Attitudes Toward the Police: A Comparison of Canadian and American Adolescents

The present inquiry is an attempt to determine the attitudes which adolescents in Canada and the United States have toward the police and the determinants of these attitudes. In addition to providing a diverse sample of youths from two countries, each with unique policing structures and policies, the study represents the first attempt to assess the attitudes twoard the police held by a sample of Canadian adolescents. The sample for the inquiry consists of 869 youths from a rural Rocky Mountain State and three West Coast cities in the United States and 1200 youths from a major metropolitan area on the West Coast of Canada.

To assess the attitudes which adolescents hold toward the police in their respective countries and areas, a 16–item Likert scale was employed along with a series of questions eliciting a variety of social-biographical, experiential (type and extent of contacts with police) information as well as the prestige rating of the police. Analysis of the data indicates that the majority of adolescents in both countries have positive attitudes toward the police, regardless of the type of police force (Canadian RCMP, Canadian Municipal, U.S. Sheriff, U.S. Municipal) they are policed by. In addition, none of the social-biographical variables in either sample contributed significantly to the attitudes which were held toward the police, nor were certain juveniles more likely to have more negative experiences with the police. Rather, the primary determinant of juvenile attitudes toward the police in both countries seems to be the type of contact which the adolescent had with the police. The findings have significant implications for the police literature and police operational policy which are discussed.     

The importance of police contact in the formulation of youths' attitudes toward police

The central focus of this study was to examine types of contact between adolescents and police as determinants of attitudes toward these authority figures. Three value or group expressive determinants — race, deviance, and parental defiance — were used as control variables to specify conditions under which the importance of actual contact with police is enhanced or diminished. Positive contact with police was found to be predictive of positive attitudes and negative contact was predictive of negative attitudes toward police. Further investigation revealed that the relationship between positive contact and positive attitudes toward police became significantly stronger among youths who had experienced negative encounters with police, as well as among those who reported being frequently involved in deviance, and among those who had been defiant of parental authority. The effects of negative contact with police were most significant among whites, those who report infrequent deviant behavior, and those youths who had experienced little or no positive contact with police.     

Attitudes of chinese immigrants and vietnamese refugees toward law enforcement in the United States

The present study identifies areas of concern related to the interaction of recent Asian arrivals with the American police, and differentiates Chinese immigrants from Vietnamese refugees. Community leaders reported their perception of Asian attitudes toward the police. This information was used to construct a questionnaire administered to residents of a Chinese and a Vietnamese community in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. The study found 1) that fear of crime, poor communication with police, and gang activities are the major concerns for the Vietnamese in the sample, and that fear of crime and perceived police prejudice against residents are the primary concerns for the Chinese; and 2) that the Vietnamese consistently rated all the problems as more serious than did the Chinese.     

Ethnic identity and attitudes toward the police among African American juvenile offenders

Although there is a knowledge base regarding theoretical and empirical research on attitudes toward the police, this line of research has not fully examined the sources of such attitudes, and in particular the extent to which attitudes toward the police are influenced by ethnic identity. The present study examined the role of ethnic identity in African American adolescent offenders' perceptions of general police discrimination, direct police contact, procedural justice, and police legitimacy. Analyses showed that youth with a stronger sense of ethnic identity perceived more police discrimination but reported more positive beliefs about police legitimacy. The findings underscore the importance of considering processes that may make legal socialization experiences more salient for adolescents, and demonstrate the complex role that ethnic identity plays in relation to discrimination.     

Perceptions of police-juvenile contact predicts self-reported offending in adolescent males

ABSTRACT

Evidence suggests that positive experiences with the police can foster attitudes of respect towards the justice system that can reduce an adolescents’ propensity to commit later illegal behaviors. To advance prior work, we tested whether this association might be stronger for those adolescents who associate with deviant peers. Additionally, we tested whether the link between attitudes towards police and the justice system, and the influence of peer delinquency, would be weaker for those with elevated callous–unemotional (CU) traits. These predictions were examined in a prospective study using a sample (N?=?1,216) of adolescent males who were followed prospectively for 2 years following their first official contact with the juvenile justice system. Positive experiences with the police following the youth’s first arrest were associated with less self-reported delinquency 2 years later, which was partially mediated by reductions in adolescents’ cynicism about the legal system. However, this link was only significant for youth with low levels of peer delinquency. Although CU traits were related to less positive perceptions of experiences with the police and greater cynicism about the justice system, CU traits did not moderate the associations among experiences, attitudes, and later illegal behavior nor did they moderate the influence of peer delinquency.     

