Police-perpetrated racism and health in African American and Black communities

Abstract

This brief review article focuses on police-perpetrated racism against African American and Black (AAB) communities, typically in the form of police brutality, police violence, and aggressive policing. We assert that police-perpetrated racism constitutes a racial justice and public health problem. A growing body of literature supports this assertion, with the consequences and correlates of direct police contact, vicarious police contact, and place-based exposure to aggressive policing including mental health (e.g., anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, trauma) and physical health (e.g., poorer self-rated health, hypertension) sequelae. We assert that eradicating police-perpetrated racism requires acknowledgement of the historical landscape of policing as well as the ways in which police-perpetrated racism maintains racial hierarchies. We conclude by making recommendations for promoting racial equity in policing.