unmasking theInequitable Discipline Experiences of Urb. BlackGirls: Implications for Urb. Educ. Stakeholders,
43 urb. rev. 90 (2011) (“[L]ess is known about
the types of behavioral infractions Black female
students exhibit and the discipline sanctions
imposed for Black girls for such fractions”);
Jyoti Nanda, Blind Discretion: Girls of Color &Delinquency in the Juv. Just. Sys., 59 UCLA L. rev.
1502, 1521 (2012) (“While numerous studies
over the past decade have examined anddocumented that at every state of the juvenile
justice system youth of color ‘are more likely[than white youth] to be arrested, charged,
detained, sentenced severely, and tried as
adults,’ very few studies have examined theGirlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood

14intersections of race and gender.”) (internal
citations omitted); Lori Guevara, Gender &Juv. Just. Decision Making: What Role Does Race
Play?, 1 femiNist CrimiNology 258, 264 (2006) (“Todate, only a few studies examine the influenceof both race and gender on juvenile court
outcomes.”).

26

Jamilia J. Blake, Bettie Ray Butler & Danielle
Smith, Challenging Middle-Class Notionsof Femininity: The Cause of Black Females’
Disproportionate Suspension Rates, in ClosiNg
the sChool disCipliNe gap: equitable remedies for
exCessive exClusioN 75, 76 (Daniel J. Losen ed.,2015).

See Jamilia J. Blake et al., The Role of Colorism in
Explaining Afr. Am. Females’ Suspension Risk, 32
sCh. psyChol. Q. 118 (2017).

27

Id.

28

Blake et al., supra note 13, at 93.

29

Edward W. Morris, “Ladies” or “Loudies”?
Perceptions & Experiences of Black Girls inClassrooms, 38 youth & soC’y 490, 511 (2007).

30

moNique W. morris, pushout: the CrimiNalizatioN of
blaCk girls iN sChools 34 (2016).

31

Morris, supra note 29, at 502 (emphasis
added).

32

Id.

33

Id. at 502-03.

34

See id. at 503.

35

Nanda, supra note 13, at 1520-21 n.88.

36

Morris, supra note 29, at 502-03; morris, supranote 30, at 129 (discussing critiques of media
representations of Black girls, which “reflect
fantasy, which often reduces Black femininity
to the size of her backside—and how fast orforcefully she can make it gyrate”).

37

Sika Dagbovie-Mullins, Pigtails, Ponytails,& Getting Tail: The Infantilization & HyperSexualization of Af. Am. Females in Popular
Culture, 46 J. of popular Culture 745 (2013).
Muhammed and McArthur define thehypersexualization of Black women and girls“as others in society’s attribution of sex as apart of the ‘natural’ role of Black women andgirls.” Gholnecsar E. Muhammad & Sherell A.
McArthur,“Styled by Their Perceptions”: Black
Adolescent Girls Interpret Representations of Black
Females in Popular Culture, 17 multiCultural
persp. 133, 138 (2015).

15

See Ocen, supra note 10, at 1600.

16

Wilma kiNg, afriCaN ameriCaN Childhoods: historiCal
perspeCtives from slavery to Civil rights (2005).

17

18

Michael J. Dumas & Joseph Derrick Nelson,(Re)Imagining Black Boyhood: Toward a Critical
Framework for Educ. Res., 86 harv. eduC. rev. 27,
33 (2016).
See Sandra Graham & Brian S. Lowery, Priming
Unconscious Racial Stereotypes about Adolescent
Offenders, 28 L. & hum. behav. 483, 493, 496(2004); Aneeta Rattan et al., Race & the Fragilityof the Legal Distinction between Juveniles & Adults,
7 plos ONE e36680 (2012).

19

Goff, supra note 1.

20

See id.

21

See id. at 535-39.

22

See id. at 539-40. See also Walter s. gilliam etal., yale uNiv. Child study Ctr., a researCh study
brief: do early eduCators’ impliCit biases regardiNg
sex & raCe relate to behavior expeCtatioNs &reCommeNdatioNs of presChool expulsioNs &suspeNsioNs? (Sept. 28, 2016) (finding thatwhen expecting challenging behaviors frompreschool students, teachers gazed longer at
Black children, especially Black boys”).

23

See Linda Burton, Childhood Adultificationin Economically Disadvantaged Families: A
Conceptual Model, 56 family rel. 329 (2007).

24

See Blake et al., supra note 14, at 119.

25

See id.

Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood

16

38

morris, supra note 30, at 34. One girlinterviewed by Morris summarized the moregeneral issue this way: “No matter what herage, and no matter how small or big she is,a man is going to always look at [a Black girl]sexually.”

