This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Notes
We use the term “victim” when talking about cases within the juvenile or criminal legal system because it is a legal term and “survivor” when talking about problem sexual behavior in contexts outside of the legal system.
In this paper, we chose the term “illegal sexual behavior” over “sexual violence” to capture the scope of deviant or inappropriate sexual actions among youth that may or may not be perniciously perpetrated.
In too many situations, there are multiple different sexual offense charges that can be applied to the same illegal sexual behavior (e.g., child sexual abuse, sexual misconduct, sexual assault), which can influence juvenile legal system outcomes including whether a youth is required to register on a public sex offender registry.
Reference
Ackerman, A. R., & Sacks, M. (2018). Disproportionate minority presence on US sex offender registries. Justice Policy Journal, 16, 1–20.
Alexander, M. (2020). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. The New Press.
Alexander, K. A., Arrington Sanders, R., Grace, K. T., Thorpe, R. J., Doro, E., & Bowleg, L. (2021). “Having a child meant I had a real life”: Reproductive coercion and childbearing motivations among young Black men living in Baltimore. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36(17–18), 9197–9225. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260519853400
Atkinson, K., Fix, S. T., & Fix, R. L. (2022). Disproportionality in the child welfare system: How race of the child and accused individual impact substantiation. Journal of Child and Family Studies. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-022-02403-0
Baird, C., Healy, T., Johnson, K., Bogie, A., Dankert, E. W., & Scharenbroch, C. (2013). A comparison of risk assessment instruments in juvenile justice. National Council on Crime and Delinquency.
Basile, K. C., Clayton, H. B., DeGue, S., Gilford, J. W., Vagi, K. J., Suarez, N. A., & Lowry, R. (2020). Interpersonal violence victimization among high school students—youth risk behavior survey, United States, 2019. MMWR Supplements, 69(1), 28–37.
Basile, K. C., Black, M. C., Breiding, M. J., Chen, J., Merrick, M. T., Smith, S. G., Walters, M. L. (2011). National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: 2010 Summary Report. National Center for Violence and Injury Prevention.
Caldwell, M. F. (2016). Quantifying the decline in juvenile sexual recidivism rates. Psychology Public Policy and Law, 22(4), 414–426. https://doi.org/10.1037/law0000094
Campbell, C., Papp, J., Barnes, A., Onifade, E., & Anderson, V. (2018). Risk assessment and juvenile justice: An interaction between risk, race, and gender. Criminology & Public Policy, 17(3), 525–545. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12377
Chapman-Hilliard, C., & Adams-Bass, V. (2016). A conceptual framework for utilizing Black history knowledge as a path to psychological liberation for Black youth. Journal of Black Psychology, 42(6), 479–507. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095798415597840
Collins, P. H. (2004). Black sexual politics: African Americans, gender, and the new racism. Routledge.
Committee for Children. (2008). Second step: Student success through prevention program. Seattle: Author.
Council Office of Racial Equity. (2021). What is a racial equity impact assessment or REIA? https://www.dcracialequity.org/racial-equity-impact-assessments
Craun, S. W., & Simmons, C. A. (2012). Taking a seat at the table: Sexual assault survivors’ views of sex offender registries. Victims & Offenders, 7(3), 312–326. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2012.685217
Curry, T. J. (2019). Expendables for whom: Terry crews and the erasure of Black male victims of sexual assault and rape. Women’s Studies in Communication, 42(3), 287–307. https://doi.org/10.1080/07491409.2019.1641874
deFur, K. M. (2012). Getting to the good stuff: Adopting a pleasure framework for sexuality education. American Journal of Sexuality Education, 7(2), 146–159. https://doi.org/10.1080/15546128.2012.680864
Dunkerley, G. K., & Dalenberg, C. J. (2000). Secret-keeping behaviors in black and white children as a function of interviewer race, racial identity, and risk for abuse. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 2(2), 13–35. https://doi.org/10.1300/J146v02n02_02
Eastman, K. L., Corona, R., & Schuster, M. A. (2006). Peer reviewed: Talking parents, healthy teens: A worksite-based program for parents to promote adolescent sexual health. Preventing Chronic Disease, 3(4). https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2006/oct/06_0012.htm
Epstein, R., Blake, J., & González, T. (2017). Girlhood interrupted: The erasure of Black girls’ childhood. Available at SSRN 3000695. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3000695
Evans-Winters, V. E. (2019). Black feminism in qualitative inquiry: A mosaic for writing our daughter’s body. Routledge.
