New report shows troubling reality of how California cops treat young people of color | Opinion

Interacting with police can be scary — even for adults. For children, particularly Black, Brown and Native youth and those with disabilities, these fears are justifiably heightened, according to a new report released in January by the California Racial Identity Profiling Act Advisory Board. The report emphasizes the longstanding, stark racial disparities in law enforcement stops of youth and sounds the alarm for much-needed reform.

With the avalanche of news bombarding us, this report — filled with charts, figures and dry prose — may have a hard time competing for attention from lawmakers and the public. But behind the data lie harsh, troublesome and stubbornly persistent realities about how officers treat young Californians of color during pedestrian and car stops.

The Racial Identity Profiling Act Advisory Board was created by the state in 2015 specifically “for the purpose of eliminating racial and identity profiling, and improving diversity and racial and identity sensitivity in law enforcement.”

Among the troubling findings in its 2025 report: Black youth are disproportionately stopped by law enforcement; youth ages 12-14 experience more use of force by law enforcement than older youth, with officers using force against Black and Native youth in this age range at rates more than twice as high as white youth; and officers used force more than three times as often with Black and Native youth aged 15-17 than with white youth of the same age.

The report also found that the state provides no training for law enforcement officers on how to conduct stops with youth, nor does the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training require law enforcement agencies and officers to abide by standards and policies to ensure youth are treated in a developmentally appropriate manner that protects their constitutional rights.

What does this actually mean for the state’s children, teens and young adults? We know that negative experiences with law enforcement can create significant — often severe — emotional trauma, which causes long-lasting harm for youth and communities. These negative interactions deeply affect how youth view law enforcement and undermine community safety. And young people who become system-involved, even for minor offenses, are often driven deeper into a system with few exits out.

Despite the Racial Identity Profiling Act Advisory Board’s 10-year mandate to collect and report on racial and identity profiling in police stops in California, state legislators and officials have mostly ignored its findings. But the persistence of a problem doesn’t make it any less urgent. We should all be particularly concerned by the report’s finding that young teens face more use of force by police when stopped than any other age group. No youth should ever experience violence, let alone at the hands of law enforcement. Exposure to police violence impacts a young person’s development and negatively affects their life outcomes.

All of these effects are substantially greater for Black youth, the racial group most disproportionately stopped by police, and most likely to be viewed by police as older than they actually are, effectively robbing them of the benefit of childhood.

Fortunately, there are actions that can be taken relatively quickly to reduce disparities, better protect the constitutional rights of young people who are stopped and prevent children from unnecessarily entering the juvenile justice system. Building on the report’s common-sense recommendations, we recommend two action items to improve safety for the state’s youth of color.

The state should develop and mandate the adoption of standards for law enforcement agencies and policies for officers’ interactions with youth based on developmentally appropriate, trauma-informed, equitable principles. These should be vetted by experts in adolescent development, youth advocates and others.

Law enforcement agencies should proactively work with communities to create and build on diversion programs that ensure youth aren’t further harmed by over-policing and unnecessary entry into the juvenile justice system. The state’s highly successful Youth Reinvestment Grant, which is in need of funding, is an example of how this could work. The grant provided funding for developmentally appropriate diversion programs and services to thousands of youth in communities with high rates of racial and ethnic disparities in juvenile arrests. Since we know we can’t immediately stop the over-policing of youth of color, at the very least we can interrupt the process and try to mitigate harm.

During the next four years, the current administration is likely to de-prioritize oversight of police treatment — especially regarding uses of force — against youth. States, municipalities and police departments must step up to protect the constitutional rights of young people and limit the long-term damage from racially biased policing and refuse to bow to anti-equity, anti-fairness pressures.

This story was originally published March 18, 2025 at 5:00 AM.