39

Morris, supra note 29, at 499.

40

Blake et al., supra note 13.

41

See Connie Wun, Against Captivity: Black Girls &Sch. Discipline Policies in the Afterlife of Slavery,
30 eduC. pol’y 171, 183 (2015); Morris, supranote 29, at 501-03; see also, e.g., Blake et al.,supra note 13; Subini A. Annamma, Black Girls& School Discipline: The Complexities of Being
Overrepresented & Understudied, 22 urb. eduC. 1,
19-20 (2016).

42

See Blake et al., supra note 13.

43

Annamma et al., supra note 41 (citing Monique
W. Morris, Race, Gender, & the School-toPrison Pipeline: Expanding Our Discussion to
Include Black Girls, afriCaN-am. pol’y forum(2012)), https://www.academia.edu/7871609/
the_school-to_prison_pipeline_expanding_our_discussion_to_include_black_girls. See also Blake
et al., supra note 13.

44

Morris, supra note 29, at 492 (discussing thetenets of reproductive theory).

45

Ocen, supra note 10, at 1600.

46

See Goff, supra note 1, at 534.

47

Rocco Paraschandola, Teen: Cop Cuffed MeWrong, N.y. daily NeWs (Aug. 4, 2012 3:10
AM), http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/
harlem-teen-cuffed-held-metrocard-flaparticle-1.1126674.

48

17

Blake et al., supra note 13, at 119. See
Blake’s discussion of adultification as a social
stereotype, id.; see also Graham & Lowery,supra note 18 (noting that juvenile probation
officers are more likely to view Black youth asolder).

49

See generally Dionne P. Stephens & Layli D.
Phillips, Freaks, Gold Diggers, Divas, & Dykes:
The Sociohistorical Dev. of Adolescent Afr. Am.
Women’s Sexual Scripts, 7 sexuality & Culture
3, 3-49 (2003); Carolyn M. West, Mammy,
Sapphire, & Jezebel: Hist. Images of Black Women& Their Implications for Psychotherapy, 32
psyChotherapy: theory, res., praC., traiNiNg 458,
458–466 (1995).

50This online platform, Amazon Mturk, isincreasingly used in social science research
to enable researchers to recruit community
samples. We used a community sample oftypical adults, as research shows that survey
results may differ from a sample of adults fromthe larger community than from a collegeenrolled sample – the sample which mostpsychological research is based. See Robert A.
Peterson, On The Use Of College Students In Soc.
Sci. Res.: Insights From A Second-Order MetaAnalysis, 28 j. CoNsumer res. 450 (2001).

51

A more detailed breakdown of the race ofparticipants follows:
74% White or European American,
11% Black or African American,
7% Hispanic or Latino/a,
4% Asian American,
4% Native American or Other.
Although this was not a nationally
representative sample, the racial demographicof the sample closely mirror the US population.
United States QuickFacts, U.S. CeNsus bureau,
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/
PST045216/00 (last accessed May 24, 2017).

52

Philipp Müller & Svenja Schäfer, Latent Mean(Comparison), in the iNterNatioNal eNCyClopedia ofCommuNiCatioN researCh methods (Jörg Matthes,
Robert F. Potter & Christine S. Davis eds.,
2018).

Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood

53

Annamma, et al. supra note 41, at 3-4. (citing
off. for Civ. rts., u.s. dep’t of eduC., Civil rights
data ColleCtioN data sNapshot: sChool disCipliNe
1, 3 (2014)); Blake et al., supra note 13; kimberléWilliams CreNshaW et al., blaCk girls matter:pushed out, overpoliCed, & uNderproteCted(2015). For more on subjective infractions, seeBlake, Butler & Smith, supra note 26; Edward
W. Morris & Brea L. Perry, The Punishment
Gap: Sch. Suspension & Racial Disparities inAchievement, 63 soC. problems 68, 70-71 (2016).

54

Annamma et al., supra note 41, at 22. In
determining third-degree assault, theactor must be found to meet the legal
standard of “recklessness.” Id. at 19-20.
Because recklessness is defined by the actor
knowing the consequences of her actions,
it entails a subjective determination that
may be vulnerable to the consequences ofadultification bias. Id.

55

Id.

56

See Kathryn C. Monahan et al., From the Sch.
Yard to the Squad Car: Sch. Discipline, Truancy,& Arrest, j. youth & adolesCeNCe (2014); daNiel j.
loseN et al., the Civil rights projeCt, out of sChool& off traCk: the overuse of suspeNsioNs iN ameriCaN
middle & high sChools 20 (Apr. 8, 2013).

