Attitudes Toward the Police: The Significance of Race and Other Factors Among College Students

Mbuba, Jospeter M.

doi:10.1080/15377938.2010.502846

Cited by 57 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 34 publications

(38 reference statements)

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“…Thus, it is difficult to conclude one way or another about which way majoring in criminal justice might influence responses to questions about the police. As a whole, college students tend to have more negative views of the police and are more likely to believe they discriminate against minorities than the general population (Mbuba, 2010).…”

Section: Control Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The police-military equivalency model will also use whether or not they are a military dependent, a veteran, in R.O.T.C., or considering a career in the military. Sex, race/ethnicity, and age are common control variables in studies of perceptions of the police (e.g., Cao et al, 1996;Hurst & Frank, 2000) and studies of college students' attitudes about criminal justice topics typically control for a student's major (e.g., Mbuba, 2010;Sethuraju et al, 2017;Tsoudis, 2000). For the interests of this study, it is worth considering whether being interested in a career in law enforcement is related to support for independent investigations of police officers and perceptions of the police and whether being interested or related to the military could impact the likelihood that one sees police officers as equivalent to soldiers.…”

Section: Control Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, the results cannot be generalized to the general public to make conclusions about how Americans or even students at the University of Cincinnati as a whole perceive the police and feel about police accountability. Past research has found that compared to the general population, college students tend to have more negative attitudes toward the police and are more likely to believe that the police discriminate against minorities (Mbuba, 2010). Past research has also found that criminal justice majors tend to be more supportive of individual rights compared to students of other majors (Tsoudis, 2000).…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Public servants or soldiers? A test of the police-military equivalency hypothesis

Ilchi

Frank

2019

Journal of Crime and Justice

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During these times of escalating tensions between the police and the communities they serve, the news and social media have been full of images of police officers wearing military gear, armed with military weapons, and driving military vehicles. This study examined whether the blurred lines between police officers and soldiers have caused the public to begin to see police officers who work in urban areas as equivalent to soldiers in war zones. Using a sample of undergraduate college students in criminal justice classes at a Midwestern university, this study asks whether perceiving police officers to be equivalent to soldiers is related to negative attitudes towards the residents of disadvantaged neighborhoods, weaker support for policies that seek to increase police accountability, an opposition to groups which seek to increase police accountability, and an opposition to convicting a local police officer for the shooting death of an unarmed African American man.The results of the study indicate that a belief in an equivalency between police officers and soldiers is not common in the sample, but it can be predicted by being white, holding more conservative values, and having more negative attitudes toward the residents of disadvantaged neighborhoods. When used as an explanatory variable, a belief in the police-military equivalency does predict lower levels of support for independent prosecutions of police officers who shoot civilians, more negative attitudes toward the Black Lives Matter movement, and a lack of support for convicting a former campus police officer who was charged with murder for the shooting death of an unarmed African American man. The equivalency did not predict lower levels of support for independent investigations of police officers who shoot civilians. This would suggest that there is credibility to the idea that people who view the police as military may be more forgiving or permissive of police misconduct. In addition, the most consistent predictor ii of police accountability in the study was negative attitudes toward residents of disadvantaged neighborhoods.Overall, support for police accountability policies (independent investigations and prosecutions) was high, especially compared to support for Black Lives Matter and convicting the former campus police officer. The significance of race in predicting attitudes toward Black Lives Matter and support for convicting the former campus police officer suggests that white respondents are more likely to be opposed to or ambivalent towards these social justice causes.This could mean that the white respondents in the study supported the idea of police accountability in theory more than they support ways of accomplishing the goal of increasing police accountability and police accountability in action.iii Copyright Notice © Omeed S. Ilchi iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For a while, it seemed like I was never going to finish this dissertation. The fact that I made it this far is due in large part to my support network.First of all, I would like to thank my disse...

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Section: Control Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Control Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Public servants or soldiers? A test of the police-military equivalency hypothesis

Ilchi

Frank

2019

Journal of Crime and Justice

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“…For decades, researchers have found that a citizens' attitude toward the police and the courts are impacted by the race of the individual. Studies have found that communities of color have a more negative view of the police and courts than do nonminority subjects (Lee & Gibbs, 2015;Lewis, Wilks, Geiger, Barthelemy, & Livermore, 2017;Mbuba, 2010;Oliveira & Murphy, 2015;Weitzer, 2015;Weitzer & Tuch, 1999). One theory that has been posited to explain racial differences in attitudes toward the police has been Blumer's (1958) group position theory.…”

Section: Acceptance Of Racial Bias In Policingmentioning

confidence: 99%

College Students’ Views on Drug Policy in the United States: The Impact of Reading Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow

Clark

Vaquera

Chaplin

2019

Journal of Criminal Justice Education

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Using a quasi-experimental research design to test the "Marshall Hypothesis," we investigated the effects of reading Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration and the Age of Colorblindness on college students' views of drug policy in the United States. One hundred and twenty-eight undergraduate students at a predominantly white Midwest university took part in this study. Test subjects read the text and took both a pre-and posttest questionnaire, while a control group of students, who did not read the book, was also surveyed concerning their views on drug policies. Additionally, reflective essays written by the test population were also analyzed. Findings offer limited support for the Marshall Hypothesis, which asserts that a properly informed constituency would conclude that certain policies in the U.S. are unjust. Students, in general, showed significant changes in their perceptions of drug policies after reading the text. However, disaggregating students by gender showed that female students, more than male students, are more convinced by Alexander's arguments that current drug policy unfairly target communities of color.

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“…Brunson (2007) found young black males attitudes were negatively affected by indirect experiences with police. Mbuba (2010) found non-white college students viewed police more negatively than white students. In addition, male students were more likely to see police in a negative light and dissuaded their children or close family from becoming police officers.…”

Section: Community Strategies In a Diverse Society: A Review Of The Lmentioning

confidence: 99%

Partnership Strategies for a Changing Society: A Comparative Review of the Literature

Mims¹,

Waddell²

2016

JMC

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As the saying goes, "Perception is reality". To many minorities, the police are prejudiced toward people of color and unconcerned about providing services to their communities. From the police's perception minority neighborhoods are ambivalent and non-supportive of police efforts to combat crime in their community. As police community-relations have appeared to decline over the past years and tensions have exacerbated between the two; which perception is more accurate? Perhaps there is more than one answer with both sides needing to form a partnership and find ways to collaborate on strategies for a changing society. Negative perceptions threaten police and community relations and impact efforts to work together. Understanding both the cultural and ethnic differences of a community as well as the importance of discussing the implementation of crime control strategies are all elements, which can help change these negative perceptions. Police realize they alone cannot control crime and must truly enlist the aid of minority communities in this endeavor. As our society changes one thing is for certain, there are more questions than answers and we have to find a way to work together in order to be able to successfully meet the challenges that lie ahead. This literature review was conducted from two different perspectives-the perception of police and the community and the perceptions of community and the police.

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Attitudes Toward the Police: The Significance of Race and Other Factors Among College Students

Cited by 57 publications

References 34 publications

Public servants or soldiers? A test of the police-military equivalency hypothesis

Public servants or soldiers? A test of the police-military equivalency hypothesis

College Students’ Views on Drug Policy in the United States: The Impact of Reading Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow

Partnership Strategies for a Changing Society: A Comparative Review of the Literature

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