Global and specific attitudes toward the police: Disentangling the relationship

Since the 1960s, a substantial body of research has focused on citizens' attitudes toward the police. These studies tap a rather wide variety of outlooks: some ask about specific assessments of the police (e.g., satisfaction with the police in particular incidents), while others ask about more global assessments (e.g., satisfaction with the police in general, police in the community, or police in the neighborhood). Using data obtained through a panel survey of 398 residents of a large midwestern city, we compare specific assessments of police performance with more global attitudes toward the police. We also examine the effects of global and specific attitudes on one another. The results show that the two measures produce similar levels of support for the police. The results reveal further that global attitudes have substantial effects on specific assessments of police performance, and that the effects of specific assessments of police performance on global attitudes are modest by comparison.     

The impact of race/ethnicity, neighborhood context, and police/citizen interaction on residents' attitudes toward the police

The purpose of this study was to extend the current knowledge of public attitudes toward the police. Independent variables derived from three models, the demographic, the neighborhood context, and the police/citizen interaction models, were used to explain public perceptions of the police. More specifically, public attitudes toward the police was measured in two dimensions— General Attitudes toward the police and Specific Trust in the police. The data was obtained by a telephone survey of 756 respondents in Houston, TX in 2008. The primary findings suggested that race, gender, age, victimization, and satisfaction with police work were significant predictors. Hispanic respondents reported lower levels of General Attitudes toward the police than their White counterparts. In addition, there was no significant difference between Whites and Hispanics in terms of Specific Trust in police such as the use of Taser guns. These results and their practical implications for police agencies were addressed in discussion.     

ATTITUDES TOWARD THE POLICE AND THE LARGER ATTITUDE COMPLEX

Growing concern with the effect of negative public attitudes toward the police on police-community polarization and morale and effectiveness has led to numerous efforts to improve the image of the policeman and to facilitate more positive relationships with the community. It is proposed that the eflectiveness of such programs is hindered by their failure to consider that public attitudes toward the police do not exist in isolation, but are a part of a broader complex of attitudes toward the system of legal justice and its various representatives. Data from four different samples of residents of a western state provide some tentative support for this hypothesis. Implications of the data for programs designed to improve police-community relationships are discussed.     

Reassessing the impact of race on citizens' attitudes toward the police: A research note

This paper reassesses the relationship between race and attitudes toward the police. Using data obtained through a telephone interview survey of 560 residents of Detroit, the study contradicts previous research by finding that blacks hold more favorable attitudes toward the police than do whites. To explain these findings, we argue that as the social context of cities changes, so might the relationship between race and citizens' attitudes toward the police.     

Parole survival and legislated change: A before/after study of parole revocation decision making

Past studies of juveniles' attitudes toward the police suggest a single-cause model that implicates personal interactions with the police. We propose that attitudes toward authority and agents of social control develop in a larger, sociocultural context. Specifically we hypothesize that juveniles' attitudes develop as a function of socialization in their communities' social environment, of their deviant subcultural “preferences,” and of the prior effect of these sociocultural factors on juveniles' contacts with the police. We conducted analyses addressing these hypotheses with a population of males sampled within stratified populations of known delinquents. We found that social background variables, particularly minority status, and subcultural preferences, particularly commitment to delinquent norms, affected juveniles' attitudes toward the police both directly and indirectly (through police-juvenile interactions). We consider directions for improving police relations with juveniles in the context of apparent sociocultural and experiential contingencies to attitude development.     

DETERMINANTS OF ATTITUDES TOWARD CITY POLICE

This paper reports the results of a survey of attitudes toward police and police service among 273 citizens in 4 neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Extensive socioeconomic and personal history data were collected for all individuals. Results indicate that personal history. particularly respondents’perceptions of the way in which specific officers have related to them personally in previous encounters, is a more significant determinant of general attitudes towards police than were all socioeconomic variables including race and income. Results thus suggest that positive styles of policing will significantly affect police-community relations, and that police-community relations programs stressing officer-citizen interaction in a law enforcement context will have the highest probability of success.     

Changing approaches to corrections

A new training program was developed for correctional officers and other new employees. The training was designed to focus on a positive philosophy toward rehabilitation rather than emphasizing techniques for managing inmates. Attitude questionnaires were developed to test attitudes on treatment and security. The questionnaire was administered before and after the training to determine changes in attitude. The trainees' attitudes were compared to those of college students who had completed an internship. There was a significant difference in the attitudes of employees before training and after training. There was also a significant difference in attitudes of interns and employees before training but not after the employees had been trained.     

