Police Discrimination Research Articles

‘We Don’t Have Any Honor Because We Are khwaja sira’: Police Violence and Discrimination Against the Khwaja Sira Community in Swat, Pakistan

Abstract This qualitative study examines police violence and discriminatory policing practices targeting the third gender community, known in Pakistan as khwaja sira. Employing a phenomenological analysis, we conducted a qualitative study involving in-depth interviews with 45 khwaja sira in Mingora, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, recruited through purposive and snowball sampling. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the interview transcripts: two distinct themes emerged regarding the lived experiences of khwaja sira in Swat, Pakistan: experiencing multiple forms of violence by police; and managing abuses of policing power. Findings shed light on the challenges khwaja sira face regarding police violence and misconduct, including neglect from law enforcement officers to register their cases, biased practices within police precincts, and discrimination associated with their engagement in sex work or their gender nonconformity. Findings underscore the need for comprehensive interventions aimed at addressing police violence experienced by the khwaja sira community.

Algorithmic policing: Part 1. Tech startups, venture capital and law enforcement in America

This article examines the rise of algorithmic policing in the United States, focusing on predictive policing platforms and facial recognition technologies. Part 1 explores how companies like PredPol, Palantir and Clearview AI have developed data‐driven tools to predict and prevent crime and identify suspects. The article analyses the historical context, technological development and implementation of these systems by law enforcement agencies. It also discusses the concerns raised by critics, including issues of privacy, racial bias and the potential for reinforcing discriminatory policing practices. Through case studies and examples, the article illustrates how these technologies have impacted communities, particularly communities of colour. It examines the complex interplay between Silicon Valley startups, venture capital and law enforcement in shaping modern policing practices.

Algorithmic fairness in predictive policing

AbstractThe increasing use of algorithms in predictive policing has raised concerns regarding the potential amplification of societal biases. This study adopts a two-phase approach, encompassing a systematic review and the mitigation of age-related biases in predictive policing. Our systematic review identifies a variety of fairness strategies in existing literature, such as domain knowledge, likelihood function penalties, counterfactual reasoning, and demographic segmentation, with a primary focus on racial biases. However, this review also highlights significant gaps in addressing biases related to other protected attributes, including age, gender, and socio-economic status. Additionally, it is observed that police actions are a major contributor to model discrimination in predictive policing. To address these gaps, our empirical study focuses on mitigating age-related biases within the Chicago Police Department's Strategic Subject List (SSL) dataset used in predicting the risk of being involved in a shooting incident, either as a victim or an offender. We introduce Conditional Score Recalibration (CSR), a novel bias mitigation technique, alongside the established Class Balancing method. CSR involves reassessing and adjusting risk scores for individuals initially assigned moderately high-risk scores, categorizing them as low risk if they meet three criteria: no prior arrests for violent offenses, no previous arrests for narcotic offenses, and no involvement in shooting incidents. Our fairness assessment, utilizing metrics like Equality of Opportunity Difference, Average Odds Difference, and Demographic Parity, demonstrates that this approach significantly improves model fairness without sacrificing accuracy.

Joyriding Among Young First Nations Australians: Assessing Police Trust and Confidence Through the Lens of Youth and Key Stakeholders

Young First Nations Australians typically distrust and are reluctant to cooperate with the police. This article discusses data from a pilot intervention programme regarding First Nations young people’s involvement in car theft and joyriding. We conducted seven in-depth interviews with young Australians – most of whom identified as First Nations Australians – and six key community stakeholders who helped to deliver the programme. Our findings indicate that both sample groups held negative and distrusting perceptions of the police which, for the young people, were often precipitated by perceived discriminatory and procedurally unjust encounters with the police. We argue that heavy-handed and discriminatory policing of young First Nations Australians may perpetuate youth offending and joyriding behaviours among this group. The article argues that the police should adopt more community-oriented policing approaches to build trust with young First Nations Australians.

"We only trust each other": A qualitative study exploring the overdose risk environment among persons who inject drugs living with HIV in Nairobi, Kenya.

