Officer-Involved Homicides of Unarmed Black Males: Perceptions of the African American Community

Officer-involved homicides of unarmed black males have gained increasing publicity in recent years. However, there has been no research regarding how officer-involved homicides of unarmed black males have impacted members of the African American community’s perceptions of police. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to examine how members of the African American community’s perceptions of police have been impacted as a result of the officer-involved homicides of unarmed black males. Three members of the African American community were interviewed for this study. The interviews were guided by open-ended questions in a semi-structured format. After transcribing and coding the interviews, the themes that emerged from the data included lack of accountability, the role of media, unequal treatment between races, black lives do not matter, perceptions of police, and improvements for policeminority relations. The researcher provided a discussion of the findings and the correlation of findings with existing research. Strengths and limitations and implications for future research are also discussed