The COVID-19 pandemic amplified long-standing racial disparities in the United States criminal justice system

During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of incarcerated people in the United States decreased by at least 16%---the largest, fastest reduction in prison population in American history. Using an original dataset curated from public sources on prison demographics across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, we show that incarcerated white people benefited disproportionately from this decrease in the U.S. prison population, and the fraction of incarcerated Black and Latino people sharply increased. This pattern deviates from a decade-long trend before 2020 and the onset of COVID-19, during which the proportion of incarcerated Black people was declining. Using case studies of select states, we explore and quantify mechanisms that could explain these disparities: temporary court closures that led to fewer prison admissions, changes in the frequency of police interactions, and state-level prison release policies that sought to de-densify congregate settings. These findings illuminate how systemic racism pervades juridical and penal institutions and is the engine of mass incarceration in America.

Redefining Police Interactions with People Experiencing Mental Health Crises: Models of Response

In many communities, police are the first and only available responders to mental health crises. Dissatisfaction with this arrangement among all stakeholders, concerns about the criminalization of mental illnesses, and recent evidence that at least one in four people killed in encounters with police have a serious mental illness, have all maintained attention to this issue among researchers, policymakers, and practitioners. The scholarship in this area dates back to the 1960s and has examined the nature and characteristics of police interactions with people with mental illnesses and those experiencing mental health crises, police decision making, use of force, and call resolutions. As models of police–mental health collaboration have emerged, the literature describing different models and their implementation and outcomes had grown, as has the literature on police mental health and deescalation training. More recently, researchers have sought to understand the experiences of people with mental needs in these encounters, and the response model preferences of service users and caregivers. While progress has been made in terms of improving the abilities of police officers to respond to mental health crises, a consistent theme across the literature is the lack of adequate mental health resources for people with mental health needs in the community and as options for officers to resolve mental health crises. For the most part, there is a gaping absence of literature exploring race disparities leading up to mental health crises or in police response to them. However, the current Black Lives Matter movement and calls to “defund” police suggest an urgent need to shift responsibility for mental health crisis response away from law enforcement. Government and private nonprofit groups are working to develop frameworks and guidelines for developing capacity in the mental health system to take on the primary responsibility. This work must be done through a race equity lens.

Cop Wisdom and the Democratic Consequences of Citizen–State Interactions

The existing literature on citizen–state interactions lacks variation, and new research must be conducted to better understand the consequences of such interactions. Using the theoretical frame of cop wisdom, defined as strategies that citizens change or adapt based on the circumstances of their previous interactions with police, interactions between individuals and police officers are interrogated utilizing the 2015 Police-Public Contact Survey. The existence of cop wisdom within these encounters is demonstrated, along with findings that consider the impact of race, class, and citizenship on aggressive behavior in police–citizen encounters.

B-event statements as vehicles for two interactional practices in police interactions with suspects/witnesses

B-events are matters which are better known to listeners than to speakers. This paper studies the detectives’ use of B-event statements in two different environments in their interactions with suspects/witnesses. The first type of environment are relatively co-operative sequences during which the aim is the reconstruction of events and constructing the record; here, B-event statements are realised as confirmation seeking questions. The second type of environment, a hostile interactional environment, is composed of argumentative sequences in which detectives aim to determine who are the perpetrators of crimes; in these sequences, the detectives’ B-event statements are realised as accusations. While performing the two activities, the detectives signal different epistemic levels and stances at the turn level. Thus, the former B-event statements are mostly epistemically downgraded, while the latter are mostly upgraded, in order to facilitate undertaking these different activities during police questioning.

I don't know you, Random Man: Adolescent female perceptions of procedural justice during police contact

<p>This study explored female adolescent perceptions of procedural justice during police interactions in New Zealand. Available research on youth and procedural justice, is male-focused or treats youth as homogenous. No recent research has investigated female interactions with police, although police are the gatekeepers to the criminal justice system, and the rate of female incarceration is increasing rapidly in New Zealand. This qualitative study is feminist-informed and employed semi-structured interviews of 11 female adolescents who had experienced police contact within the previous five years. Transcripts of these interviews were subjected to thematic analysis and three key themes were identified: invasion of space, communication of authority, and presentation of risk. The results indicate that gender dynamics do influence female adolescents in their navigation of these three themes, and thereby, impact their perceptions of procedural justice during police encounters.</p>

I don't know you, Random Man: Adolescent female perceptions of procedural justice during police contact

<p>This study explored female adolescent perceptions of procedural justice during police interactions in New Zealand. Available research on youth and procedural justice, is male-focused or treats youth as homogenous. No recent research has investigated female interactions with police, although police are the gatekeepers to the criminal justice system, and the rate of female incarceration is increasing rapidly in New Zealand. This qualitative study is feminist-informed and employed semi-structured interviews of 11 female adolescents who had experienced police contact within the previous five years. Transcripts of these interviews were subjected to thematic analysis and three key themes were identified: invasion of space, communication of authority, and presentation of risk. The results indicate that gender dynamics do influence female adolescents in their navigation of these three themes, and thereby, impact their perceptions of procedural justice during police encounters.</p>