In Kenya, overdose remains a major public health concern with approximately 40% of persons who inject drugs (PWID) reporting personal overdoses. PWID living with HIV (PWID-LH) are particularly vulnerable to experiencing fatal and non-fatal overdoses because of the surrounding physical, social, economic, and political environments, which are not fully understood in Kenya. Through qualitative inquiry, this study characterizes Kenya's overdose risk environment. Participants were purposively recruited from a larger cohort study from September to December 2018 using the following inclusion criteria: HIV-positive, age ≥18 years, injected drugs in the last year, and completed cohort study visits. Semi-structured interviews explored experiences of personal and observed overdoses, including injection settings, sequence of events (e.g., pre-, during, and post-overdose), safety strategies, and treatment. Interviews were transcribed, translated (Swahili to English), reviewed, and analyzed thematically, applying a risk environment framework. Nearly all participants described personal and/or observed overdose experiences (96%) and heroin was the most frequently reported substance (79%). Overdose precursors included increased consumption, polysubstance use, recent incarceration, and rushed injections. There were also indications of female-specific precursors, including violence and accessing prefilled syringes within occupational settings. Overdose safety strategies included avoiding injecting alone, injecting drugs incrementally, assessing drug quality, and avoiding polysubstance use. Basic first-aid techniques and naloxone use were common treatment strategies; however, naloxone awareness was low (25%). Barriers to treatment included social network abandonment, police discrimination, medical stigma, fatalism/religiosity, medical and transportation costs, and limited access to treatment services. In Kenya, the overdose risk environment highlights the need for comprehensive overdose strategies that address the physical, social, economic, and political environments. Morbidity and mortality from overdose among PWID-LH could be reduced through overdose prevention initiatives that support harm reduction education, naloxone awareness, and access, destigmatization of PWID, and reforming punitive policies that criminalize PWID-LH.

How epidemics affect marginalized communities in war-torn countries: Ebola, securitization, and public opinion about the security forces in Liberia

Epidemics that overwhelm health and national institutions tend to disproportionately affect individuals from marginalized communities. The securitization of epidemics further exacerbates feelings of alienation and victimization by security forces among those in such communities. Focusing on this population, our study explores how experiences with securitization during the 2014 Ebola Virus epidemic in Liberia affected perceptions of the security forces. We leverage two, unique surveys conducted before and after the Ebola Virus Disease epidemic in two of Monrovia’s informal communities with histories of internally displaced persons and ex-combatants in Monrovia, Liberia–West Point and Peace Island. Our analysis allows us to assess differences in public opinion before and after the Ebola Virus Disease. We find that perceptions of police discrimination and disrespect increased in both communities and that demand for police services declined in both communities. With respect to the Armed Forces, direct contact with soldiers enhanced feelings of safety, but only among those who did not witness them engaging in abuse. Our findings suggest that securitization of epidemics could exacerbate trust in the state, thereby weakening its legitimacy.

Fuelling contempt for police: explaining why procedural injustice and police ineffectiveness damage Muslims’ trust in police

ABSTRACT Research shows that discriminatory policing can erode public trust in police. Yet, little research has examined the role that contempt can play in explaining this relationship. Focusing on Muslims in Australia, we test whether procedural justice and police effectiveness are associated with enhanced trust in police across two policing contexts (general duties policing and counterterrorism policing), and whether Muslims’ level of contempt for police mediates these relationships. Using survey data from 504 Muslims, we show that both procedural justice and police effectiveness are positively associated with Muslims’ trust in the police and negatively associated with contempt across both policing contexts. We also find that contempt is negatively associated with trust in both policing contexts. Finally, our findings show that contempt partially mediates the relationship between procedural justice and trust and between police effectiveness and trust. These findings reinforce the need for police to draw on procedurally fair and effective service delivery when engaging with minority groups who report strained relations with police. Our findings also highlight the need for scholars to closely consider distinct emotions as an important theoretical mechanism linking discriminatory police treatment with public (dis)trust of police.

Police discrimination and police distrust among ethnic minority adolescents in Germany.

