{"product_id":"human-targets-schools-police-and-the-criminalization-of-latino-youth-9780226090993","title":"Human Targets: Schools, Police, and the Criminalization of Latino Youth","description":"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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In \u003ci\u003eHuman Targets\u003c\/i\u003e, 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e 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, \u003ci\u003eHuman Targets\u003c\/i\u003e is essential reading.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eVictor M. Rios\u003c\/b\u003e is professor of sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of \u003ci\u003ePunished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eStreet Life: Poverty, Gangs, and a Ph.D\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Chicago Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50519672783122,"sku":"9780226090993","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_43587524-4a6e-4695-92b0-e49666225da3.jpg?v=1731061754","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/human-targets-schools-police-and-the-criminalization-of-latino-youth-9780226090993","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}