Studies

Research on racial bias in policing

“Police search black motorists 3x more than white motorists. But (!), searches of black motorists don’t yield more contraband."

“In short, behavioral science research and actual policing data identify a statistically significant relationship showing that Blacks and Latinos are perceived and treated differently than Whites, by ordinary citizens and by police."

“21% of officers reporting that they believe officers in their department currently practice bias-based policing… 15% of officers… have witnessed such behaviors… A considerable percentage… believed bias-based policing was… a serious issue for their department."

“Because the Black community is subject to much greater police surveillance, they are also much more likely to be caught when they break the law than White people who engage in the same forms of criminal activity."

“The initial [police] recruit survey showed indications of racism… Many recruits’ expectations of the diversity training demonstrated an assumed association between racial minorities and crime.” No significant changes were observed in attitudes after 12 weeks of training.

“Conditional on the crime context of the neighborhood … perceptions of the danger posed by crime were higher in neighborhoods with greater numbers of race-ethnic minorities, in particular African–Americans and Latinos."

“African-American men … ages 20-34 experience police uses of force at a rate roughly 14 times their white peers. Black women in the same age range were about 10 times more likely to experience force than young white women and twice more likely… than young white men."

“The productivity of searches of Black drivers is lower than that of white drivers for all three hit rates… of particular interest, given racial stereotypes on drug trafficking, the white arrest-worthy hit rate is 25.6% compared to 19.7% for Black drivers."