Does Predictive Policing Encourage Racial Profiling?

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Police Decision-Making in the Gray Zone: The Dynamics of Police–Citizen Encounters with Mentally Ill Persons

Research finds mentally ill persons have higher rates of police contacts, arrests, and criminal charges for minor offenses and noncriminal behavior. It remains unclear whether the decision-making process and factors affecting discretion reflect a procedural bias that criminalizes the mentally ill. 

Using observational data from a Canadian police service, the findings suggest higher odds for criminal charges with serious offenses, males, older citizens, a prior criminal record, being under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and being uncooperative with requests for information and compliance. The odds of a citation are higher for proactive calls, more serious offenses, older citizens, mentally ill persons, those under the influence, or with a disrespectful demeanor. 

The overall findings suggest an indirect procedural bias exists due to situational constraints, a disjuncture between policy and police culture, and limited mental health resources that lead to response strategies that contribute to criminalization of the mentally ill.

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By:  Jennifer L. Schulenberg

Jennifer L. Schulenberg, Department of Sociology and Legal Studies, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada; e-mail: jlschule@uwaterloo.ca.

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Black and Hispanic Men Perceived to Be Large Are at Increased Risk for Police Frisk, Search, and Force

Social justice issues remain some of the most pressing problems in the United States. One aspect of social justice involves the differential treatment of demographic groups in the criminal justice system. 

While data consistently show that Blacks and Hispanics are often treated differently than Whites, one understudied aspect of these disparities is how police officers' assessments of suspects' size affects their decisions. Using over 3 million cases from the New York Police Department (NYPD) Stop, Question, and Frisk (SQF) Database, 2006-2013, this study is the first to explore suspects' race, perceived size, and police treatment. 

Results indicate that tall and heavy black and Hispanic men are at the greatest risk for frisk or search. Tall and heavy suspects are at increased risk for experiencing police force, with black and Hispanic men being more likely to experience force than white men across size categories.

Below:  The adjusted odds ratios for the suspect being frisked or searched by race, height, and weight category compared to white suspects with weight 141–204 pounds and 66–72” in height, controlling for stop characteristics. The blue circle denotes white (W) suspects, the red diamond denotes black (B) suspects, and the green square denotes Hispanic (H) suspects. Error bars indicate the 99% confidence interval for the group estimates.

Below:  The adjusted odds ratios for the suspect having force used on them by race, height, and weight category compared to white suspects with weight 141–204 lbs. and 66–72” in height, controlling for stop characteristics.  The blue circle denotes white (W) suspects, the red diamond denotes black (B) suspects, and the green square denotes Hispanic (H) suspects. Error bars indicate the 99% confidence interval for the group estimates.

Below:  The adjusted odds ratios for the suspect being frisked or searched (top) or having force used on them (bottom) by race and BMI category compared to normal weight white suspects, controlling for stop characteristics. The blue circle denotes white suspects, the red diamond denotes black suspects, and the green square denotes Hispanic suspects. Error bars indicate the 99% confidence interval for the group estimates.

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/L48OrV

By:  Milner AN1,2,3,4, George BJ2,5,6, Allison DB2,5,6.

• 1Department of Sociology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, United States of America.
• 2Nutrician Obesity Research Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, United States of America.
• 3Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, United States of America.
• 4Center for the Study of Community Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, United States of America.
• 5School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, United States of America.
• 6Office of Energetics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, United States of America
• PLoS One. 2016 Jan 19;11(1):e0147158. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0147158. 

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Collateral Damage: The Health Effects of Invasive Police Encounters in New York City

The health effects of police surveillance practices for the community at-large are unknown. Using microlevel health data from the 2009-2012 New York City Community Health Survey (NYC-CHS) nested within mesolevel data from the 2009-2012 NYC Stop, Question, and Frisk (NYC-SQF) dataset, this study evaluates contextual and ethnoracially variant associations between invasive aspects of pedestrian stops and multiple dimensions of poor health. 

Results reveal that living in neighborhoods where pedestrian stops are more likely to become invasive is associated with worse health. Living in neighborhoods where stops are more likely to result in frisking show the most consistent negative associations. More limited deleterious effects can be attributed to living in neighborhoods where stops are more likely to involve use of force or in neighborhoods with larger ethnoracial disparities in frisking or use of force. 

