Race and Policing

Answer

Annotated Bibliography Statement: Race and Policing

            The proposed study will focus on identification of possible factors which may influence race disparities in policing and law enforcement at large. Race is a key factor that influences policing activities and actions in the U.S. and should not be put aside but addressed appropriately. Police brutality may be influenced to a large extent in the U.S. It is hypothesized that the Black communities are deemed as the key receptors of race-based policing practices and actions compared with the White communities. 

            Some factors which may influence people’s perceptions of race-based policing practices include different media frames. The frames include law and enforcement frame that favors the police, and the race and police brutality frames which tend to diminish public trust towards law enforcement (Fridkin et al. 2017). Studies have demonstrated that Black people are perceived as threatening and capable of harm, thus necessitating brutal force by the police (Ralph and Chance 2014; Wilson, Hugenberg and Rule 2017). Besides, police use less respectful language towards Black people compared with White men on routine stop and searches, hence influencing the outcome of their interactions (Voigta et al. 2017). Lastly, constitutional ambiguities and gaps in the law concerning what are legal and illegal police actions may be the basis for continuing racial-based policing practices and actions (Smith 2016). The following annotated bibliography sections expounds further about the above ideas.

Annotated Bibliography: Race and Policing

Fridkin, Kim, Amanda Wintersieck, Jillian Courey, and Joshua Thompson. 2017. “Race and Police Brutality: The Importance of Media Framing”. International Journal of Communication, 11(2017): 3394-3414.

            This article explores three media frames concerning how a confrontation between a White police officer and an African American woman influences an individual’s perception of the experience. Three frames included law and order, police brutality, and race. The law and order frame increased support for the White police woman actions. Police brutality increased public support on the African American Woman. Lastly, the race frame increased people’s perceptions that the racial problem is a serious issue in law enforcement (Fridkin et al. 2017).

            Police brutality frame is dominant in the media compared with the race and law and order frames. The police brutality frame is often supported by power video recordings which influences strong public perceptions such as racial injustice. Media frames influence public perceptions of law enforcement and influence policy making decisions and actions of the political actors. For instance, the race and police brutality frame incites the public to demand for police reforms. Reforms may include anti-racism training program, collaboration between the community and police, and de-escalation training (Fridkin et al. 2017).

The law and enforcement frame influences the public to demand for more police coverage and more police resources so as to ensure public safety and combat violence. Media frame is an important factor as far as race and policing is concerned. However, the effect of relevant media framing in supporting law and order is limited by the powerful media in which people are likely to get policing related information within the race and police brutality frames (Fridkin et al. 2017). This article is of the idea that media framing theory contributes to people’s perception of the relationship between race and law enforcement.

Ralph, Laurence, and Kerry Chance. 2014. “Legacies of fear: from Rodney King’s beating to Trayvon Martin’s death”. Transition, 113:137–143.

The authors pursued the idea that perceiving of Black men as threatening and the associated fear contributes to police brutality towards Black communities compared with the White population. The combination of law-enforcement and race-based violence has a long history in the U.S. It can be demonstrated by two instances. One is that on 29^th April 1992, four police officers judged of merciless beating a Black motorist called Rodney King, were acquitted citing that the victim was threatening to their lives. Secondly, on 13^th July 2013 George Zimmerman, a White man, was acquitted of murder charges after shooting and killing Trayvon Martin, a Black teenager on the grounds of self-defense. The authors pursued the idea that Black men are perceived as threatening to individuals, the police officers and to property compared with how their White male counterparts are perceived (Ralph and Chance 2014).

People of color are negatively profiled as threatening and aggressive. In consequence, Black people are likely to be subjected to abuse by ordinary citizens and the police regardless of having committed a crime or not. The authors suggest that people should alter the way in which they perceive the world as far as race is concerned. This suggestion is relevant to ordinary citizens, the police and other arms of law-enforcement as well as the legal system (Ralph and Chance 2014). This article will contribute to the idea that the entrench racial disparities in policing may be significantly associated with the way in which Black men are perceived as threatening and aggressive, thus justifying the use of lethal force on the ground of controversial self-defense. It will also help explain racial-based violence and discrimination against the Black people by the police.

Smith, Jonathan M. 2016. “Closing the Gap Between What is Lawful and What is Right in Police Use of Force Jurisprudence by Making Police Departments More Democratic Institutions”. Michigan Journal of Race and Law, 21(2): 315-347.