Feinstein, R. A. (2018). When rape was legal: The untold history of sexual violence during slavery. Routledge.
Finkelhor, D., Shattuck, A., Turner, H. A., & Hamby, S. L. (2014). The lifetime prevalence of child sexual abuse and sexual assault assessed in late adolescence. Journal of Adolescent Health, 55(3), 329–333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2013.12.026
Fisher, A. K., Mackey, T. D., Langendoen, C., & Barnard, M. (2016). Child and interviewer race in forensic interviewing. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 25(7), 777–792. https://doi.org/10.1080/10538712.2016.1208705
Fix, R. L., Cyperski, M. A., & Burkhart, B. R. (2017). Disproportionate minority contact: Comparisons across juveniles adjudicated for sexual and non-sexual offenses. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 29(3), 291–308. https://doi.org/10.1177/1079063215601436
Fix, R. L., Falligant, J. M., Alexander, A. A., & Burkhart, B. R. (2019). Race and victim age matter: Sexual behaviors and experiences among confined African American and European American youth with sexual and nonsexual offenses. Sexual Abuse, 31, 50–72. https://doi.org/10.1177/1079063217720926
Fix, R. L., Falligant, J. M., & Alexander, A. A. (2020). Simulated judicial decision-making for African and European American adolescents with illegal sexual behavior: The impact of medical data and victim race/ethnicity. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 38(1), 51–65. https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.2431
Fix, R. L., Fanniff, A. M., Kline, J. L., & Letourneau, E. J. (2021). Disproportionate minority contact: An expanded examination of how threat of violent and sexual offending impacts court outcomes. Race and Justice. https://doi.org/10.1177/21533687211032315
Fontes, L. A., & Plummer, C. (2010). Cultural issues in disclosures of child sexual abuse. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 19(5), 491–518. https://doi.org/10.1080/10538712.2010.512520
Foshee, V. A., Bauman, K. E., Arriaga, X. B., Helms, R. W., Koch, G. G., & Linder, G. F. (1998). An evaluation of safe dates, an adolescent dating violence prevention program. American Journal of Public Health, 88, 45–50. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.88.1.45
Foster, T. (2011). The sexual abuse of Black men under American slavery. Journal of the History of Sexuality, 20(3), 445–464. https://doi.org/10.5555/jhs.2011.20.3.445
Gattamorta, K. A., Salerno, J. P., & Castro, A. J. (2019). Intersectionality and health behaviors among US high school students: Examining race/ethnicity, sexual identity, and sex. Journal of School Health, 89(10), 800–808. https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.12817
Goff, P. A., Jackson, M. C., Di Leone, B. A. L., Culotta, C. M., & DiTomasso, N. A. (2014). The essence of innocence: Consequences of dehumanizing Black children. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106(4), 526–545. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035663
Hine, D. C. (1989). Rape and the inner lives of Black women in the Middle West. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 14, 912–920.
Hockenberry, S., & Puzzanchera, C. (2020). Juvenile court statistics 2018. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Holliday, C. N., Morse, S. M., Irvin, N. A., Green-Manning, A., Nitsch, L. M., Burke, J. G., & Decker, M. R. (2019). Concept mapping: Engaging urban men to understand community influences on partner violence perpetration. Journal of Urban Health, 96(1), 97–111. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-018-0297-8
Hooks, B. (2001). All about love: New visions. Harper Perennial.
Howard, R. M., Potter, S. J., Guedj, C. E., & Moynihan, M. M. (2019). Sexual violence victimization among community college students. Journal of American College Health, 67(7), 674–687. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2018.1500474
Ikomi, P. A., Rodney, H. E., & McCoy, T. (2009). Male Juveniles with sexual behavior problems: Are there differences among racial groups? Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 18(2), 154–173. https://doi.org/10.1080/10538710902743958
Jee-Lyn García, J., & Sharif, M. Z. (2015). Black lives matter: A commentary on racism and public health. American Journal of Public Health, 105(8), e27–e30.