However, the health effects of pedestrian stops vary by ethnoracial group in complex ways. For instance, minorities who live in neighborhoods with a wider ethno racial disparity in police behavior have poorer health outcomes in most respects, but blacks have lower odds of diabetes when they live in neighborhoods where they face a higher risk that a stop will involve use of force by police than do whites. 

The findings suggest that the consequences of the institutionalization of the carceral state are far-reaching.

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By:  Sewell AA1,2, Jefferson KA3.

• 1Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA. abigail.a.sewell@emory.edu (http://sociology.emory.edu/home/people/faculty/Abigail%20A.%20Sewell.html).
• 2University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. abigail.a.sewell@emory.edu.
• 3Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA. 
• J Urban Health. 2016 Jan 15.

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Investigating Ferguson and the Militarization of America's Police

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Racial Disparities in New York City Summonses for Minor Violations in 'Broken Windows' Policing

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10 Reasons to Decriminalise Sex Work

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Stop, Question, and Complain: Citizen Grievances Against the NYPD and the Opacity of Police Stops Across New York City Precincts, 2007-2013

Data on police stops can be examined to reflect on the relative "opacity" of these encounters and how aggregate patterns on the nature-not just the volume-of reported stops relate to public scrutiny of the police. 

We hypothesize that public scrutiny on police stops is positively related to the prevalence of opaque stop practices across dimensions of "intrusiveness," "rationale," and "setting" derived from agency records. We further argue that this relationship is influenced by neighborhood conditions in the form of concentrated disadvantage, residential instability, and heterogeneity. 

To develop these ideas, we draw on a publicly available NYPD dataset on police stops to specify a series of fixed and random effects models that describe variation in recorded stop practices across precincts (N = 74) and overtime (T = 7, 2007-2013). We relate these practices to neighborhood conditions derived from the Census and examine their association with rates of SQF complaints to the CCRB. 

Results show considerable variation in indicators of opacity, particularly across precincts. More importantly, we also find that rates of complaints are higher in precincts that have more vaguely defined, intrusive stops. 

Results also suggest that concentrated disadvantage is independently and positively related with higher rates of public scrutiny of the police.

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By:   Rengifo AF¹, Fowler K².

¹School of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University, 123 Washington St, Suite 554, Newark, NJ, 07102, USA. arengifo@rutgers.edu.

²School of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University, 123 Washington St, Suite 554, Newark, NJ, 07102, USA. kurt.fowler@rutgers.edu.

  

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Policing the Epidemic: High Burden of Workplace Violence among Female Sex Workers in Conflict-Affected Northern Uganda

Sex workers in sub-Saharan Africa experience a high burden of HIV with a paucity of data on violence and links to HIV risk among sex workers, and even less within conflict-affected environments. Data are from a cross-sectional survey of female sex workers in Gulu, northern Uganda (n = 400). Logistic regression was used to determine the specific association between policing and recent physical/sexual violence from clients. 

A total of 196 (49.0%) sex workers experienced physical/sexual violence by a client. From those who experienced client violence the most common forms included physical assault (58.7%), rape (38.3%), and gang rape (15.8%) Police harassment was very common, a total of 149 (37.3%) reported rushing negotiations with clients because of police presence, a practice that was significantly associated with increased odds of client violence (adjusted odds ratio: 1.61, 95% confidence intervals: 1.03-2.52). Inconsistent condom use with clients, servicing clients in a bar, and working for a manager/pimp were also independently associated with recent client violence. 

Structural and community-led responses, including decriminalisation, and engagement with police and policy stakeholders, remain critical to addressing violence, both a human rights and public health imperative.

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By: Muldoon KA1,2, Akello M3, Muzaaya G3, Simo A2, Shoveller J1, Shannon K1,2,4.

• 1 School of Population and Public Health , University of British Columbia , Vancouver , Canada.
• 2 British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul's Hospital , Vancouver , Canada.
• 3 The AIDS Support Organization , Gulu , Uganda.
• 4 Department of Medicine , University of British Columbia, St. Paul's Hospital , Vancouver , Canada.  

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