57

Blake et al., supra note 13, at 91.

58

Monahan et al., supra note 56, at 19-20.

59

Annamma et al., supra note 41, at 23.

60

Morris, supra note 29.

61

CreNshaW et al., supra note 53.

62

morris, supra note 30, at 40.

Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood

63

Although defense attorneys are often left outof analyses of potential bias in the juvenile
justice system, they are not immune frommaking assumptions and stereotypes about
their clients’ likely guilt or innocence, andshould be a part of any conversation about
equitable treatment of juveniles. See, e.g.,
Kristin Henning, Director, Georgetown Juv.
Just. Clinic & Initiative, Address at The Right toRemain Children Conference: The Reasonable
Black Child (May 16, 2017), http://apps.law.
georgetown.edu/webcasts/eventDetail. cfm?
eventID=3127.

64

In addition, nationally, “Black girls represent
31% of girls referred to law enforcement byschool officials and 43% of those arrested onschool grounds, yet only constitute 17% of theoverall student population.” Nat’l WomeN’s laW
Ctr. & NaaCp legal def. & eduC. fuNd, uNloCkiNg
opportuNity for afr. am. girls 19 (2014).

65

Kim Taylor Thompson, Girl Talk—Examining
Racial & Gender Justice in Juv. Just., 6 Nev. l. j.
1137 (2006) (citing American Bar Association& National Bar Association, Justice by Gender:
The Lack of Appropriate Prevention, Diversion
and Treatment Alternatives for Girls in the
Justice System, 9 Wm. & mary j. WomeN & l. 73,
79 (2002)).

66

See Performance Measures, off. of juv. just. &deliNq. preveNtioN, u.s. dep’t. of just., https://www.ojjdp.gov/grantees/pm/glossary.html (lastaccessed May 24, 2017).

67

Ocen, supra note 10, at 1634 (citing Meda
Chesney-Lind, Jailing “Bad” Girls: Girls’ Violence& Trends in Female Incarceration, in fightiNg forgirls: NeW persps. oN geNder & violeNCe 62–63(Meda Chesney-Lind & Nikki Jones eds., 2010)).

68

Residential placements can include secure(locked) confinement, non-secure (lessrestrictive) confinement, group homes, fostercare, shelter care, etc.

18

69

70

Nat’l CouNCil oN Crime & deliNq. Ctr. for girls &youNg WomeN, gettiNg the faCts straight about
girls iN the juv. just. sys. 7 (2009).
See Nanda, supra note 13, at 1527-28 (citing
Lori D. Moore & Irene Padavic, Racial & Ethnic
Disparities in Girls’ Sentencing in the Juv. Just.
Sys., 5 femiNist CrimiNology 263 (2010)). See also
Taylor-Thompson, supra note 65, at 1142
(in a study of girls’ delinquency cases in Los
Angeles during 1992 and 1993, a review ofthe probation investigation reports, which
juvenile court judges use in determining theappropriate sentence and placement forjuvenile offenders, revealed the influenceof race and ethnicity. Specifically, the study
found a significant effect of race and ethnicity
on the depiction of the girls’ conduct and in
the recommended disposition of their cases);
CreNshaW et al., supra note 53.

71

See Nanda, supra note 13, at 1530-31.

72

See Goff, supra note 1.

73

Nanda, supra note 13, at 1520-21.

74

Zeba Blay, For Black Women, Police Brutality &Sexual Harrassment Go Hand in Hand, huffiNgtoN
post (June 8, 2015), http://www.huffingtonpost.
com/2015/06/08/black-women-policebrutality_n_7536896.html.

19

75

Id.

76

See malika saada saar, rebeCCa epsteiN & liNdsay
roseNthal, sexual abuse to prisoN pipeliNe 5, 9(2015).

77

Ocen, supra note 10, at 1591.

78

See, e.g., Mark McKechnie, The ‘Adultification’ ofUnderage Lawbreakers, the oregoNiaN (May 17,2014), http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/
index.ssf/2014/05/the_adultification_of_
underage.html (describing how an investigation
determined that taking a 9-year-old girlinto custody, placing her in handcuffs, andtransporting her downtown for fingerprinting
and photographing violated no existing policies
or statutes).

79

Ocen, supra note 10, at 1594.

80

Nicole Dennis-Benn, Innocence Is a Privilege:
Black Children Are Not Allowed to Be Innocent
in America, eleCtriC literature (July 12, 2016),
https://electricliterature.com/innocence-is-aprivilege-black-children-are-not-allowed-to-beinnocent-in-america-2c7ba2b005b3.

Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood