LEC 11 - Collective Violence between civilians and the state

Question 1

What is Police Violence?

Answer 1

*Police use violence and force in their day-to
-day work
*Nonetheless: limits to the monopoly of
legitimate violence
*How do we assess the necessity, nature, and
legitimacy of the police’s use of violence and
force?
*What explains the differential use of violence
and force towards different populations
(notably in terms of class and race)

Question 2

What are the numbers on NL Police violence?

Answer 2

OM publishes lethal police
shootings each year

Around 4 each year
*In NL, lethal police incidents are high
-Compared to other W-EU countries

Victims:
*95% men
*About 50% = indications that the victim was
‘confused’
*75% under the influence of drugs/alcohol

Question 3

When does police violence become illegitimate?

Answer 3

Disproportionate use of force
-Police brutality = “the use of excessive force or verbal assault and psychological intimidation (Walker 2011, 57)

Disproportionately and unjustifiably targeting specific populations
- Ethnic profiling = “the use by policy, security, immigration or
customs officials of generalizations based on race, ethnicity,
religion or national origin—rather than individual behavior or objective evidence—
as the basis for suspicion in directing
discretionary law enforcement actions” (Van der Leun & Van der Woude 2011, 450)

Question 4

How are minority groups represented in police violence?

Answer 4

*Much evidence that members of minority groups are over
-represented among
victims of police violence
-Lethal & Non-lethal
-Europe/NL and U.S.

*Over-representation… compared to what?
-Relative to proportion of the population
*BUT… also over-represented amongst:
-Suspects of crimes
-Those under arrest

Applied to Cesario’s findings:
-Black Americans are over
-represented amongst those who are ‘exposed to police’,
-BUT there is no
additional
over-representation when it comes to lethal violence

Question 5

What are the Possible mechanisms to explain
overrepresentation of minority groups in police violence

Answer 5

Possible mechanisms to explain
overrepresentation
*1. Legitimate policing
*2. Communication failure
*3. Explicit bias
*4. Implicit / Subtle bias
*5. Institutional bias
*6. Societal bias

Question 6

What is institutional Bias regarding police brutality?

Answer 6

Institutional bias: How do changes in police tactics impact police brutality and
illegitimate use of force?

Question 7

What is societal bias regarding police brutality?

Answer 7

Societal bias: How do changes in the political and media climate impact police
brutality and illegitimate use of force?

Question 8

What is the effect of zero tolerance policy.

Answer 8

Two questions
1)Does harder punishment of (minor) crimes decrease crime rates?
2)Does it increase police brutality and illegitimate use of force

Inspired Broken windows theory
Pioneered in NYC under Rudy
Giuliani and William Bratton
- Mandatory minimum drug laws,
- Longer prison sentences
- 3 strikes out

Zero tolerance increases chances of tensions and violence between citizens and police

Question 9

Is zero tolerance effective?

Answer 9

*Ongoing debate
*Evidence very limited
-Crime rates fell in nation as a whole
-Similar reduction in non
-zero tolerance cities
-NYC jail population down in same period

*Alternative explanations
-Lower unemployment due to healthy economy
-Stronger community organizing against crime (community policing/participation)
-Changing status of women and better service provision domestic violence (decline intimate-partner homicide)

Question 10

What is Societal Bias in Police Brutality?

Answer 10

*How do changes in the political and media climate impact police brutality and
illegitimate use of force?
*Case study: the changing social and political context in the Netherland

Question 11

What factors contribute to risk of ethnic profiling?

Answer 11

*Changes in media discourse
*Changes in political discourse
*Changes in police policy
-Increased discretionary power

Question 12

How political and media discourse on crime may inform law enforcement

Answer 12

*Shift in Dutch debate and crime policy
to focus on “dangerous Others”
*“Crimmigration”
*“Culture of control” (Garland 2001)
*Increasing pressure on law enforcers to
profile on the basis of race or
nationality

Question 13

What is preventive criminal justice system?

Answer 13

*Expanding preventive law enforcement powers
*Actuarial justice
-Early detection and prevention of possible crime risks
-Stop and searches powers (2002/2006)
-Security risk zones
-Intelligence
-led policing
*Risk of being carried out based on generalizations
based on race, class, etc. rather than individual
behavior or objective evidence
-“Perceptual shorthand” (Tillyer and Hartley 2010; Weenink 2009)
-Pre-pression (Schinkel 2011)