Race and ethnicity are factors that affect the policing department throughout the world. In most countries, there are there are some minority subgroups mostly associated with low socioeconomic status. These populations are often treated worse by police and the general population. These people are viewed as low-class members of society, and they are viewed more critically by the authorities. The pattern applies in societies with extreme economic inequalities as well as in communities where the inequality is less severe. There are only a small number of researches that exist about the racial bias in policing. This article describes a research proposal on racial bias in the policing process and how discrimination can be reduced.
Whenever racial discrimination is mentioned, people think about the relationship between blacks and whites. According to American history, racial discrimination began in the era of slave trade and most of the slaves were blacks (Hall, Hall, & Perry, 2016). This is why racial in the mind of most people racial discrimination is regarded as mistreatment of African Americans. However, there are many other racial groups which are victims of mistreatment in the country because of their background. For example, South Asian Americans do experience intense and unfair treatment by police because of the rise of terrorism by Islamic extremists (Epp, Maynard, & Markel, 2017). Hispanic Americans are another marginalized group experiencing biases in policing.
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The Problem
The primary function of the police is to maintain law and order as well as providing security for everybody. Every citizen should get fair treatment from the police irrespective of where one comes from. The problem is that the police departments in the country judge individuals by their skin color. African Americans and Hispanic Americans have inferior relationships with the police because they are often stopped and searched (Smith, Visher, & Davidson, 1984). Since the rise of international terrorism, Americans with Asian origins are always suspected by the police and even other citizens.
Research Question
Racial biases in the United States of America policing are a public concern. What are the impacts of the biases and how can the problem solve? This research aims to identify instances and causes of racial biases in policing with the aim of providing solutions.
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to explore the biases in police treatments when dealing with people with different racial backgrounds. In the United States, there are regular reports of police mistreatment of non-white citizens. Mistreatments include unlawful arrests, shootings, and harassment (Gardner, 2012). There have been complaints by African Americans on police shootings. This led to the rise of an online campaign dubbed Black Lives Matter. Asian Americans also complain of profiling and being treated as suspects. The research will rely on police reports, media reports, and opinions of the public.
The significance of the Study
Amid increasing reports of the rise in racial discrimination in the country, there is need to research on sources of the pattern and how to reduce the problem. This research will form part of the needed solution to racism challenge. Many research articles are talking about racial discrimination in the United States. Most of these researches talk about the history of discrimination, instances of racism, and the effects (Weitzer & Brunson, 2015). However, few studies have been done on the racial biases in the police department and how it can be controlled. This research will, therefore, assist in streamlining the police departments to treat all American residents equally. Activist groups and politicians will also benefit from the results of this research by providing evidence upon which they will form their campaign issues.
Literature Review
The population of the US consists of 17% Hispanics, 13% African Americans, 5% East Asians, and 63% Whites. The Hispanic Americans are concentrated along the southern Mexican border in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas (Weitzer & Brunson, 2015). Many of them migrated from Cuba and settled in Florida. As of 2013, there were 53 million Hispanics in America, and about 6 million of them were illegal immigrants from Mexico. Their relationship with the police began to deteriorate from their migration status. Illegal immigrants from Mexico are associated with increased insecurity along the border and drug trafficking (Kulaszewicz, 2015). The police had difficulty differentiating legitimate and illegal immigrants; this caused the racial profiling and biases.
The relationship between the police and Hispanic Americans is worse than with whites but better than the one between police and African American. According to world history, most slaves were Africans, and they were entered American during agricultural and industrial revolutions to work in farms and industries. After the abolishment of the slave trade, the slaves settled in America and got citizenship. At the time, they did not enjoy equal citizenship rights as whites (Smith et al., 1984). However, through various several right campaigns, the African Americas got equal treatments including voting rights. African Americans are treated as inferiors by the whites because of the master-slave relationship that they had during the slave trade. The official racial practices ended a long time ago. However, in the memory of some whites, they still see non-whites as subjects who do not belong to the same social and economic group as them (Hall et al., 2016). Some police also have this mentality, and they continue with it while maintaining law and order. Blacks are stopped more often than the whites by the police. During these stoppages, some blacks are treated worse than other citizens (Gardner, 2012).
Asian Americans had a better relationship with the police than the other two groups. However, the emergence and rise in international terrorism ruined the relationship. Terrorist activities such as the 9/11 attacks and other attacks in American industries were carried out by terrorists with Asian and Muslim origins. The world is currently facing the threat of terrorism from Al Qaeda linked groups such as Islamic State and Al Shabaab. All these groups are made of Islamic extremists from Asia countries. The attacks were the source of major racial biases towards Asian Americans (Epp et al., 2017). They face discrimination from both the police and the citizens. They are often stopped and searched even without evidence of being criminals.
The instances above prove that the three groups; African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans are the victims of police bases. A large part of the discrimination originated from the history of how they entered the country and general perception about their background. Several campaigns by human rights activists exist to bring a stop to the biases. However, the police associate these populations with insecurity and criminal activities. In recent years, instances of shootings of black Americans by the police sparked online campaigns and protests against police mistreatment (Kulaszewicz, 2015).
In many research literature police behaviors against the non-white populations were examined and discussed as follows:
Police behave differently during their contact with civilians. African Americans and South Asian Americans are often treated as suspects and are stopped regularly without reason.
Victim citizens developed a negative attitude towards the police and some see them as enemies rather than a source of security.
The context of the neighborhood also has some influence on police relations. For example, some people are profiled as criminals, and they are always on the run from the police because of this mentality.
There are proposals of reforms to the police department to improve on how they treat civilians and reduce racial biases in policing.
References
Epp, C. R., Maynard‐Moody, S., & Haider‐Markel, D. (2017). Beyond profiling: The institutional sources of racial disparities in policing. Public Administration Review , 77 (2), 168-178.
Gardner, T. (2012). Black-on-Black. policing: Ethnic identification among African American police in Washington, DC and Oakland, CA .
Hall, A. V., Hall, E. V., & Perry, J. L. (2016). Black and blue: Exploring racial bias and law enforcement in the killings of unarmed black male civilians. American Psychologist , 71 (3), 175.
Kulaszewicz, K. E. (2015). Racism and the Media: A Textual Analysis.
Smith, D. A., Visher, C. A., & Davidson, L. A. (1984). Equity and discretionary justice: The influence of race on police arrest decisions. J. Crim. L. & Criminology , 75 , 234.
Weitzer, R., & Brunson, R. K. (2015). Policing different racial groups in the United States. Cah. Politiestud , 5 (35), 129-45.
