Social Media Influence on Law Enforcement Peer Review Articles
Introduction
The mission of law enforcement involves police performing v distinct responsibilities: preserving the peace, protecting people and property, investigating crimes and arresting offenders, preventing criminal offense from occurring, and enforcing laws (Bouza, 1990). By the 1970s, customs policing was a focus of police departments and involved police force enforcement collaborating with communities to assist them with unique problems in an try to fulfill the mission (Stevenson, 2008). Unfortunately, law enforcement–minority relations continue to be problematic in the twenty-beginning century, which makes it difficult for police to fulfill their mission and hinders the quality of life of all parties involved. 1 of the reasons the relationship between law enforcement and minority groups may exist strained is because minority groups (i.due east., behavioral minority groups and racial minority groups) tend to report psychological and emotional abuse as a routine part of their interactions with police (Cox, 1996). Though unhealthy dynamics may occur between law enforcement and minorities in general for a variety of reasons, there is a substantial history of negative attitudes toward constabulary enforcement held past African Americans when compared to other racial and ethnic groups (Apple and O'Brien, 1983; Priest and Carter, 1999; Brown and Benedict, 2002). For example, Pastore and McGuire (2001) found that White Americans perceive policing as off-white and balance, while some racial minorities view policing every bit oppressive and life-threatening. Even more thought-provoking is that enquiry likewise shows that White higher students are less probable to experience victimized by police enforcement than African American college students (Walker et al., 2007; Ranapurwala et al., 2016; Girgenti-Malone et al., 2017).
Constabulary perceptions are of extreme importance when studying the relationship between minority and law enforcement, because ultimately constabulary cannot be effective without public support. A lack of back up from the public would render the police unable to apprehend criminals, deficient of data to solve crimes, uninformed about crimes, and unable to recruit quality recruits with various backgrounds (Cox, 1996). African American students' perceptions of constabulary should be explored in a collegiate environment given the projected demographic changes occurring in the coming decades (i.east., a dominant multi-cultural bulk) and the scant research literature focusing on the perceptions of law enforcement held past African American college students. The authors of this report were only able to find a couple of enquiry articles exploring the perceptions of law enforcement held by African American college students (Chow, 2010; Davis, 2014).
There are many things that influence African Americans' public perception of police, including victimization experiences. Researchers take establish that crime victimization and police victimization have the same impact on the victims (Hanson et al., 2010). Police victimization is the deed of police officers using their systematic power to unlawfully harass, oppress, and/or abuse citizens that leads to undue stress. In the 80s and 90s, constabulary harassment simply meant that African Americans were more probable to exist stopped and questioned by the law (Cobbina et al., 2016); nonetheless, more modern experiences have shown that African Americans have suffered beatings and fifty-fifty murder at the easily of constabulary (Ranapurwala et al., 2016). There is very little literature that focuses on the impact of improper police bear on African American college students' perceptions of police. In general, positive perceptions of constabulary officers tend to be experienced by African Americans when their interactions with law enforcement are respectful and non-threatening (Birzer, 2008). Negative perceptions of constabulary enforcement may grow when an private has contact with law enforcement that is characterized past rudeness, aloofness on behalf of the officeholder, and a lack of desire to have care of the problem (Birzer, 2008). Given the aforementioned research literature, perceived, and actual victimization experiences may differ based on the political party that is completing the assessment (e.g., public and police officer) and the function of the interaction that is the focal point (due east.g., what officers practice vs. how they do it). When individuals are void of victimization experiences, they may be influenced past familial victimization experiences. Negative experiences that family members had with law enforcement may influence an individual's perception of police enforcement in ways similar to that of personal experiences.
