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Haile R, Rowell-Cunsolo T, Hyacinthe MF, Alang S. "We (still) charge genocide": A systematic review and synthesis of the direct and indirect health consequences of police violence in the United States. Soc Sci Med 2023; 322:115784. [PMID: 36863215 DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115784] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2022] [Revised: 02/08/2023] [Accepted: 02/14/2023] [Indexed: 02/18/2023]
Abstract
Building on historical and contemporary efforts to eliminate police and other forms of state violence, and on the understanding that police violence is a social determinant of health, we conducted a systematic review in which we synthesize the existing literature around 1) racial disparities in police violence; 2) health impacts of direct exposure to police violence; and 3) health impacts of indirect exposure to police violence. We screened 336 studies and excluded 246, due to not meeting our inclusion criteria. Forty-eight additional studies were excluded during the full text review, resulting in a study sample size of 42 studies. Our review showed that Black people in the US are far more likely than white people to experience a range of forms of police violence: from fatal and nonfatal shootings, to assault and psychological violence. Exposure to police violence increases risk of multiple adverse health outcomes. Moreover, police violence may operate as a vicarious and ecological exposure, producing consequences beyond those directly assaulted. In order to successfully eliminate police violence, scholars must work in alignment with social justice movements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rahwa Haile
- SUNY Old Westbury, Department of Public Health, Old Westbury, NY, USA.
| | | | | | - Sirry Alang
- University of Pittsburgh, Department of Health and Human Development, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
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Freedman AA, Papachristos AV, Smart BP, Keenan-Devlin LS, Khan SS, Borders A, Kershaw KN, Miller GE. Complaints about excessive use of police force in women's neighborhoods and subsequent perinatal and cardiovascular health. Sci Adv 2022; 8:eabl5417. [PMID: 35044830 PMCID: PMC8769548 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abl5417] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2021] [Accepted: 11/19/2021] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
There are substantial, unexplained racial disparities in women’s health. Some of the most pronounced involve elevated rates of preterm delivery (PTD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) among Black women. We hypothesized that stress associated with excessive use of force by police may contribute to these disparities. In two prospective cohorts derived from electronic health records (pregnancy cohort, N = 67,976; CVD cohort, N = 6773), we linked formal complaints of excessive police force in patients’ neighborhoods with health outcomes. Exposed Black women were 1.19 times as likely to experience PTD [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.04 to 1.35] and 1.42 times as likely to develop CVD (95% CI: 1.12 to 1.79), even after adjustment for neighborhood disadvantage and homicide. The excess risks of PTD were also observed in maternal fixed-effects analyses comparing births to the same woman. These findings suggest police violence may be an unrecognized contributor to health inequity for Black women.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexa A. Freedman
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, NorthShore University HealthSystem, Evanston, IL, USA
- Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Andrew V. Papachristos
- Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
- Department of Sociology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Britney P. Smart
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, NorthShore University HealthSystem, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Lauren S. Keenan-Devlin
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, NorthShore University HealthSystem, Evanston, IL, USA
- Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Sadiya S. Khan
- Department of Preventive Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA
- Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Ann Borders
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, NorthShore University HealthSystem, Evanston, IL, USA
- Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
- Department of Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA
- Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Kiarri N. Kershaw
- Department of Preventive Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Gregory E. Miller
- Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
- Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
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