Case Analysis

Issues and Problems of PNP

Every organization faced some issues and problems. Issues and problems may

come from the facilities, financial and most likely to the people or members of an

organization. Solving those is not easy task but the organization had only one choice, to

resolve it. To be able to stand and to be strong they need to overcome it. If they do not

think and apply any solution on those issues and problems, it will lead to destruction of

their organization.

The Philippine National Police is the armed national force in the Philippines. Its

national headquarters is at Camp Crame in Quezon City. PNP is the organization that was

tasked or responsible to enforce law prevents and control crimes, maintains peace and

order, and ensures public safety and internal security with the active support of the

community.

This study aimed to identify some issues and problems of the Philippine National

Police.

Police brutality or police violence is legally defined as a civil rights violation

where law enforcement officers exercise undue or excessive force against a subject.

There’s the girl who was only 12 in December 2016 when the police shot her

father dead in Metro Manila, five months after the “Drug War” began. According to the

child the police came, and started questioning her father about illegal drugs. While her

father pleaded with the police officer who had a gun to his head, she tried to shield him

with her small body.

 The police pulled her from her father and heaved her through the door to the

alleyway outside. Seconds later, shots rang out. She found her father lying on the floor,

face-up, bloodied, dead. The police said he had a gun, which the child said it was a lie.

In connection to the preceding paragraph, another girl witness police killing of her

father in July 2017, at their home in General Santos City in the southern Philippines. She

vehemently disputes the claim that he “fought back,” a common police assertion during

raids that witnesses typically debunk.

In addition, police killed more than 5,600 people during anti-drug operations

between 2016 and January 2020, while many thousands more have been murdered by

police-backed gunmen. The murder of 17-year-old Kian delos Santos in August 2017 –

which was captured on CCTV - resulted in the criminal conviction of three police

officers.

Erring Cops are the Philippine National Police personnel who are involved in

illegal activities, such as drug and human trafficking, financial crimes, cybercrime,

malversation, graft and corrupt practices, and security violations.

A total of 250 police scalawags were slapped with criminal complaints by the

Philippine National Police's Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG). Data

from the PNP-IMEG on Thursday showed that of that total number, 124 policemen were

already arrested. These include 10 police commissioned officers, 113 police non-

commissioned officers and one non-uniformed personnel.

 The data covers the period from February 2017 to September 11, 2019.Of the

arrested rogue cops, 82 were involved in extortion, 13 were linked to kidnapping cases,

two were involved in illegal drugs and one was involved in slight physical injury.

According to PNP-IMEG, most of the arrested policemen have the ranks of patrolman,

corporal and staff sergeant.

Evaluation

Cases presented above showed that Philippine National Police still facing issues

and problems about police brutality and Erring Cops. Even there are laws prohibiting

such acts some police officers still performing this wrongful act.

As a result of the wrongful acts of some police officers, the whole organization

suffers. Philippine National Police will have a bad reputation and will be criticized.

Because of it they will lose the trust of their important partner when it comes to crime

and accident reporting, which is the community.

Proposed Solution

In view of the issues concerning police personnel involved in illegal activities, the

PNP released Memorandum Circular No. 2017-013 which sets forth the guidelines on its

Cleansing Strategy. Under said strategy, the PNP seeks to remove “misfits, scalawags,

and undesirables” from the PNP organization; strictly enforce the existing disciplinary

mechanisms; transform erring PNP personnel to become productive members through

reorientation and retraining; among others; compel the unit commanders at all levels to

closely supervise their personnel; and hold all unit commanders at all levels accountable

for the misdeeds of their personnel.

As part of its internal cleansing program, the Philippine National Police (PNP)

formally activated the Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG) as the

primary unit for information gathering and conduct of offensive operations against erring

police personnel.

PNP Chief, Gen. Oscar Albayalde, said the newly-formed enforcement group

replaces the two-year-old Counter-Intelligence Task Force (CITF), designed to conduct

intelligence build-up and law enforcement operations against PNP personnel who are

involved in illegal activities, such as drug and human trafficking, financial crimes,

cybercrime, malversation, graft and corrupt practices, and security violations.

Recommendation

In order to reduce issues and problems of the Philippine National Police this

guideline must strictly implement. It will greatly help the organization to regain them

from bad reputation. Because of this program erring police personnel will be penalized or

reformed. As an addition to its positive results, it may help to regain themselves from bad

reputation.
1. Why do they exist?

Law enforcers had the authority to investigate and apprehend

suspected individuals. Some police officers think that they can do

whatever they want to do against the suspected person because of

their power and authority.

 In every organization it is unavoidable to have personnel’s that if we

don’t pay attention their wrongdoings will affect the organization. In

the field of law enforcement those personnel’s are called “erring

cops”. According to the National Police Commision Vice Chairman

Rogelio Casurao, around 85% of cops who have been relieved from

duty had family issues.

2. How do they impact the organization

The victim of the police brutality was the civilian, most likely

because of these, civilians will lose their trust to our law enforcers

that were greatly affect the organization. The community was the

partner of the Philippine National Police when it comes to crime and

accident reporting.

Erring cops affect the image of the PNP organization, even only one

personnel committed a crime it is viewed by the community as a

whole organization fault and it will be blamed at the organization

itself.

3. Who is responsible for them?

The
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Theory_and_Evidence_on_Police_Use_of_Force

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“Director General Albayalde’s fundamental challenge is to transform

the Philippine National Police from deadly predators to genuine
protectors of public safety and rule of law,” said Phelim Kine, deputy
Asia director. “Albayalde should demonstrate that he’s serious about
‘respect for human rights’ by stopping summary killings by police and
bringing those responsible to justice.”

Human Rights Watch also urged Albayalde to take all necessary action
to prevent human rights abuses by police personnel; to ensure prompt,
transparent, and impartial investigations of alleged rights abuses in
which police are implicated; and to take appropriate action to ensure
that officers who commit abuses are appropriately held to account.
Research by Human Rights Watch found that many drug-war
killings were summary executions in which police or their agents
planted weapons and drugs on bodies and then claimed the victims
had “fought back.” No one has been held to account for these deaths.
https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/cuapb/pages/1/attachments/original/1591595256/

WHAT_WILL_IT_TAKE_TO_END_POLICE_VIOLENCE_with_Appendices.pdf?

1591595256

Police- community relations efforts. Far too many reform efforts center on the proposal of “police-

community relations.” The underlying premise is that if police and the community could somehow just

get along better, trust would be built and the problem would be solved. This framing places half the

responsibility for the problem on the community, when we have little control over the conduct of police.

This is a false framing. We need to be clear—the issue is and always has been police abuse of authority,

the oppression that underpins it, and the lack of accountability that encourages it. No amount of

“dialogue” or other relationship-building measures will improve this because “relationships” aren’t the

cause of the problem. The real cause is a lack of accountability. Unless efforts shift from “police-

community relations” to police accountability, these problems will continue. In fact, if police were held

accountable for their actions in meaningful ways right now, police misconduct—including deadly force

incidents—would greatly decrease and police-community relations would improve on its own, with no

special efforts needed.

***Discipline and Best Practices In an ideal situation, police officers understand and act within

expectations and, thus, avoid the disciplinary process altogether. In that environment, discipline

becomes the last—and seldom used—option. However, in all organizations of any size, employees range

in judgment and willingness to meet the organization’s expectations. Thus, appropriate disciplinary

practices must be in place as part of an overall infrastructure of effective personnel management. Issue:

Disciplinary Actions Overturned during Arbitration While it is hard for members of the public to know

the full extent of the problem due to data privacy, it is clear that a significant percent of terminations

and other disciplinary actions grieved by St. Paul Police Department officers have been overturned by

arbitrators. Much of this stems from a lack of disciplinary action for similar offenses by past
administrations. Other causes include poor documentation leading to a finding of insufficient evidence,

and disproportionate discipline compared to similar offenses by other officers. An instructive example is

the arbitration of Ofc. Brett Palkowitsch. Ofc. Palkowitsch was terminated for kicking Frank Baker

multiple times, causing ribs on both sides of his body to fracture along with the collapse of both lungs.

The city noted the clear violation of policy and the denial by Palkowitsch that his actions were wrong.

Despite this, the arbitrator reduced the discipline to a 30-day suspension. The arbitrator listed five

different incidents involving kicks—two of which involved Palkowitsch—and noted that those incidents

resulted in little or no discipline. These issues with making discipline “stick” and the disempowerment of

the chief when discipline is overturned are likely to continue unless a reset mechanism is adopted.

Otherwise, effective discipline is impossible due to lack of effective discipline in the past - a Catch 22.

Opportunity The introduction of a new policy or a new disciplinary matrix provides the opportunity to

adopt a disciplinary reset mechanism. A disciplinary reset mechanism frees the Department from the

constraints of past practices and allows police administration to create a greater culture of

accountability, which improves policing overall. Essentially, in a disciplinary reset mechanism police

administration draws a line indicating from that point forward, policy violations will be treated in a

particular and consistent manner. Nuts and Bolts Elements of a reset mechanism include: 20 1. A well-

defined disciplinary section of the policy manual and/or a disciplinary matrix with clear and specific

mitigating and aggravating factors. The use of a disciplinary matrix is considered a best practice.

