Survey Shows Widespread Racial Disparities in All Forms of Discrimination and Mistreatment

A timely study led by researchers at the Research Group on Equity in Health, Wealth and Civic Engagement at Tufts University in Massachusetts shows a widespread racial disparity in self-reported mistreatment by police officers.

More than two thirds of African Americans say they know someone who has been unfairly stopped, searched, questioned, physically threatened or abused by the police, and 43 percent say they personally have had this experience. Some 22 percent of African Americans report that they have been mistreated by police in the past year alone.

In contrast, 42 percent of Latinos and 27 percent of Whites also say they know someone who was unfairly stopped by police, with 23 percent of Latinos and 13 percent of Whites reporting that they personally have had these experiences.

The nationally representative survey of adults also looked at other forms of discrimination and found that, in all types except one, higher percentages of African Americans report being subjected to discrimination than other groups. For example, 28 percent of African Americans sometimes or frequently feel that other people are afraid of them. By contrast, only 6 percent of Whites also have that sense. The proportions of people who say they have never experienced any of these forms of discrimination varies from 11 percent of African Americans to 27 percent of Whites.

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2 COMMENTS

  1. Thanks for sharing this information. Is there a link to access the survey results or any details about the methodology used? This topic aligns with some of my research interests and I’d enjoy the opportunity to dig in further to the findings.

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