Law Enforcement Encounters Research Articles

Juvenile fatalities in law enforcement encounters

The use of deadly force by police is not typically associated with juveniles. However, a small percentage of cases do result in their deaths. Utilizing nationwide databases of fatalities involving law enforcement, 224 juvenile deaths were examined over a ten-year period. The majority of deaths were male and minorities. Most cases involved a weapon or the appearance of a weapon, with more than half of the youths having a firearm at the time of their death. Cases were mixed with respect to the suspect's “ flight status,” as many youths were not fleeing at the time of the incident. The circumstances of the deaths were examined for the neighborhood characteristics, such as educational attainment, youth poverty, juvenile population, and racial homogeneity of the area, as well as the situational factors involved at the time of the incident. The most predictive variable in all models was the percentage of Whites only population of the area. Analyses of these deaths shed light on the interactions police have with juveniles. Policy recommendations are included to reduce hostile police and juvenile interactions.

Fatal and non-fatal civilian injuries sustained during law enforcement-reported encounters in California, 2016–2021

BackgroundIn 2015, California passed AB 71 to create a state-wide Use of Force Incident Reporting Database (URSUS) to tabulate law enforcement-reported encounters that resulted in serious bodily injury, death or...

Direct Care Staff Vacancies and Adverse Youth Events in Illinois Child Welfare Residential Treatment During the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT Direct care staff provide 24/7 care and supervision in residential treatment for youth; vacancy rates for these positions increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study used multi-level, two-stage least squares regression to examine the relationship between staff vacancies and adverse events experienced by 1352 youth in Illinois child welfare residential care during October 2019-February 2022. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to explore whether particular adverse event clusters were differentially related to vacancy rates. We hypothesized that direct care staff vacancies would be related to an increased number of adverse events overall and a specific increase in safety-related events. Although direct care staff vacancies were not significantly related to the overall number of adverse events, they were significantly associated with the magnitude of adverse events related to school suspensions, substance use, and law enforcement encounters. Several other novel, unanticipated findings emerged, with various youth- and facility-level factors (e.g. race, age, length of admission, facility level of clinical acuity) showing significant relationships with the magnitude of adverse events. This study fills a notable gap in the literature in its novel empirical approach to exploring administrative data capturing direct care staffing and adverse events in child welfare residential care.

“That’s why we’re speaking up today”: exploring barriers to overdose fatality prevention in Indianapolis’ Black community with semi-structured interviews

BackgroundOpioid overdose deaths are of great concern to public health, with over one million lives lost since 1999. While many efforts have been made to mitigate these, Black communities continue to experience a greater burden of fatalities than their white counterparts. This study aims to explore why by working with Black community members in Indianapolis through semi-structured interviews.MethodsSemi-structured one-on-one in-depth interviews were conducted in spring and summer of 2023 with Black residents (N = 23) of zip codes 46202, 46205, 46208, and 46218 in Indianapolis. Ten interview questions were used to facilitate conversations about opioid overdoses, recovery, fatality prevention tools such as calling 911 and naloxone, law enforcement, and racism. Data were analyzed using grounded theory and thematic analysis.ResultsInterviews revealed access barriers and intervention opportunities. Racism was present in both. Mental access barriers such as stigma, fear, and mistrust contributed to practical barriers such as knowledge of how to administer naloxone. Racism exacerbated mental barriers by adding the risk of race-based mistreatment to consequences related to association with substance use. Participants discussed the double stigma of substance use and being Black, fear of being searched in law enforcement encounters and what would happen if law enforcement found naloxone on them, and mistrust of law enforcement and institutions that provide medical intervention. Participants had favorable views of interventions that incorporated mutual aid and discussed ideas for future interventions that included this framework.Conclusions Racism exacerbates Blacks' mental access barriers (i.e., help-seeking barriers), which, in turn, contribute to practical barriers, such as calling 911 and administering naloxone. Information and resources coming from people within marginalized communities tend to be trusted. Leveraging inter-community relationships may increase engagement in opioid overdose fatality prevention. Interventions and resources directed toward addressing opioid overdose fatalities in Black communities should use mutual aid frameworks to increase the utilization of the tools they provide.

