This project examines how systemic racial bias within the Youth Justice System shapes the mental health experiences of Black male youth aged 12–20. While Black youth are disproportionately subjected to surveillance, criminalization, and punitive responses, little research captures how these realities are personally experienced and emotionally understood. Using a phenomenological approach informed by intersectionality, the study centers the voices of Black youth to explore how they interpret racialized encounters within justice systems and how these interactions impact their psychological well-being. Through in-depth qualitative interviews, the research will identify patterns of emotional distress, resilience, coping, and resistance, as well as the community-based supports youth find most meaningful. By grounding the study in lived experience, this project seeks to illuminate how structural inequities become embodied as mental health outcomes while also highlighting culturally rooted pathways to healing, empowerment, and systemic change. The findings aim to inform more equitable, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive youth justice and mental health practices.

This project is co-funded in partnership with Black Mental Health Canada.