superpredator

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English

Etymology

From super- +‎ predator. Sociology sense coined by John DiIulio in 1995.

Pronunciation

Audio (US): (file)

Noun

superpredator (plural superpredators)

(sociology) A youth who repeatedly commits violent crimes, said to be a result of being raised without morals.
- 2001 February 9, Vincent Schiraldi, “DiIulio needs more scrutiny”, in Star News‎^[1]:
  In 1996 [DiIulio] authored an incendiary warning of a "rising tide of juvenile superpredators" [and in the National Review] "[a]ll that's left of the black community in […] urban America is deviant, delinquent, and criminal adults[.]"
- 2005, Gus Martin, Juvenile justice: process and systems:
  Superpredators theoretically arise from dysfunctional homes, inadequate schools, and morally bankrupt communities.
(biology) A predator that eats other predators.
Synonym: hyperpredator

Usage notes

This term has caught a lot of flack in recent years, due to it having a heavy association with Black people among the people who used it back when the theory was popular (mid-to-late 1990s), as well as the policies that sprung out from this idea heavily targeting Black people.