Date of Conferral

2023

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Criminal Justice

Advisor

Gregory Koehle

Abstract

AbstractA negative relationship persists among minority communities and law enforcement officers, including officers’ use of excessive force. Use of force researchers hold that a high percentage of African American men and boys can expect to die at the hands of police in the United States. Further, African American men are more likely than their White peers to die during an encounter with police. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between predictor variables and the use of excessive force against racial and ethnic minorities in the United States, controlling for race, gender, and household income. The predictor variables were (a) ethnicity, (b) whether respondent disobeyed or resisted police, and (c) verbal escalation of respondent with officers. The dependent variables were (a) police verbal escalation and (b) police physical escalation. Using conflict theory, this study was an examination of traffic stop summary data from the 2015 Police–Public Contact Survey to determine variables associated with police use of excessive force. The instrument used in the survey was binary; therefore, binary logistic regression was appropriate for testing the correlating hypotheses. The results indicate that in Models 1 and 2, race, gender, income, and citizen deference at time of stop were all highly significant, indicating police verbally escalated and physically escalated an encounter. The findings in this study have potential implications for positive social change by adding to the knowledge on this subject so that stakeholders, policymakers, and key administrators can make informed decisions to address the issue of excessive use of force among law enforcement officers, which is negatively impacting the lives of citizens in the United States.

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