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The Effect of Race, Place, and Time on Police Use of Force: How Social Context Influences Legal Decision-Making

LoFaso, Charles Anthony
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1594479446661188

Abstract Details

2020, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Sociology.
Compared to the research investigating police use of force at the encounter-level, there are relatively fewer studies examining how neighborhood context influences the decision to use force. This dissertation adds to the research on neighborhood context through the investigation of two overarching research questions. I first examine whether neighborhood racial composition and degree of disadvantage are associated with the frequency and severity of force after encounter-level variables are controlled. Second, I examine whether the frequency or severity of force change following incidents of violence by the police or against the police. Using an interrupted time series design for this question, the study analyzes whether the trajectory of force by Rochester (N.Y.) officers was altered following the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9, 2014, and by the death of RPD officer Daryl Pierson on September 3, 2014. As such, the dissertation examines the extent to which the risk of being subjected to police use of force is influenced by where and when a citizen encounters an officer. More broadly, the dissertation examines how social context influences legal decision-making, as well as the role that law, as governmental social control, plays in preserving social order. Findings indicate that both the frequency and severity of force are higher in neighborhoods with larger percentages of Black and Hispanic residents once encounter-level variables, degree of neighborhood disadvantage, and crime rates are controlled. A likely explanation for this finding is that police officers, like many Americans, including other actors in the criminal justice system, are acting on an implicit racial bias that characterizes Black individuals as being prone to criminality and violence. Officers perceive that disadvantaged neighborhoods present elevated threats to officer safety because more Black individuals live there. Consequently, implicit racial bias results in more frequent and severe social control in these neighborhoods. While race and place are both contextual influences on the use of force, the effect of concentrated disadvantage is indirect and is mediated by neighborhood racial composition. A primary finding of the interrupted time series analysis is that the frequency of force did not change during the 25-day period following Michael Brown’s death but did significantly increase in the 25-day period immediately after Officer Pierson’s death. Officer Pierson’s death motivated officers to use force more often during confrontations with citizens, whether out of fear for their safety, in bounded solidarity, or as vicarious retribution for Pierson’s shooting. Thereafter, as negative publicity and anti-police backlash increased in the U.S. following several more high-profile police shootings and in-custody deaths of unarmed Black males, officers significantly reduced their use of force through the end of 2015. However, officers were more punitive, as the odds of being subjected to more severe levels of force significantly increased even as the frequency of force declined. Thus, although officers entered a phase of “de-policing,” they likely remained fearful for their safety or retained a desire for retribution during citizen encounters and used excessive force to ensure a favorable outcome.
Ryan King (Advisor)
Paul Bellair (Committee Member)
Hollie Nyseth Brehm (Committee Member)
182 p.
Criminology; Sociology
Police Use of Force, Implicit Racial Bias, Neighborhood Context, Antecedent Events

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • LoFaso, C. A. (2020). The Effect of Race, Place, and Time on Police Use of Force: How Social Context Influences Legal Decision-Making [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1594479446661188

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • LoFaso, Charles. The Effect of Race, Place, and Time on Police Use of Force: How Social Context Influences Legal Decision-Making . 2020. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1594479446661188.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • LoFaso, Charles. "The Effect of Race, Place, and Time on Police Use of Force: How Social Context Influences Legal Decision-Making ." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1594479446661188

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1594479446661188
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.