Kettrey, H. H., & Lipsey, M. W. (2018). The effects of specialized treatment on the recidivism of juvenile sex offenders: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 14(3), 361–387. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-018-9329-3
Letourneau, E. J., Henggeler, S. W., Borduin, C. M., Schewe, P. A., McCart, M. R., Chapman, J. E., & Saldana, L. (2009). Multisystemic therapy for juvenile sexual offenders: 1-year results from a randomized effectiveness trial. Journal of Family Psychology, 23(1), 89–102. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014352
Letourneau, E. J., Schaeffer, C. M., Bradshaw, C. P., & Feder, K. A. (2017). Preventing the onset of child sexual abuse by targeting young adolescents with universal prevention programming. Child Maltreatment, 22(2), 100–111. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077559517692439
Luken, A., Nair, R., & Fix, R. L. (2021). On racial disparities in child abuse reports: Exploratory mapping the 2018 NCANDS. Child Maltreatment, 26(3), 267–281. https://doi.org/10.1177/10775595211001926
Malvaso, C. G., Proeve, M., Delfabbro, P., & Cale, J. (2020). Characteristics of children with problem sexual behaviour and adolescent perpetrators of sexual abuse: A systematic review. Journal of Sexual Aggression, 26(1), 36–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/13552600.2019.1651914
National Center for Education Statistics. (2022). Indicator 18: High school status completion rates. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/raceindicators/indicator_RDD.asp.
National Center on the Sexual Behavior of Youth. (2021). Normative sexual behavior. https://ncsby.org/content/normative-sexual-behavior.
Oliver, M. B. (2003). African American men as" criminal and dangerous": Implications of media portrayals of crime on the" criminalization" of African American men. Journal of African American Studies, 7, 3–18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-003-1006-5
Patton, T. O., & Snyder-Yuly, J. (2007). Any four black men will do: Rape, race, and the ultimate scapegoat. Journal of Black Studies, 37(6), 859–895. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021934706296025
Peitzmeier, S. M., Kågesten, A., Acharya, R., Cheng, Y., Delany-Moretlwe, S., Olumide, A., & Decker, M. R. (2016). Intimate partner violence perpetration among adolescent males in disadvantaged neighborhoods globally. Journal of Adolescent Health, 59(6), 696–702. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2016.07.019
Perry, R., & Limb, G. E. (2004). Ethnic/racial matching of clients and social workers in public child welfare. Children and Youth Services Review, 26(10), 965–979. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2004.05.001
Pop, M. V., & Rusu, A. S. (2015). The Role of Parents in shaping and improving the sexual health of children–lines of developing parental sexuality education programmes. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 209, 395–401. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.11.210
Roberts, D. E. (1999). Killing the black body: Race, reproduction, and the meaning of liberty. Vintage.
Rothman, E. F., Daley, N., & Alder, J. (2020). A pornography literacy program for adolescents. American Journal of Public Health, 110(2), 154–156. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2019.305468
Ruzicka, A. E., Assini-Meytin, L. C., Schaeffer, C. M., Bradshaw, C. P., & Letourneau, E. J. (2021). Responsible behavior with younger children: Examining the feasibility of a classroom-based program to prevent child sexual abuse perpetration by adolescents. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 30(4), 461–481. https://doi.org/10.1080/10538712.2021.1881858
Sanikommu, M., Chaudhary, M., & Fix, R. L. (2022). Mental health among confined boys: How much do race and offense type matter. Unpublished manuscript.
Schneider, M., & Hirsch, J. S. (2020). Comprehensive sexuality education as a primary prevention strategy for sexual violence perpetration. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 21(3), 439–455. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838018772855
Seto, M. C., & Lalumière, M. L. (2010). What is so special about male adolescent sexual offending? A review and test of explanations through meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 136(4), 526–575. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019700
Smiley, C., & Fakunle, D. (2016). From “brute” to “thug:” The demonization and criminalization of unarmed Black male victims in America. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 26(3–4), 350–366. https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2015.1129256
Sommerville, D. M. (2005). Rape and race in the nineteenth-century South. University of North Carolina Press.
