NCJ Number
239849
Journal
Aggression and Violent Behavior Volume: 17 Issue: 4 Dated: July/August 2012 Pages: 344-353
Date Published
August 2012
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This article synthesizes the existing literature into a model of extra-legal police aggression that considers intergroup dynamics of race and place.
Abstract
The police are empowered to use various forms of coercion to accomplish legitimate duties, but they also may employ them gratuitously in violation of law or departmental policy. These extra-legal behaviors range in severity from verbal abuse, such as racial slurs and profanity, to unjustified physical force resulting in severe injury or death. Racial and ethnic minorities, especially those residing in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods, may be disproportionately targeted for such practices. Scholars have offered several explanations for the differential employment of extra-legal police aggression, but an integrated theory of minority disadvantage has yet to be developed. In this article, the authors synthesize the existing literature into a model of extra-legal police aggression that considers intergroup dynamics of race and place. The authors argue that ordinary social-psychological processes triggered by the characteristics of neighborhoods explain extra-legal police aggression against minority citizens. (Published Abstract)