When examining experiences with police force enforcement i must accept into consideration the notion of procedural justice and differing perceptions between law enforcement and the public at times. Procedural justice focuses on how law enforcement interacts with the public; it is a necessary forerunner to perceived legitimacy, which influences law efficacy and public rubber (Peterson et al., 2017). Procedural justice consists of four components: vocalism, transparency, impartiality, and fairness. The voice component deals with residents being able to vocalisation their perspective and be heard in the interaction (Tyler, 2004). Transparency involves law enforcement authorities sharing processes, policy, and procedure throughout the interaction while maintaining confidentiality when necessary. Impartiality involves constabulary making decisions based on legal facts and an objective evaluation of the situation. Fairness is near community members being treated with dignity regardless of their state of affairs (Tyler, 2004). Meares et al. (2015) concluded that at that place is a disconnect between how the public views their actions and how constabulary enforcement assesses their own actions during police contacts. Some of this may exist due to aggressive police tactics, which Blackness and White individuals alike have reported in Gau and Brunson's (2010) inquiry. It should be noted that the rejection of constabulary behavior past the public may be based on fairness, as opposed to the law, given that the public's familiarity with the law is sometimes low (Meares et al., 2015). Ultimately, the notion of procedural justice affects individuals' confidence in police as shown in contempo statistics highlighting 42% of White Americans having high conviction in their local police section in contrast to simply 14% of Blackness Americans exhibiting that same level of confidence (Morin and Stepler, 2016). In an effort to not stereotype or overly generalize, there are interactions with Blackness Americans and police force enforcement that are characterized by a swell deal of respect, satisfaction, and presence of procedural justice. Notwithstanding, procedural justice must be considered in face to face interactions and multimedia that depicts constabulary enforcement given that it may influence attitudes toward police enforcement.
Multimedia, specifically television programming, deserves much exploration in the cess of African Americans' perception of constabulary enforcement because media influences perceptions of law enforcement when individuals lack personal experiences (Cox, 1996; Maxson et al., 2003). Police force enforcement officers are oft portrayed in news coverage programs, crime-based reality goggle box shows, crime dramas, and newspapers. The manner that constabulary enforcement is depicted beyond these media tends to vary. Law enforcement is oft depicted in news programs positively due to an overview of a criminal offense and a focus on an abort that usually portrays the police enforcement officer every bit the heroine (Sacco and Fair, 1988; Iyengar, 1991). Criminal offense-based reality television shows are factual, tend to focus on actual criminal offence, and overemphasize the arrests made by police enforcement officers; given that constabulary enforcement usually has consummate command over how they are depicted, they are often seen as heroic in crime-based reality television shows, even when using excessive force as a means to pursue justice (Oliver, 1994). Television receiver criminal offence dramas are fictional, merely may be based on true stories at times, and depict constabulary enforcement officers in a positive calorie-free. In some of these shows, law enforcement officers human activity every bit vigilantes and violate civil liberties and laws to pursue justice (Sparks, 1995). Additionally, nearly crimes that are presented in crime dramas are solved, which is non true to real life but necessary for a plot line that needs a resolution for entertainment purposes. Individuals watching a testify to be entertained will be less likely to be influenced by what they see than an individual who is watching a broadcast for data (Valkenburg and Patiwael, 1998). Additionally, perceived realism and the purpose backside watching a broadcast seems to be a key component of media influence (Potter, 1986; Valkenburg and Patiwael, 1998). Some enquiry has posited that college students' perceptions are less affected past mass media depicting police enforcement due to a focus on equity and fairness and caused criminal justice knowledge (Engel, 2005; Mbuba, 2010).
If the information nearly police enforcement communicated via boob tube indicates that procedural justice has been neglected, then this is likely to have a negative impact on the public's perception of law enforcement (Sunshine and Tyler, 2003). Withal, if the media depicts law enforcement positively, such as is often the case with telly news and crime-based reality television, increased confidence in law enforcement is probable to result when individuals do not have an arrest record or were not victimized (Callanan and Rosenberger, 2011). Weitzer (2002) constitute that negative perceptions of police force enforcement are probable to increase and be pronounced when accounts of constabulary enforcement misconduct are highly publicized. Historically, an example of this can be seen in the driblet of law enforcement approval ratings of Los Angeles citizens following the widespread coverage of the 1991 videotaped chirapsia of Rodney King and the 1979 fatal shooting of Eulia Love (Weitzer, 2002). Additionally, the coverage of police misconduct in the deaths of Michael Chocolate-brown in Baronial 2014, Tamir Rice in November 2014, Alton Sterling in July 2016, Freddie Grey in April 2015, and many others take far reaching consequences on American citizens' mental health, emotional wellness, physical health, spiritual health, and perceptions of law enforcement.
