Human Targets: Schools, Police, and the Criminalization of Latino Youth

by Victor M. Rios, James Diego Vigil (Foreword)

At fifteen, Victor Rios found himself a human target—flat on his ass amid a hail of shotgun fire, desperate for money and a place on the street. Faced with the choice of escalating a drug turf war or eking out a living elsewhere, he turned to a teacher, who mentored him and helped him find a job at an auto shop. That job would alter the course of his whole life—putting him on the road to college and eventually a PhD. Now, Rios is a rising star, hailed for his work studying the lives of African American and Latino youth.

In Human Targets , Rios takes us to the streets of California, where we encounter young men who find themselves in much the same situation as fifteen-year-old Victor. We follow young gang members into schools, homes, community organizations, and detention facilities, watch them interact with police, grow up to become fathers, get jobs, get rap sheets—and in some cases get killed. What is it that sets apart young people like Rios who succeed and survive from the ones who don’t? Rios makes a powerful case that the traditional good kid/bad kid, street kid/decent kid dichotomy is much too simplistic, arguing instead that authorities and institutions help create these identities—and that they can play an instrumental role in providing young people with the resources for shifting between roles. In Rios’s account, to be a poor Latino youth is to be a human target—victimized and considered an enemy by others, viewed as a threat to law enforcement and schools, and burdened by stigma, disrepute, and punishment. That has to change.

This is not another sensationalistic account of gang bangers. Instead, the book is a powerful look at how authority figures succeed—and fail—at seeing the multi-faceted identities of at-risk youths, youths who succeed—and fail—at demonstrating to the system that they are ready to change their lives. In our post-Ferguson era, Human Targets is essential reading.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology, History, Education, School

224 pages, Paperback

First published March 10, 2017

Reviews

[Nola · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for one of my education classes and really enjoyed it!

[Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 or 4.

Interesting look at specifically Latino youth who filter around the edges of gang life, specifically their interactions with "mainstream" society (mostly schools and the police), and how these institutions often do anything but actually help the young men in question integrate themselves into wider society. (Also, how even "gangsters" have rich, multifaceted lives.) Probably not that intriguing for general audiences who don't already like ethnographies/sociological studies.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating look at how institutions reinforce social structures that criminalize Latino youth and the actual dynamic nature of adolescent identity.

[Roselyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an excellent and thoughtful ethnography. In this book, Victor Rios presents his research on how institutional structures such as schools and police criminalize, victimize, and target Latino youth. He spent years in the streets of Southern California interacting with all different kinds of youth, many of them gang associated. He watches them interact with police, with eachother, and with school systems that seemingly degrade them at all fronts. His work highlights something really crucial, I think, about where schools are missing the mark in helping young people thrive. He points to a combination of factors that play into how youth see themselves , including the labels that those institutions place on them.

I really appreciated learning more about how police interact with Latino youth, Latino boys in particular, especially because I think they are widely left out of conversations about police violence and incarceration. This is a really insightful study that came from a personal place for Rios, who was a street kid himself. I recommend this book to anyone looking to get an inside look into what life is like for these young kids, some of these stories and direct quotes are so special and very compelling.

[Chloe Bright · Rating 5 out of 5]

read this for my gender, crime & justice class and loved it


really great and informative resource on the systemic oppression of marginalized with feasible suggestions on how to improve the system

[Kennedy Hjelte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this book for one of my sociology classes and found it to be very eye-opening. Great resource to use for any other teachers

[Keaton Ibendahl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read like 80% for class, just needed to finish up! Engaging and informative for academic nonfiction 👍

[Ivy~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written exploration of a complex, deeply important issue. Not my favorite from Rios, but that doesn't mean that he's not fantastic at what he does.

[Marin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book sharing extremely pertinent information. I think the observations made here are widely transferable across most if not all US schools. And on a personal note, an extremely validating and healing read.