Race Relations and Law Enforcement in the United States of America
Race Relations and Law Enforcement in the United States of America
“Race relations and Law Enforcement in the United States of America”
By
Osasumwen Osaghae
January, 2009
Abstract
The spate of deadly shootings by the police in the process of apprehending suspects has led many commentators to suggest a racial undercurrent in the attitude of the police officers. In fact, there is the racial current in law enforcement attitudes when it comes to minorities like blacks and Latinos. There are different aspects of the racial current discuss. First, there is the white officer versus black victim scenario; black officer versus white victim scenario; black officer versus black victim scenario and black officer versus white victim scenario, (Peruche & Plant, 2006). It has been suggested citing the danger perception theory that the police are more likely to use deadly force in areas or situations where they encounter greater levels of violence or perceive their jobs to be particularly dangerous, (Best & Quigley, 2003). The place of racial sentiments in police deadly shootings is not entirely clear as there are competing theories seeking to explain police deadly shootings. There is the perceived danger perspective which attributes police shootings to the threat posed by the suspect sought to be apprehended. Even so, a study found that preconceived notions of violence associated with certain races plays a significant role in how the police officers react to threats posed by suspects, (Alpert 2007). Not all the theories share the sentiments of the minorities in the attitude of the police in apprehending black suspects. There are those who support the law enforcement community arguing that minorities should be profiled as criminals or as potential criminals because they are more likely to commit crimes. Profiling and stopping individuals for investigative procedures was therefore thought to be a rational response to the drug and crime problem among some law enforcement officers, notwithstanding the obvious ecological fallacy of targeting individuals based on group behavior, (Alpert 2007). The major question is to what extent does race impact the way law enforcement officers deal with black suspects in relation to how white suspects are treated?
The writer contends that race may be a factor in the attitude of the police in apprehending black suspects. But it is only relevant to the extent that blacks are associated with more aggression and violence than other ethnic groups. It is the fact of the association more than the race itself that triggers more aggressive policing strategies in typically black neighborhoods.
Introduction
There is a growing concern that police officers may be more aggressive in their responses to minority compared to White suspects, (Peruche & Plant). Such responses may be influenced by stereotypic expectations. For example, it is possible that the stereotype that Black men are more likely to be violent and hostile may create expectations that Black people, particularly Black men, are more likely to be violent criminals than are. This may have led to a series of deadly police shootings which will be reviewed in this paper
Culture appears to have an impact on interpersonal relationships in the society. If there is racial prejudice in a given society, the police force where dominated by the oppressive race as in white race in relation to the oppressed race (black) cannot be free from such prejudice. Consequently, a corrupt society would produce a corrupt police force even though; a different picture may be painted. The definition of culture by Linton (1945) supports the argument that police force can only be as good as the society it operates. For him, the culture of society is the way of life of its members; the collection of ideas and habits which they learn, share and transmit from generation to generation. There is another aspect of culture that is relevant to racial prejudice in policing, cultural sensitivity on the part of the police officers. Given the multi-ethnic constitution of most societies in the United States of America today, it is very possible that a police may find himself among a people, whose culture he knows little or nothing about. It is imperative therefore that police officers be trained in cultural diversity and sensitivity from time to time. In this respect, is aggression violence? Being loud or always defensive may be annoying to a law enforcement officer. But is it enough to provoke a forceful apprehension to the extent of fatally shooting a suspect?
The paper will review several