Police Exposures and the Health and Well-being of Black Youth in the US

Abstract

This systematic review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) reporting guideline. 16 We examined studies that explored the association between police exposures and health outcomes for Black youth 26 years and younger. Literature Search StrategyWe searched the following databases on December 19, 2020: PubMed, Embase, Criminal Justice Abstracts, PsycInfo, and Web of Science (eFigure 1 in the Supplement). Search terms were developed by one of us (M.J.) with the assistance of a medical librarian and encompassed the following concepts: (1) police, (2) Black, and (3) health outcomes (eFigure 1 in the Supplement). Study Selection and Data ExtractionFollowing removal of duplicates, 2 independent reviewers (M.J. and A.M.) performed title, abstract, and full-text screening as well as data extraction using Covidence software (Veritas Health Innovation). Included studies were peer-reviewed original research (quantitative or qualitative) conducted in the US and published between 1980, when community policing became prevalent, and December 2020. The study population was Black youth. Studies were included if participants 26 years and younger and 50% or more of the study population included Black participants or if there was a subgroup analysis of Black participants (ie, race stratification, with race as a modifier variable). For studies with less than 50% Black participants and race as a covariate, authors were contacted to request subgroup analyses. If subgroup analyses were not available, the study was excluded. Additionally, Hispanic/Latinx ethnic subgroups were excluded if Black race was not indicated.

Adding Insult to Injury: Arrests Reduce Attendance through Institutional Mechanisms

“…Yet we find no evidence for effects on unexcused absences and limited evidence for effects on medical absences. Our findings, of course, should not be taken to imply that arrest has no negative influence on students at an individual level; such effects have been well documented elsewhere (Brame et al 2014;Jindal et al 2022). Like Kirk and Sampson (2013), however, we find little support for the hypothesis that student-centric effects drive relationships with educational outcomes.…”

“…Police contact and arrest may also negatively affect physical and mental health (Alang et al 2017; DeVylder et al 2017; Geller 2021; Geller et al 2014; Jindal et al 2022; McFarland, Geller, and McFarland 2019; Sewell and Jefferson 2016), which may contribute to absences due to illness. Identity-based stigma may compound the health consequences students experience if they believe they were targeted because of their race or other aspects of their identity (Hatzenbuehler, Phelan, and Link 2013), increasing their likelihood of missing school.…”

The Color of Child Protection in America: Antiracism & Abolition in Child Mental Health

“…All-white clinical teams bear particular responsibility for the noxious harms they perpetrate when reporting non-white families. 59,60 Reporting as an option of convenience or instrument of racial coercion when parents do not "obey" is an act of medical brutality that should constitute malpractice (Case A). 12 Healthcare providers operating in a white supremacist society, however, are unlikely to face repercussions, likely assuming that reporting is protecting children from harm.…”

“…39 The schoolhouse offers children of the global majority no sanctuary, inflaming neurons burned by the traumas of being policed in their communities while inspiring fear and alienation (Image 4). 60,72 The white assimilative ghost of the American Indian Boarding School era haunts the next generation of BIPOC children through whitewashed curricular content romanticizing the white supremacist nation-building project while gaslighting away its devastation of their communities. 73 English-only and school dress code policies and unlawful policing of Black children's hairstyles, scream the same white civilizing agenda.…”

“…A recent systematic review examining 40 years of research found that police stops, even those providing assistance, result in poor mental health, substance use, and impaired safety for Black children, especially boys. 60 In addition to being criminogenic, policing and incarceration traumatize children, leading to premature death including by suicide. 59 The juvenile justice system does not make people safe.…”