Assessing the racial aspects of police force using the implicit- and counter-bias perspectives

Lorie Fridell and Hyeyoung Lim

Journal of Criminal Justice, 2016, vol. 44, issue C, 36-48

Abstract: The events in Ferguson in August 2014 reignited the longstanding national discussion of race and the police use of force. Recent theory and research from those who study human biases have produced contradictory predictions about how a subject's race might impact on officers' decisions to use force. The “implicit-bias perspective” claims that officer's biases should produce a greater tendency to use force against Black subjects; the “counter bias” perspective predicts lesser force against Blacks, due to officers' concerns about the consequences of using force against racial/ethnic minorities. The implicit-bias perspective also predicts a moderating impact of neighborhood context; specifically, this perspective predicts that the use of greater force against racial/ethnic minorities will disappear in high crime neighborhoods.

Keywords: Police; Law enforcement; Use of force; Racial profiling; Racial bias; Implicit bias (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jcjust:v:44:y:2016:i:c:p:36-48

DOI: 10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2015.12.001

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