Theoretical Justification for Sample
American social institutions may be perceived past racial groups in dissimilar ways, and Blacks and Whites serve as an example of contrasting perceptions of law enforcement. Race is 1 of the about important predictors of attitudes toward police and criminal justice institutions. Our selection of an African American educatee population is informed past the group-position model of race relations, which is a variation of conflict theory. Group-position theory views racial animus as a reflection of group competition and conflict over textile items, ability, and condition in a multi-racial lodge (Blumer, 1958). In this theory, ascendant group interests are predicated on radical behavior that they take claims to scarce resources and a desire to defend their interests against minority groups. Minority groups in this model are interested in obtaining a greater share of goods and are motivated by unfair and exclusionary handling by the dominant group. Weitzer and Tuch (2005) extended the group-position thesis to the analysis of group relations in social institutions. If a ascendant grouping believes that it is entitled to valuable resources it is safe to assume that the dominant grouping will take a natural affinity for social institutions, like police force enforcement, that serve their interests. African Americans should be more inclined to view the police equally contributing to their subordination through legal and illegal practices, which may involve mistreatment of minorities and a lack of regulation in policing. This study focuses on an African American student population given the grouping-position thesis, yet information technology does non offering direct comparisons of racial groups or assume that African Americans are anti-police.
Purpose
The dynamic between police force enforcement and African Americans has been perceived by some African American students equally characterized past a lack of respect, a lack of procedural justice, absent distributive justice, a refusal of compliance, anxiety from both parties, and a host of other factors (Brownish and Benedict, 2002; Engel, 2005; Mbuba, 2010; Girgenti-Malone et al., 2017). As previously highlighted, police force victimization, and television receiver programming may bear witness to have a significant influence on African American college students' perceptions of law enforcement. In the absence of experiencing immediate victimization on behalf of law enforcement, incidents involving inappropriate and excessive forcefulness used by police officers become legend in minority communities and further the negative image of police already present (Cox, 1996; Chermak et al., 2006). The full general public is informed about incidents involving constabulary enforcement and African American relations via media, family unit members, friends, and through their own experiences.
The importance of the public'southward perception of constabulary enforcement cannot be understated due to its enmeshment with perceived legitimacy of law enforcement. If constabulary enforcement is not viewed as legitimate then African Americans will exist less likely to cooperate with law enforcement and support policies that empower law enforcement (Sunshine and Tyler, 2003). Additionally, increased criminality could ensue due to an unwillingness to phone call law enforcement when in need, and beliefs that challenges structures and agents of dominance could continue. There is a lack of literature examining college student perceptions of police enforcement and the factors that are related to the miracle (Chow, 2010; Davis, 2014). An exploration of the significance of constabulary victimization in various forms and television programming consumption can serve as a means to facilitate dialogue between college students and campus police and develop intervention and policy to increase the likelihood of a healthy dynamic betwixt law enforcement and the campus community. The researchers have the following hypotheses:
H1: There volition be a meaning difference in perceptions of police performance beyond the law enforcement victimization groups (i.east., family victimization, personal victimization, and personal and familial victimization) and the command group (i.e., no victimization experiences).
H2: There will be a significant divergence in perceptions of police treatment of minorities beyond the police force enforcement victimization groups (i.e., family unit victimization, personal victimization, and personal and familial victimization) and the command group (i.e., no victimization experiences).
H3: Fictional crime drama media, law-breaking reality (i.e., non-fictional) show media, police apply of strength media (e.m., fictional or non-fictional) will exist significantly related to perceptions of law enforcement operation and treatment of minorities for African American higher students with no police victimization experiences.
H4: Satisfaction with police will exist significantly related to perceptions of police enforcement and treatment of minorities for African American college students with no law victimization experiences.
Methods
Participants
This study was approved by a southeastern United States university'southward Human Subjects Institutional Review Lath. All the human subject field protections were followed throughout the duration of this research project. Also, informed consent was obtained from all the participants in writing and orally.
A convenience sample of students who voluntarily consented (North = 287) from a southeastern academy with a historically Black college and academy (HBCU) stardom were recruited for this study. Enrollment at the institution and active class registration served as eligibility criteria to participate in the study. Some of the participants were compensated with extra course credit toward an in-class assignment offered by their teacher. Participants were too given the opportunity to participate in a lottery for a souvenir bill of fare worth $25 for their participation. This report is solely focused on predictors of law enforcement perceptions for higher students who identify every bit African American; all non-African Americans were excluded from the analyses (n = 41), thus making the sample size 246. Additionally, for the regression analyses, the sample was condensed to 180 to focus solely on African American college students that did not accept police force victimization experiences.