However, information on the consequences of violating a policy can be included in that policy or in a

disciplinary section of the policy manual as long as information on progressive discipline is also included.

The matrix in use by the Vancouver PD (Police Discipline: A Case for Change, page 11—see below)

provides an example of a well-defined disciplinary matrix with specific ranges for first, second and

subsequent offenses. This is the crux of a progressive disciplinary system

A firm statement of expectations in either the new policy, new disciplinary policy manual section, or new

disciplinary matrix indicating that from a certain date forward, the department intends to change prior

disciplinary practices and that discipline will be applied consistently. An example of the appropriate

wording: With the establishment of the ______ policy dated ______, employees are on notice that the

Department intends to change any prior disciplinary practices and the discipline outlined in this policy is

now the standard of discipline for the St. Paul Police Department, effective with its issuance. 3. Training

for all managers, supervisors and other police leadership in application of the new disciplinary standard,

including mitigating and aggravating factors, detailed and legally correct documentation of incidents and

reasons for all disciplinary 21 actions, proper coaching and counseling techniques and documentation of

same, employee assistance procedures, last chance statements and other disciplinary mechanisms. 4.

Training for all officers on the new disciplinary standard and any changes in mitigating and aggravating

factors prior to implementation, with a signed or otherwise documented affirmation of this training and

understanding by every officer. 5. Consistent application of the disciplinary standard, mitigating and

aggravating factors in all cases by all police supervisors and managers, along with proper

documentation. Consistency is the core requirement. As noted in Why Progressive Discipline Systems

Often Fail, “A policy-based progressive discipline system only works properly if all supervisors play team

ball.” The success of an accountability culture shift is hinged on supervisors being fully on board. Thus,

the department must track results by supervisor. 6. Systematic review of arbitration decisions to

understand the standards applied and how best to meet those standards in future disciplinary actions.

There should be an analysis of arbitrations in which the city prevailed as well as those grievances that

are partially or fully sustained.

(Discipline Matrix. Minneapolis Police Department Internal Affairs Unit. October 2009.

http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/www/groups/public/@civilrights/documents/webcontent /wcms1p-

152149.pdf Getting Rid of Bad Apples: Winning at Arbitration. Johnson, R. August 2016. Dolan
Consulting Group. http://www.dolanconsultinggroup.com/wpcontent/uploads/2016/08/Research-

Brief_Arbitration_August-2016.pdf Police Accountability-Findings and National implications of an

Assessment of the San Diego Police Department. Police Executive Research Forum, 2015. Washington,

DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. https://ric-zaiinc.com/Publications/cops-w0756-

pub.pdf Police Discipline: A Case for Change. New Perspectives in Policing, June 2011. National Institute

of Justice. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/234052.pdf Why Progressive Discipline Systems Often

Fail. Means, R. and Zavitz, P. Law and Order.

http://www.hendonpub.com/law_and_order/articles/2014/10/why_progressive_discipline

_systems_often_fail )

N EXAMINATION OF POLICE BRUTALITY IN THE UNITED STATES: LIVING AND WORKING IN A STATE OF

FEAR By Latrice Marshall University of Wisconsin- Platteville Approved: Ann Krebs Byrne Date:
11/15/2017 Ann Krebs Byrne, MSE TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE TITLE

PAGE..............................................................................................................1

ABSTRACT................................................................................................................2 CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................3 Statement of the Problem

Definitions of Terms Purpose of the Study Delimitations Method of Approach II. REVIEW OF

LITERATURE.....................................................................7 Police Brutality Race Relations in the United

States White Privilege Excessive Force Police Perceptions Blacks Perceptions Perceptions of Those at

Low Socio-Economic Levels Law Enforcement Culture Police Training Link to Physical Ailment in Black

Males Possible Solutions III. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .................................17 IV.

REFERENCES .......................................................................................18 AN EXAMINATION OF POLICE

BRUTALITY IN THE UNITED STATES: LIVING AND WORKING IN A STATE OF FEAR __________________ A

Seminar Paper Presented to The Graduate Faculty University of Wisconsin-Platteville

__________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree Masters of Science in

Education Human Services __________________ by Latrice Marshall 2017 2 Abstract AN EXAMINATION

OF POLICE BRUTALITY IN THE UNITED STATES: WORKING AND LIVING IN A STATE OF FEAR Latrice

Marshall Under the Supervision of Ann Krebs Byrne, MSE For this research paper, police brutality and

the use of excessive force against minorities, specifically Black males, were examined. Connections were

made between current social issues and historical events. A review of the historical treatment of the

Black population in the United States was included to provide context for the contentious relationship of

Black males, (who are often perceived as hostile and aggressive), with law enforcement officials.

Throughout American history, Blacks have been valued less than other groups in society and viewed as

nuisances to social order. Additionally, police officers are often assigned to neighborhoods that they do

not live in or are not familiar with in terms of the cultural behaviors and functionality of the ethnic

group. Police officers might respond to Blacks with preconceived negative notions. As a direct result of
fear and unfamiliarity with social constructs, police officers might react to Black males and the

environment in which they live with the use of increased assertiveness and force when compared to

what is normally used in other communities. Finally, data is provided which correlates negative health

effects with continuous racism against Black males. Serious health issues are associated with the impact

of racism and contribute to premature death among Blacks males. 3 Chapter One: Introduction In the

summer of 2014 a young, unarmed, Black male named Freddie Gray was shot and killed by a White

police officer. This event sparked national outrage over police brutality against minorities in the United

States and gave birth to the “Black Lives Matters” movement (Embrick, 2015). While Freddie Gray was

not the first shooting victim in the United States by a law enforcement agent, it was the catalyst that

caused many Americans to begin questioning the repeated killings of unarmed young Black males. Many

questioned if the unarmed shootings of Black males were representative of the symptomatic results of

continued historical institutionalized racist practices and the marginalization of a group by others in

American society. Some believe there is a long-held belief of superiority by the dominant group in

society that has led to the devaluation of Blacks lives, (specifically males), and therefore, serves as a

legitimizer of law enforcement actions (Embrick, 2015). If institutionalized systemic racism or the belief

of White superiority is not the primary reason behind the turbulent relationship between police officers

and Black males, there is a need to search for the cause. It seemed that excessive force was used more

often by police officers when encountering Black males when compared to other groups. To gain insight

and understanding of the perceived excessive and aggressive encounters with law enforcement officials

among Black males, there is a need to examine not just historical foundations, but also White Privilege,

police training practices, the state of mind of law enforcement officials during points of contact, and

physiological factors which may affect the behaviors of members of law enforcement during a situation

in which Black males are viewed as threats of criminality. 4 Statement of the Problem Police brutality

toward Blacks, (males in particular), continues to exist following the Civil Rights era. If there is
understanding as to the reason(s) why such actions among law enforcement officials persist, there is

hope for a future without the continuation of this behavior. Definition of Terms Police Brutality: The

process of a law enforcement official(s) using force beyond the scope of what is deemed reasonable or

necessary to apprehend a suspect (Alpert & Smith, 1995). Disenfranchised minority population:

Whereas the dominant population of a culture deprives the minority population(s) of the same culture

of power and marginalizes the group based on racial, ethnic, cultural, physical, psychological, and social

differences which has been generated from a legacy of systematic institutional racism and discrimination

(Mauer & Chesney-Lind, 2002; Painter, 2007; Parham et al., 1999 as cited in Lockett, 2013). White

Privilege: Unearned privileges that a dominant group holds in society, or, when referencing White

Americans, White privilege. (Powell, Branscombe, & Schmitt (2005) as cited in Stewart, T. L., Latu, I. M.,

Branscombe, N. R., Phillips, N. L. and Ted Denney, H. (2012). Racial Bullying: Racial Bullying is a

distinctive set of aggressive and/or hostile actions characterized by a power imbalance and with the

intention to harm based upon one’s perceived status as a marginalized group within a population

(Olweus, 1993 as cited in Schumann, L., Craig, W. & Rosu, A., 2013). Jim Crow: The anti-black laws and

racial caste system which operated primarily, but not Exclusively, in southern and border states,

between 1877 and the mid-1960s (Jim Crow Museum, 2016). 5 Stereotype threat phenomenon: Group

or social identity in which negative stereotypes exist which may be applied under certain situational

circumstances (Najdowski, Bottoms, & Goff, 2015). Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study is to

address the issue of police brutality upon Black males in the United States and to seek information and

understanding which provides insight as to why this problem continues to exist following the Civil Rights

era. If indeed the proposed statement is accurate that Black males are routinely subjected to police

brutality and excessive force more than other groups in the United States, there must be an explanation.

If there is an explanation, then a solution can be devised to bring about change for future generations.

Delimitations The research material provided in this paper was collected January 6, 2017 through May 6,
2017. The research source utilized in obtaining this information was from the data base of the library at

University of Wisconsin-Parkside. The terms searched were “police brutality,” “excessive force,” “racial

profiling”, “Blacks”, “racism,” and “race relationships in the United States.” Method of Approach This

topic was researched after a possible resurgence of police brutality on Black males in the United States

and the rise of the Black Lives Matter Movement as reported in the media. First, information was

gathered regarding the history of race relations in the United States. Then, literature was obtained that

addressed sociological and psychological implications and explanations of aggressive behavior towards

minorities (specifically Black males). Finally, police behavior and Black males’ behavior when

encountering police officers was researched to 6 gain a better understanding as to why Blacks males

may face violent and even deadly consequences by law enforcement officials when both groups

intersect. In Chapter 2 of this paper a literature review has been included. In Chapter 3 of this paper,

recommendations for further study and conclusions are provided. 7 Chapter Two: Literature Review

Police Brutality There is no doubt that Blacks males, more so than any n any of their other societal

counterparts, are more often met with more excessive force encounters by police officers. Black males

are 21 times more likely than White males to be shot and killed by police at a rate of 31.17 deaths per

million as compared to 1.47 deaths per million for White males (Milner, George, & Allison, 2016).

