On the Uncanny Similarities Between Police Brutality and Client Mistreatment

Direct-care staff are responsible for carrying out behavior-analytic services in a culture that perpetuates systemic racism and other problematic systems that can lead to the mistreatment of clients. Limited data exist on factors that influence the mistreatment of clients, so behavior analysts must look to better studied comparison contexts as a way to identify risk factors. Police brutality is one context where problematic systems are apparent. Therefore, examining variables known to affect police brutality offers one way to identify aspects of direct-care staff's implementation of behavior-analytic treatment that may harbor similar systems. The purpose of this article is to examine variables associated with police brutality as risk factors for the mistreatment of clients in direct-care settings. The primary risk factors discussed include racial bias, the warrior mentality, a lack of transparency and accountability, and ineffective intervention. This article concludes that the field of behavior analysis needs sensitive data collection methods and systematic evaluation of risk factors to better protect clients from mistreatment.