Delores Jones-Brown
Professor Of Law, Police Science And Criminal Justice, John Jay College Of Criminal Justice
Key Findings
- All the police departments surveyed had policies that banned racial profiling in place.
- Less than a quarter of departments had policies that banned profiling based on gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
- More than half of police departments did not have any policies banning police sexual misconduct against members of the community.
- A majority of departments failed to address police use of force against pregnant women.
- Only one department offered policy guidance to police officers regarding children of arrested guardians.
Description
In the article, “Policing Race, Gender, and Sex: A Review of Law Enforcement Policies,” Jones-Brown and her co-author examine the relationship between law enforcement officers, women, LGBTQ+ individuals of color. More emphasis has been placed on understanding how police officers interact with individuals in the community they serve as women of color share experiences of racial profiling, police misconduct and police use of force. The researchers examined police departments from across the United States and searched department sites for information on policies that disproportionately impact women or LGBTQ+ individuals of color. Researchers looked at six specific policy criteria in their study: 1) racial profiling 2) confiscation/citation of condoms as evidence of intent to engage in prostitution 3) police sexual misconduct 4) interactions with the LGBTQ+ community 5) use of force against pregnant women and 6) provisions for children when a guardian is arrested. They conducted their study by administering a ten-question survey asking about the types of policies they had in place based on the policy criteria. The results showed that all the sampled police departments had policies banning racial profiling but less than a quarter of departments had policies that banned profiling based on gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Generally, departments had policies banning sexual misconduct against employees, but more than half did not have any policies banning police sexual misconduct against members of the community. A majority of departments failed to address police use of force against pregnant women. Finally, only one department offered policy guidance to police officers regarding children of arrested guardians. In conclusion, the authors note that a majority of police departmental policies fail to address issues that impact women and LGBTQ individuals of color. The researchers note that in order to see systematic policy change in police departments, the U.S. Department of Justice must issue recommendations for local task forces to frame policy with these minorities in mind.