Accusations of institutionalized racism and the need for systematic control of the Black population are

believed to be the reasons why excessive force is utilized more often among this population of citizens

(Embrick, 2015). If these reasons are not correct, there must be other extenuating circumstances or

explanations that account for or contribute to the reason why excessive force and occasional lethal

actions are taken against Black males more so than any other group in the United States. A historical

overview of race relations in the United States can perhaps shed light on why these two deeply rooted

beliefs are held among Black citizens. Race Relations in the United States According to Embrick, (2015)

beginning with the inception of slavery through the years following the Civil Rights Movement of the
1950’s and 1960’s, some White Americans have held a long-standing belief of the need to provide racial

regulation of minorities. In particular, Black males were a concern. Embrick (2015), suggested that the

desire to control and showcase minorities as inferior served as an affirmation of White supremacy.

Embrick (2015) made the analogy that what was once the regulatory responsibility of the slave

overseers, night riders, and racist organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan in keeping minorities in order

and under social 8 control, has now fallen into the hands of the criminal justice department system in

the United States (Embrick, 2015). Embrick, (2015) claimed that racial bullying, brutalization, and the

public display of the degradation of Black men are still used to marginalize this group. From the days of

slavery and the years following the Emancipation Proclamation, (the law that ended slavery of people

who were of African descent), Black males have remained the consistent targets of White supremacy in

the United States. During the Jim Crow era, Blacks, again particularly males, were routinely snatched

from their homes in the middle of the night and were lynched without any consequences to the

aggressors. Embrick (2015) suggested that today’s legally-condoned brutality comes directly from

institutionalized racist foundations which were built to prevent Blacks and other minorities from

progressing academically, socially, or economically. Embrick (2015) surmised that the criminal justice

system in the United States, which is comprised of both the federal and local government law

enforcement agencies, actively and systematically, participated in the role of enforcing social constraints

against minorities. Embrick, (2015) noted that there have been unending reports of injustices faced by

Blacks from police forces across the nation. Embrick (2015) described that there are two populations

that exist in the nation, one of White privilege and the other a less-valued and disenfranchised minority

population. Embrick, (2015) seemed to validate this notion by offering the results of the 1968 “Kerner

Report”, (the findings of a National Advisory Commission), commissioned by then President Lyndon B.

Johnson, who stated that the greatest problem in the twentieth century would be the continued race

divide between the Black population and the White population. According to Embrick (2015), the recent
killings of Blacks by law enforcement officials nationwide without justifiable 9 cause demonstrated the

lack of regard for the lives of Blacks in the United States, which is rooted in historical racism and

marginalization of Blacks. Embrick (2015) suggested that White Privilege is, perhaps, the leading cause of

racial inequality in the U.S. (Embrick, 2015). White Privilege It might be worthwhile to examine the

means through which intergroup biases are perpetuated and the devices by which they might be

reduced. Social psychologists and diversity training practitioners might shed some light on this issue in

our society. (Czopp, Monteith, & Mark, 2006; Molina & Wittig, 2006; Nagda, Tropp, & Paluck, 2006;

Stephan & Vogt, 2004 as cited in Schumann, Craig, and Rosu, 2013). In a country where the majority

group is born with the privilege of superiority, it is often difficult to view a disenfranchised and

disadvantaged life faced by minorities. Carter and Correa (2016) suggested that unfavorable feelings

toward Blacks and other minorities are learned from members of the environment who are closely

connected in early childhood. Often White Americans blame or justify the brutal acts of excessive force

on the individual receiving the brutality (Embrick, 2015). In 2014, the PEW Research Center conducted a

nationwide survey and found that minorities believed that race relations were worse than the previous

seven years. In that same survey, White respondents believed race relations had gotten better. More

findings in the same survey suggested that Blacks were leery of the justification of police shootings

involving Blacks more often than White Americans. Additionally, according to Embrick, (2015) Blacks

reported that race was believed to be the key factor in shootings involving Black Males and police

officers, while White Americans believed that an investigation would be fair in determining if the actions

of the police officers who shot Black suspects were justifiable or judicially improper. 10 In 2015, CNN

conducted a poll in which minorities were asked how they viewed the criminal justice system in the

United States; unsurprisingly 69% of the Blacks polled stated that they believed that White Americans

were treated better than Blacks. However, only 42% of Whites who were polled agreed that White

Americans were treated better than Blacks (Embrick, 2015). Smith & Holmes (2003) maintained that
police and minority tensions are the systemic results of racial and social divide in American culture.

Excessive Force Smith & Holmes (2003) observed the belief by many that minorities were not equal to

the dominant group when encountering excessive force used by law enforcement officers. In the United

States, there is a lack of trust of law enforcement officials among Blacks due to perceived beliefs by this

group that Black lives, particularly males, are of less value in society and are readily dispensable (Smith

& Holmes, 2003). These two factors alone contributed to the group’s belief of marginalized existence in

society. In addition, there also exists a long-held belief that the dominant group has a preoccupation

with population control/racial order (maintaining control over the behavior of minorities) (Smith &

Holmes, 2003). The direct acts of trying to maintain social and behavioral control of minorities may be a

partial explanation as to why there are many incidents of brutality and deaths of Black males by police

officers (Crump, Safir, Morris, & Abdual-Jabbar, 2015). Police Perceptions The use of police force can be

deemed appropriate and justifiable if it is necessary to accomplish police duties (Smith, & Holmes,

2003). The standard rule for using a firearm is that an officer must be in the position of protecting his

own life or the life of someone else (Crump, Safir, Morris, & Abdual-Jabbar, 2015). Acts of unnecessary

physical force are considered to be 11 police officer misconduct and are categorized as acts of police

brutality from the judicial perspective (Crump et al., 2015; Smith, & Holmes, 2003). Most often when a

police officer shoots a suspect, there is a weapon visible which validates an officer’s belief that he is in

imminent danger. However, when deadly physical force has been exerted by law enforcement agents

who have shot unarmed Black males, police officers have reported feeling threatened or experiencing a

sense of fear as the reason for discharging his or her weapon (Crump et al., 2015). On the other hand,

Terrill and Reisig (2003), asserted that individuals were viewed based upon their behavior. Those who

were stopped, detained, or arrested by law officers and were combative or under the influence of

alcohol or drugs were perceived as negative and, therefore, in need of control. These individuals often

faced punitive actions from officers (Terrill & Reisig, 2003). According to Najdowski et al. (2015), there is
a vast amount of research that shows the dangerous effects of unfavorable perceptions about Blacks.

Included in these negative views regarding Blacks are the assumptions that members of this group are

violent and are inherently criminal deviants, which accounts for the racial differences in judicial system

outcomes when comparing them to other groups in the United States (Najdowski et al., 2015).

Additionally, stereotyping Blacks as hostile and aggressive, according to psychological research, can

subconsciously affect the way people view, make judgements, and perceive information about the

group on a conscious level (Najdowski et al., 2015). This subconscious connection between Blacks and

criminality may have an impact on how and why law enforcement officials respond and interact when

facing possible criminal encounters with Blacks (Najdowski et al., 2015). James, James, & Vila (2016),

suggested that Black male suspects who were shot by police 12 officers were likely shot because of

threat perception failure (misinterpretation of facts) and not because of their race.

ter Three: Conclusions and Recommendations Based on research findings of Terrill and Reisig, (2003) law

enforcement agents are part of an institutional culture and therefore abide and act accordingly to what

is permissible administratively within the confines of their employment institutions. This suggests that

excessive force and police brutality continues to exist because it is tolerated by officials who are in

command of the officers. While the focus has long been on police officers, perhaps what is needed is a

closer examination of the administrative figures that set the tone of the work environment and enforces

work rules. Perhaps the reasons why police brutality continues may be linked to law enforcement

officers adhering to and abiding by unspoken rules that reward or punish employees based upon his

acceptance or rejection of police culture. More research is needed on the administrative structure,

culture, and work rules within the work place of law enforcement officials. The consequences of police

brutality, injustices, and other inequalities experienced by minorities, specifically Blacks in the Unites

States, can be viewed as bullying. Research suggests that discrimination and disenfranchisement can be

linked to not only physical harm, but mental harm as well. The link between poor health among Black
men and boys (Tutashinda, 2012) and living in fear of being treated unfairly must be further researched.

If we can identify the causes of continued police mistreatment of Black males, we can possibly bring a

stop to decades of aggression against Black males.

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Phenomenological Psychology, 42, 137-156. Carter, J. S., & Correa, M. (2016). Racial resentment and

attitudes toward the use of force by police: An over-time trend analysis. Sociological Inquiry, 86(4),492-

511 doi: 10.111/soin.12136 Correll, J.,Park.B., Judd.C.M., Wittenbrink, B., Sadler, A. & Keesee. L. (2007).

