Does Race Influence Police Disciplinary Processes?

• Author: Jack R. Greene,Matthew J. Hickman,Alex R. Piquero,Brian A. Lawton
• Date: 01 June 2001
• DOI: 10.3818/JRP.3.1.2001.97
• Published date: 01 June 2001
• Subject Matter: Article

Race and police disciplinary processes • 97

*Does Race Influence Police

Disciplinary Processes?

Matthew J. Hickman Brian A. Lawton

U.S. Department of Justice Temple University

Bureau of Justice Statistics

Alex R. Piquero Jack R. Greene

Northeastern University Northeastern University

* Abstract

Please direct all correspondence to: Matthew J. Hickman, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 810

Seventh St., NW, Washington, DC 20531. This research was supported in part by a

grant from the National Institute of Justice (98-IJ-CX-0066). Points of view are those

of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the U.S. Depart-

ment of Justice.

JUSTICE RESEARCH AND POLICY, Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 2001

© 2001 Justice Research and Statistics Association

This article examines racial parity in the formal disciplinary system of the Philadel-

phia Police Department (PPD). Data drawn from a random sample of 499 Philadel-

phia police officers are linked to official data drawn from the PPD disciplinary data-

base. Results suggest that about one third of the sample was charged with a disciplin-

ary offense. When we examined the extent to which race influenced the various stages

of the disciplinary process (charge, hearing, guilty), we failed to uncover a significant

effect for race. This null effect was observed in both bivariate and multivariate set-

tings. Implications for police practice and future research are addressed.

98 • Justice Research and Policy

For the most part, research on race and crime has been mired in an unproductive

mix of controversy and silence (Sampson & Wilson, 1995). While some researchers

have explored etiological differences between races in criminal behavior, others

have explored how race has influenced sentencing and incarceration decisions.

Early research in this area showed that minority arrests for serious and violent

crimes accounted in large part for the racial disproportionality in U.S. imprison-

ment rates (Blumstein, 1982). However, recent studies examining dispro-

portionality in minority confinement have found race to be an important factor

above and beyond legal characteristics.

For example, Pope and Feyerherm (1992) reported that approximately two

thirds of the studies they examined on disproportional minority confinement found

either direct or indirect race effects on juvenile justice decisionmaking. Crutchfield,

Bridges, and Pitchford (1994) reported on data from 50 states showing that minori-

ties and whites experience significantly different patterns of treatment by courts and

law enforcement agencies at different points in the processing of criminal cases

such that researchers must be careful about aggregation biases. Using data from

Pennsylvania, Austin and Allen (2000) found that, contrary to Blumstein, the

percentage of explained disproportionality was low, thereby indicating that high

levels of racial discrimination may be operating within the Pennsylvania criminal

justice system. Finally, Spohn’s (2000) recent review of racial discrimination in

sentencing found that although the primary determinants of sentencing are the

seriousness of the offense and the offender’s prior criminal record, race/ethnicity

and other extralegal characteristics also play a role. In particular, black and His-

panic offenders, and especially those who are young, male, or unemployed, are

more likely than their white counterparts to be sentenced to prison and are likely

to receive longer sentences than similarly situated white offenders.

Although evidence is mounting on racial disparity and discrimination in crimi-

nal justice processing, researchers have documented little (if any) information on

racial disparity and discrimination within police organizations generally, and

within police disciplinary processes in particular. Research attention to this area

is important because perpetuation of unwarranted racial disparity within police

disciplinary decisionmaking is a critical matter for police officials.

* The Police

In their capacity as a formal mechanism of social control, police officers are

charged with the task of simultaneously serving a highly diverse body of citizens

while upholding the democratic ideals of liberty, equality, and justice. An inte-

gral part of this complex mandate is the maintenance of positive relations be-