Tag: Research

Did American Police Originate from Slave Patrols? by Timothy Hsiao | NAS

Critics of American policing often make the claim that it is a direct descendant of antebellum slave patrols, the mostly voluntary groups organized to capture runaway slaves and stifle slave rebellions in the early eighteenth century. Consider just a few examples:

“The origins of modern-day policing can be traced back to the ‘Slave Patrol.’” — NAACP1
“Policing itself started out as slave patrols. We know that.”—Rep. James Clyburn.2
— Read on www.nas.org/academic-questions/36/3/did-american-police-originate-from-slave-patrols

Declines in victims calling the police in 21st-century America: how the trends vary by race/ethnicity and racial-immigration contexts | Crime Science | Full Text

Abstract
Victims’ willingness to call the police facilitates access to the justice system and potential resources. Research shows a decline in police notification in the United States in recent decades, but the research has not assessed variation in trends across different racial/ethnic groups and different racial-immigration contexts. This study uses the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) data from 52 metropolitan areas in the United States from 2000 to 2015 to investigate how victims across racial/ethnic groups vary in the likelihood of crime reporting based on geographic context. The results show that Black, Latino, and Asian victims’ crime-reporting behavior is influenced by the racial/ethnic and immigrant composition of the metropolitan areas. While the likelihood of police notification between racial/ethnic minorities and Whites is often similar when averaged across areas, minority victims in areas with higher percentages of Black or immigrant residents show a lower likelihood of crime reporting than their White counterparts. The higher percentage of immigrants is also associated with a steeper decline in the reporting of property crimes. These findings demonstrate the context-dependent nature of crime reporting. They help explain mixed evidence on the associations of race/ethnicity with police notification. To understand the crime-reporting behavior of victims, especially those who are racially marginalized, more attention to racial-immigration contexts is needed.
— Read on crimesciencejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40163-024-00233-7

Center For Policing Equity Publishes Report On Anti-Black Racial Disparities In Police Stops – Black Star News

The Center for Policing Equity (CPE) announces the publication of a new white paper titled “Compounding Anti-Black Racial Disparities in Police Stops.” This paper provides an overview of racial disparities in the multiple decisions police officers make when interacting with the public during vehicle stops. More specifically, the white paper maps how racial disparities during traffic stops increase the risks of harm for Black drivers at subsequent decision points throughout the encounter and that these traffic stops serve no public safety or crime reduction purpose.
— Read on blackstarnews.com/center-for-policing-equity-publishes-report-on-anti-black-racial-disparities-in-police-stops/

The Skanner News – Police Stop More Black Drivers, While Speed Cameras Issue Unbiased Tickets − New Study From Chicago

Traffic stops by Chicago police have more than doubled over the past nine years in what the American Civil Liberties Union, a civil rights group, is calling the “new stop-and-frisk.”

Stop and frisk is when officers stop and search people based on “reasonable suspicion” that they are involved in criminal activity. The practice has been documented to disproportionately target Black and Latino people – not only in Chicago but also in New York and across the United States. In Chicago, it has declined sharply since a 2015 reform agreement between the ACLU and the Chicago Police Department.
— Read on www.theskanner.com/news/usa/36350-police-stop-more-black-drivers-while-speed-cameras-issue-unbiased-tickets-new-study-from-chicago