Across the thin blue line: Police officers and racial bias in the decision to shoot. Journal of Personality

and Social Psychology, 92(6), 1006. Crump, B., Safir, H., Morris, E., & Abdul-Jabbar, K. (2015). Truth and

consequences. Time, 185(14), 30.31. Embrick, D. G. (2015). Two nations, revisited: The lynching of black

and brown bodies, police brutality and racial control in post-racial Amerikkka. Criminal Sociology. 41,

(6)835-843. James, L., James, S.M., & Vila, B. J. (2016). The reverse racism effect. American Society of

Criminology. (15)2. doi: 10.1111/1745-1933.12187. 19 Jim Crow Museum: Origins of Jim Crow- Ferris

State University. www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/what.htm. Lockett, T, N. (2013). Effects of racism and

discrimination on personality development among African American male repeat offenders. Retrieved

from: http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/1098/ Milner, A.N., George, B.J. Allison, D.B. (2016)

Black and hispanic men perceived to be large are at increased risk for police frisk, search, and force.

PLoS ONE11(1):e0147158. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0147158. Najdowski, C.J., Bottoms, B.L.

& Goff, P.A. (2015). Stereotype threat and racial differences in citizens’ experiences of police

encounters. Law and Human Behavior, 39(5), 463-477. doi: 10.1037/lhb0000140.Doi:101002/acp.2838.

Schumann, L., Craig, W. and Rosu, A. (2013), Minority in the majority: Community ethnicity as a context
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Smith, B., & Holmes, D. (2003), Community accountability, minority, threat, and police brutality: An

examination of civil rights criminal complaints. Criminology, 41 (4), 1035-1063. Terrill, W. & Reisig, M. D.

(2003). Neighborhood context and police use of force. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency,

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(4) 6.

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Original Article 

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What Social Science Research Says

about Police Violence against Racial and
Ethnic Minorities: Understanding the
Antecedents and Consequences—An
Introduction
Kristin Nicole Dukes 

Kimberly Barsamian Kahn

First published: 04 December 2017

https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12242

Citations: 3

Special thanks to Dr. Samuel Sommers on his thoughtful insights and guidance on this entire issue.
We are grateful for his mentorship and wisdom throughout this process, and Dr. Keith Maddox for
comments on earlier drafts of this article.
This article is part of the Special Issue “What Social Science Research Says About Police Violence
Against Racial and Ethnic Minorities: Understanding the Antecedents and Consequences,” Kristin N.
Dukes, and Kimberly B. Kahn (Special Issue Editors). For a full listing of Special Issue papers,
see: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/josi.2017.73.issue-4/issuetoc.
SECTIONS

PDF

TOOLS

SHARE

Abstract
Police violence against racial and ethnic minorities by law enforcement is an international social
justice issue that has elicited substantial societal attention, both historically and more recently since
the death of Michael Brown in 2014 in the United States. This volume of the Journal of Social
Issues integrates theoretical and empirical research to examine police violence (i.e., disproportionate
physical and psychological injury and maltreatment) against racial and ethnic minorities and provides
policy recommendations directed at reducing this violence from a multidisciplinary perspective.
Organized across two substantive sections, one section is devoted to evidence of and factors
contributing to police violence against racial and ethnic minorities, including racial stereotyping,
implicit bias, and contextual factors. The other section focuses on societal‐level, downstream
consequences of exposure to this violence for both individual targets and their community, including
attitudinal, physical, and mental health consequences. A concluding chapter integrates the special
issue articles’ findings and provides new perspectives on policing and race. This opening article to
the special issue reviews existing literature and outlines the unique contributions of the included
articles on this topic.

Although not a new phenomenon, disproportionate police violence toward racial and ethnic
minorities has garnered international attention in recent years (e.g., Athwal & Bourne, 2015;
Burch, 2011; Fryer, 2016; Goff, Lloyd, Geller, Raphael, & Glasser, 2016; Hyland, Langston, &
Davis, 2015; Kahn & Martin, 2016). This violence is often perceived to be excessive by minority
communities and, at least portions of, the larger public, regardless of whether it was a “justified” or
“in policy” police shooting or action. High‐profile police shootings, often of unarmed racial and ethnic
minorities, have incited racial and ethnic tensions, led to wide‐scale protests, and drawn intensive
media coverage. This special issue takes an interdisciplinary look at police violence against racial
and ethnic minorities by integrating theoretical perspectives, empirical research, and public policy
recommendations.

We define police violence broadly to encompass fatalities due to physical injury or negligence as
well as excessive nonfatal physical and psychological injury and maltreatment; racial and ethnic
minorities are defined not only numerically, but also by social status and historical contexts to
include individuals marginalized or stigmatized on the basis of self‐identified or perceived race
and/or ethnicity. The overall goals of this volume are to elucidate some of the myriad of antecedents
and consequences of violence against people of color, broaden the discussion around the impact of
this harm, and provide policy recommendations that promote equitable treatment of racial and ethnic
minorities by police. In this introductory article, we briefly review past research on factors that
contribute to these disparities as well as physiological and psychological consequences of this
violence. Then, we provide an overview of contributions to this volume that extend this research.

Factors Contributing to Disparities in Police

Violence against Racial and Ethnic Minorities
Disproportionate use of force toward racial and ethnic minorities ranges on a continuum from low
levels of nonlethal force to highest levels of lethal force (Kahn & Martin, 2016). In the United States,
people of color are more likely to experience both threats of (Hyland et al., 2015), and actual use of,
all levels of nonlethal force in interactions with police (Fryer, 2016; Goff et al., 2016). Similarly, in
England and Wales, Blacks and other ethnic minorities, refugees, and migrants experience a
disproportionate level of force compared to Whites (Athwal & Bourne, 2015). Regarding fatal
encounters with the police, racial and ethnic minorities, especially young minority men in the United
States (Burch, 2011) and internationally, are more likely to die in police custody or at the hands of
police (Inquest, 2017). For instance, in 2015–2016, 405 unarmed individuals were killed by law
enforcement in the United States; almost 30% of these individuals were Black (The Guardian, n.d.);
a startling contrast to the roughly 12–15% of the U.S. population that Blacks comprise. Various
assessments, like the ones mentioned here, demonstrate a consistent pattern of disparities in police
violence against racial and ethnic minorities across countries and contexts. These disparities are
perceived to be excessive and unjustified by the groups targeted and many others in society. But
why do these disparities exist? What are the causes?

Both contextual and dispositional factors have been examined as potential contributors to disparities
in police violence against racial and ethnic minorities. From a contextual standpoint, researchers
have focused on characteristics of the police‐suspect encounter such as the victim's race or
ethnicity, if the victim was armed, the victim's attire, and the location of the incident (e.g., urban
setting). Take, for instance, empirical research on shooter bias (e.g., Correll, Hudson, Guillermo, &
Ma, 2014). The police shooting of unarmed African immigrant Amadou Diallo in New York led to
experimental investigations into the causal role that suspect race has on decisions to shoot. Building
off of prior work on weapon misidentification (Payne, 2001), this research involves the use of a first‐
person shooter task, during which participants are presented with Black and White male targets
holding weapons or neutral objects. Responses indicate a racially biased pattern of decisions to
shoot, termed “shooter bias,” such that people are more likely to make shooting mistakes consistent
with Black racial stereotypes (e.g., mistakenly shooting unarmed Blacks more than unarmed
Whites). This bias is attributed to cultural knowledge of racial stereotypes, in particular stereotypes
of Black men as dangerous, aggressive, and criminal (Correll et al., 2014).

Over the past decade and a half, studies have uncovered similar biased shooting patterns against
Latinos (Sadler, Correll, Park, & Judd, 2012), Muslims wearing headgear such as a turban or hijab
(Unkelbach, Goldenberg, Mueller, Sobbe, & Spannaus, 2009), and darker skinned, compared to
lighter skinned, racial minorities (Kahn & Davies, 2011). Scholars have also focused on ways to
mitigate shooter bias, finding some success in training programs that counter the Black stereotypic
associations with violence (e.g., Plant, Peruche, & Butz, 2005; Sim, Correll, & Sadler, 2013).

Work on shooter bias highlights that racial and ethnic disparities in policing outcomes may reflect
implicit or unconscious biases, in addition to any explicitly held prejudicial beliefs (Greenwald &
Banaji, 1995). Implicit biases that link racial and ethnic minorities with criminality and violence, held
beneath an individual's conscious awareness, can produce discriminatory outcomes. Police may
hold these implicit biases that are also pervasive in society, which can impact their behavior in
police‐suspect interactions (Kahn & Martin, 2016). While explicit racial animus held by police may
play a role in producing some of this pattern of violence, implicit bias may also be a significant
source.

