Everyday Injustice Podcast Episode 139: Kristin Henning and the Criminalization of Black Youth

Published: Jan. 24, 2022, 11:35 a.m.

b'Kristin Henning is a Georgetown Law Professor and a former public defender in DC. In her book, Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth she discusses how what is ordinary adolescent behavior gets criminalized the criminal justice system and ends up locking Black youth into cycles of incarceration.\\n\\nShe brings vivid case studies and data to bear on her analysis and critique of the system. In one case, a girl gets into a fight with her boyfriend, takes his cell phone and ends up charged with robbery. In another, a 13 year old boy builds a fake Molotov cocktail and ends up with a nine month ordeal in the criminal system.\\n\\nListen as Kristin Henning talks about some of the youth she worked with and how ordinary behavior on the part of Black youth turns into an encounter with the criminal legal system.'