Professor Owusu-Bempah participated in a discussion on TVO's The Agenda with Steve Paiken regarding the issues of carding. Justice Michael Tulloch recently called for an end to random carding in Ontario, among other recommendations, because it has a minimal role in deterring offenders, or reducing crime. Professor Owusu-Bempah spoke as part of a panel. He spoke to the trend showing the escalation of street checks and their impact, in particular, on male youths of colour and other racialized communities. Research in this area, according to Professor Owusu-Bempah, shows that repeated encounters with police have negative mental health and community safety impacts.
Professor Owusu-Bempah begins speaking around minute 8:30 and onwards. The full video can be found here.
Dr. Owusu-Bempah is an Assistant Professor of Sociology with teaching responsibilities at the UTM camps. His research is focused on three main areas: Policing, youth marginalization and exclusion, and race. He is particularly interested in how people of the African Diaspora (African Canadians, African Americans) perceive and experience law enforcement and punishment. His research has recently been published in the scholarly journals Policing and Society, Crime and Justice, and Theoretical Criminology.