The minority population / police strength relationship: exploring past research

Abstract

The relationship between minority populations and police force strength has been tested on several different levels of analysis, including that of suburb, city, county, Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area, state and the nation as a whole. Unfortunately, since many of these studies are spread across criminological, sociological and economic journals, the majority of them have never been brought together and compared in a single literature review. The present study responds to this concern and provides an extensive review and critique of studies testing the minority population / police strength relationship. Specifically, this study reviews the measurement of key variables used, as well as the deficiencies that exist in the literature as a whole. This study also serves as a call for new research in this critical area.