Session
The Intersection of Race and the Incarceral System
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
Abstract
Sport in juvenile correctional facilities in the United States: a key informant study on implementation
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
Background: The United States (US) incarcerates more youth than any other industrialized nation, and young men of color are disproportionately represented within the juvenile justice system. Incarceration is related to social determinants of health in complex ways, and health inequities have been well-documented among justice-involved youth. In response to poor health and social outcomes, sport programs, with inherent linkages to positive youth development (PYD), have been identified as a promising strategy with incarcerated youth. While there is growing international evidence related to sport and incarceration, little is known about this in the US. Objectives: This study was a part of a larger explanatory sequential mixed-methods study in which a national survey was initially used to describe the landscape of sport programs in long-term, secure juvenile correctional facilities in the US. Our objective with this qualitative study was to better understand program implementation in a sample of facilities currently offering sport programs and identify opportunities for advancing equity among justice-involved youth. Methods: We conducted 15 in-depth interviews with key informants at exemplar facilities between December 2020 and January 2021. Key informants held administrative or recreation positions within their facility and/or the state’s division of juvenile justice that oversaw the facility. Exemplar facilities were those that reported operating programs in close alignment with PYD constructs. Interviews were conducted using Zoom Video Conferencing software, recorded, transcribed and analyzed using a combination of inductive and deductive approaches. The interview guide and coding strategy were both informed by a conceptual framework that incorporated PYD, the socio-ecological model, and implementation science. Results: Key informants describe implementation of sport in juvenile facilities as being largely driven by facility-level characteristics and safety concerns within the correctional environment, compatibility and adaptability of sport within facilities, and PYD features. While community-level factors were influential, they were not found to be critical to program implementation. Notably absent was the role of state or federal policy as a facilitator of program implementation. Conclusions: Consistent with our conceptual framework, we found important relationships between sport programs, facilities, and the broader correctional system. The absence of public policy in implementation highlights a meaningful gap and may help explain why so few facilities operate programs. Public Health Implications: Increased advocacy and policy development around sport in the juvenile justice system is warranted to support the institutionalization of programs in facilities and realize the potential benefits of such programming for health equity among incarcerated youth.
Abstract
Structural Racism and COVID-19: Exploring the Health Beliefs and Behaviors of Black Adults in Reentry
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
Background: As of April 28, 2022, there have been 582,968 COVID-19 infections and 2,877 deaths among people who are incarcerated in jail and prison settings. Insufficient efforts to control and contain COVID-19 in carceral systems pose a public health crisis for Black communities because many people are released everyday and Black people bear the burden of mass incarceration and COVID-19 due to structural racism. However, little is known about the COVID-19 beliefs of Black people in reentry and why they opt-in or out of testing and vaccinations. With Intersectionality and the Health Belief Model (HBM) as guides, this paper explores how structural racism influences the COVID-19 beliefs and preventative health behaviors of Black people in reentry.
Methods: Interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) served as the research design because it focuses on describing the meanings people ascribe to their lived experiences and how these meanings influence their decisions. Using purposeful sampling, 12 interviews and one focus group (n=4) were conducted with people who identified as Black, aged 18+, released from jail or prison following March 2020, and offered a COVID-19 test and vaccine upon release. A semi-structured guide was used to explore participants' reentry and COVID-19 experiences and perceptions. Interviews were conducted in a private room at a community reentry program and virtually via Zoom. IPA and the HBM were used to analyze and interpret the data, and several trustworthiness strategies were employed.
Results: Participants perceived being incarcerated and returning to socially and economically marginalized Black communities to make them more susceptible to COVID-19 because they were in close proximity to highly vulnerable individuals, witnessed multiple deaths, and had limited access to prevention strategies. Awareness of racial disparities in COVID-19 deaths and the mistreatment of Blacks by healthcare professionals and researchers often led participants to mistrust COVID-19 vaccines, posing a barrier to uptake. Despite this mistrust, participants expressed confidence in their ability to engage in COVID-19 testing and vaccines, and were commonly vaccinated to protect their Black family members and friends.
