Voices Matter: The Impact of Serious Legal Problems on 16- to 30-year-olds in the Black Community

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Context

COVID-19

All stages of this research happened during the COVID pandemic-related changes to social and professional gatherings. Survey respondents, focus group participants, and researchers all took part virtually. While a few participants were travelling to work as essential workers, most were at home.

The evolving scientific information and related policy changes created a general sense of uncertainty, and, for some people, anxiety, throughout the time period of this study. In response to COVID, governments were also announcing new programs, initiatives, and changes to social infrastructure. The manner and frequency of government and media messaging was focused on the pandemic, especially during the recruitment and survey portion of the study.

It would be speculative to draw any specific conclusions about the impact of this period of uncertainty on the study results. However, it is important to consider the events and climate affecting both participants and researchers during the study.

Racial Injustice Protests

This research looked specifically at the experiences of people who identify as Black. Their racial identity and the differential impact of legal problems is the key inquiry in this research. George Floyd died after being arrested by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This pivotal event occurred after the project launched, but before the first focus group was held. The protests that began in Minneapolis on 26 May 2020 galvanized new attention to the #BlackLivesMatter (#BLM) movement, including global calls to address systemic anti-Black racism, police brutality, and defunding police services. In Canada, #BLM protests took place in most cities and drew substantial crowds, despite the pandemic restrictions on social gatherings. Protests focused attention on police killings of Black and Indigenous people in Canada and on systemic racism issues in the Canadian criminal justice system. Politicians at the municipal, provincial, and national level made public statements about systemic racism and in some cases took steps aimed at police accountability.

The focus groups were held between 30 June and 19 August 2020. All participants and the researchers had a heightened awareness of the discussions of systemic racism in the justice system and in society as a whole. Participants had observations both about racism and about popular proposals to address it.

Race, Age, and Gender

In Ontario, 4.7 percent (627,715) of people identify as Black. In Toronto, the Black community makes up 8.9 percent (239,850) of the population and in Ottawa 6.6 percent (60,205). Ontario’s large urban communities have Black populations of over twice the size of the Black community in Canada (3.5 percent).2

The Black community, particularly Black-identified young people, face anti-Black racism in their civic participation, as well as in their ability to contract for housing, employment, and other basic components of everyday life. The unemployment rate for Black people in Ontario is 13 percent, compared with 7.5 percent for non-racialized people.3 Black youth face a 28 percent unemployment rate, compared with the national average for youth of 14.3 percent.4

The intersection of race and age magnifies the impact of this racism, further isolating these young people from the economic and social stability needed to establish themselves independently from their families.5 Gender adds a further intersectional dimension with young Black men and women each experiencing different impacts of racism. Social expectations of young people are gendered. At the intersection of race and gender, young Black men face stereotypes about their aspirations, criminality, and academic or professional potential. They are often assumed to have a narrower range of emotional responses or interests, and often describe negative pre-judgments at school, at work, and in public settings.6 Young Black women face different expectations: about their sexuality, their role within the family, and their responsibility for others. For all genders, assumptions about their capabilities or choices are used to narrow their opportunities.7 Visible markers of racial identity, religious adherence, and cultural connection can increase young people’s experience of discrimination.

The experiences of these young people are heightened in urban areas where neighbourhoods are affected by media portrayals and demographic and crime trends that further stigmatize residents.8 Each of these layers of discrimination and stereotyping makes their experience of legal problems unique.

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