Race, Party, and Representation in the Politics of Policing

• In Event: Justice and Injustice: Political Science Perspectives on Crime and Punishment Mini-Conference: Surviving and Contesting State Violence

Abstract

“What explains racial inequalities in law enforcement and criminal justice policy? Drawing on
recent scholarship in political science, I argue that political representation plays a key role. Most
explanations of representation focus on partisanship, or use a leftright
scale to measure the
effectiveness of representation. However, liberal cities like Berkeley, San Francisco,
Minneapolis, and Seattle have racial disparities in policing that dwarf those found in Ferguson,
the nation's exemplar of unequal policing. I argue that divisions by party and divisions by race
interact to produce serious problems of representation on issues related to crime, policing, and
violence. Black and white Democrats do not hold similar views; for both historical and electoral
reasons, white Democrats have typically determined the party's policy stances (Frymer 2010;
Hinton, Weaver, and KohlerHausmann
2016). As a result, Black Americans face substantial
barriers to obtaining representation on criminal justice issues (and beyond) through a partisan
political system.”

Author

• Laurel Eckhouse, University of Denver