"The Indian problem": a study of racial threat, Native Americans, and arrest rates

Abstract

Scholarly work surrounding discrepancies within arrest practices is a highly debated area of criminological work, and includes a broad range of explanations. Of said arguments that exist, racial threat theory has continued to arise as an explanation, but there is a lack of consensus and a mixed level of evidence supporting it. Additionally, of the work that has been done on racial threat theory, most literature remains focused on the larger minority populations, such as the Black and Hispanic population, leaving out other important minorities, such as Native Americans. To help address the incomplete literature on racial threat theory and the Native American community, this research project attempted to uncover how the increase in the Native American population from 1990 to 2000 affects the total, violent, property, and drug arrest rates in counties with varying levels of Indian Reservation land. The regressions that were completed showed that the increase in the Native American population had a negative effect on the overall arrest rates, and this effect increased as reservation land decreased. Additionally, the results also showed mixed effects from the change in the Native American population and the amount of reservation land on the total, violent, property, and drug arrest rates. These findings directly opposed the racial threat theoretical framework, and suggests that an increase in diversity leads to a decrease in racism, racial bias, and stereotyping. Though this research was limited to a relatively small population, these findings bring into question our current understanding of the application of the racial threat theory to arrest practices, and whether or not this theoretical framework is a credible explanation of arrest discrepancies.