Most of the sample identified as female (168), and the mean age for this sample was 21.73, ranging from 17 to 59. The bulk of the sample was academically classified equally sophomores (29%). The majority of the sample indicated an income of "$20,000–30,000" (10%), and near of the individuals in this sample politically identified equally a Democrat (76%).
Measures
Demographic Questionnaire
Personal data was collected using a series of closed-ended questions, including gender, age, bookish classification, income, and political affiliation. These demographic variables served equally a means of describing the sample and were non utilized in major analyses.
Perceptions of the Police force Enforcement
The perceptions of police enforcement scale is an eight-item measure that comprises ii scales. The measure assesses confidence in constabulary operation and treatment of minorities. Participants were asked the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with such items every bit "The law enforcement volition simply use lawful ways to combat criminal offence" and "The law enforcement are more likely to use physical force against minority people than Whites." As reported in Chow'south (2010) initial validation study, the ii dimensions of perceptions of constabulary enforcement in this study exhibited Cronbach alphas ranging from 0.791 to 0.854.
Contact With Police Enforcement
An detail assessed participants' satisfaction with functioning based on their nearly recent official contact with the constabulary enforcement in either emergency or not-emergency situations. Participants utilized a 5-bespeak scale (ane = very dissatisfied to 5 = very satisfied) for their response.
Police force Enforcement Victimization
An item assessed familial or personal experiences of harassment or mistreatment by the constabulary enforcement in the past 12 months prior to the survey. Participants utilized a 4-point calibration (0 = No Victimization to 3 = Personal and Family Victimization) for their response (Chow, 2010).
Media Variables
The analyses included three types of media consumption: crime dramas, crime-reality shows, and media that involved an unarmed human suffering excessive concrete strength on behalf of a law enforcement officer (i.e., non-fictional). The crime dramas scale captures frequency of viewing Law and Order, Homicide, and NYPD Blue. The crime-reality show scale measures frequency of viewing Cops, American Justice, America'south Nigh Wanted, and Justice Files. All the questions gauging viewership of these programs were originally coded on a five-bespeak Likert scale (1 = Never to 5 = Almost Every Day).
Procedures
The participants completed instruments in paper-pencil format and online through a secure web database as part of a university institution review board-approved study. The study was advertised every bit an investigation of personal perceptions of police enforcement, and students taking courses in the Departments of Psychology, Sociology, and Mass Communications and Journalism were offered the opportunity to participate. The students who chose to participate in the report received and so read a brief introduction about the project including the nature of the study, topics of some questions to be answered, and a statement informing the reader that all participation was voluntary with an choice of withdrawing at any time.
Results
A statistical ability analysis was performed with GPower for sample size estimation (Faul et al., 2007). The effect size in this study was 0.15, considered to be a medium using Cohen's (1988) criteria. With an blastoff = 0.05 and power = 90, the projected sample size needed with this effect size is ~N = 147. Thus, our sample size of 246 participants will be more than than adequate for the primary objective of this study involving predicting confidence in law enforcement and treatment of minorities.
A statistical power analysis was too performed with GPower for sample size estimation for our model predicting emotional well-being from law enforcement perceptions, victimization, satisfaction, and forms of media consumption (Faul et al., 2007). The effect size for this analysis was 0.15, considered to be medium using Cohen's (1988) criteria. With an alpha = 0.05 and power = ninety, the projected sample size needed with this event size is ~Due north = 157. Thus, our sample size of 246 participants will be more than than adequate for predicting the emotional well-being from conviction in law enforcement, perceptions of treatment of minorities, satisfaction with law enforcement, victimization, and two control variables.
