The Rage of Innocence

How America Criminalizes Black Youth

By: Kristin Henning

Narrated by: Karen Chilton

A brilliant analysis of the foundations of racist policing in America: the day-to-day brutalities, largely hidden from public view, endured by Black youth growing up under constant police surveillance and the persistent threat of physical and psychological abuse

Drawing upon 25 years of experience rep­resenting Black youth in Washington, DC’s juve­nile courts, Kristin Henning confronts America’s irrational, manufactured fears of these young peo­ple and makes a powerfully compelling case that the crisis in racist American policing begins with its relationship to Black children.

Henning explains how discriminatory and aggressive policing has socialized a generation of Black teenagers to fear, resent, and resist the police, and she details the long-term consequences of rac­ism that they experience at the hands of the police and their vigilante surrogates. She makes clear that unlike White youth, who are afforded the freedom to test boundaries, experiment with sex and drugs, and figure out who they are and who they want to be, Black youth are seen as a threat to white Amer­ica and are denied healthy adolescent development. She examines the criminalization of Black adoles­cent play and sexuality, and of Black fashion, hair, and music. She limns the effects of police presence in schools and the depth of police-induced trauma in Black adolescents.

Especially in the wake of the recent unprece­dented, worldwide outrage at racial injustice and inequality, The Rage of Innocence is an essential book for our moment.

©2021 Kristin Henning (P)2021 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“The Rage of Innocence is reminiscent of Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow and James Forman Jr.’s Locking Up Our Own . . . A serious and thoughtful book about a subject of great importance, and it deserves to be widely read . . . Henning believes in the redemptive power of storytelling. It’s storytelling that can make people understand the racial inequities of the legal system, and it’s storytelling that can restore the humanity this system has cruelly stripped from its victims.”—New York Times Book Review

“We’ve long needed a great book on race and the juvenile legal system. Thanks to Kris Henning, we have it. Deeply researched and passionately argued, The Rage of Innocence details how we criminalize Black children—and explains how we can stop.”—James Forman, Jr., J. Skelly Wright Professor of Law, Yale Law School, and Pulitzer-prize winning author of Locking Up Our Own

“Henning’s vividly told stories, meticulous research, and trenchant analysis teach us just how widespread the pernicious mistreatment of children of color in contemporary America is—not just on the streets, but in our schools, courts, and social institutions. The Rage of Innocence is much, much more than a compelling and timely indictment of our justice system. It is a deeply disturbing look at what it means to grow up as a Black child in a society that fears, vilifies, and demonizes young people simply because of the color of their skin.”—Laurence Steinberg, Distinguished University Professor of Psychology, Temple University, and former director of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice.

Understanding OUR CULTURE

If you want to get a bit more insight on why for so many years Black people have been so angry check out this book. It’s beyond news reports. The facts are in the stats.

Should be required reading!

This book takes a look at the harsh realities of over policing, of racial bias, and of the criminalization of youth in every way possible. It examines the long term impacts of this on our society and on our children and is a true plea to give them a chance. She give tons of vivid and real examples throughout and ends on a high note with some potential solutions and recommendations. This book has it all!!! I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Excellent book!

I appreciate the the author's complete coverage of this important issue. Case after case is described in detail complete with the discussion of what the failures of the different steps along the way when children are treat violently. The prosecuting attorneys, the police, judges, jail and prison policies and practices create an impossible number of burdens for families of color and lower economic means. The very resources that a child could expect help and assistance from fail them in a substantial number of cases. This is an enormous problem for ALL of us to respond to in what we each can do to correct such a travesty to young black children.

Required Reading

An accurate account of how our systems unjustly treat our youth of color, along with the important work ahead to remedy it. It should be required for anyone who works with justice involved youth.

Very Enlightening!

Highly recommend this book for all mothers, grandmothers, teachers and EVERY person who interacts with children and especially male of color! We must educate ourselves on the facts so we can be better, do better, and ADVOCATE for equitable treatment of our children. We can no longer sit on the sidelines and lose our eyes to the injustices and negative life altering circumstances with which boys of color are faced. We must advocate for educational and juvenile justices reform. We need more mental health professionals to expert provide interventions rather than arresting children and relegating them to the horrors of the juvenile justice system, and worse, the adult criminal system!

A must read

Truly a great book that reminds and educates the public that Black children are just that - children!