A Neglected Problem: Understanding the Effects of Transgenerational Trauma on African Americans' Attitudes toward the Police

• In Event: Race and Policing

Abstract

The relationship between the police and African Americans has been frayed for decades (Stewart, Baumer, Brunson, & Simons, 2009; Weitzer & Tuch, 2005). This relationship has been frayed even further as a result of recent, highly publicized events such as the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri; Eric Garner in New York City; and Walter Scott in North Charleston, South Carolina at the hands of the police. The extent that transgenerational trauma contributes to African Americans’ suspicion and distrust of the police is currently not known, as there are no research studies in the extant criminological literature that address this particular area of research. This discovery is quite surprising, especially in light of the fact that many research studies have examined the relationship between African Americans and the police. As a result, this study seeks to understand the effects of transgenerational trauma on African Americans’ attitudes toward the police; what factors have shaped those attitudes; and how those attitudes can be improved, in order to reverse the current distrustful relationship that exists between African Americans and the police.

Author

• Daniel K. Pryce, North Carolina Central University