Principal axis factor assay was conducted with varimax rotation to assess the underlying structure for the 10 items of the Perceptions of Law Enforcement questionnaire. The assumption of independent sampling was met and the assumptions of normality, linear relationships between pairs of variables, and the variables' being correlated at a moderate level were checked. Three components were rotated, based on the eigenvalues over 1 benchmark and the scree plot. After rotation, the first component accounted for 31% of the variance and the second component deemed for 20% of the variance. These findings seem similar to Grub's (2010) findings after ciphering of a gene assay on Perceptions of Police Enforcement. Table 2 displays the items and component loadings for the rotated components, with loadings <0.32 omitted to improve clarity. The first factor seems to alphabetize "confidence in law enforcement operation" and consists of five items. The 2nd gene seems to index "constabulary enforcement handling of minorities" and consists of two items as the third particular was eliminated because information technology did non address treatment of minorities. The elimination of the 3rd item was consistent with Chow's (2010) approach with the instrument. "Law enforcement treatment of minorities" was named as a factor considering the items were highly correlated with each other. As a general guide, factors that accept <2 items should be interpreted with circumspection and can exist considered reliable if they are highly correlated with each other and uncorrelated with other variables (Tabachnick and Fidell, 2007). Cronbach blastoff reliability coefficients for the police enforcement performance and handling of minorities scale were 0.791 and 0.854, respectively.
Descriptive statistics for the media, victimization experiences, and constabulary enforcement perception subscales are provided in Table 1. Hateful scores for satisfaction with about recent contact with law enforcement were neutral. Police enforcement victimization experience seems to indicate that well-nigh of the sample has a family member who endured constabulary enforcement victimization. On average the sample views fictional crime drama media a few times a month. This sample viewed crime reality media that depicted constabulary enforcement between a few times a month to a few times a yr. Media that involved usage of excessive physical force by police officers on an unarmed individual was viewed by this sample a few times a month to a few times a week. Overall, this sample of university students was neutral to somewhat in disagreement every bit far as their confidence in police to do their jobs. Treatment of minority scale indicated that on average the sample somewhat agreed that law enforcement was more likely to utilise physical forcefulness against minorities and aboriginal individuals than Whites.
Table 1. Descriptive statistics for satisfaction with law enforcement, victimization, constabulary enforcement media consumption, emotional well-beingness, and law enforcement perception variables.
Table 2. Rotated factors for police perception scale.
The researchers computed a one-style ANOVA comparing the perceptions of police performance calibration of participants who had four different police force victimization feel backgrounds. A pregnant difference was found among the police victimization groups [F (3, 238) = 3.696, p < 0.05]. Tukey'southward HSD was used to decide the nature of the differences between the police force victimization groups. This analysis revealed that students with personal and family law victimization experiences (m = two.17, sd = 0.64) had lower scores than students who had no police victimization experiences (familial or personal) (m = 2.62, sd = 0.82) and students with merely family law victimization experiences (m = 2.56, sd = 0.75).
The researchers computed a 1-manner ANOVA comparing the perceptions of constabulary treatment of minorities scale for participants who had four dissimilar police victimization experiences. No significant differences were found [F (3, 238) = 2.465, p > 0.05]. The students did not differ significantly in their perceptions of how police care for minorities across the dissimilar police victimization backgrounds.
A multiple linear regression was calculated to predict non-victimization students' perceptions of police performance based on satisfaction with police in most recent contact, crime reality evidence consumption, crime drama prove consumption, and constabulary excessive forcefulness media consumption (See Table 3). The overall regression, including three of the four predictors, was statistically meaning, R = 0.37, R 2 = 0.13, adjusted R ii = 0.11, F (4, 157) = 6.092, p < 0.01. Approximately thirteen% of the variance in perceptions of police performance could be accounted for by satisfaction with about recent contact with police, criminal offense reality show consumption, and constabulary excessive force media consumption. The pregnant predictors were positively related to perceptions of law except for police excessive force media consumption, which was negatively related to the dependent variable. Crime reality prove consumption is the strongest unique predictive contribution in this model.
Table 3. Variables predicting confidence in law-enforcement performance.
A multiple linear regression was calculated to predict non-victimization students' perceptions of police handling of minorities based on satisfaction with police in well-nigh contempo contact, crime reality show consumption, crime drama evidence consumption, and law excessive force media consumption (See Table 4). The overall regression equation was non pregnant R = 0.20, R ii = 0.04, adjusted R 2 = 0.02, F (4, 157) = 1.68, p > 0.05. None of the predictors can be used to predict non-victimization students' perceptions of police treatment of minorities in this model.
Table 4. Variables predicting handling of minorities.
