Studies

Research on racial bias in policing

“Racism [is] a cognitive predisposition to associate particular ethnic groups with…particular types of crimes… Police in turn act on their dispositions in ways that are self-confirming. Thus, police cultural biases against minority groups tend to become self-fulfilling."

Police “deploy more officers to protests when the protests are against the police…Police at protests against them—especially Black-led demonstrations—tend to use more force… Explains why police…ignored the armed demonstrations against…public health orders."

“Whereas people in minority groups are stopped by police at a higher rate than whites, the hit rate (e.g. for possession of contraband…) for these groups is lower than it is for whites… Racial profiling is less successful at apprehending criminals than random searches."

"[Many] white people … seek to remedy systemic racism by prioritizing institutional change (defund the police) over individual change (stop calling the very police officers that you want to defund on Black and Brown people who are trying to enjoy public spaces)."

“The black homicide rate is positively associated with fear of crime, while the non-black homicide rate is not… black homicides inspire more fear of crime than non-black homicides… fear of crime can account for a sizable portion of… [incarceration] racial disparity."

"[Data] does not support the interpretation that differences in the severity of criminal conduct… alone can explain the substantial racial disparities… We believe that this evidence is consistent with racially disparate initial charging practices." (h/t @JulieMFaenza)

“Virtually every officer shares some responsibility for protecting [bad] officers. We should not expect kids to trust the police when officers lie and cover for fellow officers… Little contributes more to Black teens’ sense of powerlessness than this blue wall of silence."

“In 2013, black youth [in Michigan] were still six times more likely than white youth to be arrested for a violent crime and almost seven times more likely to be arrested for a property crime."