Ethnic and Racial Minorities and the Police: A Review of the Literature

The purpose of this literature review, which is primarily based on British research (although an abundance of international data is provided), is to look at the available research on the issues relating to ethnic and racial minorities, and the police, and to provide an overview of what is really known about them. The review starts with the practice of ‘stop and search’ and continues with arrests, cautions, bail/pre-trial detention before moving on to the police response to the victimisation of minorities, the victimisation of minorities by the police, and the situation with minorities as employees in the police.