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

Impacts

Impact on Health

Many participants described feelings of anxiety and depression as a result of their legal problems, or specifically because of their efforts to resolve the issue.

One participant explained how housing instability affected her. She is always looking for accessible housing and described herself as caught in a never-ending cycle of searching for new ways to secure housing or funding. The lack of housing stability affected her work and school choices and led to ongoing anxiety. The frequent moving strained relationships. She grew up without a solid foundation and attributes her anxiety and bouts of depressions to this pattern of housing instability.

Another participant explained that her childhood experiences of conflict with landlords and substandard housing became a way of life. She learned to adapt to change and keep going. Ongoing anxiety and a sense of isolation were common impacts for everyone with housing issues.

A participant who faced financial and debt issues explained that her legal issues triggered anxiety, depression, and a sense of being alone. She was ashamed and did not ask anyone for help. The collection agency repeatedly called her parents, introducing conflict into her only supportive relationship.

“There are times when I have had to miss out on opportunities, or I have had to resign from my place of employment just because of the environment of discrimination and because of harassment.” - 26 year old

Family issues that are re-visited/re-opened periodically bring repeated health consequences. Every time there is a variation or another procedure, it brings the same uncertainty and fear. Participants described experiencing all of the feelings again and having the sense of instability return.

Participants indicated that it was frequently difficult for them to sleep following an incident of discrimination and it influenced their ability to concentrate in school. One participant explained that for a week after being discriminated against in a retail store, he did not feel like himself, he could not sleep, and he could not focus, as he kept replaying it over and over. In another instance, a participant resorted to violence, resulting in injury and arrest.

Participants did not talk to others about their problems. They described feeling alone or unable to reach out to informal supports like friends and family or to professional supports like social workers. Some described embarrassment, others confusion or isolation, and endured the health impacts of their legal problems themselves.

Impact on Finances

Most participants did not identify a financial aspect to their legal problems, though they did describe having to quit jobs, move to new housing, or avoid business and experiences. Despite these links to financial stability, most participants did not connect the legal issue to a financial impact.

Participants, as consumers, limited their options in order to avoid stores where they had experienced discrimination, including clothing, beauty, and grocery stores. Participants who had experienced discriminatory treatment in their employment had quit their jobs, leading to periods of unemployment or underemployment. One participant who dealt with debt and collection agencies took two jobs and worked all the time to pay off their debt.

Involvement in family court on a child custody matter connected one participant to financial supports. She received financial support in the court process and learned about ongoing financial support that she was eligible for as a result of her interaction with the legal system.

Some participants opted not to pursue complaints against police because they were concerned about the long-term impacts of making a complaint on their choice of career or their immigration status. They factored the financial implications into their decision to report racist treatment.

A number of participants indicated that they had struggled to find new employment, especially in the retail sector, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Impact on Education

Participants linked their educational experiences to discrimination, describing lower expectations and resources for Black students in school. They described a common experience of being sent to a resource room for help, being ignored or being labelled as a troublemaker when they were struggling in class, rather than having positive or affirming support from teachers. Black students were not pushed to do better. In terms of ongoing labelling and discrimination at school, there was a clear theme of having to accept it, being powerless to advocate or looking for allies (such as teachers who are also racialized) to support their advocacy. The long-term implications of the labelling and discrimination at school were also apparent to the participants. These included being streamed away from university and missing other opportunities.

Impact on Trust and Sense of Security

Participants spoke of the challenges they experienced finding support in the community, especially in light of their home circumstances. They felt a constant need to explain themselves and to prove that they were contributing members of society, to the point of carrying a letter from their employer with them at all times.

“You have to be smart about where you go and what you say to certain people because you don’t know, because of what you look like, how they might react to you and how they might think about you.” - 18 year old

Experiencing anti-Black racism at her campus residence has affected one participant’s sense of safety in her own home. She was challenged as not looking like a university student and barred from access to her own building. She thinks about the incident a lot and has trouble sleeping. Despite having seen posts about similar discrimination, she was shocked when it happened to her. Making a complaint and then not being taken seriously has been mentally draining. She has not found anyone to talk to about it.

Participants spoke of their discriminatory experiences in school as shocking at first and then becoming “normalized” for them. This was especially difficult for participants who attributed their behaviour in school to traumatic issues at home. They felt that they were not provided with the necessary support or even understanding at school to succeed, and the negative effects have continued into adulthood.

One participant spoke about being repeatedly harassed by an ex-partner, including death threats. One female-identified participant spoke of unwanted attention and sexual harassment by older male customers in her employment in a retail store. The intersection of race and gender was cited as the reason that these legal problems were dismissed, with the participants left to handle them alone.

Participants reported feeling powerless in the face of authorities, especially in the educational and employment context. Others reported losing key supportive relationships as a result of having to change jobs or move to new housing. They felt that they missed out on opportunities. One participant indicated that her experiences meant that she approaches people of different races, including children, differently.

“We need Black people to do better and not fit into stereotypes.” - 20 year old

Participants described feelings of increased anxiety around police interactions, heightened by recent media reporting of police misconduct. They felt unsafe in their interactions with police and reported a loss of trust in police; including those participants who indicated that they had had confidence in police before their interaction. One participant reported that the feeling of anxiety about police interaction led to anxiety or “paranoia” using public transit and other public services where she might be confronted by an authority figure.

Some participants identified that Black youth should guard against meeting the negative expectations by adjusting their own behaviour.