25th Annual Constance E. Clayton Lecture Series

The 25th Annual Constance E. Clayton Lecture Series presents:

The Overpolicing of Black Boys and Men: Reimagining Solutions to Collateral Consequences

One in every 1,000 Black men can expect to be killed by police. Black teenagers are 21 times more likely than white teenagers to be killed by police. Research further documents how the overpolicing of Black students in schools reduces educational attainment and well-being. The “illness spillovers of police violence” shows that aggressive policing debilitates health, and that police contact increases symptoms of trauma, anxiety, and psychological distress, and even worsens self-assessed health. Rashawn Ray, Ph.D., documents how existing solutions to address police brutality, such as body-worn cameras and implicit bias trainings, fall short of dealing with bad apples and the broader organizational structure of policing. Using quantitative, qualitative, and archival data, Ray shows how liability insurance, community oversight boards, and mental health co-responder programs are solutions to reduce police brutality, increase accountability, and decrease the financial burden that taxpayers incur for payouts for police misconduct.

Rashawn Ray is an AIR vice president and the executive director of the AIR Equity Initiative, which is a $100M+ investment in behavioral and social science research and technical assistance to address segregation by race and place. As a professor at the University of Maryland and senior fellow at The Brookings Institution, Ray’s research addresses the mechanisms that manufacture and maintain racial and social inequity.

This lecture is free to the public and young people are especially invited to attend and ask questions. RSVP is not required.