In light of ongoing debates about racially motivated police violence, this paper examines two separate but interrelated phenomena: instances of police discrimination and mistrust in police and the judicial system among ethnic minorities in Germany. Analyses are carried out based on waves 1, 3, and 5 of the CILS4EU-DE data collected among 14 to 20 year-old respondents in Germany. The focus of the paper lies on young men from the Middle East, as well as Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa, who-as our study demonstrates-tend to disproportionally more often report discrimination experiences and particularly low levels of trust in police and courts compared to other ethnic minorities and the majority populations in Germany, and partially also in comparison to their female counterparts. We also show that more frequent experiences of police discrimination are associated with greater distrust of the police and partially also with courts among young men from the Middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa. Female adolescents from similar backgrounds are also more distrustful of the police, but this is not explained by their own experiences of police discrimination.

Training German police officers to tackle racial discrimination: Professional virtues between compliance with legal norms and dialogue with affected groups

Abstract Educational formats that seek to raise police officers’ awareness about racial discrimination often focus on formal violations of the principle of non-discrimination or canons of values. First, based on a critical discussion of positions on discrimination in policing and proposals for police training in Germany this paper argues based on human rights for a broader understanding of the challenge to tackle racial discrimination in policing. In reference to neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics, competencies for proactive encounters with affected groups will thereby be explored. Second, it outlines a framework for educational formats on this issue that address police officers as whole persons, who should, in the context of their professional practice, develop the virtue to understand the perspectives of and to build relationships of care with marginalized individuals. An example of a tested format that integrates perspectives from civil society will be presented.

A Behavioural Theory of Discrimination in Policing

Abstract A large economic literature studies whether racial disparities in policing are explained by animus or by beliefs about group crime rates. But what if these beliefs are incorrect? We analyse a model where officers form beliefs using crime statistics, but do not properly account for the fact that they will detect more crime in more heavily policed communities. This creates a feedback loop where officers over-police groups that they (incorrectly) believe exhibit high crime rates. This inferential mistake can exacerbate discrimination even among officers with no animus and who sincerely believe that disparities are driven by real differences in crime rates.

History of Racial Discrimination by Police Contributes to Worse Physical and Emotional Quality of Life in Black Americans After Traumatic Injury.

Black Americans are more likely than their White counterparts to experience traumatic injury and worse functional outcomes. Unfair police treatment has been identified as one specific form of racial discrimination potentially driving these deleterious outcomes. The aim of the investigation was to better understand the relationship between experiences of discrimination by police and trauma-specific quality of life outcomes, including PTSD symptom severity, in Black Americans following traumatic injury. Traumatically injured Black American adults (N = 53) presenting to a level 1 trauma center completed a measure of police and law enforcement discrimination at baseline, and quality of life and PTSD were assessed 6months later. Stepwise regressions results showed more frequent discrimination by police and law enforcement significantly predicted lower emotional and physical well-being 6months after injury. Further, more frequent police discrimination resulted in more severe PTSD symptoms by 6months after injury. Findings underscore that following an injury not specifically related to discrimination by police, patients' historical, negative police experiences contributed to worse physical and emotional recovery in the present. These findings, in unison with prior investigations, reveal the need to consider patients' history of negative police experiences as a social determinant of health in their recovery.

Structural Racism in the Federal Workplace: An Intersectional Approach to Examining Race-Based Discrimination in Law Enforcement

Law enforcement has historically been an institution resistant to both women and racial minorities, evident by decades of research on workplace discrimination in local policing. Missing, however, from this research are the workplace experiences of minority officers in federal policing, a growing domain in law enforcement scholarship. This article examines perceived encounters of race-based discrimination and its subsequent outcomes to reporting behavior between White and minority officers. Findings suggest that all minority race or ethnic subgroups except one (e.g., Black/African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, multi-racial, and Hispanic/Latino officers respectively) were more likely to perceive experiencing race-based discrimination in comparison to White officers, although only three of the minority subgroups (e.g., Black/African American, multiracial, and Hispanic/Latino officers, respectively) were more likely to report the unlawful conduct. Likewise, comparisons between officers of color found that Black/African American women were more likely to perceive experiencing race-based discrimination in comparison to men of color.

