Race and Police Use of Force: An Empirical Test of Black’s Theory of Law

• In Event: Race, Perceptions of Police Trust and Legitimacy, and Use of Force (Organized by the Division of Policing)

Abstract

Race and police use of force is a hot button issue in the public and political climate today. Prior use of force research, however, has largely failed to establish citizen and officer race as significant correlates of force. This lack of a clear relationship between the two is potentially attributable to the fact that few attempts have been made to integrate theory to explore the interactive effects of citizen and officer race on the use of force. The present study creates racial dyads utilizing data from use of force reports across six medium-sized police agencies to test the theoretical predictions made by Black’s (1976) Behavior of Law. A number of important conclusions are drawn with implications for future research and practice.

Author

• Logan Somers, Arizona State University