The Effects of Body-Worn Cameras on Racial Disparity in Prosecution

• In Event: Racial Disparities in Prosecution and Sentencing: Body-worn Cameras, Time Dimension, and Mandatory Minimums

Abstract

Body-worn cameras (BWCs) have been promoted as a law enforcement technology with the potential to foster racial equity in criminal justice, by increasing transparency and improving decision making during police-civilian encounters. Research evaluating the effects of BWCs on racial disparities has found only limited evidence of this potential, but such studies have generally focused on law enforcement outcomes such as arrest and use of force. In the present study, we consider the downstream effects of BWCs on racial disparities in the prosecution of resisting arrest incidents, which signal negative police-civilian interactions and are often disproportionately charged against people of color. Data were collected from the prosecutor’s office of a large Florida county for a sample of more than 30,000 resisting arrest cases referred for prosecution between 2010 and 2021. We use interrupted time series analysis to model the impacts of the office-wide deployment of BWCs in the county’s largest police department in 2016. Findings indicate that the deployment of BWCs significantly reduced racial disparities in case processing for resisting cases. This suggests that BWCs may serve as an evidentiary equalizer in some courtroom contexts, mitigating bias in discretionary decisions and reducing disadvantage for defendants of color.

Authors

• Rebecca Dunlea, University of Massachusetts Lowell

• Sean Michael Perry, University of Massachusetts Lowell

• Pauline Brennan, University of Massachusetts Lowell