Literature review

Running Head: LITERATURE REVIEW: POLICE RACIAL BIAS 1

LITERATURE REVIEW: POLICE RACIAL BIAS 2

Literature Review: Police Racial Bias

Ra’Shaiya Cunningham

UTPB

December 10, 2020

Literature Review: Police Racial Bias

Introduction

In the contemporary world, there exist several pieces of evidence of racial discrimination at various levels of law enforcement. It is also clear that though the disparities are all over, the root causes of the existence are not always clear. The bodies responsible for ensuring that everything is running smoothly have failed to examine the issues and come up with the right causes. On a lighter note, experts have been pointing out the systematic problems and unconscious bias are the major reasons as to why the bias is still in place ( Miller & Vittrup, 2020). However, this has further left out gaps because the available information and literature cannot be lined to give solid answers (Soffen, 2016). The existence of social media, together with its high number of users have played an essential role in spotlighting common racial cases occurring within America. Once an event is experienced, it is rapidly shared over social media platforms till it goes viral.

Racial profiling can be defined as a discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials or units while targeting a specific group of people for crime suspicion. The suspicious group is arrived at based on their race and ethnicity variations. From a general perspective, criminal profiling as initiated by the police refers to reliance on a certain group of people who are associated with criminal activities. It is worth understanding that criminal profiling does not incorporate the act of law enforcement which is examining a suspicious case whereby the specific description of the suspect has information about his/her race and ethnicity. Discrimination and prejudice towards African Americans in the United States have remained a topic of discussion for quite along. For more than five decades now, African American s have been raising concern about the safety of their lives and their capabilities of winning equal opportunities to resources (Soffen, 2016). Issues impacting the Blacks have been collected and used as a basis of several campaigns against the vice deeds. For instance, the Black Lives Matter campaign, which occurred after Floyd was brutally killed by a police officer has promoted major insight into the plight of African American individuals. In this light, the paper sought to review literature about police racial bias within the United States. Comment by Douglas Fife: Is this your thesis statement? If so, strengthen it. I s there a gap in the literature? Review the rubric for what is expected of your thesis statement.

Organization of the Review (and why some literature is not included.)

The review of literature will incorporate an analysis of information available in relevant research articles. Based on the weight of the issues to be discussed, the review will limit the utilization of journal articles to the one between 5 to 10 years old. The restriction of the resources to this period is ensuring that recently available information has been gathered and analyzed. Utilization of too old information might not be relevant because perhaps, policies might have been formulated to address the challenges at hand. The information might be behaving old tactics which can not be applied to what is going on in the present world.

Trends in Existing Literature

One of the major purported reasons why the justice system in the US is facing racial problems is that the sentences and charges made in courts and the decisions which the police arrive at are based on the skin color of the victim. Although it might not seem to be a big problem when such issues are occurring, they are normally analyzed by the target population and then later they begin to question the reason behind. A legit example, whose actions are on the rise is the fact that African Americans are normally pulled and pushed more compared to the whites. Before rising to the White House, the former US president Barack Obama experienced the same. The major question, as framed in Washington is “The big question about why police pull over so many black people.” During his time, Obama was driving when he found cops who were pulling him outside, which is contrary to what has been happening at other times. The same article hinted at a case where a Minnesota based police officer shot and killed a black American. Comment by Douglas Fife: Need research to back up this claim. Any claim you make should be backed by research. Comment by Douglas Fife: Need citation for this article and story.

There are situations in which cops bring their personal feelings into job duties and responsibilities. That is to say, they fail to remain and work professionally and responsibly (Neil & Winship, 2019). For instance, the black people are watched out for from the time they step into a store to the time they leave the store, while nothing is being observed when the whites are moving around. Why would a cop on duty be more interested in the blacks and not the whites? Perhaps, that is their attitude or that is how they were raised (Facchini, Knight & Testa, 2020). Every time the cops have been accused of committing crimes of killing or bullying the black, they are not subjected to any form of punishment. This makes it difficult to control the situation and ensure everything is in line. Comment by Douglas Fife: Elaborate on methodology of this research. Comment by Douglas Fife: Elaborate on research and methodology.

