Over-Policing Black Bodies

Book excerpt: The 2020 deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor rekindled decades old concerns about the legitimacy of policing. They ignited the international recognition that Black people are subjected to forms of police violence that exceed the boundaries of formal law and human decency. This book confirms that the Floyd and Taylor cases are not isolated incidents and provides suggestions toward prevention. The contributors to the book have served on both sides of the criminal legal system. They have been those who were tasked with enforcing the law and those who have been subject to law enforcement. Consequently, they are able to identify specific failures of a system that focuses on race, specifically Blackness, as a primary indicator of criminal propensity. Through these chapters, the authors suggest academically, morally and practically sound corrective measures for moving toward a goal of equal, rather than discriminatory and excessively harmful, treatment under the law. This book will be of interest to researchers and advanced students of Criminology, Race and Ethnic Studies, Politics, Human Rights, and Political Sociology. It was originally published as a special issue in the Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice.