Racial Disparities in Policing: Psychological Consequences Over the Lifespan

Authors

Kelly C. Burke, The University of Illinois at ChicagoFollow
Cynthia J. Najdowski, University at Albany, State University of New YorkFollow
Margaret C. Stevenson, Kenyon CollegeFollow

Author ORCID Identifier

Cynthia J. Najdowski:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3624-9188

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2023

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197549513.013.26

Abstract

We review the psychological consequences of racialized policing for people of color over the course of their lives, organizing our review within Bronfrenbrenner’s (1979) social-ecological model and emerging science on racial, legal, and racial-legal socialization. First, we consider the broader social climate that criminalizes and punishes people of color, and thereby generates racialized policing (macrosystem). Then, we turn to the institution and practice of policing and how this influences the way people of color come to think about their relationships with police (exosystem). Next, we examine how vicarious experiences with police shape attitudes toward police (mesosystem), and how direct experiences and personal history factors influence how people of color experience, navigate, learn, and develop in response to police discrimination (microsystem). Finally, we explore the cumulative effects of racialized policing on life outcomes and the evidence on coping and resilience among people of color, ending with implications for policy and practice.

Comments

This is a portion of the Author's Accepted Manuscript. The Version of Record can be found here: Burke, Kelly C., Cynthia J. Najdowski, and Margaret C. Stevenson, 'Racial Disparities in Policing: Psychological Consequences Over the Lifespan', in Allison D. Redlich, and Jodi A. Quas (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Developmental Psychology and the Law (2023; online edn, Oxford Academic, 18 Dec. 2023), https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197549513.013.26

Recommended Citation

Burke, Kelly C.; Najdowski, Cynthia J.; and Stevenson, Margaret C., "Racial Disparities in Policing: Psychological Consequences Over the Lifespan" (2023). Psychology Faculty Scholarship. 57.
https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/psychology_fac_scholar/57