“the Police—That's My Number One Fear in Life”: Police As Perpetrators of Violence and Trauma in the Lives of Young Black Men

Background and Purpose: Historically, relationships between local police departments and communities of color have been strained, particularly for Black boys and men living in economically-disadvantaged and urban contexts. Recent, highly publicized cases of police brutality have been documented across the nation including the deaths of Freddie Gray (Baltimore, MD), Walter Scott (North Charleston, SC), Tamir Rice (Cleveland, OH), Michael Brown (Ferguson, MS), and Eric Garner (Long Island, NY). Although previous research has examined how implicit bias facilitates disproportionate minority contact, less is know about how police encounters impact the health and well-being of young Black men.

Our paper addresses this gap by examining the narratives of 40 young Black men (18–24) in Baltimore, with the goal of exploring the following: 1) How do young Black men describe their interactions with the police? 2) What are the physical and psychological consequences of interactions with police for young Black men? Participant narratives provide key insights concerning the prevalence and consequences of police encounters for young Black men as they transition to adulthood.

 

Methods: This study used qualitative methods to understand how interactions with the police shape the health and well-being of young Black men in urban contexts. Specifically, ethnographic methods (e.g. participant-observation and field notes) and in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted over the course of 18 months with 40 young Black men (18 – 24) recruited from a GED and Job Readiness Training program. A modified grounded theory approach guided data collection and analyses. Interviews lasted on average two hours, were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and were managed, coded, and queried in Atlas.ti and Excel. Participants were assigned pseudonyms and were given a $20 incentive.

 

Results: Across interviews, young Black men predominantly described their encounters with the police as negative and injurious. As Antwon (18 years old) described, “They supposed to be for the good, but they destroy more than they protect.” Random police stops started as early as age 12, with the majority of encounters reported between the ages of 18 – 21. Three themes emerged from young men’s narratives that describe a continuum of assaults experienced during participant encounters with Baltimore City police: 1) harassment/humiliation; 2) physical harm/abuse; and 3) homicide by police. Over 10% of participants in this study disclosed knowing someone who had been killed by the police. Although three participants acknowledged how police presence in their Baltimore neighborhoods was beneficial, the overwhelming majority of participants feared the daily and deadly potential of police encounters, with Wayne (19 years old) describing the police as “my number one fear in life.”

Conclusions and Implications: Study findings identify negative police encounters as frequent and traumatic experiences that young Black men living in urban contexts must negotiate as they transition to adulthood. Baltimore City police were experienced as perpetrators of violence and trauma, not protectors. These encounters produced physical injury, psychological harm, traumatic loss and grief, and fear that social workers, programmers, and policy makers must address in supporting the mental health, healing, and success of Black men in urban contexts.