Word
Understanding the factors related to African American higher students' perception of police enforcement is extremely pertinent given the part that those perceptions could play in police evaluations, policy germination and implementation, and the need for collaborative efforts between officers and the public to ensure safety and optimal life in communities. The current study investigated pregnant differences in police force perceptions that may result from personal and familial police victimization or lack thereof. Additionally, the electric current study examined the predictive function of 4 variables on conviction in law enforcement operation and perceptions of how law enforcement treats citizens of minority groups.
Support for significant differences in perceptions of constabulary performance across levels of police victimization was found in this report. African American college students who had personal and familial experiences of existence harassed or mistreated past police had significantly lower confidence in police than students who had no constabulary victimization feel and individuals who had family members who endured law enforcement victimization. Given that personal and familial police force victimization experiences were significantly dissimilar from both non-law victimization groups, simply non significantly unlike from just the personalized law victimization experience group, seems to highlight the resonating power of negative personal experiences with police force enforcement. Law enforcement harassment was significantly related to perceptions in such a way that as law enforcement harassment incidents increase, the conviction that individuals have in law enforcement decreases in this study. In this written report, on average, most of the individuals did not experience personal law enforcement harassment themselves, only rather had a family fellow member undergo the experience. Feagin and Sikes (1994) espoused that a Blackness victim of law enforcement harassment is likely to share the experience with family members and friends, oft to experience catharsis. 1 of the finish results is a domino consequence of hurting and anguish that affects the psyche of others inside the cultural group. This finding seems to be consistent with a number of research studies that have found that vicarious feel of law enforcement harassment has a negative influence on perceptions of police enforcement (Hurst and Frank, 2000; Rosenbaum et al., 2005). Finally, these findings may lend acceptance to the "negativity bias." When people are faced with a mix of negative and positive events, the negative ones predominate in shaping ane's thoughts and behavior. Baumeister et al. (2001) concluded that people more readily call back negative events than positive events.
These findings seem to highlight inquiry that indicates that the type of contact with police force is a major determinant of attitudes toward police (Correia et al., 1996; Weitzer and Tuch, 2002). Harassment and mistreatment can be interpreted differently by citizens and police, and what some citizens view as police harassment or brutality may be viewed by law enforcement as aggressive policing that is necessary for survival (Cox, 1996). Most citizens call constabulary brutality an incident in which they have not been treated with the full rights and dignity of a citizen in a democratic lodge (Reiss, 1968). Any practice that degrades status, restricts freedom, annoys or harasses, or uses concrete force is oftentimes seen every bit unnecessary and unwarranted by citizens (Reiss, 1968). 1 case of emotional and psychological abuse from officers could involve the usage of stereotypes and racial slurs. Labels for other groups such every bit drug dealers, homosexuals, prostitutes, and protestors may be used also and show to be derogatory in nature (Cox, 1996). Some of the reasons these differences may be occurring include African American citizens perceiving a lack of procedural justice, a high number of law contacts, perceived inequalities in racial fairness, race of the citizen, interactions initiated past the constabulary, and lack of satisfaction with constabulary related to criminal offense in neighborhoods (Cheurprakobit, 2000; Tyler, 2001, 2005; Avdija, 2010; Callanan and Rosenberger, 2011). Finally, some studies argue that citizens make a distinction between general attitudes toward the police and the acknowledgment of police in personal neighborhoods (Schuck and Rosenbaum, 2005). These findings and discussions highlight the need to utilize specific also as general items when assessing police victimization and perception as well every bit the exigency to consider how mediating factors are connected to police perceptions of performance.
Significant differences in perceptions of how police force treat minorities across law victimization groups was not found in this study. The electric current authors and Grub (2010) found that the treatment of minorities calibration consisted of 2 items. This finding should be cautiously interpreted given that it does consist of items and may not exist as robust as other scales (Tabachnick and Fidell, 2007). This finding contradicts several studies that highlight that Blacks are more likely to experience they take not received procedural justice and are thus more likely to have a lower opinion of law enforcement (Tyler and Huo, 2002; Grub, 2008; Miller and Davis, 2008; Avdija, 2010). Given that the overall mean for the police force treatment of minorities was loftier (M = 4.06) and almost of the subgroups were within 0.fifty scaled points, a lack of significant differences among groups may highlight that vicarious experiences are only equally impactful equally personal experiences of victimization. An individual's knowledge of another person'southward encounters with police may be internalized and "vicariously" experienced. Enquiry has shown that these experiences may exist communicated with other friends, family members, and acquaintances and have an consequence that impacts subcultural beliefs about police enforcement (Harris, 2002).
