NCJ Number
144652
Journal
Women and Criminal Justice Volume: 4 Issue: 2 Dated: (1993) Pages: 65-89
Date Published
1993
Length
25 pages
Annotation
Nonwhite policewomen in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) encounter both race and sex discrimination; at times, their experience resembles that of white women, and at other times, nonwhite men.
Abstract
The authors analyzed data from a 1988 survey among 1,041 LAPD officers, LAPD records, and an Independent Commission study. They cite some of the derogatory remarks contained in LAPD computer transmissions, and anecdotal accounts of the existence of racist and sexist cliques within the department. Being nonwhite or female, but especially both, meant facing discriminatory standards for completing academy training. The recycling (i.e., holding over for additional training) rate for the gender and racial groups was as follows: males, 2 percent; females, 13.4 percent; whites, 3.9 percent; nonwhites, 6.2 percent; white females, 11 percent; nonwhite females, 17 percent. Self- assessed satisfaction with academy training was lowest among nonwhite females. Between 1981 and 1989, black females comprised 5 percent of graduates at the academy, but 8.3 percent of the officers who subsequently did not complete the field probationary period of their training. 3 tables, 6 endnotes, and 65 references