Victor Rios, a celebrated professor of sociology at UC Santa Barbara, studies the lives of Latino and African American youths to understand how they, too, can succeed despite the pressures of a society that often treats them like criminals. His research led him to author “Human Targets: Schools, Police and the Criminalization of Latino Youth” (University of Chicago Press, 2017).

 

The groundbreaking book, the product of five years of on-the-street research, examines the way schools and the police focus on the control and punishment of Latino youths rather than treat them as complex individuals worthy of respect. Rios argues that positive interactions with these youths offer the best chance to reach and help them.