“Ain’t I a woman?”: a historical and contemporary analysis of state-sanctioned violence against Black Women in the United States

ABSTRACT Alarming statistics show that Black women in the United States (US) are disproportionately more likely to be killed by the police, and more likely to die during childbirth than their counterparts. However, despite growing attention to incidents of police killings and pregnancy-related deaths of Black women, there has been minimal effort to historically situate these inequities in the contexts of state-sanctioned violence. Coverage of these deadly medical and law enforcement encounters remain limited in mainstream media – reinforcing the lack of concern and institutional protection for Black women. This article examines the current plight of police violence and reproductive harm against Black women in the US, and contextualize these racial and gendered disparities using a Black Feminist Thought perspective. The authors provide implications for maternal health, law enforcement, and mass media to expose and eradicate state-sanctioned violence against Black women. Future research is needed to interrogate and expand the concept of state-sanctioned violence.

Identifying How an Individual Becomes a Suspect

Flawed eyewitness testimony, faulty forensics, and police misconduct are common factors that may contribute to wrongful conviction. However, what brings someone over the threshold of suspicion where these factors are used to build the case against them? To answer that question, we built upon the limited number of previous studies examining how someone becomes a suspect in serious crimes (e.g., murder, rape). This exploratory study utilized Innocence Project materials pertaining to 232 exonerated clients and 75 individuals for whom post-conviction DNA testing was found to be an “inclusion” (i.e., supportive of the prosecution’s theory of guilt). Based on case files, we coded pathways to becoming a suspect. These pathways included tips, matched description, previous law enforcement encounters, physical evidence, and other scenarios; more than one pathway could be used for each individual. While several pathways were found to be similar in both groups, differences were seen in pathways related to physical evidence, officers putting individuals under duress during questioning, and proximity to the crime. This exploratory analysis provides a basis for designing future hypothesis-based research to further examine the observed associations and provide further insights into the investigative processes that can lead to wrongful convictions.

Revisiting Research Safety Protocols: The Urgency for Alternatives to Law Enforcement in Crisis Intervention.

Research safety protocols are ubiquitous in mental health research involving human subjects and have the potential to harm research participants from racial-ethnic minority populations. For mental health emergencies, such protocols commonly rely on law enforcement for crisis intervention. The authors review inequities experienced by individuals with mental illness in law enforcement encounters, especially Black, Latinx, and other minoritized populations. They then describe the development of a research safety protocol that uses community-based crisis intervention programs as alternatives to law enforcement and provide a roadmap for researchers and institutional review boards to revisit and revise their human subjects safety protocols.

The Vital Role of a Full Continuum of Psychiatric Care Beyond Beds.

The authors make the case for expanding the national discussion of inpatient psychiatric beds to recognize and incorporate other vital components of the continuum of care in order to improve outcomes for individuals with serious mental illness. They review the varied terminology applied to psychiatric beds and describe how the location of these beds has changed from primarily state hospitals to the criminal justice system, emergency departments, inpatient units, and the community. The authors propose 10 recommendations related to beds or to contextual issues regarding them. The recommendations address issues of mental illness terminology, criminal and juvenile justice diversion, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, mental health technology, and the mental health workforce, among others. Each recommendation is based on findings from publicly available data and clinical observation and is intended to reduce the human and economic costs associated with severe mental illness by promoting a robust, interconnected, and evidence-based system of care that goes beyond beds.

Prevalence and correlates of carrying naloxone among a community-based sample of opioid-using people who inject drugs

BackgroundOverdose prevention programs are effective at reducing opioid overdose deaths through training people who inject drugs (PWID) how to respond to witnessed overdoses and use naloxone. This report examines prevalence and correlates of carrying naloxone among a community-based sample of PWID. MethodsUsing respondent driven sampling, PWID (n = 571) in Philadelphia, PA were recruited for the 2015 National HIV Behavioral Surveillance project. The impact of socio-demographics, social services, and law enforcement interaction on naloxone carrying were analyzed using multivariable logistic regression. ResultsOdds of carrying naloxone were higher among PWID who were: homeless (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.65, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.01, 2.83), reported a syringe exchange program as their primary source of syringes (aOR = 2.92, CI: 1.68, 5.09), and had been stopped by police ≥6 times (aOR = 2.16, CI: 1.12, 4.16) or arrested (aOR = 1.84, CI: 1.02, 3.30) in the past year. ConclusionsSyringe exchange access was associated with naloxone carrying and is likely a primary source for naloxone and overdose reversal training for PWID. Homelessness and law enforcement encounters are known barriers to harm reducing behaviors; however, both were positively associated with carrying naloxone in this sample. Larger studies are needed to explore these relationships in greater depth.

