A Macrolevel Study of Police Killings at the Intersection of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender

Abstract

We investigate macrolevel sources of police use of fatal force at the intersection of race, ethnicity, and gender. Focusing on 580 U.S. counties from 2013 to 2018, we build a unique dataset and analyze whether violent crime, social disorganization, and racial conflict indicators predict police killings among six victim subgroups of Black, Hispanic, and White men and women. Regression results show that violent crime—and social disorganization, albeit less consistently—is positively associated with police killings of men, irrespective of race/ethnicity, and Hispanic women while having no significant impact on Black or White women. We find nuanced evidence that racial conflict shapes police use of fatal force across all six racial-ethnic-gender subgroups. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings.

The geography of police killings utilising crowdsourced data

“…Thus, the finding is in the opposite direction than theoretically predicted. While counter to expectations, the finding is consistent with a recent study that used Mapping Police Violence data and found that more police‐involved killings occurred in the 580 largest US counties with fewer Black residents regardless of the race and gender of the citizens killed (Gaston, Fernandes & DeShay, 2020). Gaston & colleagues (2020) argued that this could reflect a racial conflict effect attributed to ‘defended neighborhoods and out of place policing’ (p.19).…”

Does racial congruence between police agencies and communities reduce racialized police killings of civilians?

“…In other words, Black civilians are alone in facing a greater risk of being killed by police in White “and” Hispanic communities. These findings comport with the defended neighborhoods argument as well as with a growing literature on out‐of‐place racial profiling in which Black Americans face greater police scrutiny when found in non‐Black areas (Beck, 2019; Fagan & Davies, 2000; Gaston et al., 2020, 2021; Novak & Chamlin, 2012; Rojek et al., 2012; Stewart et al., 2009).…”

“…We also found that Black Americans were the only group that faced an additional elevated risk of being killed in Hispanic‐dominated jurisdictions. These results further demonstrate the racialized nature of fatal force, which appears to reflect an effort to protect White spaces, in line with conflict theories, and profile Black Americans when they are “out of place,” or found in areas that do not match their race (Beck, 2019; Fagan & Davies, 2000; Gaston et al., 2020, 2021; Novak & Chamlin, 2012; Rojek, Rosenfeld, & Decker, 2012; Stewart et al., 2009).…”

“…Economic disadvantage is significantly associated with a 27% increase in the risk of Black killings (IRR = 1.272, SE = 0.100, p ≤ 0.01) and a 36% increase in White killings (IRR = 1.362, SE = 0.099, p ≤ 0.001) while having no significant effect on Hispanic victims. Finally, in line with racial conflict perspectives (Gaston et al., 2021; Gray & Parker, 2020; Scott et al., 2017), race/ethnic‐specific police killings are a function of the community racial/ethnic composition. As denoted by the significant, negative effect of the logged Black resident percentage on Black victims (IRR = 0.510, SE = 0.039, p ≤ 0.001), Hispanic victims (IRR = 0.642, SE = 0.054, p ≤ 0.001), and White victims (IRR = 0.753, SE = 0.040, p ≤ 0.001), police killings tend to occur in non‐Black communities.…”

“…In line with racial threat, studies have found a positive effect of percent Black on policing outcomes in the aggregate, such as municipal police expenditures (Holmes et al., 2008), neighborhood traffic stop occurrences (Petrocelli et al., 2003), police use of force (Lautenschlager & Omori, 2018), and civilian complaints of excessive force (Smith & Holmes, 2014). Studies have also uncovered evidence of racial threat when predicting race‐specific policing outcomes, including police killings (Gaston et al., 2021; Gray & Parker, 2020; Scott et al., 2017). Levchak (2017) found that precinct‐level racial composition—percent Black and percent Latino—increased the odds that Black and Latino Americans would be frisked and that percent Latino increased both groups’ odds of being subjected to force by New York City police.…”