Racial bias in the decision to shoot

Researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder and California State University at Northridge in May reviewed a decade of empirical evidence about cops and implicit bias. They found police officers seem to possess implicit bias that might make them more likely to shoot black suspects than white ones. But this bias can be controlled through proper training, and police officers appear to perform better — meaning, they show less implicit bias — than participants from the general public.

Full article in Vox.

9 Responses

  1. Communication is an effective way of tackling prejudices as it addresses people’s mindset that nurtures such sentiments. Indeed professional training of public services should underwrite this communication objective as a core component.

  2. (As always) there is a great This American Life episode about this exactly, with information on the basic research and its application in training.