How suspect race affects police use of force in an interaction over time.

Abstract

Although studies often find racial disparities in policing outcomes, less is known about how suspect race biases police interactions as they unfold. This study examines what is differentially occurring during police-suspect interactions for White, Black, and Latino suspects across time. It is hypothesized that racial bias may be more evident earlier in interactions, when less information about the situation is available. One hundred thirty-nine (62 White, 42 Black, and 35 Latino) use-of-force case files and associated written narratives from a medium to large size urban police department in the United States were analyzed. Trained coders broke down the interaction narratives into discrete "sequences," or dyadic action-reaction steps involving a suspect action (level of resistance) and an officer response (level of force). A linear mixed-effects model was run on amount of police use of force by suspect race and time, with suspect resistance and suspect actions toward third-party/self as controls. Results demonstrated that Black and Latino suspects receive more force in the beginning stages of the interaction, whereas Whites escalated in level of force faster after initial levels. By breaking down police-suspect interactions into discrete sequences, the current study reveals a better understanding of when bias originates in police use of force and informs how to focus policing interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record

Mano Suave–Mano Dura: Legitimacy Policing and Latino Stop-and-Frisk

“…Previous research has examined the role of race in stop-and-frisk and other forms of aggressive policing, but questions remain about the day-to-day interactions that take place between officers and criminalized populations. This concern is especially pertinent in an era of police accountability (Kahn et al 2017), wherein police relations with people of color demonstrate a pattern of racial bias and racial inequality (Brunson 2015;Epp et al 2014;Muñiz 2015;Rios 2011Rios , 2017Vitale 2017), including accusations of racial profiling, police abuse, and unjustified police killings (Cobbina 2019). Researchers have discussed a need for studies on contextual and situational cues during police stops of racialized civilians (Maskaly 2012).…”

How Were Encounters Initiated That Resulted in the Fatal Shooting of Civilians by Police?

“…The results of this paper have implications for considering race/ethnicity and use of force. Typically in research on police use of force, race/ethnicity is treated independently of the specific cause of police interaction without a consideration of who is calling 911 and their relationship to the individual who becomes the object of police contact (Engel, Sobol, and Worden, 2000;Fridell and Lim, 2016;Garner, Maxwell, and Heraux, 2002;Gau, Mosher, and Pratt, 2010;Kahn et al, 2017;Terrill, Leinfelt, and Kwak, 2008;Terrill and Mastrofski, 2002). Because how police contact was initiated appears to be strongly associated with race/ethnicity it is important to include measures of how police contacts were initiated to disentangle the eÄects of Page 14 race/ethnicity in police use of force incidents.…”

“…Whites to receive use of force during the beginning stages of an interaction when information about the individual is low (Kahn et al, 2017). Other research has indicated that the eÄects of stereotypes are stronger in circumstances in which there is less information about the particular individual (Hilton and Fein, 1989;Hilton and von Hippel, 1996;Krueger and Rothbart, 1988).…”

Shades of blue : an interpretative phenomological analysis of non-white police instructors regarding highly publicized uses of force by law enforcement

“…examined the role of implicit bias in the courtroom and concluded that "all of us, no matter how hard we try to be fair and square, no matter how deeply we believe in our own objectivity -have implicit mental associations that will, in some circumstances, alter our behavior" (p. 1186)Nosek, Greenwald, and Banaji (2015) conducted an anonymous study using the Implicit Association Test and found that 88% of Whites held a pro-White or anti-Black bias while 48% of Blacks held the same views. These views align with the idealization of light skin color by most Whites and minorities in the United States(Tummala-Narra, 2007).White (2015) examined the relationship between skin tone and police contact, specific to being stopped or arrested, and found that dark-skinned Blacks and Latinos were stopped or arrested more than lighter skinned members of the same group Kahn et al (2017). examined the effect race has on the use of force by police over time by examining 139 use of force incidents involving White, Black, and Latino suspects.…”

“…Their results established that Blacks and Latinos received more force early in the interactions while the use of force with Whites escalated with time. The results indicate that officer biases are an influence early in the interactions, when officers had less information available to them(Kahn et al, 2017) Legewie (2016). examined racial biases of police after relevant events such as the shooting of a police officer by a person of color.…”