Almost all States (30 of 50) in the U.S. have prohibited racial profiling in law enforcement but cases of racial profiling by the police are still experienced or reported. The author blames lack of court accountability in prosecuting cases of racial profiling by the police and police violence, thus damaging police-community relationship and the public trust towards law-enforcement agencies. Racial disparities in policing and delivery of services to public have contributed to breakdown of trust between the police and various communities. On a daily basis, Black people are at higher risk of experiencing hostile constant contact with the police on practices such as broken window and stop and frisk policing compared with the White population (Smith 2016).

The police department operations and actions by their members seem opaque due to ambiguous line of what entail lawful or unlawful actions by the police officers.  Constitutional gaps and ambiguities have been exploited numerous times by the police in racial-based violence and killings, and later avoiding legal consequences.  For instance, on 9^th August 2014 a police officer by name Darren Wilson, shot and killed Michael Brown in Ferguson Missouri but was acquitted in the court on the grounds of self-defense. Protestors after cases of police violence against people of color demanded for police and court system accountability and fairness. The author recommends various constitutional amendments to clearly delineate what is lawful or not in policing practices (Smith 2016). This article contributes the idea that constitutional ambiguities and gaps in the legal system may be the reason for racial violence by the police and poor trust between the public and the law enforcement agencies.

Voigta, Rob, Nicholas P. Camp, Vinodkumar Prabhakaran, William L. Hamilton, Rebecca C. Hetey, Camilla M. Griffiths, David Jurgens, Dan Jurafsky, and Jennifer L. Eberhardt. 2017. “Language from police body camera footage shows disparities in officer respect”. PNAS, 114(25): 6521-6526.

In this article, police language and respect is demonstrated to be different when a given police officer is interacting or communicating with the White or Black community members. On analysis of the police body-worn cameras while controlling of race of a given police officer, the investigators found that police officers were likely to use less respectful utterances toward Black members of a community compared with when handling White members of a community on routine stops (Voigta et al. 2017).

The degree of respectfulness of a given police officer can contribute to the outcomes of a stop. The kind of the language used and sense of respect among the police officers toward the Black or White people has important implications in matters such as in development and promotion of police-community trust, provision of procedural justice, and general disparities in policing. Several instances of police-community conflicts and demonstrations in the past may have been attributed to use of less respectful language by the police officers towards members of the Black community compared with the manner in which the police communicate with members of the White community (Voigta et al. 2017).

This article contributes the idea that the kind of language used by police officer and different levels of respect towards Blacks versus White members of community contributes to disparities in policing; while holding race as a key factor. It can, therefore, be argued that police influences the outcome of a routine stop by the nature of the language used and level respect demonstrated towards a White or Black road user.

Wilson, John Paul, Kurt Hugenberg and Nicholas O. Rule. 2017. “Racial Bias in Judgments of Physical Size and Formidability”. Interpersonal Relations and Group Processes, 113(1): 59-80.

The authors pursued the idea that racial bias in policing is associated with relatively large physical size and formidability perceived among young Black men compared with their White counterparts.  Compared with White men of the same size, Black men are perceived as heavier, taller, more physically formidable, more muscular and more capable of physical harm than in reality.  Due to their physical appearances, Black men are far more likely to be perceived as aggressive or threatening compared to White men.  For instance, police officers who shot unarmed young Black men named Dontre Hamilton (on 30^th April, 2014), Tamir Rice (on Nov 2014), and Trayvon Martin (early 2012 killed by a White teenager)  all  argued that their victims seemed taller, muscular and physically threatening as the basis of their decisions to use lethal force (Wilson, Hugenberg and Rule 2017).

 The authors’ findings were in line with previous studies that White study participants are likely to rate Black men as far more capable of harm, more muscular, larger in body size and taller compared with White men of actually comparable body sizes and physical appearances. However, Black study participants do not overrate young Black men or White men as more muscular, taller, large, or physically threatening than what they are in reality. This kind of race-based biases influences the use of fatal force by the police (Wilson, Hugenberg and Rule 2017). 

The findings of this article provide the basis and support of the overall argument that race as a factor contributes to different policing practices observed among the White and Black populations. Most importantly, the article provides an idea that perception of threat in physical appearance among the White or Black police officers contribute to racial disparities in policing.