Support for the 3rd hypotheses was partially found in that satisfaction with constabulary in virtually recent contact, crime reality television receiver shows, and police excessive force media consumption were related to perceptions of constabulary performance. Satisfaction with law in most contempo contact and criminal offense reality television show consumption was positively related to perceptions of police performance. Crime reality television show consumption was significantly related to conviction in that as law-breaking reality-based bear witness consumption increased, confidence in law enforcement performance seemed to increment in this written report. This finding is consistent with Callanan and Rosenberger's (2011) research, but inconsistent with Edward's (2007) research that highlighted that law-breaking reality telly shows and crime drama shows had no significant relationship with attitudes toward law enforcement. Callanan and Rosenberger's (2011) research highlights that media related variables, such as criminal offense drama consumption and crime reality television show consumption, have a meaning relationship with perceptions of police enforcement when individuals are bereft of personal experiences with police enforcement. Fictional crime drama consumption was non related to African American students' perceptions of police performance. These findings may be related to the acquired education of the participants in this study. Mbuba (2010) posits that college students majoring in Criminal Justice proceeds specific knowledge that puts them in a better position to evaluate how well the social arrangement performs based on an empirical and bookish analysis; contrarily, non-criminal justice majors base of operations their perceptions and attitudes toward the justice system on data gained from the mass media. Nearly of the individuals that participated in this written report were African American students from social science courses who successfully completed introductory courses in sociology and/or psychology. The relationship between satisfaction with most contempo police contact and perceptions of law enforcement performance seems to be consistent with enquiry that emphasizes that positive perceptions tend to be experienced by African Americans when their interactions with law enforcement are respectful and non-threatening (Birzer, 2008). Though our findings have indicated that satisfaction with well-nigh recent contact with police is related to perceptions, there is enquiry that highlights that positive contacts with police do not consistently translate into favorable attitudes about law enforcement (Leiber et al., 1998). A satisfying feel with constabulary may exist viewed every bit the exception rather than the norm, and preexisting experiences with law enforcement may influence the estimation of a positive encounter with law enforcement (Brandl et al., 1994). These findings warrant the need to interpret this report's findings with caution and consider how satisfaction with constabulary enforcement may be influenced past multiple factors.
Police excessive forcefulness media consumption was negatively related to perceptions of operation. In other words, the more participants watched non-fictional law enforcement brutality incidents, the more likely they were to experience decreased conviction in law enforcement. These findings seem to align with research that shows that citizens' perceptions of police are influenced by micro- and macro-level predictors (Weitzer and Tuch, 2005). This finding also seems to approve existing enquiry that highlights African Americans every bit having less confidence in law enforcement following well-publicized law enforcement brutality events (Weitzer, 2002). Furthermore, the finding seems to support existing research that highlights that highly publicized police enforcement brutality incidents, such as Rodney King in 1991, tin significantly alter the perceptions of police force enforcement and how they treat minority groups (Jefferis et al., 1997). Continuous exposure to news reports on law enforcement corruption of authority (e.1000., excessive concrete strength, corruption, and verbal abuse) is strongly related to perceptions of police force enforcement racial bias by African Americans, Hispanics, and Whites. Furthermore, repeated exposure to media accounts of law enforcement abuse predicts that all racial groups will perceive law enforcement as operating in a discriminatory style and racially profile minorities (Weitzer and Tuch, 2005). These findings may be best explained by the vicarious experiences that individuals share within a cultural group. Though the viewer of these images is non suffering the mistreatment firsthand, the relatedness that the viewer has with the recipient of the excessive physical force may cause vicarious traumatization, which in turn affects cognitions about law enforcement. Due to the reality of these bug and how emotionally charged these incidents are, these flashbulb memories non simply permeate the psyche of one individual, just they proceed to have a multiplied result within the cultural network of the viewer as the incident is processed and shared.
