Police Treatment of Urban Minorities
7. Briefly describe the purpose(s) of the study (including research questions and key variables, if applicable)
Inappropriate behavior is difficult to define and to quantify. An example of this dilemma is the issue of the use by police of excessive force. If the definition of police excessive force relied only on the application of a quantifiable level of physical force by a police officer, or on specific types of intimidation or coercion, the debate over police behavior would be largely a technical exercise similar to the debate surrounding what is and what is not a cruel and unusual punishment. There are, however, no quantifiable levels of physical force, intimidation, or coercion, the application of which by a police officer constitutes the use of excessive force per se in any situation. The application of physical force, intimidation, and coercion by police officers is widely recognized as both appropriate and necessary in some situations. Such actions on the part of police officers are classified as excessive only when the level of physical force, intimidation, or coercion is deemed inappropriate for a given situation. Unfortunately different people รน more often than not, the police on one side, and some civilian or group of civilians on the other side, evaluate situations differently, and, therefore, make different assessments of the appropriateness of the use of physical force, intimidation, or coercion by police officers in given situations. The not unexpected outcome of such conflicting perceptions is the current dilemma surrounding the question of the existence and extent of inappropriate police behavior toward members of racial and ethnic minorities.
As the treatment of racial and ethnic minorities by police is largely a matter of perception (and frequently a matter of judicial determination), it is both important and necessary to assess the perceptions of the wider commu...