Global and Neighborhood Attitudes Toward the Police: Differentiation by Race,Ethnicity and Type of Contact

This study focused on a series of hypotheses regarding residents’ attitudes toward the police: (1) residents’ attitudes toward the police are better represented by a two-dimensional model that differentiates global perceptions of the police from assessments of the police in the respondents’ neighborhood; (2) the structure of residents’ attitudes toward the police is different for Whites, African Americans, and Latinos; (3) direct experiences with the police in the respondents’ neighborhood will be more strongly associated with the respondents’ assessment of police in their neighborhood than global perceptions of the police; and (4) the influence of direct experiences with the police will be stronger for African Americans and Latinos than for Whites. Results based on structural equation modeling offer strong support for the need to differentiate between global and neighborhood perceptions of the police. The underlining measurement structure of attitudes toward the police was similar for Whites, African Americans, and Latinos. However, the relationship between global and neighborhood attitudes was stronger for African Americans and Latinos. Negative contact with the police was associated with both negative global and neighborhood assessments of the police. Non-negative contact was associated with positive neighborhood perceptions of the police; however, only when it occurred within the neighborhood. The influence of direct experiences with the police (both inside and outside the neighborhood) was similar for Whites, African Americans, and Latinos.     

Perceived accountability and public attitudes toward local police

Recent national events have brought the issue of police-community relations into the public eye. Even though a large body of academic research exists on the predictors of public attitude toward police, very little is known about how public perceptions of police accountability influence satisfaction with the police. This study seeks to fill that gap by using ordered logistic regression and multi-year community-level survey data from one Western city (n = 3725) to examine the relationship between satisfaction with police accountability and overall attitudes toward the police. The results indicate that respondent satisfaction with police accountability was a strong, consistent predictor of satisfaction with local police, even after controlling for other important variables, such as race/ethnicity and community context. The findings suggest that public perceptions relating to the control of police officer conduct should be considered when assessing the predictors of attitudes toward the police.     

Police officers’ attitudes toward their role and work: A comparison of black and white officers

This study tests whether Black and White police officers differ in job-related attitudes. The analyses focus on officers’ attitudes toward police role, selective enforcement, legal restrictions, and departmental problem-solving efforts. Survey data were collected from the Indianapolis Police Department (IPD) during the summer of 1996. Findings show that compared to White officers, Black officers tend to have a broad role orientation, be less selective, and have positive attitudes toward legal restrictions. Implications for future research and policy are also discussed.     

Effectiveness of citizen police academies in changing the attitudes, beliefs, and behavior of citizen participants

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the citzen police academies (CPA) in two cities were effective in changing participants’ attitudes, beliefs, and behavior toward police. Pre-and post-test questionnaires were used to obtain participants’ ratings of their attitudes and beliefs concerning police officers and their willingness to cooperate with police. Participants were also asked to indicate what cooperative behaviors they had actually engaged in before and/or during the CPA. At the end of the CPA, participants in both cities rated themselves as having more positive attitudes toward police, and more willingness to engage in behaviors that would help police. There was also an increase in actual performance of some cooperative behaviors during the CPA. These changes did not seem to be overly dependent on the jurisdiction (large versus small city), the demographics of the CPA participants, or the specific characteristics of the CPA curriculum.     

JUST: a measure of jury system trustworthiness

ABSTRACT

Three studies developed and tested a new measure of the perceived trustworthiness of the jury system, the 23-item Jury System Trustworthiness (JUST) scale, and assessed the scale’s convergent and discriminant validity. Study 1 assessed the scale’s factor structure and relation to other relevant constructs. In Studies 2 and 3, the JUST scale was administered to participants in two separate mock juror studies. The results of all three studies supported the hypothesized factor structure of the measure but showed that a simplified, 7-item measure was also effective. Overall, participants’ perceptions of juries were moderately positive, and the JUST scale was related to attitudes toward the police, authoritarianism, belief in a just world, juror bias, preference for a jury (vs. a bench) trial, and intention to respond to a jury summons. It also explained a unique portion of the variance in jury-specific beliefs and behavioral intentions, such as preference for a jury trial and response to a summons, beyond that accounted for by other legal attitudes. The JUST scale was not related to verdict decisions in either mock trial after controlling for authoritarianism. Several individual differences (e.g. age, race/ethnicity) were also related to attitudes toward the jury system.     

Police attitudes toward domestic violence offenders

Police attitudes are important in facilitating a sense of safety and comfort in women seeking justice-system support for protection from partner violence. This study examined police attitudes toward sanctions and treatment for domestic violence offenders compared with other violent and nonviolent offenders. In addition, police attitudes toward domestic violence offenders who do and do not use substances were examined. Officers from one city police department (n = 315) participated in a survey. Results indicate there is a trend toward attitudes that treatment, rather than sanctions, was more appropriate for domestic violence offenders. In addition, officers rated the use of sanctions higher for domestic violence offenders who abuse alcohol or drugs compared with domestic violence offenders who did not abuse alcohol or drugs. Understanding police attitudes toward domestic violence offenders may have implications for police training and victim services in facilitating the use of the justice system in protecting women from partner violence.