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19 J. Ethnicity Crim. Just. 1 (2021)

handle is hein.journals/wecj19 and id is 1 raw text is: JOURNAL OF ETHNICITY IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE 2021, VOL. 19, NO. 1, 1-24 Routledge https://doi.org/10.1080/15377938.2020.1842281 Taylor&Francis Group Effects of officer perception of race and racial tensions on support for body-worn-cameras Melissa Powell-Williams, Todd Powell-Williams, and H. David Hunt Department of Social Sciences, Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, USA ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY While the U.S. criminal justice system has a long history of Received 27 February 2020 racial injustice, the use of body-worn-cameras (BWCs) has Revised 21 October 2020 changed the discourse on racial bias and police accountability. Accepted 22 October 2020 To date, the growing research on BWCs has yet to address the racial tensions that underly contentious interactions Body-worn cameras; between police and citizenry. Using survey and interview data policing; racial bias; police this research evaluates: (1) whether officer race influences per- accountability; surveillance ceptions of race/racism and support for BWCs; (2) whether officer perceptions of race/racism influence support for BWCs; (3) how officers perceive racial conflict within their commun- ities; and (4) how these perceptions shape their views of the efficacy of BWCs as a means to reduce racial conflict. By tack- ling these important questions, this research provides the necessary context to enrich our exploration of the implications of BWCs within the broader discourse and research on race relations in policing. Though the U.S. criminal justice system has experienced a long history of racial disparities and injustice-as well as mobilized collective responses to these inequities-the increased use of body-worn cameras (BWCs) has altered the nation's discourse regarding racial bias and police accountabil- ity. One rationale for the considerable rise in the use of BWCs is their potential to reduce racial bias in law enforcement and weaken friction between law enforcement and minority communities (Jennings, Lynch, & Fridell, 2015). Calls for increased oversight have come in the wake of high profile incidents of police deployment of deadly force against unarmed or lawfully armed African Americans such as Eric Garner (July 2014), Laquan McDonald (October 2014), Tamir Rice, (November 2014), Walter Scott (April 2015), Philando Castille (July 2016) and the subsequent public release of video recordings from BWCs, dashcams, eyewitnesses, and acti- vists. The recorded killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May of 2020 served as a final flashpoint in a larger series of unjust racialized killings- CONTACT Melissa Powell-Williams mpwilliams@augusta.edu Department of Social Sciences, Augusta University, 1102 15th Street, Augusta, GA 3094. C 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

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