Studies

Research on racial bias in policing

Decline of stop & search in England & Wales “has disproportionately favoured white people… Black people… are now six times as likely to be searched, up from four times the previous year… limited evidence to support the theory that stop & search actually reduces crime."

“exhibiting hip-hop culture appearance increases the odds of being arrested by three times… This pattern persists when holding constant all of the other variables in the model (including … suspect demeanor, priors, and seriousness of the offense)."

“The race of officers also shows a statistically significant relationship to pressure to conduct stops. Nonwhite officers are more likely to feel pressure compared with white officers.” & “Less pressure is placed on officers to obey the law, especially in more recent years."

“When young people are repeatedly stopped by police they begin to experience all stops as unfair, regardless of the individual characteristics of those stops… [and] come to believe… that they have been targeted for an unlawful reason, like their race or gender."

“Traffic officers say that by following any vehicle… they can observe a basis on which to stop it… Officers often develop ad hoc methods of winnowing suspicious from innocent motorist… [but are] subject to the racial and ethnic stereotypes they learn from our culture."

“Concern about police violence, as measured by Google search queries, is associated with elevated rates of homicide and other violent crime” & “[A] standard deviation increase in search activity… is associated with… a 10 percent rise in homicides.” (@MannMarcus)

In a survey of pregnant Black women in Atlanta, “A statistically significant association was observed for antenatal depressive symptoms and anticipated negative African American youth and police experiences” based on two agree/disagree questions.

In primarily Black, low-income cities, “most respondents viewed police negatively across measures of procedural justice, police department legitimacy, police bias, and community policing” but also a “strong belief in the law and [a] willingness to partner with the police."

“Findings for the Black population of Kingston during the study period are very clear: there are large racial disparities in stop rates and likelihood of being stopped regardless of other issues.” & “The results did not support the belief that police stops are about crime."