Police in the rearview mirror: Social marginalization, trauma, and fear of being killed.

Abstract

An online sample of 528 people was asked to respond to a hypothetical scenario: If a police car came up right behind you with its lights flashing, how much would you worry that you would be killed? Participants also reported on whether they experienced aggressive behavior by police in the past (provoked or otherwise) and, if so, completed a measure of associated posttraumatic stress. At least some fear of being killed by police (FKP) in the rearview mirror scenario was reported by the majority (56%) of Black participants, 39% of those self-describing as "other or mixed" race, and 31% of Hispanic participants, as compared to 26% of those of Asian descent and 19% of those identifying as White. When the highest level of FKP was considered, Black participants were 12 times more likely than White participants to report "extreme" fear of death at the hands of police. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and more participants were also more likely than cisgender/heterosexual respondents to report both FKP (35% vs. 20%) and "extreme" FKP (8% vs. 3%). FKP was also more prevalent among those self-reporting unprovoked police aggression in the past and those for whom police aggression had led to posttraumatic stress disorder. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).