Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-2022
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/sipr.12083
Abstract
We call for psychologists to expand their thinking on fair and just public safety by engaging with the “Abolition Democracy” framework that Du Bois (1935) articulated as the need to dissolve slavery while simultaneously taking affirmative steps to rid its toxic consequences from the body politic. Because the legacies of slavery continue to produce disparities in public safety in the U.S, both harming Black people and the institutions that could keep them safe, psychologists must take seriously questions of history and structure in addition to immediate situations. In the present article, we consider the state of knowledge regarding psychological processes that contribute to discriminatory public safety. We also identify ways in which theorizing about discriminatory public safety can be improved by appreciating the historical and socio-political context in which policing occurs.
Recommended Citation
Najdowski, Cynthia J. and Goff, Phillip Atiba, "Towards a psychological science of abolition democracy: Insights for improving theory and research on race and public safety" (2022). Psychology Faculty Scholarship. 33.
https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/psychology_fac_scholar/33
Included in
African American Studies Commons, Criminal Law Commons, Criminology Commons, Cultural History Commons, Law and Psychology Commons, Law and Race Commons, Law and Society Commons, Place and Environment Commons, Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation Commons, Political History Commons, Public Policy Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Commons, Social History Commons, Social Justice Commons, Social Policy Commons, Social Psychology Commons, Social Psychology and Interaction Commons, United States History Commons
Terms of Use
This work is made available under the Scholars Archive Terms of Use.
Comments
Publisher Acknowledgement
This is the Author's Original Manuscript. The version of record can be found here: Najdowski, C. J., & Goff, P. A. (2022). Towards a psychological science of abolition democracy: Insights for improving theory and research on race and public safety. Social Issues and Policy Review, 16(1), 33-78. https:doi.org/10.1111/sipr.12083