A safe haven for the injured? Urban trauma care at the intersection of healthcare, law enforcement, and race

Patients with traumatic injuries often interact with police before and during hospitalization, particularly when their injuries are due to violence. People of color are at highest risk for violent injuries and have the poorest outcomes after injury. The purpose of this study was to describe how injured, Black patients perceived their interactions with police and what these perceptions reveal about police involvement within trauma care systems. We combined data from two qualitative studies to achieve this aim. The first was ethnographic fieldwork that followed Black trauma patients in the hospital through the physical and emotional aftermath of their injuries. The second was a qualitative, descriptive study of how patients experienced trauma resuscitation in the emergency department (ED). Both studies were conducted between 2012 and 2015 at the Trauma Center at Penn, an academic medical center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The present study includes data from 24 adult, Black participants undergoing treatment for injury. We reanalyzed all interview data related to law enforcement encounters from the scene of injury through inpatient hospitalization and coded data using a constant comparative technique from grounded theory. Participants described law enforcement encounters at the scene of injury and during transport to the hospital, in the ED, and over the course of inpatient care. Injured participants valued police officers' involvement when they perceived that officers provided safety at the scene, speed of transport to the hospital, or support and information after injury. Injured participants also found police questioning to be stressful and, at times, disrespectful or conflicting with clinical care. Communities, trauma centers, and professional societies have the opportunity to enact policies that standardize law enforcement access in trauma centers and balance patients’ health, privacy, and legal rights with public safety needs.

Suicide by Cop-A Psychology of Institutional Betrayal

This positional paper examines institutional law enforcement (LE) deadly force encounters with the mentally ill in the United States, with an emphasis on those who threaten or attempt suicide by cop while armed with a weapon other than a firearm. Research reveals a disproportionate number of mentally ill people are killed by police during LE confrontations. The social psychology of suicide by cop and the contributory LE institutional facilitation of these encounters is examined. Causational attribution is attributable, in part, to LE epistemological correlation factors that include a one-size-fits all shooting methodology of shooting center mass body-torso that invariably produces death, a lack of LE crisis intervention de-escalation training, and other contributing sociological geopolitical-jurisprudential factors that are elucidated. LE use-of-force is exegetically examined in the legal context of requirements that it be objectively reasonable and necessary. A reduction in homicides of the mentally ill at the hands of LE is conceptually possible if the institutional culture of LE agrees to increase crisis intervention de-escalation training for officers, and LE modifies its shooting tactics, so as to permit discretionary implementation of incapacitating force, permitting a more calculated disabling level of force, using a fewer rounds fired methodology. Such a change in policy and tactics could mitigate the number of mentally ill fatalities with LE encounters, potentially improve community policing relationships, and reduce wrongful death litigations and settlement awards that are routinely paid out by municipalities with tax dollars. The author recommends the implementation of a pilot program that would test the efficacy of these change proposals.

307 Injuries Sustained in Law Enforcement Encounters Where Excessive Force is Alleged

307 Injuries Sustained in Law Enforcement Encounters Where Excessive Force is Alleged

Forensic evaluations of drug endangered children: “My house caught on fire; my cat jumped out the window”

Although there is a sizeable body of empirical literature examining the health consequences of exposure to drug use and manufacture in childhood, little is known about how drug endangered children themselves perceive their environment and situation. This study examines the types of information obtained from forensic medical evaluations that include the collection of verbal accounts from children about their situations. Forensic medical examination reports of 173 children removed from residences where methamphetamine manufacturing was suspected of occurring were analyzed. The children's verbal accounts highlight themes of hazards and toxins in the home, criminal and delinquent activity among children and caregivers, knowledge of drug-related activity, poor health and well-being, and traumatic law enforcement encounters. Drug endangered children represent a shadow population often overlooked in responses to the drug problem. Drug-related research and responses should prioritize children and their long-term well-being. Further research on the short- and long-term impacts of exposure as well as the social and physical development of these children is needed.

