Gendered Protest Policing and the Criminalization of Dissent, 1960-1995

• In Event: Activism and Criminal Justice

Abstract

In recent decades, studies of protest policing have proliferated. Most studies examine tactics used by protesters, presence of counterdemonstrators, minority group presence—most often African Americans—and “radical” goals or claims made by protesters. Lacking in these studies is a focus on the impact of gender, women’s issues, and how police interact with protesters when those protests pertain to women’s rights issues and/or have a critical mass of female protesters. To do this we draw on the Dynamics of Collective Action (DoCA) dataset which documents all protest events reported in the New York Times from 1960-1995. By reworking the DoCA coding scheme for protest claims and policy agendas that highlight the major women’s rights campaigns (i.e. Abortion, Equal Rights Amendment, etc.) in the U.S. during this period, we show how gender influences police aggression and inattention. Utilizing regression models, we examine over 23,000 protest events identifying factors influencing police behavior—presence, arrest, and use of force—at events with highly visible female participation and where women’s interests were at stake. In particular, we explore these protests using the threat model of protest policing integrated with a critical, intersectional perspective that unearth the crucial interaction of gender and race.

Authors

• Jennifer Padilla Wyse, Armstrong State University

• Thomas N. Ratliff, Arkansas State University

• Anita Marshall, Arkansas State University