There are racial differences in treatment by police. As the percent minority increases within a jurisdiction, racial threat effects cause more intense policing against Blacks and Latinx. In response, racial and ethnic minorities use the political process to increase own-group representation and better treatment by police. Police respond to Black protests against abuse of authority with more aggressive policing. There are backlash (more shootings) and diversity (fewer shootings) effects by police in response to affirmative action lawsuits forcing the agency to hire more ethnic and racial minority police. Abuse of force increases when: an officer’s peer has been injured on the job, officers know the race of a civilian prior to interaction, White officers interact with Black citizens, and White officers are dispatched to a Black neighborhood. Police abuse of force has negative academic and behavioral effects on Black and Latinx youth. Mass incarceration has deleterious effects on Black families: reducing the probabilities of marriage and attending college and increasing racial inequality and the probability a child is born to an unmarried mother. Hate crimes are instrumental actions, increasing with racial economic competition. Increases in hate crimes increase racialization among the targeted social group.

This chapter challenges legislative and judicial efforts to immunize police officers from all but the most outrageous misconduct by finding “objectively reasonable” virtually all uses of force by officers and providing “qualified immunity” in the rare instance when the use of force is deemed excessive. This failure to provide any sort of check or deterrent against the use of force by armed, implicitly biased officers improperly strengthens the weapon in weaponized racial fear and further empowers bias-motivated individuals to act on their biases.