Race and Arrest Rates: A Research Proposal on Racial Bias

Introduction and Research Question

The possibility of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system warrants serious attention from researchers, in order to encourage evidence-based policy change. Prior research has shown a clear connection between race and rates of arrest, but it remains unclear whether this relationship is due to bias within the criminal justice system itself or to bias in public perception of crime — specifically, the widespread belief that Black Americans are more dangerous than whites.

This research proposal examines whether there is indeed a relationship between race and arrest rates, and if so, under which circumstances the effect is most pronounced. Five research hypotheses address variables including race, type of crime, arrest rates, post-arrest procedures such as prosecution and sentencing, mitigating variables like poverty, and the influence of political propaganda. Data are collected from six different municipalities, including urban, suburban, and rural regions, using official arrest records as the primary means of data collection. Results will shed light on whether higher arrest rates for African-Americans are related more to police behaviors such as racial profiling, or whether those higher rates are more closely tied to community and social variables such as public perception and media framing.

Research Question: Is there a relationship between race and arrest rates?

Hypotheses

The following five hypotheses guide this research:

1. Non-whites are more likely to be arrested for "street crimes" — including violent crimes, robberies, and drug offenses — than whites.

2. For street crimes, arrest rates are higher for African-Americans than for any other ethnic group.

3. Once arrested, non-whites are more likely to be prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced to prison, and are also more likely to be re-arrested.

4. In addition to race, gender, gang membership, poverty, and exposure to violence in the community are mitigating risk factors related to the likelihood of arrest.

5. Arrest rates are higher for African-Americans in part because of public perception of African-Americans as dangerous or predisposed to crime, which leads police to engage in racial profiling.

Variables

Independent Variable: Race

Dimension 1 — Self-Identification: Black; Black + Hispanic or Brazilian; Black Caribbean; Black African; Black "other"; Bi-Racial/Multi-Racial.

Dimension 2 — Identification of Race by Arresting Officer: Black; Black + Hispanic or Brazilian; Black Caribbean; Black African; Black "other"; Bi-Racial/Multi-Racial.

Dimension 3 — Self-Perception of How Others Perceive: Black; Black + Hispanic or Brazilian; Black Caribbean; Black African; Black "other"; Bi-Racial/Multi-Racial.

Dependent Variable: Arrest Rates

Dimension 1 — Type of Crime: Domestic Offense; Drug Offense; Property Offense; Violent Offense (Assault); Rape.

Dimension 2 — Level of Crime: Misdemeanor; Felony; Parole Revocation.

Dimension 3 — Geographic Location: Urban; Suburban; Rural.

Statement of the Problem

Prior research has suggested that African-Americans are disproportionately arrested compared to whites (Kochel, Wilson & Mastrofski, 2011). This disproportionality in arrest rates may be attributed to several factors, including racial bias on the part of police, as well as additional risk factors such as gang membership or poverty. For example, Tapia (2011) found that both race and gang membership created a cluster of risk factors that led to a disproportionate number of African-Americans being arrested for street crimes. In other words, African-Americans may be more likely than other ethnic groups to become involved with gangs, and that gang involvement may produce the types of behaviors that draw police attention and result in arrest.

There may also be community-level variables including social norms, biased beliefs, racism, and prejudice. These sociological and cognitive variables may affect police officers directly, subconsciously, or through unspoken policies driven by public officials who have built their careers on a tough-on-crime agenda. For example, Keen & Jacobs (2009) found that in communities with high levels of racial tension and Republican elected officials, Black residents were more likely to be arrested and convicted than whites. These findings also showed that the effect was strongest in communities with larger-than-average proportions of African-American citizens. Keen & Jacobs (2009) postulate that Republican attempts to "link crime with public concerns about a dangerous racial underclass" have been successful, have led to greater media complicity in racial bias, and have subsequently influenced both police behavior and public opinion (p. 209).

When social norms and biases portray the Black individual as dangerous, it becomes difficult to reverse the trend of disproportionate arrest rates. As Walker, Spohn & DeLone (2011) point out, "for many people the term 'crime' evokes an image of a young African-American male who is armed with a handgun and who commits a robbery, a rape, or a murder" (p. 58). Like Keen & Jacobs (2009), Walker, Spohn & DeLone (2011) attribute this bias to the media, politicians, and policymakers. According to Walker, Spohn & DeLone (2011), African-Americans accounted for half of all arrests for murder, 32% of arrests for rape, and a striking 54.6% of all arrests for robbery. It is important to note that arrest rates do not reflect the total number of crimes reported or committed; many crimes go unreported, and others are reported but result in no arrest (Walker, Spohn & DeLone, 2011).

References

Keen, B. & Jacobs, D. (2009). Racial threat, partisan politics, and racial disparities in prison admissions: A panel analysis. Criminology, 47(1), 209–238.

Kochel, T. R., Wilson, D. B. & Mastrofski, S. D. (2011). Effect of suspect race on officers' arrest decisions. Criminology, 49(2), 473–512.

Tapia, M. (2011). Gang membership and race as risk factors for juvenile arrest. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 48(3), 364–395.

Walker, S., Spohn, C. & DeLone, M. (2011). The color of justice: Race, ethnicity, and crime in America. Cengage.