1. Abused and Neglected Children
in Franklin County:
A Case Study in Structural and
Community Violence
Andrew Grant-Thomas, Deputy Director
Kirwan Institute for the Study of
Race and Ethnicity
Central Ohioans for Peace
October 19, 2009

2. [The] sickness [of marginalized people] is a result
of structural violence: neither culture nor pure individual
will is at fault; rather, historically given (and often economically
driven) processes and forces conspire to constrain individual agency.
Structural violence is visited upon all those whose social status
denies them access to the fruits of scientific and social progress.
-Paul Farmer, Medical Anthropologist

3. Direct violence is horrific, but its brutality usually gets our
attention: we notice it, and often respond to it. Structural
violence, however, is almost always invisible, embedded in
ubiquitous social structures, normalized by stable institutions
and regular experience…[E]ven those who are victims of
structural violence often do not see the systematic ways in
which their plight is choreographed by unequal and unfair
distribution of society’s resources. Structural violence is
problematic in and of itself, but it is also dangerous because
it frequently leads to direct violence.
-Deborah DuNann Winter and Dana Leighton,
Structural Violence: An Introduction

4. Effects of structural violence: life
expectancy
Life expectancy for selected countries, 2009
estimates
90
83 81 79 78
80 76
73
70
70
61 59
60
49
50
40
40
30
20
10
0
Source: CIA World Factbook

5. Effects of structural violence: Life
satisfaction
Satisfaction with life index, selected countries, 2006
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Source: Satisfaction with Life Index, 2006

6. Effects of structural violence: reports of child
abuse and neglect in Franklin County, 2007
5201
5000
4000
3146 3082
3000
2000
1400
1000
54
0
Physical Neglect Sexual abuse Emotional Need services
abuse maltreatment
Source: The 2009-2010 Public Children Services Association of Ohio Factbook

7. African Americans are greatly over-
represented among abused or neglected
children in custody
Franklin County Profiles of Children in Custody, 2007
(%)80
70
60
50
White
40
Black
30 Other
20
10
0
Temporary Permanent PPLA Total Total
custody custody population
Source: The 2009-2010 Public Children Services Association of Ohio Factbook

8. Mainly structural factors account for number
of Black children in foster care custody
Neighborhood
resources
Adoption
Surveillance and Safe
Families Act
ABUSE &
NEGLECT
REPORTS
(Implicit?) Family
Racial bias resources
Exposure to
risk factors

9. Family Resources: many Black and Latino Ohioans
are poor

10. Neighborhood resources: race and
opportunity in Franklin County
Indicators of Opportunity
Property values Unemployment rates
Neighborhood poverty School math and reading
Vacancy rates proficiency rates
Population change School poverty rates
Projected job growth School graduation rates
Crime rates Home Ownership Rates

11. Finding:
 African Americans
in Franklin County
live
disproportionately
in neighborhoods
of relatively low
opportunity.

12. Neighborhood resources: Latinos and African
Americans live disproportionately in low-opportunity
neighborhoods
Neighborhood Opportunity in Franklin County in 2007, by Race
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
Very High
50% High
Moderate
40% Low
Very Low
30%
20%
10%
0%
White Black Asian Latino

13. Racial Bias: Implicit Association
Test
http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2007/08/19/

14. Implicit bias against nonwhites is
strong
Distributions of Responses on Explicit
(Self-reported) and Implicit Measures
Groups Explicit Implicit
Compared
Nonwhite Neutral White Nonwhite Neutral White
Blacks/Whites 12% 56% 32% 12% 19% 69%
Asians/Whites 16% 57% 27% 11% 26% 63%
Note: Percentages represent the percent biased in favor of group.
Source: 94 California Law Review (2006), p. 957

15. What Would You Do?

16. Implicit Racial Bias: The Shooter
Game
 Images of suspects -- armed and unarmed, black
and white – flash on a monitor.
 Is the man in each picture carrying a gun? Subjects
have less than one second to press one key to
shoot or another not to shoot.
 After repeated experimentation, people’s mistakes
follow a clear pattern:
 They shoot more unarmed blacks
 They fail to shoot more armed whites

17. Implicit Racial Bias:
Demonstrated Behavioral Links
 Split-second police decisions about when and what
to shoot – regardless of explicit attitudes
 Implicit biases affected sentencing decisions for
defendants convicted of felonies
 More or less implicit bias corresponded with comfort
level and body language in interracial interactions
 People with greater implicit bias were more likely to
interpret ambiguous behavior with respect to
negative stereotypes
Source: Dasgupta 2008

18. Implicit Racial Bias:
Demonstrated Behavioral Links
 As physicians' pro-white implicit bias increased, so did
their likelihood of giving white patients, but not black
patients, clot-busting thrombolytic drugs
 White people who exhibited greater implicit bias toward
black people reported stronger tendency to engage in
everyday discriminatory acts such as avoiding or
excluding blacks socially, uttering racial slurs and jokes,
and insulting, threatening or physically harming blacks.
 The greater the implicit bias of an employer against
Arab-Muslim men, the less likely he or she was to call an
applicant with a name such as Mohammed or Reza for
an interview.

19. “CASA of Franklin County advocates for abused and
neglected children by providing them with a voice in the
juvenile court system. CASA recruits, screens, trains and
supports community volunteers to advocate for the best
interests of abused and neglected children.“
- CASA mission statement
http://www.casacolumbus.org/ (614) 462-7450

20. Supporting CASA: volunteering
• Guardian Ad Litem (GAL)
• Diversity Team
• Speakers Bureau
• Board Member
• Special Events Volunteer
http://www.casacolumbus.org/ (614) 462-7450

21. Supporting CASA: providing in-kind support
• Columbia Gas included a CASA flyer in billing statements
• Casual wear/Jeans Day with employees donating to CASA
• Redesigning CASA promotional ads and pamphlets
• Printing CASA promotional ads and pamphlets
• Donating IT/technology support at a reduced non-profit rate
• Providing meals to GAL volunteer training classes
• Helping to recruit new volunteers
http://www.casacolumbus.org/ (614) 462-7450

22. For more information: www.KirwanInstitute.org
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