In the article, “Across the Thin Blue Line: Police Officers and Racial Bias in the Decision to Shoot”, the authors discuss the realization that investigators have made about the level of force which the cops are using when handling the minority groups within the US. The authors further revealed that the force used by the cops when handling the whites is different in that, the whites are tolerated regardless of the crime they ought to perform. The authors of the article go-ahead to reveal that in the US, there are five times more black people who will die in the hands of the police when compared to the whites. How the cops normally treat the minority lowers the minority group's trust in the cops (Correll et al., 2016). Based on the vice that happens to the people, the minority will always stay with the fear that they can as well be mistreated and even be murdered. Comment by Douglas Fife: How was this information revealed? What were the methods? Comment by Douglas Fife:

The article, “Driving While Black: Bias Processes and Racial Disparity in Police Stops” points out the feelings that minority groups in America feel like they are going to be stopped by the police officer. The stoppage to be applied is not due to their competency in driving skills, but because of the skin color that they hold. The authors of the article based their research on the traffic stop outcomes, which were deeply agitated to crimes that can be committed within the roads. According to the research published by the authors, “police records to produce estimates of race-ethnic disparity in police vehicle stops” (Warren et al., 2016) This is clear that race plays an essential role in the execution of criminal justice within the US.

In another article, “An analysis of the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy in the context of claims of racial bias” the authors focuses on a stop-and-frisk activity that was undertaken by the police in the recent past. The article results revealed that the stop and frisk activity has been applied to the African Americans and other minority groups in the country. “The data they had used came from 125,000 pedestrians that were stopped by the New York Police Department within fifteen months” (Gelman, Kiss & Fagan, 2016) African American or Hispanic pedestrians were stopped and frisked more frequently than any other group of people in the US. Comment by Douglas Fife: This paragraph is good, your statement is clear and you include a clear discussion of the methods.

Psychology officers in the United States have been traced and interviewed several times about the existing relationship between the decision they make and the skin color. The researcher went ahead to analyze existing photos and videos depicting what the cops are aimed at doing when confronted with a situation where they are supposed to act (Neil & Winship, 2019). According to the researcher's results, the cops were faster in making the shooting decision when handling the black people than when handling the white people. Comment by Douglas Fife: How so? Explain more.

There exist several studies that were carried out and recorded in the Journal of Law Economics article about race during policing and unrest. The results in the book revealed that at least one-third of the African American aged between 20 and 29 was under criminal justice surveillance. “The majority of communities and neighborhoods that are high with police surveillance or police presents is neighborhoods of minorities.” During the unrest, the police tend to assume much of the issues that are executed by the whites, and majorly focuses on the issues which are carried out by the blacks and other minority groups. The purpose of following them through is to find possible ways through which they can be punished. Comment by Douglas Fife: Need citation for direct quote.

The article titled, “Race, Drugs, and Policing: Understanding Disparities in Drug Delivery Arrests,” examines the individual drugs which the minority is believed to be using. From a general perspective, the drug reveals ways through which drug consumption has increased in the recent past, and how many cases are associated with the minority groups of people (Beckett, Nyrop & Pfingst, 2016). How the police are treating drug-based cases associated with the minority group has been analyzed. There still exist disparities in how they apply forces to address the situation. Comment by Douglas Fife: Provide specifics from the study.

From a general point of view, the articles and the additional information which has been examined addressed ways in which issues have emerged due to police racial biases when enforcing law and order. Officers are interfering with the lives of the minority more than the majority population (Knox, Lowe & Mummolo, 2020). There is a need for law enforcers to come up with solutions on how the challenges can be addressed. the justice system in place is meant for every person and not the chosen few or the majority group. It is for this reason that all the articles are unanimously condemning the activities that the police are involved in when it comes to enforcing the law.

According to, law and justice is a broader part of the government, which directly impacts every citizen. More information about what the police are doing has been made available on the internet (Schwartz & Jahn, 2020). Therefore, people are more informed of what is going on, giving them room to protest and campaign about them. more and more people have ceased to believe in the law enforcement units because of prejudice and discrimination that they are all involved in. this is the reason why the minorities are protesting about what is going on when they feel pressed in a certain way.

Disagreement in The Existing Literature

Based on the literature reviewed, there are no disagreements theories and ideologies presented by scholars. All the scholars of the papers reviewed have condemned what the police have been doing and what they are still doing as of now. The authors argue that there is a need to find the root cause of the issues, and how they can be employed in getting rid of the entire situation. Police should be trained and retrained on better issues of remaining professional in the duties which they have been doing. Comment by Douglas Fife: Need citation for claim.

