Studies

Research on racial bias in policing

“Many African Americans have ties to the police that would appear to be informal and friendly… living in an urban area with crime decreased the chances of knowing an officer. … [W]here the need for informal ties … is most pressing, they are least likely to exist."

“Our comparison of fruitless searches to arrest rates also allows us to assess the efficiency or accuracy of whatever demographic targeting the police may be doing. In all this, we find that White male officers are in a category of their own [often searching fruitlessly]."

Finds that Black mothers, despite negative experiences with police, “felt obligated to present police as positive figures to prevent their sons from responding to police in negative ways."

“These findings demonstrate disproportionate rates of incarceration among transgender women, especially among women of color [who]… were not only incarcerated at higher rates than White non-Hispanic transgender women, but also experienced higher rates of victimization."

“We can document very clearly the extent and nature of those [law enforcement] racial disparities that do exist. These are substantial, growing, and unjustified by the crime-fighting value of the policies that lead to them."

“Relevant research … debunks the correlation of crime rates and excessive use of force tactics against people of color.” & “No correlation between the level of violent crime in a city and that city’s rate of fatal police shootings."

“Police recruits spend 7x as many hours training to shoot than they do training to de-escalate situations.” & “Black people were more likely to be killed by police, more likely to be unarmed and less likely to be threatening someone when killed."

“Narratives of… students of color reveal that campus policing is an emerging issue… Without critical examination… [universities] will continue to reproduce a hostile environment based on law and order rather than safety and care."

“Concerns about [police officers] being killed on the job, although serious, have been greatly over exaggerated to warrant dramatic increases in police shootings and killing of unarmed suspects of color."