Marc's readings Flashcards
1
Q
Perry, Perry and Hall (2016)
What are three reasons why conflating individual police officers and policing’s racist tendencies problematic?
A
(A) we fail to recognise that
the social and
psychological antecedents
of police shootings.
(B) A hyperfocus on racism in
law enforcement can
reduce awareness of
racism in the wider
population.
(C) The formation of an
initiative outgroup (racist
police officers) creates
tension between the
police and communities
which stall collaborative
efforts.
2
Q
Police shootings of unarmed black men can be deconstructed into…
and interact…
A
(A) generalised racial bias:
- negative stereotyping of
black men
(B) from specific attributes of
law enforcement:
- police culture, nature of
the job and prevelant traits
in law enforcement
officers.
These two mechanisms interact and lead to excessive force used in black and blue interactions.
3
Q
The Nature of the Racial Bias against black people
A
> young black men are 21 times more likely to be killed by police than by young white civillians. > the police and the wider population have a preference for white people over people of colour. > but it's implict nature means that most people are not aware of this preference and are unable to recognise the inequalities for people of colour within society.
4
Q
Black Youth as Adult Like:
A
> people view young black men as being older, less innocent and have an adult like quality that white or latino suspects did not have. > this is used as a justification for using adult like force on a 14 year old black male. > this attitude is underpinned by an implict association of balck males being viscuous, violent animals that are deserving of police force.
5
Q
Blacks as Sub or Superhuman
A
> black lives matter movement implies that people of colour are sub-human. > when people were primed withthe colour black participants were quicker to identify images of apes compared to when they were primed with the colour white. > indicating that balck people have an implict association to animals (subhuman) and this was emphasied by people being more likely to justify police force towrds black suspects rather than white suspects. > superhuman: people view people of colour as having a superhuman pain tolerance that means they suffer less harm.
6
Q
Black as Violent and Criminal Threats
A
> priming black lead to quicker identification of ambiguous threat related objects (indicating that black people are associated with crime) > this is at the implicit level > means that ambiguous situations with black people are mre likley to be interpreted as violent
7
Q
Shooter Bias:
> is…
we know that it’s tied to
cultural stereotypes
because?
A
> when participants are asked to make snap judgments on whether to shoot a suspect (who was either armed or holding a non-violent object) people were more likely to shoot an unarmed black man quicker than how long it took for them to decide on whether to shoot a white suspect. > indcating that the shoot threshold for coloured people is lower relative to white suspects. > being aware of these stereotypes regardless on whether or not you endorsed them lead participants to being more likely to shoot a black male relative to any other race or gender. > black men are more likley to be shot then black women.
*we know the shooter bias is tied to cultural stereotypes about black males because the shooter bias is shown in both blck and white participants (black participants are also more likely to shoot a black suspect than a white suspect).
8
Q
implict biases mean that discrimination can occur…
A
without any conscious awareness or malicious intent.
9
Q
Police Culture
A
> Police culture endorse these biases and beliefs which justify the shooting of unarmed black men which can lead to tension and conflict of intrests between the public and police. > people select their career which suit their traits. Thus, we could argue that certain types of people become police officers:
- have a distinctive collective
identity orientation.
- distinctive values which
promote order.
- distinctive ideologies which
enodrse social heirarchies.
10
Q
(A) Distinctive Desire for
Intergroup Connectivity
A
> police officers have a disitnct sense of brotherhood. > 88% of police officers are men who are known to be more group oriented than women. > group orientation leads to more "us" and "them" thinking. > threat is always primed in law enforcement. > homoegenous outgroup effect where officers: - perceive there to be a greater difference between black and blue. - more homeogenity in the outgroup (black people) - increased sense of heterogenity in the ingroup (police officers)
11
Q
(B) Distinctive Values
A
> police culture promotes
solidarity, loyalty, duty and
honour values.
> police trainees were shown
to endorse "conformity" and
"power" values more than
the average person.
> police trainees were shown
to value "universalism" or
"self- direction" less than the
average person.
> this leads to police trainee's
being unprepared for police-
civilian interactions and
perceptions of misalignment
of values leads to citisens
cooperating less.
12
Q
(C) Distinct Ideologies
A
> police officers tend to have a prefernce for social hierarchies. > Have high SDO scores than the general population and this leads them to take a social heirarching enhancing role such as law enforcement. > police culture reinforces this ideological belief in new recruits.
13
Q
Distinct Experiences with Black Male Civilians
A
> negative stereotypes predict realsitic (perceived threat) and symbolic (perceived value incongruence) leads to intergroup threat and anxiety. > being aware of these negative stereotypes leads to black suspects being anxious when interacting with law enforcement and this is in turn interpreted by police as being signs that reinfocorce their suspicions of threat. > interactions are physically more aggressive with high SDO officers (male) and black male suspects.
14
Q
Recommendations for Society:
A
(A) Address Racial Prejudice
at a Younger Age:
- biases are tied to cultural
stereotypes. Thus,
tackling prejudice early
on in the socialisation
process we can reinforce
more egalitarianism
values whilst individuals
are at a more amenable
age (relative to adults).
- children under 10 are
best
- intergrate anti-racism into
early education
(B) Increase Cross-Racial
Engagement:
- Contact Hypothesis: more
\+ interactions between
the ingroup and outgroup
can lead to less bias
towards the outgroup.
- cross-cultural
communication can lead
introspection and curiosity
about the outgroup.
15
Q
Recommendations for Joint Police and Community Efforts:
A
(A) Support Community
Policing:
- increase + interactions,
co-operation and shared
goals between ingroup
and outgroup can reduce
bias.
e.g. make the common
goal public saftey
- allign the intrests of the
public and law
enforcement to increase
cooperation and reduce
violent interactions
between black and blue.
- increase trust
*requires frequent and
positive interactions
between black and blue.
