State Violence,Black Lives,and Environmental Justice

INTRODUCTION

The environmental justice movement, which arose in the late 1970s, has in many ways been quite revolutionary, boldly challenging, and greatly expanding the horizons of environmental scholarship and mainstream environmentalism. ¹ Declaring that the mainstream movement ignored the environmental concerns of people of color, Indigenous peoples, and the working class and poor, and arguing that mainstream environmentalists cared more about nature than people, environmental justice activists pushed scholars and mainstream environmentalists to focus their attention on both the built and natural environments, to explore the many ways in which access to environmental amenities and exposure to environmental harms are differentially distributed within and among societies and communities, and to both acknowledge the importance of and work to improve environmental conditions for all the world's people. ²

Environmental scholars responded to this challenge in many important ways. ³ But as the call for articles for this special issue notes, these scholars have paid relatively little attention to the environmental justice implications of mass incarceration and state-sanctioned violence against Black people. Exceptions do, of course, exist, ⁴ and scholars studying green criminology have highlighted a number of important issues related to mass incarceration and the environment, including the siting of prisons in marginalized rural communities and the severe environmental harms prisons inflict on both inmates and local communities. ⁵ But despite the importance of this research, scholars have not fully explored mass incarceration's environmentally disparate consequences. ⁶ For instance, they have not conceptualized police presence as a key environmental attribute of neighborhoods or noted that mass incarceration and police violence simultaneously produce and represent important forms of environmental inequality. Likewise, although health disparities researchers have demonstrated that discrimination and police violence produce racially disparate physical and mental health outcomes, ⁷ neither green criminologists nor environmental justice scholars have conceptualized overwhelming police presence, police violence, and the fear, stress, anxiety, and trauma these cause as constituting violence environments to which people of color are disproportionately exposed.

The goal of this article, then, is to link state-sanctioned violence and mass incarceration to environmental injustice, drawing on the insights of prior environmental inequality, green criminology, and health disparities research to develop a fuller explanation of how these phenomena are linked than would otherwise be possible. We first argue that police violence and mass incarceration simultaneously produce and are manifestations of environmental inequality. We then provide a brief empirical overview of police violence against Black people and mass incarceration. Finally, we use the evidence we present about these topics and insights from prior research to show that mass incarceration and police violence do, in fact, produce and represent important forms of environmental inequality.

This research did not require IRB approval.

THEORETICAL ARGUMENT

In attempting to expand mainstream understandings of the environment, environmental justice activists were concerned, in particular, with defining as environmental (1) all the places where people live, work, and play and (2) all the social, ecological, and human-made characteristics that make these places what they are. ⁸ As part of this effort, they also argued that access to environmental amenities improves people's social, psychological, emotional, and material lives, whereas exposure to environmental harms does the opposite. ⁹ Thus, noise levels, dilapidated buildings, vacant lots, toxic waste sites, highways, parks, basketball courts, landfills, baseball diamonds, river walks, factories, and bike paths became life-improving or life-degrading features of the environment to which individuals and social groups have differential access or exposure. ¹⁰

A crucial feature of the environment, when defined like this, is the presence or absence of the police in an area and the degree to which and ways in which these bearers of state violence inflict threatened or actual violence on those residing and passing through the area. The police are a crucial feature of the environment, we argue, for two reasons. First, they are an aspect of the environment that in itself improves some people's social, psychological, emotional, and material lives while severely harming the social, psychological, emotional, and material lives of others. ¹¹ In this sense, they are not only a feature of the built and natural environment, they are also a feature of what we call people's social, psychological, emotional, and violence environments. Second, the overwhelming presence of the police in some people's and groups' lives but not in the lives of others, and their regular and threatened use of physical, psychological, and emotional violence, produce social outcomes (beyond police presence and violence) that increase some people's and groups' exposure to environmental harms while decreasing their access to environmental amenities.

In the following sections, we support these claims by providing evidence that shows that police use disproportionate violence against Black people, thereby creating a psychologically, emotionally, and physically harmful environment that Black people are disproportionately exposed to. We also demonstrate that police violence likely reduces many Black people's access to environmental amenities and likely increases their exposure to many environmental harms. Because this is a relatively short article, we are unable to fully prove all our claims. Our goal, therefore, is to broaden the discussion surrounding police violence, mass incarceration, and environmental justice by demonstrating that our claims are both plausible and in need of further investigation.

POLICE VIOLENCE AND MASS INCARCERATION

Black people are significantly more likely than White people to be shot and killed by the police, ¹² to be stopped and searched by the police while walking and driving, and to be treated in a violent and humiliating manner and detained for long periods of time when the police stop them. ¹³ Because many police departments target Black people and Black neighborhoods for special attention, ¹⁴ and because the criminal justice system is biased against them, ¹⁵ Black people are also arrested, convicted, and imprisoned at rates that greatly surpass those of Whites who engage in similar criminal and noncriminal behaviors, ¹⁶ such that in 2010 Black men and women were 6.4 and 2.9 times more likely, respectively, than White men and women to be in prison. ¹⁷ Indeed, many police departments devote so much attention to low-income Black neighborhoods that these neighborhoods and the people residing in them experience a near-constant police presence far out of proportion to that experienced by any other neighborhood or segment of the population.