Examining the spatial distribution of law enforcement encounters among people who inject drugs after implementation of Mexico's drug policy reform.

In 2009, Mexico decriminalized the possession of small amounts of illicit drugs for personal use in order to refocus law enforcement resources on drug dealers and traffickers. This study examines the spatial distribution of law enforcement encounters reported by people who inject drugs (PWID) in Tijuana, Mexico to identify concentrated areas of policing activity after implementation of the new drug policy. Mapping the physical location of law enforcement encounters provided by PWID (n = 461) recruited through targeted sampling, we identified hotspots of extra-judicial encounters (e.g., physical/sexual abuse, syringe confiscation, and money extortion by law enforcement) and routine authorized encounters (e.g., being arrested or stopped but not arrested) using point density maps and the Getis-Ord Gi* statistic calculated at the neighborhood-level. Approximately half of the participants encountered law enforcement more than once in a calendar year and nearly one third of these encounters did not result in arrest but involved harassment or abuse by law enforcement. Statistically significant hotspots of law enforcement encounters were identified in a limited number of neighborhoods located in areas with known drug markets. At the local-level, law enforcement activities continue to target drug users despite a national drug policy that emphasizes drug treatment diversion rather than punitive enforcement. There is a need for law enforcement training and improved monitoring of policing tactics to better align policing with public health goals.

Facial signs of imminent aggression.

In real–world law enforcement encounters, a seemingly docile situation can turn violent in a matter of seconds. Being able to identify the signs of imminent aggression or violence may be extremely important in keeping safe those in harm’s way. In four studies we examined the possibility that certain facial expressions are reliably associated with acts of immediate, subsequent violent behavior. Target expressions observed in videos of actual assaults were placed into an array of faces including distractors and shown to two groups of law enforcement officers (LEOs) in two countries (Study 1) and to university students with and without the experience of assault (Study 2). A different array of faces including targets and distractors were shown to another sample of LEOs (Study 3) and university students with and without the experience of assault (Study 4). A significant proportion of the observers across the four studies selected the target expressions associated with assault; importantly no expression was selected by the two samples with little or no experience with assault, suggesting that stereotypes about what such faces should look like did not affect the results. These findings suggest that reliable facial signs of imminent aggression or violence may exist, and if so that people in harm’s way can be trained to identify the signs of imminent aggression before it happens.

The Association Between Law Enforcement Encounters and Syringe Sharing Among IDUs on Skid Row: A Mixed Methods Analysis

The legal environment is one factor that influences injection drug users' (IDUs) risk for HIV and other bloodborne pathogens such as hepatitis C virus (HCV). We examined the association between law enforcement encounters (i.e., arrests and citations) and receptive syringe sharing among IDUs in the context of an intensified policing effort. We conducted a mixed methods analysis of 30 qualitative and 187 quantitative interviews with IDUs accessing services at a Los Angeles, CA syringe exchange program from 2008 to 2009. Qualitative findings illustrate concerns related to visibility, drug withdrawal, and previous history of arrest/incarceration. In quantitative analysis, the number of citations received, current homelessness, and perceiving that being arrested would be a "big problem" were independently associated with recent syringe sharing. Findings illustrate some of the unintended public health consequences associated with intensified street-level policing, including risk for HIV and HCV transmission.

Law Enforcement Encounters: The Effects of Officer Accommodativeness and Crime Severity on Interpersonal Attributions are Mediated by Intergroup Sensitivity

Drawing on communication accommodation theory in a law enforcement context, young adults rated one of four written vignettes wherein an accommodating or nonaccommodating police officer issued a ticket for a minor or major traffic violation. The officer was rated less favorably along both cognitive and affective dimensions when he nonaccommodated rather than accommodated the offender. The effect of officer accommodation on evaluations of officer competence and social attractiveness were both mediated by intergroup sensitivity. These effects, which supported the theory, emerged irrespective of the severity of the violation. The findings add to the literature regarding the effects of intergroup sensitivity and open up new affective parameters for communication accommodation.