6. A fair cop? Policing and social justice

This chapter examines fairness in policing with reference to issues of race and gender. It first defines the terms of debate—justice, fairness, discrimination—then considers individual, cultural, institutional, and structural theories and applies these to various aspects of policing. It considers the histories of police discrimination in relation to the policing of poverty, chattel slavery, racial segregation, colonialism, religious conflict, and ethnic minority communities, to understand their contemporary legacy. The chapter then examines spheres of police activity where allegations of unfairness and discrimination are particularly salient, including the response to women crime victims of rape and domestic violence, the use of ‘racial profiling’ in stop and search powers, and the use of deadly force. It examines the experiences of people from ethnic minorities, women, gay men, and lesbians within police forces. Through an exploration of the historical and contemporary literature, the chapter draws conclusions on whether or not the police act fairly in democratic societies.

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Book Review: Data Feminism

The iJournal: Graduate Student Journal of the Faculty of Information ◽

10.33137/ijournal.v6i2.36457 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Shannon O'Reilly

Keyword(s):

Data Science ◽

Racial Profiling ◽

Race And Gender ◽

Data Ethics ◽

Political Commentary ◽

Intersectional Analysis ◽

Visual Approach ◽

And Gender

This book review critiques Lauren F. Klein and Catherine D'lgnazio's Data Feminism (2020). Klein and D'lgnazio take a visual approach to provide a synopsis—underpinned by social and political commentary—that explores the avenues through which data science and data ethics shape how contemporary technologies exploit injustices related to race and gender. Klein and D'lgnazio offer examples of this exploitation, such as the discriminatory surveillance apparatus that relies on racial profiling tactics. These examples are emboldened by the use of contemporary data strategies that—on the surface—strive to achieve a more equitable and ‘neutral’ hierarchal society. This review examines the text’s visual approach to demonstrating institutional inequities and the authors’ acknowledgement of their own privilege, specifically the role they play in upholding the oppressive systems they seek to dismantle through collaboration and intersectional analysis.

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The role of officer race and gender in police-civilian interactions in Chicago

Science ◽

10.1126/science.abd8694 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 371 (6530) ◽

pp. 696-702 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Bocar A. Ba ◽

Dean Knox ◽

Jonathan Mummolo ◽

Roman Rivera

Keyword(s):

Racial Groups ◽

Minority Communities ◽

Average Behavior ◽

Race And Gender ◽

Low Level ◽

Demographic Profiles ◽

Self Selection ◽

And Gender ◽

Female Officers

Diversification is a widely proposed policing reform, but its impact is difficult to assess. We used records of millions of daily patrol assignments, determined through fixed rules and preassigned rotations that mitigate self-selection, to compare the average behavior of officers of different demographic profiles working in comparable conditions. Relative to white officers, Black and Hispanic officers make far fewer stops and arrests, and they use force less often, especially against Black civilians. These effects are largest in majority-Black areas of Chicago and stem from reduced focus on enforcing low-level offenses, with greatest impact on Black civilians. Female officers also use less force than males, a result that holds within all racial groups. These results suggest that diversity reforms can improve police treatment of minority communities.

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Referral Patterns for Youths Identified at Risk for Suicide by Trained Gatekeepers

Crisis ◽

10.1027/0227-5910/a000114 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 33 (2) ◽

pp. 113-119 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Michael S. Rodi ◽

Lucas Godoy Garraza ◽

Christine Walrath ◽

Robert L. Stephens ◽

D. Susanne Condron ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Suicide Prevention ◽

Demographic Characteristics ◽

Service Access ◽

Referral Patterns ◽

Race And Gender ◽

Lee Smith ◽

Prevention Behavior ◽

Key Variables ◽

And Gender ◽

To Receive

Background: In order to better understand the posttraining suicide prevention behavior of gatekeeper trainees, the present article examines the referral and service receipt patterns among gatekeeper-identified youths. Methods: Data for this study were drawn from 26 Garrett Lee Smith grantees funded between October 2005 and October 2009 who submitted data about the number, characteristics, and service access of identified youths. Results: The demographic characteristics of identified youths are not related to referral type or receipt. Furthermore, referral setting does not seem to be predictive of the type of referral. Demographic as well as other (nonrisk) characteristics of the youths are not key variables in determining identification or service receipt. Limitations: These data are not necessarily representative of all youths identified by gatekeepers represented in the dataset. The prevalence of risk among all members of the communities from which these data are drawn is unknown. Furthermore, these data likely disproportionately represent gatekeepers associated with systems that effectively track gatekeepers and youths. Conclusions: Gatekeepers appear to be identifying youth across settings, and those youths are being referred for services without regard for race and gender or the settings in which they are identified. Furthermore, youths that may be at highest risk may be more likely to receive those services.

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