Vehicle stop study illuminates importance of officer’s first words

“Simply put, the officer starts off with a command rather than a reason in escalated stops.” Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, the peer-reviewed research also found that Black men could often predict a stop’s outcome simply by listening to those same 45 words, which generally spanned less than 30 seconds.

The Intersection of Race, Gender, and Policing: Following the Public Impact

UNLV law professor Frank Rudy Cooper on the psychological impact of repeated exposure to videos of violent and deadly police encounters that increasingly circulate online; the role that slavery and societal norms surrounding masculinity play into them; and police reforms that might be in the works.

UC Irvine Police Department commits to advancing women in law enforcement

The University of California, Irvine Police Department is among law enforcement agencies nationwide committing to the 30×30 Pledge, which is a collection of low- and no-cost actions to improve the representation and experiences of women in law enforcement. These actions can help policing agencies assess the current state of a department regarding gender equity; identify factors that may be driving disparities; and develop and implement strategies and solutions to eliminate barriers and advance women in policing.

UC San Diego Expert on Violence Assesses Police Brutality and Mass Shootings in America

Tage Rai is a psychologist and assistant professor of management at UC San Diego’s Rady School of Management who studies ethics and violence. He co-authored the book “Virtuous Violence” outlining research which finds that most acts of violence are driven by moral motives on the part of perpetrators. That is, perpetrators believe they are doing the right thing when they hurt and kill their victims. In this Q&A, Rai, who teaches negotiation at the Rady School, addresses dual crises impacting America—police brutality and gun violence—and what can be done to prevent them.

WashU Expert: Commonly used police diversity training unlikely to change officers’ behavior

Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who died after a confrontation with police during a traffic stop earlier this month in Memphis, has become the latest face in a racial justice and police reform movement fueled by a string of…

Independent Panel Report into Fans’ Experiences at the 2022 European Champions League Final

An independent panel report, based on the written testimonies of 485 women, men and children, and eyewitness accounts by international journalists, tells the story of those who survived extreme violence at the hands of the police and local gangs before and after the European Champions League Final in Paris, May 2022.

Compiled by five leading authorities in their respective fields, including author of the ground-breaking report into the Hillsborough disaster, Professor Emeritus Phil Scraton from the School of Law at Queen’s University Belfast, the report, “Treated with Contempt”: An Independent Panel Report into Fans’ Experiences Before, During and After the 2022 Champions League Final in Paris, details survivors’ written evidence submitted in the days after the event.

Study Shows Contact with Police May Be Detrimental to Health, Well-Being of Black Youth

According to a Johns Hopkins Medicine study published today in JAMA Pediatrics, exposure to police — even in instances in which the officers are providing assistance — may be detrimental to the health and well-being of Black youth, especially males, and can be associated with poor mental health, substance use, risky sexual behaviors and impaired safety.

Officers’ tone of voice reflects racial disparities in policing

The Black Lives Matter movement has brought increasing attention to disparities in how police officers treat Black and white Americans. Now, research published by the American Psychological Association finds that disparity may exist even in subtle differences in officers’ tone of voice when they address Black and white drivers during routine traffic stops.

Arizona State University Law Enforcement Experts Available for Interviews on Community-police Relationship

Authoritative, well-researched perspectives on police use of force and law enforcement’s relationship with the communities they serve are available from members of the faculty of the highly respected School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University as the…

FRIDAY, MAY 21: Expert Panel on Policing and Racism, Insights from Psychological Science

A panel of experts in psychological science will present the latest research on racial bias and police encounters. Journalists are invited to attend this one-hour panel presented by the Association for Psychological Science.  WHEN: Friday, May 21, 2021; 2:30 p.m. EDT  WHERE: Via Zoom (link will be provided to registered journalists); register at [email protected]   TOPICS WILL INCLUDE: …

Policing Expert Available to Discuss Derek Chauvin Verdict, Police Policy and Californians’ Views on Police Reform

Christine Gardiner, professor of criminal justice at California State University, Fullerton, is available to discuss the verdict of the Derek Chauvin trial, policing policy, and results from a California public opinion poll conducted in August of 2020, within months of…

Wayne State developing statewide mental health program to address stress among first responders and their families

The Wayne State University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health Sciences has teamed with the State of Michigan to develop a comprehensive behavioral and mental health training and support program for the state’s first responders and their families to address the stress they face in their duties protecting residents.

