Race and Policing in America

"This book touches on all the hot buttons of police-minority relations in America: unwarranted stops, verbal abuse, brutality and police corruption. Racial profiling is just one part of a larger story the authors frame as “racialized policing.” They explain how neighborhood conditions, citizens' experiences with cops and the media have helped create two societies, one safely confident in the powers and competence of the police and another that sees police as one of the problems they must confront, and not a solution to them. They report what people of all backgrounds want done to address the deep division over policing: On many issues Hispanics and African-Americans stand arm-in-arm in their commitment to change on a broad front, while the comfortable majority is reluctant to go beyond the rhetoric and embrace meaningful reform of the police. Drawing on national data that represent the nation's largest immigrant group, this is the best book yet on public opinion about the police." - Wesley G. Skogan, Northwestern University
"Race and Policing is a tremendous contribution to our understanding of race and policing. Weitzer and Tuch sort out the complexities of this extremely important subject and help explain how race and ethnicity affect attitudes toward the police. One of the most important contributions of this book is the inclusion of Hispanic Americans. We now have a far more complete picture of race and ethnicity and policing. The authors' discussion of police reforms is very valuable. They give us an extremely useful analysis of what kinds of reforms people want." - Samuel Walker, University of Nebraska at Omaha
"An excellent analysis of contrasts and similarities in current white, black and Latino views of police actions." - Choice
"Race and Policing in America is an excellent summary of Americans' opinions, suggesting that racially biased profiling is not only wrong but is still alive, despite that presidential directive." - Freddy A. Paniagua, PsycCritiques
"Though this book is not the first to conclude that race matters in policing, this research offers a comprehensive and thorough examination of race and policing in America, which is matched by no other book currently on the bookshelves. The book is easy to read and engaging, even though it offers sophisticated empirical analysis at times, which makes it a good choice for any undergraduate and/or graduate reading list in courses on racial stratification, criminology, and criminal justice. This work will likely inspire future research on public perceptions of racial profiling as well." - Karen F. Parker, Criminal Justice Review
"...Race and Policing in America is a significant work and it does contribute well to the literature on policing and race. It is clearly the best book published on public opinion about the police." - Contemporary Sociology