The Politics of Force Media and the Construction of Police Brutality

What, if any, changes have occurred in the nation' s police departments 21 years after the Rodney King beating? To answer this question, this study examined findings provided by the National Police Misconduct Statistics and Reporting Project (NPMSRP). An additional goal of this study was to examine how the public generally perceive police and how race and racism shape this discourse. To answer this secondary question, we examined narratives provided by 36 contributors to the NPMSRP site. The following two questions were foundational to this study: (1) What do findings from the NPMSRP suggest about the rate of police brutality in America? (2) How do individuals perceive the police department, and what implications do these perceptions hold for Black men in America? In general, fatalities at the hands of police are higher than they are for the general public.Grounded theory analysis of the data revealed that individuals perceive members of law enforcement in the following ways: (a) contempt for law enforcement, (b) suspicion of law enforcement, (c) law enforcement as agents of brutality, and (d) respect for law enforcement. Supporting qualitative data are presented in connection with each of the aforementioned themes.

Two experiments assess the extent that targets' stereotypically Black physical features and individual differences in perceiver discrimination expectations influence racism-related responses. In Experiment 1, a total of 115 Black college students read about an ambiguously racist workplace situation. Participants reported their hostile emotions and racism attributions. In Experiment 2, a total of 121 Black college students read about two White police officers who physically harm a Black male. Participants reported their experience of empathy for the Black target. In both experiments, stereotypically Black physical features of the Black target were experimentally manipulated, and individual differences in discrimination expectations were assessed. More stereotypically Black physical features elicited greater racism attributions, greater hostile emotions, and more empathy for the target; and in all cases, the impact was stronger for Blacks with low discrimination expectations relative to those with high discrimination expectations. When person-related variables are especially salient, the influence of situational factors is necessarily reduced. Specifically, our findings demonstrate the insensitivity to racism-related situational cues that may be most pervasive for Blacks with high discrimination expectations.

***Although the United States has elected an African American president, since that election there have been numerous indicators that racism remains a persistent, and complex, issue in America. Shortly after President Obama took office, for example, renowned Harvard University professor Henry "Skip" Gates was arrested for being uncooperative with the responding officer when police mistook him for a burglar at his own home. This incident served as a small reminder of the resilient nature of racism in the United States. More importantly, there has been an increase in the number of hate groups since 2008, and the proposed plans for an Islamic cultural center near the site of the former World Trade Center have initiated a wave of anti-Islamic sentiment.1 Despite the hope that Barack Obama would usher in a new era in race relations, it seems as though his election has brought to the surface tensions that some people assumed had disappeared. Among scholars of black politics, race serves as the central construct. In some cases, race serves as a lens through which other variables such as class and gender are filtered. In other cases, race serves as the key independent variable explaining a number of factors that influence the lives of blacks. Each of the texts reviewed in this essay examines issues of race to varying degrees, and each one reveals the complex nature and long-lasting impact of race on American society.

We examined implicit race biases in the decision to shoot potentially hostile targets in a multiethnic context. Results of two studies showed that college-aged participants and police officers showed anti-Black racial bias in their response times: they were quicker to correctly shoot armed Black targets and to indicate "don't shoot" for unarmed Latino, Asian, and White targets. In addition, police officers showed racial biases in response times toward Latinos versus Asians or Whites, and surprisingly, toward Whites versus Asians. Results also showed that the accuracy of decisions to shoot was higher for Black and Latino targets than for White and Asian targets. Finally, the degree of bias shown by police officers toward Blacks was related to contact, attitudes, and stereotypes. Overestimation of community violent crime correlated with greater bias toward Latinos but less toward Whites. Implications for police training to ameliorate biases are discussed.

Explores how portrayals typical in crime-related topics in news and fictional police programs affect viewers' attitudes and beliefs. Television programs analyzed for the study; Unit of analysis; Coding scheme and reliability; Racial and ethnic representation.