Police violence is judged differently depending on who is affected. When people with an immigrant background are targeted, abusive police actions are perceived as less serious. This is the conclusion of a new international study.

In recent years, there have repeatedly been cases in both the United States and Europe in which police officers used disproportionate physical force against individuals without sufficient justification based on an actual threat. Two researchers from the University of Zurich (UZH) and Aalborg University in Denmark have now examined such cases of police violence.

In a representative opinion poll in Germany, they asked participants how they assessed the severity of police violence against different individuals. Participants were presented with identical descriptions of one case. The only element that varied at random was the name of the person affected: for one half, the victim was named Mohamad Ahmed; for the other, Thomas Schneider.

Same information, different assessment
The findings show that, on average, police violence was seen as less serious when it was directed against a person named Mohamad Ahmed. Overall, respondents tended to judge the same information about police abuse less severely when it concerned people with an immigrant background. “This tendency may help explain why harsh deportation practices in Europe or the use of force by ICE officers in the United States are viewed comparatively mildly by parts of the public,” says Christoph Steinert, postdoc at the Department of Political Science at UZH, who conducted the study.

Assessments change when new evidence emerges
The study also examined whether, and how, assessments of the severity of police violence changed when participants were confronted with additional evidence. Respondents who identified more strongly with the political left initially rated police violence as more serious when the victim had an immigrant background and the evidence was limited. Respondents with a right-leaning political orientation, by contrast, rated the violence as more serious when the person affected did not have an immigrant background.

Participants then received additional information about video footage of the incidents that clearly indicated disproportionate use of force by police officers. Many subsequently adjusted their original assessments in light of the new information. Among respondents on the political left and in the center, the immigrant background of the person affected ultimately no longer played a role in their assessment of the incident once the evidence was clear.

Strong bias even in the face of new information
Participants on the political right, however, continued to rate the severity of police violence systematically lower even when the evidence was clear, if the attack was directed against a person with an immigrant background. This result points to a strong bias in this group that appears to be only minimally affected by new information.

The difference in public perception described in the study can also be observed in the United States. “In the case of the violent excesses of ICE officers, substantial differences of opinion in the assessment of state violence persisted even after video footage of the controversial operations was released,” Steinert summarizes.