The consequences of this constant, overwhelming police presence are extremely dire. In New York City, for example, Black people living in extremely poor and segregated neighborhoods

The police also regularly use excessive force against Black people. Young Black men report having been stopped by the police 30, 40, 50, or more times before their mid-20s, and are regularly stopped for engaging in legitimate everyday activities such as walking down the street, playing basketball, sitting on their front porches, and walking to and from school. ¹⁹ Young Black men also report regular police sweeps of their neighborhoods:

They'll come in like, three or four cars deep, two paddy wagons, and they'll just roll down every block…And anybody outside, if they think you got something, they gon’ check you. ²⁰

These and other police stops are anything but pleasant. Young Black men report having the police yell at them, call them niggers, tell them they are “Fucking Mutts,” threaten them with serious physical violence, grope their genitals, forcibly undress them, strip search them in public, and push and shove them. They report being thrown against walls, against police cars, and to the ground; being slapped, hit, kicked, and beaten; being choked and tasered; and being publicly detained and humiliated for extended periods of time before being let go. ²¹

The individual and neighborhood consequences of all this are profound. Those who are routinely stopped and searched describe it as being humiliating, demeaning, and degrading, ²² and those who live in heavily policed neighborhoods report feeling helpless, vulnerable, and unsafe, are constantly fearful of the police as they walk through their neighborhoods, and report changing their behavior and altering their dress so as to avoid being stopped and mistreated by the police. They also often stay away from places they want to be, such as “parks and playgrounds, basketball courts and baseball diamonds…train stations and bus stops, city squares and community festivals.” ²³ They stay inside when they would rather be outside, report feeling trapped, tormented, and angry, experience anxiety, take public transportation to avoid walking and driving, and feel as though they cannot fully participate in their community. ²⁴

Moreover, the loss of so many people to prison, the fact that many prisoners' families feel they have to withdraw from friends, coworkers, and acquaintances to hide their loved one's imprisonment, and the fact that many relatives cannot provide financial help to family members whose spouse or partner is in prison can, in heavily policed communities, lead to a breakdown of social relationships that tie friends, families, and communities together. ²⁵

Police violence and mass incarceration also affect people's long-term economic prospects. Ex-prisoners and criminal defendants, for example, are often saddled with debts imposed by the criminal justice system that they cannot repay. ²⁶ In addition, ex-prisoners often have serious trouble finding work, both because they are often barred from specific categories of jobs and professions ²⁷ and because in most states, employers can and regularly do discriminate against them. Thus, even after controlling for other factors that affect employment and wages, ex-prisoners are more likely than the general population to be unemployed and if employed, to earn low or extremely low wages, and this is particularly the case for Black men with criminal records. ²⁸ This, in turn, results in a severe and disproportionate loss of income for Black ex-prisoners, their families, and their communities. ²⁹

Men and women who are in jail also often have children. Indeed, 2.7 million U.S. children—11% of Black children and 1.8% of White children—have a parent in prison or jail at any given time. Moreover, 4% of White children and 25% of Black children have had at least one parent behind bars by the time they turn 14; and among those who are 17 years old whose parents have not finished high school, 15% of Whites and 62% of Blacks have had a parent in prison. ³⁰

The effect of this on children and families is severe. Families with a father in prison have incomes that on average are 22% lower than the year before the father was imprisoned and that remain 15% lower the year after the father is released from prison than they were before his imprisonment. Not surprisingly, these families face difficulties meeting basic needs and tend to experience increased poverty, housing instability, and homelessness. Children of incarcerated fathers also experience significant increases in problematic internalizing behaviors (depression, anxiety, somatic complaints, etc.) and externalizing behaviors (aggression, delinquency, etc.), making it difficult, among other things, for them to succeed in school. ³¹ These harmful consequences, and the fact that severe behavioral problems and homelessness in youth are associated with limited economic success in adulthood, lead Wakefield and Wildeman ³² to argue that stark racial differences in parental incarceration rates play a key role in perpetuating the intergenerational transmission of racial inequality in the United States.

POLICE VIOLENCE, IMPRISONMENT, AND ENVIRONMENTAL INEQUALITY

For those who live in highly policed neighborhoods, the police violence and accompanying harassment and hostility described in the preceding section are aspects of the environment inseparable from the fabric of daily life. The repeated stops and frisks, biased treatment, violence, and unjust killings experienced by people who are heavily policed make the places they live, work, and play extremely unsafe and, for many, generate stress ³³ and feelings of fear, helplessness, and anxiety. ³⁴ Moreover, these state-created violence environments, and the social, psychological, emotional, and material environments that accompany them, are distributed unequally throughout society. As a result, they disproportionately harm Black people, who in comparison with similarly situated Whites (1) live with much higher levels of police-related violence, fear, anxiety, stress, trauma, and humiliation, (2) experience greater psychological and educational difficulties due to having a parent or loved one in prison, (3) have greater difficulty safely participating in their communities, and (4) experience greater strains on their social relations with friends, families, and the larger community. ³⁵

