Is Representation Enough? Racial Disparities in Levels of Force and Arrests by Police

• Published date: 01 November 2020
• Author: Andrea M. Headley,James E. Wright
• Date: 01 November 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13225

Is Representation Enough? 1051

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 80, Iss. 6, pp. 1051–1062. © 2020 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.13225.

Andrea M. Headley

Georgetown University

Is Representation Enough? Racial Disparities in Levels of

Force and Arrests by Police

Abstract: The research in representative bureaucracy that examines the extent to which racial congruence impacts

bureaucrats’ decisions is mixed. This study adds to this literature by examining the impact of representative bureaucracy

on the level of force that police officers use and whether they make an arrest in use of force encounters, while taking

into consideration key situational conditions. Using individual-level data from New Orleans to estimate this impact,

the authors find that racial congruence and incongruence impact policing outcomes even in the presence of situational

shortcuts that cue decision-making. The findings show that the benefits of representation are conditional on the

outcome. Black officers are less likely to use higher levels of force on Black civilians. Yet both Black and White officers

are less likely to arrest White civilians in use of force encounters. This suggests that interactions in which bureaucrats

have less discretion (e.g., arrests) may offer limited opportunities for active representation.

Evidence for Practice

• Black officers, compared with White officers, are less likely to use severe force against Black civilians.

• White and Black officers are less likely to arrest White civilians in use of force encounters.

• All officers may benefit from understanding how and when racial shortcuts cue their decision-making

processes.

Recent high-profile police killings of unarmed

Black men and women in the United States

have garnered national attention. These

incidents raise questions about the role of race in

police officers’ decisions to use force. According to

Edwards, Lee, and Esposito (2019), Black men have a

higher risk of being killed by police, with about a 1 in

1,000 chance over their life span. Further, according

to a Bureau of Justice Statistics special report (Davis,

Whyde, and Langton 2018), Black individuals made

up approximately 25 percent of arrest-related deaths

in 2015, even though they constituted under 13

percent of the population. This problem is long-

standing. Police brutality against Black Americans has

been a recurring issue since it surfaced during the U.S.

civil rights movement in the 1940s. Scholars conclude

that police brutality against people of color is one of

the most significant unfulfilled goals of the civil rights

movement (Siff 2016).

Hiring more officers of color has been advocated as a

policy solution to reduce adverse policing outcomes

against people of color. Requests for increased diversity

and representation in policing rely on the belief that

hiring officers of color will result in less violent police-

civilian encounters, greater police legitimacy, and

increased trust between officers and civilians. This belief

is not without critique. Opponents have argued that

the inclusion of officers of color on the police force has

not resulted in substantive differences for communities

of color (Smith and Holmes 2014) and, on some

occasions, has resulted in harsher treatment (McElvain

and Kposowa 2008; Wilkins and Williams 2008).

Nevertheless, the lack of representation in police

departments is a persistent and ongoing problem (see

Ashkenas and Park 2015). Thus, hiring officers of color

is still widely advanced as a policy recommendation for

police departments (EEOC 2016), which serves as the

basis for this analysis.

To understand the nuances that impact officers’

street-level decisions, we estimate the impact of racial

congruence on (1) the levels of force that officers

use and (2) subsequent arrest outcomes. Our study

offers three additions to the literature. First, we assess

the effect of representation while accounting for

important situational and contextual factors, such as

weapon presence, weather, type of encounter, civilian

resistance, and whether the civilian was mentally

unstable or under the influence of alcohol or drugs

(i.e., intoxicated or inebriated).

Second, we distinguish between two related outcomes.

The first outcome we assess is the level of force that an

James E. Wright II

Florida State University Research

Symposium:

Pursuit of Civil

Rights and Public

Sector Values in

the 21st Century:

Examining

Dr. Martin Luther

King Jr.’s Vision in

the Trump Era

James E. Wright II is an assistant

professor in the Askew School of Public

Administration and Policy at Florida State

University. He is a public management,

public policy, and social equity scholar.

Email: jwright4@fsu.edu

Andrea M. Headley is an assistant

professor in the McCourt School of Public

Policy at Georgetown University. She is

a public management, social equity, and

criminal justice policy scholar.

Email: andrea.headley@georgetown.edu