“We must find a solution now”: The Ethiopian community-police relationships in Israel

Members of the Ethiopian community in Israel are over-represented in the police statistics, and their relations with the police are characterized by low levels of satisfaction. This phenomenological study aimed to explore the relationships between the Israeli-Ethiopian community and the police, through the eyes of young Ethiopian adults and police officers. The data was collected through in-depth interviews with 25 participants: 13 Ethiopian young adults and 12 police officers. The data analysis yielded five themes: personal experiences with Ethiopian community-police encounters, Ethiopian youngsters’ and police officers’ mutual perceptions, police discrimination of Ethiopian youth, Ethiopian community-police relations, and allocating responsibility for changing the situation. The findings are interpreted in terms of Social Identity Theory and Contact Hypothesis and illustrate how the interplay between conflicting groups’ identities and contact in a specific socio-political context shapes their members’ mutual perceptions and affects future encounters. Implications for promoting positive intergroup relations are discussed.

Shooter biases and stereotypes among police and civilians

The present research assesses potential correlates of discriminatory police behavior, comparing police and civilian participants in a first person shooter task (FPST) as well as on various self-report measures of intergroup contact, intergroup attitudes, and ideological beliefs in three preregistered studies. Study 1 (N = 330), using a FPST with a short response window (630 ms), did not observe shooter biases in reaction times, error rates and signal detection parameters in neither police nor civilian participants. Study 2a (N = 290), using a longer response window (850 ms), observed a shooter bias in reaction times, error rates, and response criterion in both civilian and police participants. These shooter biases were largely driven by faster reactions, fewer errors, and more liberal shoot decisions for armed Arab (vs. White) targets. Study 2b (N = 191; 850 ms response window) closely replicated shooter biases in reaction times, error rates, and response criterion in a sample of civilian online participants. Across studies, we observed similar results in the shooter task for police and civilian samples. Furthermore, both police and civilian participants expressed anti-Muslim and anti-Arab attitudes across a variety of self-report measures. However, compared to civilians, police participants reported higher levels of anti-Muslim attitudes on some measures as well as higher levels of social dominance orientation, which might pose additional risk factors for discriminatory behavior. Lastly, while we observed reliable individual differences in self-reported intergroup attitudes, ideologies, and intergroup contact, none of these characteristics correlated with shooter biases.

The Spatial Mobility Trap? How Urban Contexts Shape the Spatial Mobility of Male Undocumented Youths

Some scholars have argued urban autonomy creates inclusive spaces for migrants, while others have argued interiorized border security and discriminatory policing constrain racialized migrants. This article examines the extent to which the urban context represents a spatial mobility trap for urban undocumented youths as they become adults, based on data from longitudinal comparative ethnography with undocumented youths, schools, and civil society actors in Paris and New York City. Public schools, public transportation, policing, and informal labor market practices distinguish the urban regimes of migrant il/legality in the two cities, shaping how such youths move within and outside urban space. These elements may magnify or mitigate legal‐status distinctions between undocumented youths and others. As protections for undocumented minors waned at adulthood, New York City's regime blurred legal‐status distinctions, accelerating intracity mobility for most youths while Paris's approach brightened such distinctions, limiting mobility. These findings contribute a spatial mobility perspective to studies of migrant illegality and an urban sociology perspective to the transition to adulthood.

Strengthening Equity and Inclusion in Urban Greenspace: Interrogating the Moral Management & Policing of 2SLGBTQ+ Communities in Toronto Parks.

There is growing recognition that greenspace provides invaluable benefits to health and wellbeing, and is essential infrastructure for promoting both social and environmental sustainability in urban settings. This paper contributes towards efforts to build 'just' and equitable urban sustainability, and more specifically greenspace management, by drawing attention to hostility and exclusion experienced by two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, genderqueer, pansexual, transsexual, intersex and gender-variant (2SLGBTQ+) park occupants. There is evidence that access to greenspace is inequitable-despite ongoing media accounts of targeted violence and discriminatory police patrolling of 2SLGBTQ+ communities in urban parks, this population has not received adequate research attention. This paper examines systemic barriers that impede urban greenspace access among 2SLGBTQ+ communities, including how the threat of violence in greenspace limits opportunities for accessing benefits associated with naturalized settings. These themes are explored within the context of the City of Toronto, Canada. Our mixed-method approach draws upon key informant interviews, key document content analysis, and ground-truthing. Our findings reveal how queer corporeality, kinship and love subvert deeply entrenched heteronormative social values and understandings of sexuality, partnership, gender, and use of public space, challenging institutional understandings of morality and daily life. The paper concludes by reflecting on the state of 2SLGBTQ+ communities' relationships to greenspace, and potential ways forward in building greater inclusivity into the social fabric of park design and management.