And although not a primary focus of this volume, from a dispositional framework, some scholars
suggest that there is a distinct “police personality”; yet the origin and exact composition is up for
debate (Gatto, Dambrun, Kerbrat, & de Oliveira, 2009; Guimond, Dambrun, Michinov, &
Duarte, 2003; Lefkowitz, 1975; Sidanius, van Laar, Levin, & Sinclair, 2003, Twersky‐Glasner, 2005;
Whitley, 1999). A great deal of work in this area has centered on right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA)
and social dominance orientation (SDO)—two traits positively correlated with racial/ethnic prejudice
and potentially related to police officers’ use of force. RWA is a tendency to adhere to authority
figures, engage in aggression toward out‐group members when sanctioned by authority figures, and
support traditional values endorsed by authority figures (Whitley, 1999). Relatedly, SDO is the
degree to which a person desires to see their in‐group as dominant over other out‐groups, combined
with a willingness to endorse beliefs that support the subjugation of out‐groups (Sidanius
et al., 2003). Evidence that police officers differ these traits is inconclusive (Gerber & Ward, 2011).
Some research suggests that both newly recruited and established police officers’ levels of RWA
and SDO are higher than the general population, but that only established officers are higher in
prejudice toward ethnic minority groups (Gatto et al., 2009). Oppositely, other studies show that law
enforcement personnel are lower in authoritarianism than members of civilian groups, such as
college students and teachers (Gerber & Ward, 2011). Still, one could argue that a police officer with
these personality traits may be more prone to violence against racial and ethnic minorities.

Taken together, these contextual and dispositional factors provide some initial insight into factors
that potentially contribute to the disparate amount of police force directed at racial and ethnic
minorities, but it is essential to remember that this pressing problem is not just an issue of
circumstance or police officers’ individual level personality traits or explicit bias. Rather, law
enforcement's history of mistreatment of racial and ethnic minorities is reinforced by societal‐level
systematic racism and ethnocentrism. Next, we turn to policies designed to address racially biased
policing outcomes on a structural level.

Physiological and Psychological Consequences

of Violence and Discrimination
Previous research has also examined the impact of police violence against racial and ethnic
minorities on other group members that are not the direct targets of this violence. It stands to reason
that recurrent exposure to police violence against members of one's racial/ethnic group could be
interpreted as a form of discrimination, and thus, has the potential to negatively impact physical and
mental health.

Higher levels of perceived and experienced discrimination have been linked with poorer physical
health, such as hypertension and increased risk of cardiovascular disease, as well risky health
behaviors, such as smoking and alcohol use (Krieger & Sidney, 1996; Williams, Neighbors, &
Jackson, 2003). Likewise, experiencing racial discrimination is associated with higher levels of
psychological distress (Landrine & Klonoff, 1996; Williams & Williams‐Morris, 2000), major
depression and other depressive symptoms (Kessler, Mickleson, & Williams, 1999;
Thompson, 1996), and lower levels of happiness and life satisfaction (Utsey, Ponterotto, Reynolds,
& Cancelli, 2000). Exposure to police violence against one's group, even vicariously, can carry with it
these same outcomes.

Existing Policies to Decrease Police Violence

against Racial and Ethnic Minorities
Legislation to combat race and ethnicity‐based discrimination among law enforcement agencies has
also been enacted in some countries in order to promote more equitable outcomes. For instance, the
United Kingdom passed the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, in part, to address racial
discrimination among police officers (Bowling & Phillips, 2003). It “outlaws race discrimination in
public authority functions not covered by the original Race Relations Act 1976” and “places a general
duty on specified public authorities to promote race equality” (The Guardian, 2001). Similarly, The
Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act of 2006 made discrimination on the
basis of race, religion, and other characteristics illegal (The Police Accountability Project, 2011). Still,
the effectiveness of such legislations has not been quantified (Bowling & Phillips, 2003). And
importantly, this type of national‐level legislation banning racial profiling in policing is absent in the
United States (Goff & Kahn, 2012).

Other ways to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in policing outcomes focus on policy initiatives and
police training. In response to recent protests regarding police use of force against racial minorities,
police body‐worn cameras (BWCs) have been championed as both a method of deterring the use of
excessive force among officers and an objective means of documenting officer–civilian encounters
(Kahn & Martin, 2016). Because it is a newer technology, the effect of BWCs on use of force is
conflicting and inconclusive at best (Ariel et al., 2016). Further, police training programs to promote
more equitable outcomes, such as cultural competency trainings, trainings to reduce racial profiling
(e.g., perspectives on profiling training), and trainings on implicit bias (e.g., fair and impartial
policing), are not universally adopted nor their long‐term effectiveness rigorously evaluated (Kahn &
Martin, 2016). The range of these issues suggests that any intervention to address this victimization
must be multifaceted and far‐reaching.

Overview of Current Issue

Organized across two substantive sections, the first of these sections aims to quantify and describe
the occurrence of police violence against racial and ethnic minorities and to elucidate factors
contributing to this treatment. It begins with an article examining the magnitude of racial disparities in
police use of force and testing competing hypotheses as the source of these disparate outcomes.
Scott, Ma, Sadler, and Correll (2017) analyze racial disparities in police shootings using data from
the U.S. Department of Justice. They investigate two potential causes of the disparity: the Racially
Biased Policing (RBP) hypothesis (i.e., racial bias leads officers to use more extreme force with
Black suspects), and the Differential Criminal Activity (DCA) hypothesis (i.e., police respond to the
behavior of the suspect, rather than race, but that behavior differs as a function of race). Supporting
RBP, they find that police are more likely to shoot Blacks, regardless of any racial differences in
crime activity. This suggests that officers are influenced by suspect race, and not differential suspect
behavior, in these fatal encounters.

Having established the existence of disparities in police shooting fatalities, in the next article, Kahn
and Davies (2017) explore contextual factors that moderate shooting decisions using an
experimental paradigm. They find that participants were more likely to display “shooter bias” against
Black, compared to White, suspects when primed with a stereotypically Black and threatening
neighborhood and when they were dressed in stereotypically Black and threatening attire. Their
results suggest that neighborhoods that are perceived to be dangerous, potentially because more
Black individuals live there, and racialized clothing, such as Trayvon Martin's hoodie, may be
uniquely contributing and interacting with suspect race to increase the likelihood of police shooting
racial minorities in police‐suspect interactions. They argue that emphasis should be on police
training to reduce the likelihood of potentially fatal shooting decisions based on race interacting with
the social context.

The third article of the section shifts from police use of force against civilians to fatal use of force
between police officers themselves, specifically examining shooting deaths of off‐duty officers
mistaken to be citizens. Mirroring disproportionate outcomes for racial minority citizens, racial
disparities are strongly evident here as well. Analyzing data from the New York State Task Force on
Police‐on‐Police Shootings and other administrative archives, Charbonneau, Spencer, and Glaser
(2017) conclude the probability of being fatally shot by another officer while off‐duty is 52 times
higher for Black officers than White officers. They argue that the racial disparities in police‐on‐police
shootings provide a stark, but informative, example of the complex role of implicit bias in policing
decisions and suggest how it might be mitigated.

The second of the two substantive sections focuses on the long‐lasting and far‐reaching societal‐
level consequences of perceived excessive police violence against racial and ethnic minorities. It
begins by drawing attention to the immediate societal reactions to these acts, and then details the
indirect impact of this brutality on the mental and physical health of communities of color. First,
Reinka and Leach (2017) review recent polls, as well as their own work, on the racial divide in
attitudes and reactions to, and protest against, police violence toward racial and ethnic minorities. In
their research, Black and White individuals had divergent reactions to images of police brutality and
protests against police force. White individuals found these images more novel, suggesting
unfamiliarity with them, while Black individuals were more affected by these images. A linguistic
analysis of participants’ written reactions to the images revealed that Blacks used more positive,
justice‐ and affiliation‐related language. These findings suggest that Blacks, compared to Whites,
may have a greater connection with, and appreciation of, protest against police violence toward
racial and ethnic minorities. This work has implications for how protests against police violence, such
as Black Lives Matters, are viewed, understood, and ultimately supported—or not.

Turning to the portrayal of victims, the next article focuses on the type of media coverage racial and
ethnic minority victims of police violence receive. Following the deaths of Trayvon Martin and
Michael Brown, media outlets were criticized for their focus on negative, racially stereotypical
background information they presented about both teenagers. Dukes and Gaither (2017) examine
how such portrayals affect attributions of blame, sympathy, and empathy with the victim and killer,
and by extension, undermine motivation to prosecute perpetrators. Results demonstrate that having
a negative, racial stereotype‐filled message about a victim, similar to information frequently released
about racial and ethnic minority victims of police violence, can significantly sway not only how the
victim is perceived, but also how the shooter is perceived and the sentencing the shooter should
receive. The authors provide policy recommendations for media outlets that encourage portrayals of
victims that are, balanced.

What effect do perceived biased interactions with police have on racial and ethnic minorities’
perceptions of law enforcement? In the fourth article of this section, Nadal, Davidoff, Allicook, Serpe,
and Erazo (2017) use a mixed method approach to investigate the impact of perceived racial bias in
policing on communities of color, including Blacks, Latinx, Asians, and Whites. Specifically, the
authors examine both perceptions of law enforcement and the qualitative experiences of being
stopped by police without a justifiable reason as a function of race. Their findings suggest that
Blacks hold more negative attitudes toward the police than other racial and ethnic groups, and that in
general, when people perceive they are unjustifiably stopped, that they experience a spectrum of
emotional, cognitive, and behavioral reactions. The authors discuss the implications of these findings
for the mental health of individuals that feel unfairly targeted by police, as well as its impact on
community relations and the need to improve the relationship between law enforcement and the
communities they serve.