Sankofa Songs. (2021). Africentric paradigm pedagogy. https://www.sankofasongs.org
Springman, R. E., Wherry, J. N., & Notaro, P. C. (2006). The effects of interviewer race and child race on sexual abuse disclosures in forensic interviews. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 15(3), 99–116. https://doi.org/10.1300/J070v15n03_06
Tanis, F., Brown, S., Wagner, W., Tesfay, N., Tomlinson, Y., & Middleton, T. (2017). When truth is justice and not enough: Executive summary of the black women's truth and reconciliation commission report. Black Women’s Blueprint. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11990/1921
Taylor, B. G., Stein, N. D., Mumford, E. A., & Woods, D. (2013). Shifting boundaries: An experimental evaluation of a dating violence prevention program in middle schools. Prevention Science, 14(1), 64–76. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-012-0293-2
The Sentencing Project. (2021). Racial impact statements. https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/racial-impact-statements/.
U. S. Census Bureau. (2020). America’s families and living arrangements: 2020. https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2020/demo/families/cps-2020.html.
Venable, V. M., & Guada, J. (2014). Culturally competent practice with African American juvenile sex offenders. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 23(3), 229–246. https://doi.org/10.1080/10538712.2014.888122
Venner, S., Sivasubramaniam, D., Luebbers, S., & Shepherd, S. M. (2021). Cross-cultural reliability and rater bias in forensic risk assessment: A review of the literature. Psychology, Crime & Law, 27(2), 105–121. https://doi.org/10.1080/1068316X.2020.1775829
Vincent, G. M., Guy, L. S., & Grisso, T. (2012). Risk assessment in juvenile justice: A guidebook for implementation. Implementation Science and Practice Advances Research Center Publications. https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/psych_cmhsr/573.
Vincent, G. M., & Viljoen, J. L. (2020). Racist algorithms or systemic problems? risk assessments and racial disparities. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 47, 1576–1584. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854820954501
Weser, V. U., Opara, I., Sands, B. E., Fernandes, C. S. F., & Hieftje, K. D. (2021). How Black teen girls navigate social media to form romantic relationships. Social Media + Society, 7, 20563051211033824. https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051211033823
West, C. M. (1995). Mammy, Sapphire, and Jezebel: Historical images of Black women and their implications for psychotherapy. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 32(3), 458–466. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-3204.32.3.458
West, C. M., & Johnson, K. (2006). Sexual violence in the lives of African American women: Risk, response, and resilience. National Online Resource Center on Violence Against Women, 1, 1–11.
Widman, L., Evans, R., Javidi, H., & Choukas-Bradley, S. (2019). Assessment of parent-based interventions for adolescent sexual health: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Pediatrics, 173(9), 866–877. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2019.2324
Wong, Y. J., Horn, A. J., & Chen, S. (2013). Perceived masculinity: The potential influence of race, racial essentialist beliefs, and stereotypes. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 14(4), 452–464. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030100
World Health Organization. (2021). Equity. https://www.who.int/westernpacific/health-topics/equity
Wurtele, S. K., & Kenny, M. C. (2011). Normative sexuality development in childhood: Implications for developmental guidance and prevention of childhood sexual abuse. Counseling and Human Development, 43(9), 1–24.
Zounlome, N. O., Wong, Y. J., Klann, E. M., & David, J. L. (2021). “I’m already seen as a sexual predator from saying hello”: Black men’s perception of sexual violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36(19–20), 10809–10830.
Funding
The authors have not disclosed any funding.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
All authors contributed to the writing and conceptualization of the paper.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors have not disclosed any competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Fix, R.L., Nworu, C.N.H., Alexander, K.A. et al. Promoting an Anti-Racist Approach to Address Illegal Sexual Behavior Among Black Young People in the United States. Arch Sex Behav 52, 5–15 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02466-6
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02466-6