Finally, support for the terminal hypothesis was not establish in that satisfaction with police in most contempo contact, crime reality telly, fictional crime drama consumption, and police excessive forcefulness media consumption were not related to perceptions of how law care for minorities. Every bit stated earlier, these findings should be interpreted with circumspection given the two-item construction of the dependent variable. Though none of the predictors reached significance, police excessive forcefulness media consumption approached significance by 0.005 points, and perhaps this highlights the need to take other factors into consideration when assessing African American students' perceptions of the treatment of minorities. These other factors may include neighborhood of origin, socio-economic status, fearfulness of police, and questionable police legitimacy (Hurst and Frank, 2000; Howell et al., 2004; Goldsmith, 2005; Avdija, 2010). Overall, the pregnant differences and relationships establish in the analyses that included constabulary operation and the lack of significance in the handling of minorities models may highlight distinctions made in evaluating police. Comparison the mean descriptive statistic of constabulary operation and police treatment of minorities highlights a moderate distinction that warrants exploration in future studies. Evaluations can be quite singled-out based on general evaluations and specific evaluations (Schuck and Rosenbaum, 2005). This study seems to indicate that distinctions are made non in regard to locale only, but in regard to population or demographic beingness served by police force.
Limitations
Ane of the major limitations of this study was its relatively small-scale sample size of African American males and sampling from a single institution. Furthermore, there was an oversampling of females who were generally younger, evidenced by the about common age of participant in this study being 19 years of age. Generalizability cannot be causeless to transfer to non-HBCUs given the specific focus of this written report. Futurity directions should involve incorporating larger samples with equal portions of male and female students to provide stronger basis for predictive models. If possible, future studies should also include a non-HBCU control group to appraise for significant differences that may be between African American college students. Considerable thoughts should also be given to incorporating more background information in the assay as information technology pertains to academic major and neighborhood of origin to assess how those factors are related to perceptions of police. Global items also as specific items should be incorporated in an analysis of ane's perception of police given distinctions that indigenous and racial groups may make when evaluating the constabulary.
Implications
Though this research focuses on the perceptions of police held by African American college students' and highlights some of the predictors, it should be noted that in terms of law and community relations the participants of this study are but ane function of the dynamic. Whatever lasting change that will impact perceptions volition involve all groups involved and volition exist a result of genuine and procedural changes in human relations. Constabulary, minority groups, and the dominant group all have somewhat negative images of each other and each of these groups brings certain expectations to encounters. It is reasonable to expect that all participants in law interactions are subject to misinterpretations and misperceptions of ane another'due south actions and intentions. Accurate depictions need to replace negative stereotypes in all groups, and there is a need for concerted endeavour toward mutual business organisation, understanding, and respect. Given that satisfaction with police was linked to increased confidence in police performance in this study, several suggestions could be employed past police. To improve police and community relations, campus police can do the post-obit: found reasonably well-publicized grievance procedures, hold public meetings to resolve issues, open up the police department to public inspection, provide opportunities for citizens to ride with patrol officers, invite the public to participate in policy making, accept prompt disciplinary procedures against officers who violate the law, and citizen police academies where citizens can learn more about law procedures (Cox and Fitzgerald, 1996).
These solutions are not meant to be exhaustive or perfect, and absolutely they are focused on one party since law enforcement cannot require minority citizens to appoint in any intervention to ameliorate police force minority relations (Cox and Fitzgerald, 1996). Nevertheless, the police must have initiative in improving police and minority relations, fifty-fifty when it is counter to police force subculture and encounters are unpleasant. It will be difficult to reconcile differences among groups if neither political party understands the need for mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation. It is the authors' hope that the data presented could serve as fodder for further discussion on how to remedy the chronic strained interactions that go along to exist betwixt law enforcement and African Americans with and without histories of police force victimization.
Ethics Statement
All researchers and authors associated with this study acted in accordance with institutional review board standards following approval of the project. Informed consent was sought and obtained from all research participants and confidentiality and anonymity was ensured for all participants in the study. All participants voluntarily participated in the study and were informed of their right to withdraw during any point of the report. The researchers and authors strove to avoid damage to all participants and report conclusions related to the variables in an independent and impartial manner.
Writer Contributions
All authors listed have made a substantial, direct and intellectual contribution to the work, and approved it for publication.
Conflict of Involvement Argument
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of whatsoever commercial or fiscal relationships that could be construed as a potential disharmonize of interest.
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Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2019.00065/full
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