As described earlier, the pattern of unequal treatment of racial and ethnic minorities by police is
international in scope. Kauff, Wölfer, and Hewstone (2017) offer an international perspective on
adolescent immigrant minorities’ perceptions of discrimination, including by police and private
security guards, and how it affects their health and well‐being in three European countries—
Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Kauff et al. (2017) find that perceived ethnic victimization
by police and private security guards was the most reported type of discrimination, as well as the
most impactful, on their overall health (e.g., psychosomatic problems). These health consequences
can have long‐lasting impacts on both individuals and communities, a point that continues in the final
article.

Continuing on this theme, Bryant‐Davis, Adams, Alejandre, and Gray (2017) provide a critical review
of literature on police brutality and disparate treatment (e.g., stop‐and‐frisk searches, identification
checks) of racial and ethnic minorities in the United States and beyond through multiple trauma
frameworks, namely, complex trauma and intergenerational trauma. Complex trauma is
characterized as a subset of dangerous or harmful events in which the person suffers traumatic
shock, and also severe disruption in the development of core self‐regulatory competences
(Ford, 2005). Intergenerational trauma posits that racial and ethnic minorities have been subjected to
acute traumas and/or persistent acts of criminalization spanning multiple generations (e.g., war,
genocide, colonization, and segregation/institutionalized racism) and are at risk for mental, physical,
and environmental health risks long after the actual trauma/criminalization has occurred. Police
brutality can be understood through this trauma framework and cross‐generational effects can be
noted in these targeted racial minority communities. Bryant‐Davis et al. (2017) conclude by outlining
novel ways in which these frameworks can inform medical, judicial, and clinical policies and
procedures.

Finally, in a concluding chapter to the special issue, Jones (2017) provides an additional perspective
and integration on the findings from the included articles and what they mean for our understanding
of race, policing, and violence. The article brings in historical insights, an analysis of causes, and
thoughts on reducing the occurrence of future police violence against racial and ethnic minorities.
 In summary, the special issue seeks to better understand the range of factors that create and
maintain police violence against racial and ethnic minorities and assess the aftermath of this harm.
Taken together, these contributions provide new perspectives on these troubling and devastating
incidents, and also new recommendations, small and large, toward alleviating this international
social justice issue.

Biographies
 Dr. Kristin Nicole Dukes is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Simmons College. She
earned her Ph.D. and M.S. in Social Psychology from Tufts University and her B.A. in Psychology
from Rice University. Her research focuses the social cognitive aspects of stereotyping, prejudice,
and discrimination.
 Dr. Kimberly Barsamian Kahn is an Associate Professor of Social Psychology at Portland
State University. She received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of California, Los
Angeles, and was a postdoctoral scholar at Lisbon University Institute in Portugal. Dr. Kahn’s
research addresses contemporary forms of subtle racial bias, including implicit bias, phenotypic
racial stereotypicality bias, and social identity threat. Her work often focuses on how racial
stereotypes affect behavior within the criminal justice domain and in police‐suspect interactions, with
an emphasis on police use of force and decisions to shoot. She has conducted research with police
departments on racial equity issues across the United States as part of the Center for Policing
Equity.

References
Citing Literature
 Volume73, Issue4
Special Issue: What Social Science Research Says About Police Violence Against Racial and
Ethnic Minorities: Understanding the Antecedents and Consequences
December 2017
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Journal of Social Issues

Original Article 

Free Access
What Social Science Research Says
about Police Violence against Racial and
Ethnic Minorities: Understanding the
Antecedents and Consequences—An
Introduction
Kristin Nicole Dukes 

Kimberly Barsamian Kahn

First published: 04 December 2017

https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12242

Citations: 3

Special thanks to Dr. Samuel Sommers on his thoughtful insights and guidance on this entire issue.
We are grateful for his mentorship and wisdom throughout this process, and Dr. Keith Maddox for
comments on earlier drafts of this article.
This article is part of the Special Issue “What Social Science Research Says About Police Violence
Against Racial and Ethnic Minorities: Understanding the Antecedents and Consequences,” Kristin N.
Dukes, and Kimberly B. Kahn (Special Issue Editors). For a full listing of Special Issue papers,
see: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/josi.2017.73.issue-4/issuetoc.
SECTIONS

PDF

TOOLS

SHARE

Abstract
Police violence against racial and ethnic minorities by law enforcement is an international social
justice issue that has elicited substantial societal attention, both historically and more recently since
the death of Michael Brown in 2014 in the United States. This volume of the Journal of Social
Issues integrates theoretical and empirical research to examine police violence (i.e., disproportionate
physical and psychological injury and maltreatment) against racial and ethnic minorities and provides
policy recommendations directed at reducing this violence from a multidisciplinary perspective.
Organized across two substantive sections, one section is devoted to evidence of and factors
contributing to police violence against racial and ethnic minorities, including racial stereotyping,
implicit bias, and contextual factors. The other section focuses on societal‐level, downstream
consequences of exposure to this violence for both individual targets and their community, including
attitudinal, physical, and mental health consequences. A concluding chapter integrates the special
issue articles’ findings and provides new perspectives on policing and race. This opening article to
the special issue reviews existing literature and outlines the unique contributions of the included
articles on this topic.

Although not a new phenomenon, disproportionate police violence toward racial and ethnic
minorities has garnered international attention in recent years (e.g., Athwal & Bourne, 2015;
Burch, 2011; Fryer, 2016; Goff, Lloyd, Geller, Raphael, & Glasser, 2016; Hyland, Langston, &
Davis, 2015; Kahn & Martin, 2016). This violence is often perceived to be excessive by minority
communities and, at least portions of, the larger public, regardless of whether it was a “justified” or
“in policy” police shooting or action. High‐profile police shootings, often of unarmed racial and ethnic
minorities, have incited racial and ethnic tensions, led to wide‐scale protests, and drawn intensive
media coverage. This special issue takes an interdisciplinary look at police violence against racial
and ethnic minorities by integrating theoretical perspectives, empirical research, and public policy
recommendations.

We define police violence broadly to encompass fatalities due to physical injury or negligence as
well as excessive nonfatal physical and psychological injury and maltreatment; racial and ethnic
minorities are defined not only numerically, but also by social status and historical contexts to
include individuals marginalized or stigmatized on the basis of self‐identified or perceived race
and/or ethnicity. The overall goals of this volume are to elucidate some of the myriad of antecedents
and consequences of violence against people of color, broaden the discussion around the impact of
this harm, and provide policy recommendations that promote equitable treatment of racial and ethnic
minorities by police. In this introductory article, we briefly review past research on factors that
contribute to these disparities as well as physiological and psychological consequences of this
violence. Then, we provide an overview of contributions to this volume that extend this research.

Factors Contributing to Disparities in Police

Violence against Racial and Ethnic Minorities
Disproportionate use of force toward racial and ethnic minorities ranges on a continuum from low
levels of nonlethal force to highest levels of lethal force (Kahn & Martin, 2016). In the United States,
people of color are more likely to experience both threats of (Hyland et al., 2015), and actual use of,
all levels of nonlethal force in interactions with police (Fryer, 2016; Goff et al., 2016). Similarly, in
England and Wales, Blacks and other ethnic minorities, refugees, and migrants experience a
disproportionate level of force compared to Whites (Athwal & Bourne, 2015). Regarding fatal
encounters with the police, racial and ethnic minorities, especially young minority men in the United
States (Burch, 2011) and internationally, are more likely to die in police custody or at the hands of
police (Inquest, 2017). For instance, in 2015–2016, 405 unarmed individuals were killed by law
enforcement in the United States; almost 30% of these individuals were Black (The Guardian, n.d.);
a startling contrast to the roughly 12–15% of the U.S. population that Blacks comprise. Various
assessments, like the ones mentioned here, demonstrate a consistent pattern of disparities in police
violence against racial and ethnic minorities across countries and contexts. These disparities are
perceived to be excessive and unjustified by the groups targeted and many others in society. But
why do these disparities exist? What are the causes?

Both contextual and dispositional factors have been examined as potential contributors to disparities
in police violence against racial and ethnic minorities. From a contextual standpoint, researchers
have focused on characteristics of the police‐suspect encounter such as the victim's race or
ethnicity, if the victim was armed, the victim's attire, and the location of the incident (e.g., urban
setting). Take, for instance, empirical research on shooter bias (e.g., Correll, Hudson, Guillermo, &
Ma, 2014). The police shooting of unarmed African immigrant Amadou Diallo in New York led to
experimental investigations into the causal role that suspect race has on decisions to shoot. Building
off of prior work on weapon misidentification (Payne, 2001), this research involves the use of a first‐
person shooter task, during which participants are presented with Black and White male targets
holding weapons or neutral objects. Responses indicate a racially biased pattern of decisions to
shoot, termed “shooter bias,” such that people are more likely to make shooting mistakes consistent
with Black racial stereotypes (e.g., mistakenly shooting unarmed Blacks more than unarmed
Whites). This bias is attributed to cultural knowledge of racial stereotypes, in particular stereotypes
of Black men as dangerous, aggressive, and criminal (Correll et al., 2014).