Study Aims to Break the Chains of Incarceration in African American Males

The majority of African American men return to prison within one to three years of their first release. A study explores why re-entry programs are not as effective for them when compared to others. Researchers suggest a holistic approach that addresses psychological and historical trauma in conjunction with the environmental factors that perpetuate the stigma justice-involved African American men experience. The approach accounts for negative associations developed in the centuries of oppression and segregation that shape their current societal interactions.

LifeBridge Health Launches Innovative New Center for Hope, Comprehensive Violence Intervention and Prevention Services Integrated Together Under One Roof

LifeBridge Health launched the Center for Hope, the first comprehensive violence intervention and prevention center in the nation that is part of a large regional health system. The Center for Hope brings together LifeBridge Health services around child abuse, domestic abuse and elder abuse along with community violence prevention programs, including a new Safe Streets site. The building design, which will be revealed at groundbreaking event, was created to welcome children, youth and adults into a space that fosters hope, safety and wellness, including an outdoor area for therapeutic play. The purpose of the Center for Hope is to advance hope, healing and resilience for those impacted by trauma, abuse and violence through comprehensive response, treatment, education and prevention.

Black police officers disciplined disproportionately for misconduct, IU research finds

An examination of racial differences in the disciplining of police officers in three of the largest U.S. cities consistently found that Black officers were more frequently disciplined for misconduct than White officers, despite an essentially equal number of allegations being leveled. This included allegations of severe misconduct.

Community-service partnership improves youths’ perception of police, ASU research shows

In his latest research, Adam Fine, an assistant professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, explores how those attitudes diverge by race at a young age, and how a specific community-service partnership program called Team Kids can change youths’ views toward police officers. His paper, “Police Legitimacy: Identifying Developmental Trends and Whether Youths’ Perceptions Can be Changed,” was published recently in the Journal of Experimental Criminology.

United States should implement nationwide truth commission on police violence against Black people

The United States needs to implement a nationwide truth commission on police violence against Black people, according to Kerry Whigham, assistant professor of genocide and mass atrocity prevention at Binghamton University, State University of New York. “If recent instances of…

Brown School’s Race and Opportunity Lab recommends specific policing reforms

As the nation struggles with police violence, a new report from HomeGrown StL in the Race and Opportunity Lab at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis recommends reforms to build an equitable, transparent and accountable public safety approach that will include lawsuit liability, a police misconduct database and federal funding mandates.

Studies examine how race affects perceptions of law-involved Blacks, school discipline

The extent of discriminatory treatment Black adults and children experience at every point of contact within the legal system and the biases that result in Black children’s behavior being managed more harshly in school are detailed in two new analyses from researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Protesting Police Brutality: UNLV African American Studies Professor on How Protests Can Enact Social Change

The days and weeks following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis, Minnesota have been marked by a civil rights movement that — in terms of size and structure — could be considered larger than…

Two-thirds of African Americans know someone mistreated by police, and 22% report mistreatment in past year

Sixty-eight percent of African Americans say they know someone who has been unfairly stopped, searched, questioned, physically threatened or abused by the police, and 43 percent say they personally have had this experience—with 22 percent saying the mistreatment occurred within the past year alone, according to survey results from Tufts University’s Research Group on Equity in Health, Wealth and Civic Engagement.

Is defunding the police a good idea? ASU expert says taking a closer look at police budgets and emphasizing community-based programming is sound thinking

“Defund the police” has been a popular rallying cry at recent protests across the nation. Originated by the Black Lives Matter movement and police reform activists, the slogan was introduced to the public last week and is quickly picking up steam…