The goal of the study, according to researchers, was to determine the extent to which respondents dehumanized young black children, and how this racist dehumanization can lead to violence and unjust treatment. “[I]f human childhood affords protections against harsh, adult-like treatment, then in contexts where these children are dehumanized, they can be treated with adult severity” — specifically in the criminal justice system, researchers wrote.
As Philip Bump at the Wire notes, college students tended to overestimate the ages of young boys who were presented as having committed a felony by 4.53 years, meaning that 13 and 14 year old children were determined by respondents to be legal adults. Police officers tended overestimate these boys’ ages by 4.59 years. Overall, researchers note, participants viewed black children aged 10 and older as “significantly less innocent than other children of every age group.”