Date of Conferral

2020

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Public Policy and Administration

Advisor

Dr. Tim Bagwell

Abstract

This study compared trends in arrests and fatalities between Black Americans and Caucasians in Atlanta and Detroit. A descriptive analysis was conducted on secondary data compiled by the Department of Justice (1980-2014) and the Mapping Police Violence Organization (2015-2018) to compare Police-Civilian Interaction between races and cities over the past four decades. Trend analysis was conducted on arrests records for Atlanta, Georgia and Detroit, Michigan for years 1980 to 2014, and for persons who were fatally shot by police from 2015 to 2018 in these cities. The number of arrests from 1980 to 2014 in Atlanta, Georgia was 26,532 and 28,850 for Detroit, Michigan. The number of fatalities of police shootings for Atlanta, Georgia was 12 and in Detroit, Michigan it was 7. The results of the study measured a significant racial difference in arrests in these two cities (p=.000). An ANOVA test was conducted and the trends in arrests show a decline in arrests for both races. A Chi-Square analysis further concluded that the frequency of fatalities from police shootings from 2014 to 2018 for Atlanta (N=12) and Detroit (N=7) respectively are small or nonsignificant and were unable to demonstrate significant change by race (X2=1.49, p=.244) or city (X2=.735, p=.865) over the past 4-year period. The social impact of this study lies in its usefulness in correcting public misperceptions and questioning policies and practices that are driven by the belief that environment is correlated with crime and criminal activity.

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