Over-Policing Black Bodies

The Need for Multidimensional and Transformative Reforms

Delores D. Jones-Brown, Jason M. Williams, Delores D. Jones-Brown, Jason M. Williams

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9781032460031
• eBook ISBN: 9781000885651
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Criminology
• Index: Social Sciences

The 2020 deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor rekindled decades old concerns about the legitimacy of policing. They ignited the international recognition that Black people are subjected to forms of police violence that exceed the boundaries of formal law and human decency. This book confirms that the Floyd and Taylor cases are not isolated incidents and provides suggestions toward prevention.

The contributors to the book have served on both sides of the criminal legal system. They have been those who were tasked with enforcing the law and those who have been subject to law enforcement. Consequently, they are able to identify specific failures of a system that focuses on race, specifically Blackness, as a primary indicator of criminal propensity. Through these chapters, the authors suggest academically, morally and practically sound corrective measures for moving toward a goal of equal, rather than discriminatory and excessively harmful, treatment under the law.

This book will be of interest to researchers and advanced students of Criminology, Race and Ethnic Studies, Politics, Human Rights, and Political Sociology. It was originally published as a special issue in the Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Citation Information
• Notes on Contributors
• Introduction Over-policing Black bodies: the need for multidimensional and transformative reforms
• Remember their names
• 1 From the field: Why I founded Black Cops Against Police Brutality
• 2 Understanding the role of race, gender and age in request to consent search drivers
• 3 “I’m afraid of cops:” Black protesters’ and residents’ perceptions of policing in the United States
• 4 U.S. policing as racialized violence and control: A qualitative assessment of black narratives from Ferguson, Missouri
• 5 Is it a rally or a riot? Racialized media framing of 2020 protests in the United States
• 6 Why we should stop using the term “Black-on-Black crime”: An analysis across disciplines
• 7 Reform or revolution: ‘Community Policing’ is not a Quick-fix
• Index