On the Assimilation of Racial Stereotypes among Black Canadian Young Offenders

This paper investigates the assimilation and iteration of racial stereotypes among Black Canadians by inspecting open-ended interviews with eight Black or mixed-race respondents who are adjudicated young offenders. The focus of this investigation is on whether, and to what extent, this assimilation can be observed in interviewees' discourse and, moreover, whether the speakers' self-concepts entail their incorporation of "criminal" as an aspect of Black identity. Using social construction, post-colonial and cultural transmission theories to inform this analysis, interviews are inspected to determine whether and to what extent stereotypical views of Black persons are constitutive of the subjects' views of themselves. Findings suggest not only that the persons under study here recognize such stereotypes, but also that they adopt and embrace them.