Over the past decade and a half, studies have uncovered similar biased shooting patterns against
Latinos (Sadler, Correll, Park, & Judd, 2012), Muslims wearing headgear such as a turban or hijab
(Unkelbach, Goldenberg, Mueller, Sobbe, & Spannaus, 2009), and darker skinned, compared to
lighter skinned, racial minorities (Kahn & Davies, 2011). Scholars have also focused on ways to
mitigate shooter bias, finding some success in training programs that counter the Black stereotypic
associations with violence (e.g., Plant, Peruche, & Butz, 2005; Sim, Correll, & Sadler, 2013).

Work on shooter bias highlights that racial and ethnic disparities in policing outcomes may reflect
implicit or unconscious biases, in addition to any explicitly held prejudicial beliefs (Greenwald &
Banaji, 1995). Implicit biases that link racial and ethnic minorities with criminality and violence, held
beneath an individual's conscious awareness, can produce discriminatory outcomes. Police may
hold these implicit biases that are also pervasive in society, which can impact their behavior in
police‐suspect interactions (Kahn & Martin, 2016). While explicit racial animus held by police may
play a role in producing some of this pattern of violence, implicit bias may also be a significant
source.

And although not a primary focus of this volume, from a dispositional framework, some scholars
suggest that there is a distinct “police personality”; yet the origin and exact composition is up for
debate (Gatto, Dambrun, Kerbrat, & de Oliveira, 2009; Guimond, Dambrun, Michinov, &
Duarte, 2003; Lefkowitz, 1975; Sidanius, van Laar, Levin, & Sinclair, 2003, Twersky‐Glasner, 2005;
Whitley, 1999). A great deal of work in this area has centered on right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA)
and social dominance orientation (SDO)—two traits positively correlated with racial/ethnic prejudice
and potentially related to police officers’ use of force. RWA is a tendency to adhere to authority
figures, engage in aggression toward out‐group members when sanctioned by authority figures, and
support traditional values endorsed by authority figures (Whitley, 1999). Relatedly, SDO is the
degree to which a person desires to see their in‐group as dominant over other out‐groups, combined
with a willingness to endorse beliefs that support the subjugation of out‐groups (Sidanius
et al., 2003). Evidence that police officers differ these traits is inconclusive (Gerber & Ward, 2011).
Some research suggests that both newly recruited and established police officers’ levels of RWA
and SDO are higher than the general population, but that only established officers are higher in
prejudice toward ethnic minority groups (Gatto et al., 2009). Oppositely, other studies show that law
enforcement personnel are lower in authoritarianism than members of civilian groups, such as
college students and teachers (Gerber & Ward, 2011). Still, one could argue that a police officer with
these personality traits may be more prone to violence against racial and ethnic minorities.

Taken together, these contextual and dispositional factors provide some initial insight into factors
that potentially contribute to the disparate amount of police force directed at racial and ethnic
minorities, but it is essential to remember that this pressing problem is not just an issue of
circumstance or police officers’ individual level personality traits or explicit bias. Rather, law
enforcement's history of mistreatment of racial and ethnic minorities is reinforced by societal‐level
systematic racism and ethnocentrism. Next, we turn to policies designed to address racially biased
policing outcomes on a structural level.

Physiological and Psychological Consequences

of Violence and Discrimination
Previous research has also examined the impact of police violence against racial and ethnic
minorities on other group members that are not the direct targets of this violence. It stands to reason
that recurrent exposure to police violence against members of one's racial/ethnic group could be
interpreted as a form of discrimination, and thus, has the potential to negatively impact physical and
mental health.

Higher levels of perceived and experienced discrimination have been linked with poorer physical
health, such as hypertension and increased risk of cardiovascular disease, as well risky health
behaviors, such as smoking and alcohol use (Krieger & Sidney, 1996; Williams, Neighbors, &
Jackson, 2003). Likewise, experiencing racial discrimination is associated with higher levels of
psychological distress (Landrine & Klonoff, 1996; Williams & Williams‐Morris, 2000), major
depression and other depressive symptoms (Kessler, Mickleson, & Williams, 1999;
Thompson, 1996), and lower levels of happiness and life satisfaction (Utsey, Ponterotto, Reynolds,
& Cancelli, 2000). Exposure to police violence against one's group, even vicariously, can carry with it
these same outcomes.

Existing Policies to Decrease Police Violence

against Racial and Ethnic Minorities
Legislation to combat race and ethnicity‐based discrimination among law enforcement agencies has
also been enacted in some countries in order to promote more equitable outcomes. For instance, the
United Kingdom passed the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, in part, to address racial
discrimination among police officers (Bowling & Phillips, 2003). It “outlaws race discrimination in
public authority functions not covered by the original Race Relations Act 1976” and “places a general
duty on specified public authorities to promote race equality” (The Guardian, 2001). Similarly, The
Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act of 2006 made discrimination on the
basis of race, religion, and other characteristics illegal (The Police Accountability Project, 2011). Still,
the effectiveness of such legislations has not been quantified (Bowling & Phillips, 2003). And
importantly, this type of national‐level legislation banning racial profiling in policing is absent in the
United States (Goff & Kahn, 2012).

Other ways to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in policing outcomes focus on policy initiatives and
police training. In response to recent protests regarding police use of force against racial minorities,
police body‐worn cameras (BWCs) have been championed as both a method of deterring the use of
excessive force among officers and an objective means of documenting officer–civilian encounters
(Kahn & Martin, 2016). Because it is a newer technology, the effect of BWCs on use of force is
conflicting and inconclusive at best (Ariel et al., 2016). Further, police training programs to promote
more equitable outcomes, such as cultural competency trainings, trainings to reduce racial profiling
(e.g., perspectives on profiling training), and trainings on implicit bias (e.g., fair and impartial
policing), are not universally adopted nor their long‐term effectiveness rigorously evaluated (Kahn &
Martin, 2016). The range of these issues suggests that any intervention to address this victimization
must be multifaceted and far‐reaching.

Overview of Current Issue

Organized across two substantive sections, the first of these sections aims to quantify and describe
the occurrence of police violence against racial and ethnic minorities and to elucidate factors
contributing to this treatment. It begins with an article examining the magnitude of racial disparities in
police use of force and testing competing hypotheses as the source of these disparate outcomes.
Scott, Ma, Sadler, and Correll (2017) analyze racial disparities in police shootings using data from
the U.S. Department of Justice. They investigate two potential causes of the disparity: the Racially
Biased Policing (RBP) hypothesis (i.e., racial bias leads officers to use more extreme force with
Black suspects), and the Differential Criminal Activity (DCA) hypothesis (i.e., police respond to the
behavior of the suspect, rather than race, but that behavior differs as a function of race). Supporting
RBP, they find that police are more likely to shoot Blacks, regardless of any racial differences in
crime activity. This suggests that officers are influenced by suspect race, and not differential suspect
behavior, in these fatal encounters.

Having established the existence of disparities in police shooting fatalities, in the next article, Kahn
and Davies (2017) explore contextual factors that moderate shooting decisions using an
experimental paradigm. They find that participants were more likely to display “shooter bias” against
Black, compared to White, suspects when primed with a stereotypically Black and threatening
neighborhood and when they were dressed in stereotypically Black and threatening attire. Their
results suggest that neighborhoods that are perceived to be dangerous, potentially because more
Black individuals live there, and racialized clothing, such as Trayvon Martin's hoodie, may be
uniquely contributing and interacting with suspect race to increase the likelihood of police shooting
racial minorities in police‐suspect interactions. They argue that emphasis should be on police
training to reduce the likelihood of potentially fatal shooting decisions based on race interacting with
the social context.

The third article of the section shifts from police use of force against civilians to fatal use of force
between police officers themselves, specifically examining shooting deaths of off‐duty officers
mistaken to be citizens. Mirroring disproportionate outcomes for racial minority citizens, racial
disparities are strongly evident here as well. Analyzing data from the New York State Task Force on
Police‐on‐Police Shootings and other administrative archives, Charbonneau, Spencer, and Glaser
(2017) conclude the probability of being fatally shot by another officer while off‐duty is 52 times
higher for Black officers than White officers. They argue that the racial disparities in police‐on‐police
shootings provide a stark, but informative, example of the complex role of implicit bias in policing
decisions and suggest how it might be mitigated.

The second of the two substantive sections focuses on the long‐lasting and far‐reaching societal‐
level consequences of perceived excessive police violence against racial and ethnic minorities. It
begins by drawing attention to the immediate societal reactions to these acts, and then details the
indirect impact of this brutality on the mental and physical health of communities of color. First,
Reinka and Leach (2017) review recent polls, as well as their own work, on the racial divide in
attitudes and reactions to, and protest against, police violence toward racial and ethnic minorities. In
their research, Black and White individuals had divergent reactions to images of police brutality and
protests against police force. White individuals found these images more novel, suggesting
unfamiliarity with them, while Black individuals were more affected by these images. A linguistic
analysis of participants’ written reactions to the images revealed that Blacks used more positive,
justice‐ and affiliation‐related language. These findings suggest that Blacks, compared to Whites,
may have a greater connection with, and appreciation of, protest against police violence toward
racial and ethnic minorities. This work has implications for how protests against police violence, such
as Black Lives Matters, are viewed, understood, and ultimately supported—or not.

