Linguistics and Racial Bias in the Justice System: The Over Policing of African American Language

Taylor Jones

PhD Candidate, Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania
Saturday, March 7, 12:00-7:00pm

Linguists have long recognized the inherent structure and validity of distinctively African American speech, however the general public often still holds racist and harmful ideologies, characterizing it as “ebonics” or “ghetto slang.” In this session, participants discussed how linguistic ideologies have the power to shape what we think we hear, and how the linguistic construction of race can have dramatic impacts from the first moment of contact with the justice system.