Conclusions: Relational strategies are likely important to increasing uptake in COVID-19 health promotion and prevention strategies among Black people in reentry. Residential segregation, mass incarceration, and barriers to healthcare access and treatment are manifestations of structural racism that curtail the acceptance and uptake of COVID-19 preventative health strategies among Black people in reentry. Addressing these obstacles is critical to reducing racial and ethnic health disparities related to COVID-19 infection and death.
Abstract
Body-worn camera use and policies among a national sample of law enforcement agencies
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
Background. Use of body-worn cameras by law enforcement officers has become increasingly prevalent but there is limited research on how and when they are used or whether their use can improve relationships between law enforcement officers and the public, in general and with people of color specifically.
Objectives. We aimed to determine the prevalence of body-worn cameras use among law enforcement agencies in the U.S., the agency-level policies regulating their use, as well as how agency/jurisdictions characteristics are associated with use and policies.
Methods. We conducted a survey of a national U.S. sample of law enforcement agencies (n=1027) in 2019. We assessed prevalence of body-worn camera use and the type of agency-level policies regulating when cameras must be used. Using regression models we assessed how agency characteristics (e.g., size, type) and jurisdiction characteristics (e.g., racial make-up) were associated with body-worn camera use and agency-level policies.
Results. We found that 57% of the agencies reported using body-worn cameras. Agencies in jurisdictions with greater proportions of black and Hispanic residents and of residents living in poverty were more likely to use body-worn cameras (p<0.05). Agency characteristics were not associated with body camera use. Polices regarding body camera use varied across agencies. The most common type of policy required cameras to be used for all public interactions (38% of agencies). Other policies required cameras to be used for all calls to service (11%), for entire shift (13%), at officers’ discretion (11%), or for other specific circumstances/activities (26%; 4% of agencies had no policy). Agencies that had more compulsory policies for when cameras must be used were more likely to have a higher proportion of black residents in their jurisdictions (p<0.05).
Conclusions. We found that just over half of agencies reported use of body-warn cameras and most of these had relatively strong policies for when cameras must be used (e.g., all public interactions). Camera use and more compulsory policies were more common in jurisdictions with more black residents. More information will be presented on how agencies use camera footage agencies.
Public Health Implications. Body-worn camera use is not universal and policies for when their use is required vary across agencies. Although more research is needed on how body-worn cameras can be beneficial for public health, more uniform and equitable use and policies could improve the probability that cameras are used to improve relationships and build trust between officers and the public, especially black persons.
Abstract
Racial Slurs used by Police and Post-Traumatic Stress Symptomology: Examining the Role of Perceived Injustice
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
Background: The public health impacts of policing has gained traction in the aftermath of high profile police killings of unarmed black men. Greater investigation is needed into the impact that everyday police encounters have on health. We evaluate whether the use of racial slurs during police stops are related to police-initiated symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among racial minorities. The study also examines the extent this association is explained by perceptions of procedural injustice.
Methods: We analyze data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N=777). This includes teen self-reports of whether the youth were stopped by the police and the characteristics of that stop. We estimate linear regression models after weighting the model based on the propensity to be stopped by the police.
Results: Our results show: 1. Minority youth stopped by police report the use of racial slurs 9% of the time. 2. Use of racial slurs by police are positively associated with PTSD symptoms. 3. Use of a racial slurs are more strongly related to PTSD symptoms than other characteristics of the stop including being searched, threat of force, use of force, or being handcuffed. Finally, perceptions of procedural injustice explain the association between the use of racial slurs and PTSD symptoms.
Conclusions: These findings suggests that the use of racial slurs by police is an important source of procedural injustice. Our results underscore the importance of racially motivated injustice carried out by police and the harm it’s doing to today’s urban youth.