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Racial Discrimination and Police Use of Excessive Force in Germany
Fri, September 5, 3:30 to 4:45pm, Communications Building (CN), CN 2105Abstract
Police use of force is legally regulated and limited. If violence is used without legal justification, police officers are liable to prosecution. Nevertheless, very few offences by police officers are actually prosecuted and convicted. The findings of this project show that this exceptionally low rate of charging cannot be attributed to unjustified complaints alone; it is also due to the distinctive structural features of these cases. Additionally, as victim counsellors, lawyers and civil rights organisations have reported over the years, the estimated number of unrecorded cases is much higher.
The DFG 'Police Use of Excessive Force’ (KviAPol) research project provides the first wide-ranging academic findings on how police officers in Germany use excessive force and how such occurrences are handled by the criminal justice system and victims. These findings are based on a survey of victims with over 3,300 participants, and over 60 qualitative interviews with police officers, judges, public prosecutors, victims advice centres, and lawyers. The study aimed to gain more insight about how police use of excessive force is officially handled and how victims deal with the situation.
Overall, one-third of respondents felt they had been discriminated against during the incident they described. It was more common for non-male respondents and PoC to report discrimination. According to the interviews, marginalised groups such as racialized persons, LGBTIQ* persons, homeless people or other oppressed groups are at particular risk of discrimination during interactions with the police and have less power to make complaints. The interviews and victims survey showed that these cases did not necessarily involve deliberate or conscious discrimination. Indeed, racist knowledge and unconscious stereotypes can influence the interaction. These stereotypes are entrenched in the police in forms such as experiential knowledge and organisational practices.