“It Stays with You for Life”: The Everyday Nature and Impact of Police Violence in Toronto’s Inner-City

Carolyn Greene (), Marta-Marika Urbanik and Kanika Samuels-Wortley
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Carolyn Greene: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Athabasca University, Athabasca, AB T9S 3A3, Canada
Marta-Marika Urbanik: Department of Sociology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2H4, Canada
Kanika Samuels-Wortley: Department of Criminology, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 17, 1-11

Abstract: In recent years, police violence has amassed notable international attention from the public, practitioners, and academics alike. This paper explores experiences and perceptions of police violence in Canada, documenting the impacts of direct and vicarious experiences of police violence on inner-city residents. The study employed semi-structured interviews with 45 community members across three Toronto inner-city neighbourhoods. Using a general interview prompt guide, participants were asked a range of questions about their experiences with and perceptions of police, and particularly, of police violence in their community. The interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, thematically coded, and analyzed. All participants reported direct and/or vicarious experiences of police violence, and most described experiencing long-standing, and continual fear that police contact would result in harm to them. Further, participants described a variety of serious and negative outcomes associated with experiencing and/or witnessing police violence. Police violence in Canada is a public health issue that requires an integrated public health policy approach to address the negative outcomes associated with direct and vicarious police violence exposure.

Keywords: police violence; health inequity; mental health; trauma; public health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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