Into and Through the School-to-Prison Pipeline: The Impact of Colorism on the Criminalization of Black Girls

Colorism is a social construct privileging lighter-skinned people of color with proximity to European features over their darker-skinned counterparts. Despite the significant role in the lives of Black women and girls, colorism is an overlooked and understudied phenomenon, particularly regarding how it shapes their punishment and criminalization in schools. We conceptualize colorism as a social determinant of Black girls’ psychological well-being and outcomes. Darker-skinned Black girls face disproportionately severe school discipline, negative evaluation by teachers and peers, and are inundated with stereotypical messages that influence their sense of self—which increases their vulnerability to trauma and psychological distress. Inside the legal system, colorism plays a role in moving dark-skinned Black girls further into and through the pipeline at every stage of legal processing. The goal of the paper is to (a) highlight the role of colorism in the criminalization of Black girls, (b) identify school, forensic, and counseling/clinical psychology’s role in reducing the impact of colorism on Black girls’ lived experience as it relates to mental health and criminalization, and (c) identify psychological research and policy needs to mitigate the impact of colorism on Black girls’ life outcomes.