Officer Characteristics and Decision Making: A Meta-Analysis

• In Event: Policing the Working Poor, Street Vendors, and Homeless Drug Users – Would a Diverse Force Matter?

Abstract

A great deal of attention has been paid to the influence of suspect characteristics on officer decision making. Additionally, the findings of these studies seem to indicate that suspect characteristics influence decision making. Suspect race and gender consistently impact decision making. Black individuals and men are more likely to be arrested, have force used against them, and be sentenced to prison. Given recent civil unrest in Ferguson, MO and Baltimore, MD that was associated with discrimination, there is often a call to increase diversity of police departments as a way to this discrimination. It is assumed that if the police department is more diverse, that diversity will decrease disparate, and potentially discriminatory treatment of suspects. This paper investigates whether this call to diversify police forces will have a significant impact on decision making using meta-analysis. This paper examines the impact of officer race and gender on search and arrest decisions. The results are discussed and the implications are examined.

Authors

• Daniel Joseph Lytle, Ball State University

• P. Colin Bolger, Kutztown University