From Scoping Review to Conceptual Model: Defining Police Brutality through an Intersectional Lens

Overview: Existing literature regarding police brutality focuses on its aggressive nature and impact on African American men. A scoping review of police brutality led to this research exploring gaps in existing literature. One gap led to developing a conceptual model of how police brutality impacts women of color, specifically black women.Proposal text: Police brutality in the United States continues to be of national attention and concern (Moore et al., 2018; Aziz, 2021). In addition, the emergence of the Black Lives Matters movement has increased the urgency to reform and or defund police departments (Williamson, Trump, & Einstein, 2018). As self-described agents of change, social workers have been brought into the conversation to offer intervention and assessment (Associated Press, 2021).
To further investigate the issue and the interrelation of social work, this researcher conducted a scoping review. The question of research during this scoping review was, how does social work literature capture police brutality? Through thematic analysis, themes and gaps of the literature developed. For example, a significant gap identified how gender and racial bias might impact how police brutality is executed. Due to this finding, a conceptual model was developed to explain and examine intersectionality.
The objectives were to explore what scholarly peer-reviewed social science literature says about the social issue of police brutality, identify significant gaps, and create a conceptual framework to address at least one of the gaps identified (black women).
The methods involved utilizing Arskey & O'Malleys' (2005) scoping review, reviewing records identified through the Galileo Social Services abstract database, consultations with an Informational Specialist, and a thematic analysis of literature identified.
The results indicated that of the literature reviewed, violent police brutality against African American men dominated what is defined considered police brutality. There existed a gap of significant literature examining how other marginalized groups such as women, the LGBTQ community, the disabled (mentally physically ill) were impacted by police brutality. The literature investigating police brutality against women showed that these interactions were verbally and sexually aggressive rather than overt violence.
As it related to women and specifically black women, this gap in literature led the researcher to consider a conceptual model that examines the definition of police brutality through a gender and race lens. This perspective could expand the meaning of police brutality and include an often-overlooked population when discussing police brutality, black women. In addition, this model would investigate how women may be impacted in different ways, requiring additional intervention and research.