Mandatory gun-questions prime callers to report weapons against Black subjects.

Evidence

Importantly, in the case of police emergencies, the dispatcher also has to ask whether a gun is involved (Summit County Communications, n.d.). This question might open up more opportunity for bias by prompting the caller to think about the presence of a weapon when they otherwise would not. Studies have shown that, in deciding whether an ambiguous object is a gun, individuals are more likely to perceive the object as a gun when the person holding it is Black compared to when they are White (Eberhardt, Goff, Purdie, & Davies, 2004). — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 286

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

• QUESTION: Worth chasing: is there direct data on whether the scripted gun question disproportionately shapes 911 caller reports by race of the described subject?

Related

• Asking callers whether a gun is involved primes weapon perception (similarity 0.91)