Turning to the portrayal of victims, the next article focuses on the type of media coverage racial and
ethnic minority victims of police violence receive. Following the deaths of Trayvon Martin and
Michael Brown, media outlets were criticized for their focus on negative, racially stereotypical
background information they presented about both teenagers. Dukes and Gaither (2017) examine
how such portrayals affect attributions of blame, sympathy, and empathy with the victim and killer,
and by extension, undermine motivation to prosecute perpetrators. Results demonstrate that having
a negative, racial stereotype‐filled message about a victim, similar to information frequently released
about racial and ethnic minority victims of police violence, can significantly sway not only how the
victim is perceived, but also how the shooter is perceived and the sentencing the shooter should
receive. The authors provide policy recommendations for media outlets that encourage portrayals of
victims that are, balanced.

What effect do perceived biased interactions with police have on racial and ethnic minorities’
perceptions of law enforcement? In the fourth article of this section, Nadal, Davidoff, Allicook, Serpe,
and Erazo (2017) use a mixed method approach to investigate the impact of perceived racial bias in
policing on communities of color, including Blacks, Latinx, Asians, and Whites. Specifically, the
authors examine both perceptions of law enforcement and the qualitative experiences of being
stopped by police without a justifiable reason as a function of race. Their findings suggest that
Blacks hold more negative attitudes toward the police than other racial and ethnic groups, and that in
general, when people perceive they are unjustifiably stopped, that they experience a spectrum of
emotional, cognitive, and behavioral reactions. The authors discuss the implications of these findings
for the mental health of individuals that feel unfairly targeted by police, as well as its impact on
community relations and the need to improve the relationship between law enforcement and the
communities they serve.

As described earlier, the pattern of unequal treatment of racial and ethnic minorities by police is
international in scope. Kauff, Wölfer, and Hewstone (2017) offer an international perspective on
adolescent immigrant minorities’ perceptions of discrimination, including by police and private
security guards, and how it affects their health and well‐being in three European countries—
Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Kauff et al. (2017) find that perceived ethnic victimization
by police and private security guards was the most reported type of discrimination, as well as the
most impactful, on their overall health (e.g., psychosomatic problems). These health consequences
can have long‐lasting impacts on both individuals and communities, a point that continues in the final
article.

Continuing on this theme, Bryant‐Davis, Adams, Alejandre, and Gray (2017) provide a critical review
of literature on police brutality and disparate treatment (e.g., stop‐and‐frisk searches, identification
checks) of racial and ethnic minorities in the United States and beyond through multiple trauma
frameworks, namely, complex trauma and intergenerational trauma. Complex trauma is
characterized as a subset of dangerous or harmful events in which the person suffers traumatic
shock, and also severe disruption in the development of core self‐regulatory competences
(Ford, 2005). Intergenerational trauma posits that racial and ethnic minorities have been subjected to
acute traumas and/or persistent acts of criminalization spanning multiple generations (e.g., war,
genocide, colonization, and segregation/institutionalized racism) and are at risk for mental, physical,
and environmental health risks long after the actual trauma/criminalization has occurred. Police
brutality can be understood through this trauma framework and cross‐generational effects can be
noted in these targeted racial minority communities. Bryant‐Davis et al. (2017) conclude by outlining
novel ways in which these frameworks can inform medical, judicial, and clinical policies and
procedures.

Finally, in a concluding chapter to the special issue, Jones (2017) provides an additional perspective
and integration on the findings from the included articles and what they mean for our understanding
 of race, policing, and violence. The article brings in historical insights, an analysis of causes, and
thoughts on reducing the occurrence of future police violence against racial and ethnic minorities.

In summary, the special issue seeks to better understand the range of factors that create and
maintain police violence against racial and ethnic minorities and assess the aftermath of this harm.
Taken together, these contributions provide new perspectives on these troubling and devastating
incidents, and also new recommendations, small and large, toward alleviating this international
social justice issue.

Biographies
 Dr. Kristin Nicole Dukes is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Simmons College. She
earned her Ph.D. and M.S. in Social Psychology from Tufts University and her B.A. in Psychology
from Rice University. Her research focuses the social cognitive aspects of stereotyping, prejudice,
and discrimination.
 Dr. Kimberly Barsamian Kahn is an Associate Professor of Social Psychology at Portland
State University. She received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of California, Los
Angeles, and was a postdoctoral scholar at Lisbon University Institute in Portugal. Dr. Kahn’s
research addresses contemporary forms of subtle racial bias, including implicit bias, phenotypic
racial stereotypicality bias, and social identity threat. Her work often focuses on how racial
stereotypes affect behavior within the criminal justice domain and in police‐suspect interactions, with
an emphasis on police use of force and decisions to shoot. She has conducted research with police
departments on racial equity issues across the United States as part of the Center for Policing
Equity.

References
Citing Literature
Volume73, Issue4
Special Issue: What Social Science Research Says About Police Violence Against Racial and
Ethnic Minorities: Understanding the Antecedents and Consequences
December 2017
Pages 690

https://encompass.eku.edu/honors_theses/329/

A Study of Police Brutality and Excessive Use of Force: A Mock

Trial Case Problem
Matthew I. Boggs, Eastern Kentucky University Follow
Abstract
It is necessary for police officers to use force in their line of work. They must use force to prevent crime
and keep the public safe. Sometimes, however, police officers use force beyond what is necessary to
accomplish their task. This is known as the excessive use of force. The problem of excessive force is not
new, but it is becoming more noticeable. This study observes the circumstances surrounding excessive
force and the role it plays in the duties of police officers. One of those circumstances is the problems that
excessive force causes for legislatures and courts across the country. Furthermore, the excessive use of
force has had more of an impact on the black community, as relations between black citizens and police
officers have been tense since the Civil Rights Movement. It is easier for police officers to commit
excessive force because of the military grade equipment that is at their disposal. This study presents the
excessive use of force as a mock trial case problem. There is more to excessive force than simply
whether or not an officer was too physical. Many factors contribute to a police officer’s use of excessive
force and examining a situation as a mock trial case problem exemplifies that.
Semester/Year of Award
Spring 2016
Mentor
Thomas C. Parker
Mentor Professional Affiliation
Center for Pre-Professional Advising
Access Options
Restricted Access Thesis
Document Type
Bachelor Thesis
Degree Name
Honors Scholars
Degree Level
Bachelor's
Department
Government and Economics
Department Name when Degree Awarded
Government
Recommended Citation
Boggs, Matthew I., "A Study of Police Brutality and Excessive Use of Force: A Mock Trial Case Problem" (2016). Honors
Theses. 329.
https://encompass.eku.edu/honors_theses/
https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Literature-Review-On-Police-Brutality-FKP5CN9V79P

Literature Review On Police Brutality

1105 Words5 Pages

Literature Review
Police and community relations has always been a work in progress, some communities are more
challenging than others. There are various factors that impact the relationship police have with civilians
such as geographical location, race, gender, personal experience and in personal ones as well. In the last
few years police and the African American community on a national level been more disconnected due to
a pattern of unforeseen circumstances of unarmed black men being shot and killed by officers, that end up
serving no jail or repercussion besides paid administrative leave. Police brutality is defined by The Law
Dictionary as the use of force used unnecessarily. “Force that is used beyond what is necessary to handle
the…show more content…
Police Brutality Against African Americans Many factors affect how and why African American perception is
negative some underlining factors are face to face encounters, procedural justice, historical as well as
having a positive interaction with an officer (Weitzer,2015). African American that being stopped and
spoken to in a demeaning manner, lack of explanation to why they were stopped and inability to ask
questions and explain what happen impacted their feelings. Though positive interactions help the general
it does not necessarily help because they are outside influence such as the media and accounts of family
and friends. (Jacob, 1971, Skogan 2016, Weitzer,2015). Racial Bias are a direct correlation to police
violence against African Americans, stereotypes perpetuated by social constructions and media
representation along with individual prejudice help by police officers view African Americans as a threat
especially African American men. Police trust this ideology of “threat” to assist in their use of excessive
force against African Americans to comply. (Tyler, 2011; Tyler et al., 2015, Skinner, Haas,2016).
Police Brutality and African American Men In recent years the killings of African American men have
increased, especially those of unarmed black men. Between 2010 and 2012 it was reported that Blacks
males were 21 times more likely to be

Show More

Related

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256255286_Understanding_police_use_of_force_A_review
_of_the_evidence
 Case Analysis

Issues and Problems of PNP

Every organization faced some issues and problems. Issues and problems may

come from the facilities, financial and most likely to the people or members of an

organization. Solving those is not easy task but the organization had only one choice, to

resolve it. To be able to stand and to be strong they need to overcome it. If they do not

think and apply any solution on those issues and problems, it will lead to destruction of

their organization.

The Philippine National Police is the armed national force in the Philippines. Its

national headquarters is at Camp Crame in Quezon City. PNP is the organization that was

tasked or responsible to enforce law prevents and control crimes, maintains peace and

order, and ensures public safety and internal security with the active support of the

community.

This study aimed to identify some issues and problems of the Philippine National

Police.

Police brutality or police violence is legally defined as a civil rights violation

where law enforcement officers exercise undue or excessive force against a subject.

There’s the girl who was only 12 in December 2016 when the police shot her

father dead in Metro Manila, five months after the “Drug War” began. According to the

child the police came, and started questioning her father about illegal drugs. While her

father pleaded with the police officer who had a gun to his head, she tried to shield him