Studies

Research on racial bias in policing

“An extremely high proportion of Sub-Saharan African respondents were stopped for questioning during the last 12 months in Ireland (59%)” & “Interviewees lived in neighbourhoods that were described by interviewers as not particularly poor compared to other areas of the city”

“Reflexive criminalization of Black women… heighten[s] the perception that they are threatening, foreclosing the possibility in police officers' minds that they are simply survivors of violence… Police responses… all too often result in further…violence against them”

“While the majority of mass school shootings… have been in largely White, middle-class rural or suburban communities, the increased police presence [as a result of those shootings] has been most prevalent in low-income schools, with majority non-White populations."

“The rate at which Blacks [in Maryland] died by a police encounter (deaths per population size) was five times that of Whites… The number of unarmed Blacks who died (36 people) exceeded the total number of all Whites who died (30 people), armed or not."

“The loss of years per 100,000 people over their collective lifetimes is largest for Black men, with… 3,772 years are lost to police use of force… Black men’s cumulative loss of life is just over 2.5 times white men’s."

“For Black and mixed-‘race’ victims of crime the racialized processes of victim blaming and treatment as suspect damage trust and confidence in the police as a fair and legitimate institution. This has a significant impact on willingness to approach the police."

"‘In short, people who belong to marginalized communities are at a higher risk of being shot than those who are not.'" & “The data show that the problems encountered with police violence are systemic, not merely a case of individual ‘bad apples.'"

“In Ottawa, Middle Easterner and Black groups… are the two race groups with disproportionately high incidences of traffic stops… Black Drivers were stopped 2.3 times more than what you would expect based on their population."

“The pervasive influence of racial stereotypes may cause officers to perceive racial minorities as threatening. The same phenomenon may also influence juries. The limited empirical evidence available suggests that implicit bias importantly influences jury decision-making."