Restructuring Law Enforcement Agencies to Support Prosocial Values: A Behavior-Scientific Model for Addressing Police Brutality
Prosocial gives BCBAs a ready-made, behavior-analytic path for turning coercive police units into value-driven, community partners.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Ghezzi et al. (2022) mapped out how police departments could use the Prosocial model. The plan mixes ACT-style values work with eight core design principles from political scientist Elinor Ostrom.
The paper is conceptual. It does not test officers or report data. Instead it gives a step-by-step blueprint for shifting agency culture away from coercion and toward community partnership.
What they found
The authors show how each Ostrom principle can be translated into daily police practices. Clear group boundaries, shared goals, and fair conflict-resolution loops are central.
When these pieces combine with open conversations about personal values, the model should reduce racist and violent encounters. The paper argues the change is systemic, not just individual.
How this fits with other research
Pritchett et al. (2022) voice a similar call, but target our own research methods. Both papers demand ABA confront power imbalances—Ghezzi by reforming police, Pritchett by letting participants co-design studies.
Logue et al. (2025) offer an empirical cousin. Their panel-review process cut restrictive procedures by 80% in one human-service agency. Ghezzi extends that anti-coercion spirit to law-enforcement command structures.
Uher et al. (2024) translate BACB Ethics Code 1.07 into action steps for individual clinicians. Ghezzi scales the same cultural-responsiveness idea up to an entire organization, showing the field is moving from personal competence to system-wide reform.
Why it matters
If you consult with public agencies or want your clinical team to live its ethics, the Prosocial roadmap gives you language and tools. Start by running a 30-minute values clarification meeting with staff. Pick one Ostrom principle—such as monitored feedback—and build a tiny pilot loop. Track respectful exchanges with clients for one week. You will gather instant social-validity data and model the anti-racist, collaborative culture the paper envisions.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Policing in the United States is irrefutably a component of systemic racism. The history of police brutality against the Black community can be found in our amendments, laws, and cultural practices—it is an infrastructure of oppression. Though police brutality is not a new development, it has reached a fever pitch with the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Recent calls to defund the police put law enforcement agencies squarely, and rightly, in the spotlight of social justice movements and reform. Current issues operating within law enforcement agencies ensure the perpetuation of a system that reinforces the status quo and gives nothing back to the communities that have been victims of brutality. A philosophical restructuring of how law enforcement agencies interact with the communities they serve is paramount. The purpose of this article is to propose a behavior-scientific model aimed at both the individual and organizational levels of law enforcement agencies using elements of acceptance and commitment training and Elinor Ostrom’s core design principles, called Prosocial. The Prosocial model promotes the clarification of values within organizations and the communities they serve and reinforces values-consistent action. The model therefore has the potential to be a useful tool to combat systemic racism and police brutality within law enforcement agencies. The proposed model will be discussed in the context of who created it (White academicians), who will be implementing it (law enforcement), and ultimately who should benefit from it above and beyond the cessation of police brutality and without psychological or financial cost (Black communities).
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2022 · doi:10.1007/s40617-020-00530-y