Citation

Wilson BL, Wooten NR, Pitner RO. Soc. Work 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, National Association of Social Workers)

DOI

10.1093/sw/swac049

PMID

36346331

Abstract

An alarming number of unarmed Black men and women have been killed by police in the United States. Though research suggests that police violence is not a new phenomenon in Black communities in the United States, several shocking high-profile incidents of unarmed Black people killed by police in recent years have catapulted this problem more sharply into our nation's consciousness. Despite recent efforts to engage in critical discourse about police violence against unarmed Black people in mainstream media and across multiple disciplines, limited research exists on the connection between historical and contemporary acts of police violence in Black communities. This article conducts a critical analysis of the extant literature on historical and contemporary policing in the Black community and identifies linkages between these time periods using critical race theory. This article concludes with implications for social work to combat the issue of police violence in Black communities.

Language: en

Keywords

United States; Black communities; critical race theory; police violence; social work