But police violence does not just represent a serious and severe form of environmental inequality. It also greatly increases Black people's exposure to other environmental harms while significantly decreasing their access to many environmental amenities. For instance, as already noted, heavy policing creates psychological and physical deterrents to free movement that restrict many Black people's access to environmental amenities, making Black people less likely than White people to take advantage of or fully enjoy amenities—such as sports facilities, beaches, parks, and other outdoor spaces—which research ³⁶ shows improves people's social, psychological, and material lives. The fact that police violence and mass incarceration greatly restrict many Black people's economic opportunities likely also reduces Black people's ability to access and fully enjoy outdoor spaces, as does the fact that ex-prisoners and their families are often forced to live in highly segregated urban spaces ³⁷ that impair people's physical health, ³⁸ making them less able to engage in outdoor physical activity. ³⁹ Police-imposed violence environments thus function to segregate outdoor spaces, as those mistreated by the police have greatly restricted mobility compared with others.

Biased policing and mass incarceration also disproportionately confine Black people to environmentally unjust spaces. For instance, the lower incomes that ex-prisoners and their families and children experience both in the present and the future severely limit their residential options, often into the children's adulthoods. In turn, low incomes and limited residential options are closely associated with an inability to escape highly polluted and police-infested neighborhoods and to move into neighborhoods with more environmental amenities, including neighborhoods with few police. ⁴⁰ Low-income neighborhoods, which biased policing helps create, ⁴¹ also generally lack the political clout necessary to either prevent the siting of environmentally harmful activities or ensure the placement of environmental amenities within their borders. ⁴²

Moreover, police violence and imprisonment can cause physical and mental health problems ⁴³ that likely increase the difficulty people have obtaining well-paying jobs, thereby further restricting Black people to environmentally unjust neighborhoods. And the demonization and criminalization of Black people that both justify and result from mass incarceration ⁴⁴ likely increase Black people's environmental burden by legitimizing economic and residential discrimination, high Black poverty rates, ⁴⁵ and the disproportionate dumping of environmental problems in Black communities. ⁴⁶

Making matters worse, prisons are also extremely harmful environments. Not only do they inflict serious environmental harm on the marginalized rural communities in which they are disproportionately sited, ⁴⁷ they are also often violent and overcrowded, regularly expose inmates to harmful pollutants and waste, and often provide very poor medical care. Prisons also have few environmental amenities, completely restrict inmate mobility, rely heavily on solitary confinement, and exert near-total control over inmates' lives. ⁴⁸ These conditions, in turn, produce severe psychological, emotional, and physical problems for many prisoners. ⁴⁹

Prisons are also perfect incubators for disease. Caused by fungal, viral, parasitic, and bacterial pathogens, and carried by biotic and abiotic vectors, disease is an important feature of the natural and built environment, as is access to quality medicines and health care. Differential exposure to and mortality from specific diseases, including the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), are thus key environmental injustices, and as is well known, COVID-19 has hit Black communities particularly hard. One reason for this is that Black people are over-represented in prisons, which have the highest COVID-19 rates of any setting ⁵⁰ due to overcrowding, an inability to socially distance, sizeable inmate transfers between prisons, lack of protective gear, and improper medical treatment. ⁵¹

Another likely reason that COVID-19 has hit Black communities particularly hard is that ex-prisoners, their families, and their grown children are more likely than others to be poor, exposing them to crowded living conditions, decreasing their residential stability, restricting their access to quality health care, and increasing their stress levels. ⁵² Because of employment discrimination and occupational restrictions arising from their criminal records, Black ex-prisoners may also be more likely to hold jobs classified as essential during the COVID pandemic. We know, for instance, that though Black people in general only make up one-ninth of all U.S. workers, they represent one out of every six front-line industry workers. ⁵³ Finally, ex-prisoners report discrimination from health care workers because of their criminal record, which is likely compounded with racial bias. ⁵⁴ Differential morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 are thus significant forms of environmental inequality that are likely strongly shaped by police violence and mass incarceration.

CONCLUSION

Drawing on insights from the environmental justice, green criminology, and health disparities literature, we have argued that police violence and prisons are simultaneously key features of the environment and factors that affect environmental outcomes, increasing exposure to other environmental harms and decreasing access to environmental amenities. In addition, we have demonstrated that because of police violence and mass incarceration, Black people are disproportionately exposed to state-created violence environments and the harmful social, psychological, emotional, and material environments associated with them.

Of course, state-created violence environments do not harm only Black communities. They also harm Latin American communities, Indigenous communities, immigrants, poor and working-class communities, and communities around the world that experience state violence, including U.S. military violence. Thus, to fully understand environmental inequality and injustice around the globe, state-sponsored violence must be characterized as both a key feature of the environment and an important factor exacerbating environmental injustices themselves. This characterization, we hope, will spur research into formerly unrecognized forms of environmental injustice and contribute to efforts to surmount such injustices by encouraging new coalitions between groups working on issues previously perceived as separate. Overcoming state-sponsored violence and mass incarceration, which communities around the world have been organizing against for decades, is not, however, just within the scope of the environmental justice movement. It is also, we contend, integral to its success.