NCJ Number
209791
Journal
Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management Volume: 28 Issue: 1 Dated: 2005 Pages: 98-117
Date Published
2005
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This study examined the relationship between race and the perception of discrimination composite of individuals’ experiences with racially biased policing and procedural/distributive justice.
Abstract
Analysis has been limited on the intersections of race, gender, inequality, and procedural/distributive justice and the perceived prevalence of racially biased policing. Using data from a random sample of White and non-White New York City residents and utilizing a perception of discrimination composite to frame the analysis, this study attempted to better delineate the relationship between temporal and ascribed correlates of motive-based mistrust and racially biased policing. The study sought to understand the factors that lead individuals to form perceptions of racially biased policing and examined how these perceptions vary across race. Key findings from the study include: (1) African-Americans were three times more likely than non-African-Americans to perceive that racially biased policing was widespread, unjustified, and that it had been experienced personally; (2) the African-American effect held independent of income, education, and how people rated police on related attitudinal measures; and (3) the effect of sex (being male) was only significant for African-American respondents. The study suggests that a disproportionate subset of New York City residents perceive general and specific discriminatory action related to racially biased policing and procedural injustice. Notes, references