The representation of the minorities in the police can help to tackle racist violence in some communities

Hass crimes have increased in the United States in the past 15 years, with minorities recognizing racist violence even at disproportionate speed. In new research, Sanghee Park And her co -author Yesse Yesse Charles Mwihambi examines the role of representing the minorities in the prosecution in combating these differences. They find that a higher percentage of black and Asian officials in police forces is associated with a reduction in the differences for the victims for their communities. In addition, police forces increase with higher proportions of Hispanic and Asian officers the likelihood that the victims of these communities will report their experiences as hate crimes.

All crime volumes have decreased in the United States in the past ten years, but hate crimes have risen steadily since 2010. Since these preload breaks are disproportionately racist and ethnic minorities, important questions arise that can increase these accidents. And if so, under what conditions?

Community -Rassen -Make -up and how the police and citizens interact

Our research examines this question by using a 15-year panel data set to assess whether and how the racial make-up of a community has an impact on the dynamics between civil servants and citizens, especially in the context of victimization and reporting on hate crime. Based on two large federal data sets – the UCR system (Uniform Crime Reporting) of the FBI and the National Crime Crime Victimization Survey (Bureau of Justice Statistics “(NCVS) – from 2005 to 2019 we analyze the differences between black, Hispanic and Asian/Pacific islanders.

Our understanding of hate crimes remains limited due to the lack of comprehensive and consistent data. Since the law on hate crime statistics from 1990 provide no reporting or provides resources to support data acquisition, many law enforcement authorities have little incentives or capacities to comply with. In the states there are states how hate crimes are defined, how civil servants are trained and how the laws are enforced. Our study recognizes these restrictions, but the data provides important insights into the trends of hate crimes.

Figure 1 uses Lorenz curves (comparing how a situation of equality would look like the actual reality) to show these differences in victimization. The further the curve is from the diagonal line, the greater inequality. All three groups of minorities – black, Hispan and Asian as well as minorities as a whole – are overrepresented compared to their share in the population among hate criminal victims. While a lot of attention has focused on anti-black hate crimes, our research shows that Hispanics and Asians are also exposed to significant and persistent racist violence.

Figure 1 – Hass crimes against all minorities, black, Hispanic and Asian populations

Minority representation with the police can help reduce hate crimes

So does it help to have more officers from every group to alleviate these differences from reduced hate crimes or increased reporting? Our results indicate that you do this – but the effect varies depending on the group and community context. We find that a higher percentage of black and Asian officers in protection services is associated with a reduction in the differences for the victims for their communities. However, the effect is not statistically significant for Hispanic officers.

photo from Fred Moon To Unplash

It is important that these effects depend on the racist context of the community – especially how large the minority population is in a certain responsibility. Figure 2 shows that the advantages of black officers, measured by the percentage of black officers, decreases with increasing black population. In areas where black communities are smaller, an increase in black officers significantly reduces the differences between the black victims. As soon as the black population exceeds the 75th percentile, plan or even conversely these effects.

Figure 2 – average marginal effects of Representation of the black officer and black population in sacrificial differences

We also examined differences in the identification of criminals and calculated an index based on the proportion of white criminals compared to their share in the population. Here the representation of the minority representative had a minimal effect. This indicates that minority officials are more of a influence on how crimes are reported and examined – especially for victims – but less likely to behave or identify criminals.

Representation and marking of hate crimes

Our study also examines whether representation influences the willingness of the victims to mark their experiences as hate crimes. Our results are also mixed here. Higher proportions of Hispanic and Asian officers increase the likelihood that the victims of these communities perceive and report their experiences as hate crimes. Interestingly, however, the effect for African American victims is missing. This can reflect a deeper distrust and the limit of the symbolic representation: If cynicism and fear of revival are high, black citizens can consider black officers as “traitors” or agents of a system that they do not protect them.

In addition to the representations of the minority officer, differences in hate crimes are significantly associated with socio -economic factors such as poverty, crime rates and household income. While racially motivated crimes are often located in broader political and ideological conflicts, our analysis notes that political variables – such as the state's partisanity in the office of legislature and the governor and as an election competition – only have a limited effects on differences in hate criminal offices.

The importance of reporting and representation

Earlier efforts have focused on top -class misconduct by the police and the excessive use of violence, but it is important to look at a more subtle but equally important form of bureaucratic failure: ham. If civil servants undermine, report or ignore hate criminal incidents, the agency is involved in racist violence – not through measures, but through inaction. This bureaucratic failure undermines trust in institutions, shapes how citizens can perceive both hate crimes and the reaction of the police and increase the likelihood of victimization and under -reporting.

Our results show that representation within protection services such as the police can be a sensible reform, although their effectiveness between the racial groups and the demographic composition of the community varies. It is important to ensure the diversity and representation of the workforce for every racist and ethnic group.