Gaps in the Existing Literature

Precise and common reasons as to why the police are highly associated with discrimination and prejudice in activities being executed have not yet been addressed fully. There are no major reasons. Every scholar is trying to formulate possible reasons as to why the police are brutal when dealing with minority groups. The failure to establish and understand common reasons as to why the issues are on the rise has created a significant gap in the kind of literature to be reviewed. This makes it difficult to find a connection between the nature and behaviors of the police ad what they are involved in doing (Schwartz & Jahn, 2020). The initial step is fast understanding the reason behind it. In this light, it is important finding the connection between the cause and the act, because it is the only way through which the solutions to the underlying issues could be addressed.

The strategies through which the issues can be addressed have not yet been addressed in the required manner. Therefore, the victims hardly receive justice for what the police have done to them. although the discussion literature seems unanimous and condemns what the police are doing, they also fail to formulate solutions about the situation and comment on what ought to be done. This further creates gaps.

Conclusion

In conclusion, police racial bias in their daily job is on the rise and the literature available is not enough to give solutions. There also exist gaps that have made it difficult to address the overall issue. It is also clear that though the disparities are all over, the root causes of the existence are not always clear. The bodies responsible for ensuring that everything is running smoothly have failed to examine the issues and come up with the right causes. Racial profiling can be defined as a discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials or units while targeting a specific group of people for crime suspicion Discrimination and prejudice towards African Americans in the United States has remained a topic of discussion for quite along. The restriction of the resources to this period is ensuring that recently available information has been gathered and analyzed.

References

Beckett, K., Nyrop, K., & Pfingst, L. (2016). Race, drugs, and policing: Understanding disparities in drug delivery arrests. Criminology, 44(1), 105-137. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2006.00044.x

Braga, A. A., Brunson, R. K., & Drakulich, K. M. (2019). Race, place, and effective policing. Annual review of sociology, 45, 535-555. Retrieved from https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-soc-073018-022541

Correll, J., Park, B., Judd, C. M., Wittenbrink, B., Sadler, M. S., & Keesee, T. (2017). Across the thin blue line: police officers and racial bias in the decision to shoot. Journal of personality and social psychology, 92(6), 1006. Retrieved from https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.1006

Facchini, G., Knight, B. G., & Testa, C. (2020). The franchise, policing, and race: Evidence from arrests data and the Voting Rights Act (No. w27463). National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved from https://www.nber.org/papers/w27463

Gelman, A., Kiss, A., & Fagan, J. (2016). An analysis of the NYPD's Stop-And-Frisk Policy in the context of claims of racial bias. Columbia Public Law Research Paper, (05-95). Retrieved from https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=846365

Knox, D., Lowe, W., & Mummolo, J. (2020). Administrative records mask racially biased policing. American Political Science Review, 114(3), 619-637. Retrieved from https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/administrative-records-mask-racially-biased-policing/66BC0F9998543868BB20F241796B79B8

Miller, C., & Vittrup, B. (2020). The Indirect Effects of Police Racial Bias on African American Families. Journal of Family Issues, 0192513X20929068. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0192513X20929068

Neil, R., & Winship, C. (2019). Methodological challenges and opportunities in testing for racial discrimination in policing. Annual Review of Criminology, 2, 73-98. Retrieved from https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-criminol-011518-024731

Schwartz, G. L., & Jahn, J. L. (2020). Mapping fatal police violence across US metropolitan areas: Overall rates and racial/ethnic inequities, 2013-2017. PloS one, 15(6), e0229686. Retrieved from https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0229686&fbclid=IwAR3XXQd0dyWis-epgraz4clk2UUrUFplu6ehbWjlE-4BpO7txPTiyJqgLcY

Soffen, K. (2016) The big question about why police pull over so many black drivers. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/07/08/the-big-question-about-why-police-pull-over-so-many-black-drivers/?utm_term=.a4975514654a

Warren, P., Tomaskovic‐Devey, D., Smith, W., Zingraff, M., & Mason, M. (2016). Driving while black: Bias processes and racial disparity in police stops. Criminology, 44(3), 709-738. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2006.00061.x