Mixed-methods community research uncovers widespread trauma from police sexual violence, highlighting survivor-led visions of collective healing.
Key Points
Investigate police sexual violence outside carceral facilities using community-based participatory research to expand theoretical understandings of state violence and survivor-led justice.
Conducted a five-year mixed-method community-based participatory action research study in New York City partnered with a coalition of 200 community organizations.
Collected qualitative and quantitative data via two virtual town halls, a citywide survey (N=3,778), and in-depth interviews with survivors (N=37).
Redefined police sexual violence along an expansive continuum including legally sanctioned, everyday policing behaviors representing abuses of state power.
Documented cumulative psychosocial, physical, and economic harms across communities, conceptualizing police sexual violence as state betrayal and collective terror.
Demonstrated that survivors reject purely retributive punishment, conceptualizing justice through relational, embodied, and structural models of collective healing.
Cite This Study
Priscilla Bustamante (2026) studied this question.