Murky Research Waters

• Published date: 01 May 2016
• Date: 01 May 2016
• Author: Cynthia Lum
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12197

EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION

THE REVERSE RACISM EFFECT

Murky Research Waters

The Influence of Race and Ethnicity on Police Use of Force

Cynthi a Lum

George Mason University

The last 2 years have been a turbulent time for policing in the United States. The

challenges to police authority generally, and police use of force specifically, have

been front and center in the news. In particular, this period has been marked by a

series of high-visibility shootings of Black civilians by primarily White officers, which raises

the question of whether these actions reflect racial bias in use-of-force decisions by police

officers.

Research has provided some clarity on the relationship between policing and race, but

the research waters continue to be murky.Lois James, Stephen James, and Bryan Vila (2016,

this issue) illustrate this, and their findings give us pause in coming to simple conclusions

about racial bias and the police. They examine police officer decisions and reaction times to

shoot or not to shoot potentially armed suspects by using a deadly force simulator. Unlike

previous button-pressing tests in which officers react to suspects portrayed in still images,

the simulator shows life-size videos to officers and prompts them to make decisions to shoot

at the videos with realistic firearms. The simulator also allows experimenters to toggle the

race of suspects, as well as their actions and weaponry, in the same situations. Officers’

decisions to shoot, as well as their reaction time and accuracy, can be recorded.

Contrary to previous research that has applied button-pressing tests, James et al. (2016)

find that the officers hesitated longer in shooting Black armed suspects compared with

their White counterparts. They were also more likely to shoot unarmed White suspects

than unarmed Black suspects. Additionally, officers in this study were administered the

Harvard Implicit Bias Test to determine the relationship between their implicit bias and

their decisions/reaction times to use deadly force against White and Black suspects. Almost

all participants showed moderate-to-strong implicit bias in the Harvard test, which was

unrelated to their actions in the simulator.

Direct correspondence to Cynthia Lum, Department of Criminology, Law and Society, George Mason

University, 4400 University Drive, MS 6D12, Fairfax, VA 22030 (e-mail: clum@gmu.edu).

DOI:10.1111/1745-9133.12197 C2016 American Society of Criminology 453

Criminology & Public Policy rVolume 15 rIssue 2