The Invisible Gorilla (and Other Strange Creatures) in the Kill Zone: The Utility of Laboratory Experiments for Informing Understanding of Police Deadly Force Decision Making in the Streets

• In Event: Decision Making Processes in Police Use of Force

Abstract

The last decade and a half has seen the emergence and profusion of laboratory-based research intended to shed light on how police officers make choices about using their firearms during interactions with citizens. The primary focus of this laboratory research has been to assess the degree to which citizen status characteristics (primarily race) influence police officers’ decisions to use deadly force. Some of this research suggests that police officers may be more likely to shoot unarmed minority group members than unarmed whites and more quickly shoot armed minorities than armed whites. Other laboratory research suggests that this is not the case. This study uses evidence from interviews with over 200 police officers who were involved in actual shootings in the line of duty to describe the conditions under which they made decisions about pulling the trigger. We find that officers report experiencing a number of perceptual anomies during these events, which suggests that laboratory studies cannot realistically re-create the conditions under which police officers make choices about the use of their firearms. This finding raises serious questions about the capacity of laboratory research to shed light on the determinants of police officers’ use of deadly force against citizens.

Authors

• Lee Ann Slocum, University of Missouri - St. Louis

• David A Klinger, University of Missouri - St. Louis