Black children are more likely to face tougher punishments at school because they are viewed as “less innocent” and more adult-like, a report says.
This process of “adultification” means black children can feel unsafe and over-policed at school, the Commission on Young Lives in England report says.
This can lead to black children being disciplined more harshly – including being more likely to be excluded.
The government said it had strengthened safeguarding guidance for schools.
Former children’s commissioner Anne Longfield, who chaired the commission, said adultification was a significant issue.
“It’s very real and it has a huge impact on children’s lives,” she said.
“Essentially, it’s young people being viewed as older.
“That means that we look after them slightly less, and they don’t get the protections and safeguarding they should.”
The year-long independent study is looking at how to improve support and life chances for vulnerable teenagers to prevent them being exploited in schools or by criminal gangs.
The report highlights the strip-search of a 15-year-old girl, known as Child Q, by Metropolitan Police officers as a shocking example of adultification.
This kind of treatment is having a damaging impact on young black people’s confidence in both schools and with the police, where they are less likely to be seen as victims, it says.
Jahnine Davis, director of the child-protection company Listen Up, which works to combat adultification bias, said: “Black children are at a greater risk of experiencing this form of bias, due to preconceived ideas about black children being aggressive, deviant, and almost needing to be safeguarded from, rather then safeguarded.”
