Studies

Research on racial bias in policing

8.3% of black women who experienced sexual violence “reported to formal reporting sources. These numbers are less than the national average that indicates one third of people aged 12 or older report sexual violence to the police.” Non-reporting corr. w/ “mistrust of police."

“The longstanding practice of deferring to the reasonableness of police officers’ expertise fails to effectively protect persons of color by allowing racial bias to influence an officer’s use of deadly force.” & “… [R]acial stereotypes [can] distort assessments of threat”

“Tabloid newspapers are notorious for stereotyping crime as a disproportionately African American problem.” & “It influences anyone who comes into contact with the screaming headlines and often provocative images, including law enforcement."

“Science proves that when people get racial cues, such as seeing black faces, we fill in blank spots with perceptions of fear…” & “When we train our officers that the possibility for deadly violence exists always … they will … begin to see it where it does not lie."

“Were the[y]… to protest, they risk being met with violent, racially disparate police responses … Racially biased policing in the United States thus forces…African Americans … to choose between their standing up for themselves and risking their personal safety."

Black and Latinx youth “expressed concerns about the way officers interacted with them during police encounters, citing the lack of respect as the primary issue, frequent harassment, feeling overpowered, fear, and an overall experience of being dehumanized during encounters”

“Although these numbers were small, white children with fractures of indeterminate origin were less likely to be reported to CPS [Child Protective Services]… Differential reporting of abuse to CPS by race was seen among toddlers with accidental and indeterminate injuries."

“While the majority of white respondents who read about a white victim blamed the officer (56.0%), white respondents who read a[n identical] story about an African American young man were almost 20 percentage points less likely to fault the officer (37.7%)."

"[Many] believe that black and brown youths buy, sell, and use drugs at a higher rate … when in fact youths of all races buy, sell, and use drugs at roughly the same rate and the disproportionate incarceration … owes to biases in legislation, policing, and sentencing"