Suspicious places make people suspicious: Officers’ perceptions of place‐based conditions in racialized drug enforcement

AbstractResearch SummaryPlace‐based conditions are well‐established predictors of police behavior, but the literature lacks nuanced examinations of how place‐based factors influence officer decision making, especially by citizen race/ethnicity and from officers’ perspectives. We investigate officers’ accounts regarding how they weigh place‐based factors into their arrest decisions of Black, Hispanic, and White drug suspects in Newark, New Jersey from 2011 to 2016. Our analysis of 438 filed drug arrest reports revealed that most arrestees, especially Black Americans, became susceptible to heightened police scrutiny because of their presence in stigmatized, criminalized areas. Although place‐based stigma and individualized prohibited behavior coalesced to guide police contacts with Hispanic and White residents, officers made contacts with Black Americans based on a lower legal basis, often irrespective of their individualized behavior in stigmatized places.Policy ImplicationsOfficers’ differential, racialized reliance on place‐based conditions supports the need for effective, evidence‐based, community‐centered social services that reduce crime, overreliance on police, and opportunities for discriminatory policing.

POLICE REFORM IN DIVIDED TIMES

POLICE REFORM IN DIVIDED TIMES

Police Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms in African American Women: The Intergenerational Impact of Genetic and Psychological Factors on Blood Pressure Study.

Introduction:There are significant and pervasive disparities in police violence and discrimination toward African Americans/Blacks. It is possible that these disparities may lead to heightened vulnerability for poor mental health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the associations between experiences of police discrimination and depressive symptoms in a community-based sample of African American/Black women.Methods:We performed a cross-sectional multivariable regression analysis using data from the Intergenerational Impact of Genetic and Psychological Factors on Blood Pressure Study that were collected over a 4-year period from September 2015 to June 2019. Depressive symptoms were assessed using 21 items from the Beck Depression Inventory. Police discrimination was assessed by questionnaires ascertaining experiences of discrimination by police; harassment by police or security guards; and experiences of being unfairly stopped, searched, threatened, or abused by police.Results:The analytical sample included 214 participants. Nineteen percent of participants indicated that they believed they experienced harassment from security guards/police due to their race/ethnicity. Fourteen percent of participants indicated that they had been unfairly stopped, searched, questioned, or abused by police. Police harassment was associated with higher depressive symptoms by an average of 4.48 (standard error [SE]=1.35, p<0.001). African American/Black women who were unfairly stopped, searched, or abused by police had higher depressive symptoms by an average of 4.54 (SE=1.57, p<0.01).Conclusion:African American/Black women who experienced police discrimination experienced higher prevalence of depressive symptoms. There is an urgent need for reliable population-level data on police mistreatment and interventions at the individual, community, and societal levels.

Facial recognition technology for policing and surveillance in the Global South: a call for bans

The use of facial recognition technology (FRT) for policing and surveillance is spreading across Asia, Africa and Latin America. Advocates are saying this technology can solve crimes, locate missing people and prevent terrorist attacks. Yet, as this article argues, deploying FRT for policing and surveillance poses a grave threat to civil society, especially systems to identify or track people without any criminal history. In every political system, this has the potential to deepen discriminatory policing, have a chilling effect on activism and turn everyone into a suspect. The dangers rise exponentially, moreover, in places with inconsistent rule of law, poor human rights records, weak privacy and data laws and authoritarian rulers – traits common across scores of countries now installing FRT. Regulating use is unlikely to prevent these harms, the article contends, given the powerful political and corporate forces in play, given the ways firms push legal limits, exploit loopholes and lobby legislators, and given the tendency over time of surveillance technology to creep across state agencies and into new forms of social control. Calls to ban FRT are growing louder by the day. This article makes the case for why bans are especially necessary in the Global South.