Police Brutality and Public Perceptions of Racial Discrimination: A Tale of Two Beatings

Sigelman, Lee; Welch, Susan; Bledsoe, Timothy; Combs, Michael W.

doi:10.1177/106591299705000403

Cited by 56 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…As Goldsmith (2010: 916) puts it, the influence of these images is not necessarily found in legal courts but in the "court of public opinion". These images, especially when they go viral on websites like YouTube, are likely to weigh significantly on the minds of the public (Lasley, 1994;Sigelman et al, 1997). Where line officers tended to focus on the extent to which they would personally be harmed or exonerated should they be filmed doing something apparently wrong, they miss these wider symbolic risks to the legitimacy of police organizations that flow from the circulation of controversial images.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Policing on camera

Sandhu

Haggerty

2016

Theoretical Criminology

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On any shift a police officer might be filmed by some combination of public or private surveillance cameras, including the cameras of individual citizens, activists, journalists, businesses, and a range of police-controlled cameras. This loosely coordinated camera infrastructure is part of the broader transformation of policing from a historically "low visibility" to an increasingly 'high visibility' occupation. This article reports on the findings of a participant-observation study of how police officers understand and respond to this transformation. We identify three distinct orientations, and highlight the multifaceted and contradictory relationship between police officers and cameras. The study raises questions about the extent to which camera technologies represent a straightforward way to "police the police".

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Policing on camera

Sandhu

Haggerty

2016

Theoretical Criminology

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“…More recently, much empirical evidence shows that public opinion of the police is highly sensitive to events that are heavily publicized by the national media (see, e.g., Albrecht & Green 1977; Tuch & Weitzer 1997; Shaw et al 1998; Sigelman et al 1997; Sampson & Bartusch 1998; Cao & Hou 2001). The urban riots of the middle to late 1960s, police violence against civil rights protestors and African Americans, and other high‐profile incidents have attracted the attention of the national media.…”

Section: Perceptions Of the Policementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Often at the center of these debates were issues related to race and ethnicity. Lasley (1994), Tuch & Weitzer (1997), and Sigelman et al (1997) demonstrate how short‐ and long‐term effects of publicized police misconduct affect differently the opinions that majority and minority populations have concerning the national agenda of greater law and order 2 . U.S. research provides considerable evidence for a significant relationship between the police and national governmental politics.…”

Section: Perceptions Of the Policementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Focusing events can be particularly important cues for citizen attitudes toward the police. Tuch and Weitzer (1997:647), Shaw et al (1998), and Sigelman et al (1997) show that highly publicized incidents of police misconduct affect public confidence in the police at both the local and national level (i.e., the Los Angeles policemen's 1991 beating of Rodney King). Cao and Hou (2001) also illustrate that public attitudes toward the police are related to major political events such as the 1990 Tiananmen Square incident.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Elections as Focusing Events: Explaining Attitudes Toward the Police and the Government in Comparative Perspective

Walker

Waterman

2008

Law Soc Rev

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Traditional views hold that citizens' attitudes toward the police are driven by local concerns. We contend that public attitudes toward the police are responsive to systematic and periodic national-level political factors. In particular, we show that national elections as a focusing event alter periodically the determinants of attitudes toward the police. Using a logistic regression model and diachronic data from Costa Rica, Mexico, and the United States, we find that attitudes toward the police and the national government are linked, and this linkage is responsive to the influence of national election campaigns in varying degrees. In addition, we find that attitudes toward the Mexican police are sensitive to partisan changes in the composition of the national political government. We find no such sensitivity in the police attitudes of Costa Rican and U.S. citizens. This suggests that police attitudes are not only affected by the performance of the national political government but also by the character (consolidated versus unconsolidated) of the national political government. In short, police attitudes in new democracies are an indication of the unconsolidated nature of the state apparatus.Cl assic studies of public attitudes toward the police point to local factors as the predominant determinants in police attitudes (Whyte 1943;Wilson 1963). However, more recent studies indicate that attitudes toward national governmental structures also influence attitudes toward the police (Albrecht & Green 1977;Cao & Zhao 1998, 2005. Extending this research, we find that perceptions of the police are related to evaluations of the national government in three different countries. We also find that this relationship is stronger during national election years, when issues of crime and punishment are more likely to be on the national

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“…Among the studies undertaken are assessments of the context of racism and social control (GoodingWilliams 1993a), examination of the discursive practices of professionals, namely the police (Goodwin 1994), narrative analysis of media stories about the beating (Jacobs 1996(Jacobs , 2000, and study of the effects of the beating on public opinion about racial discrimination (Sigelman et al 1997). Here, the King beating is analyzed using an original framework: the dynamics of backfire.…”

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confidence: 99%

The Beating of Rodney King: The Dynamics of Backfire

Martin

2005

Crit Crim

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The 1991 beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police provides rich case material in how an attack perceived as unjust can backfire. Drawing on nonviolence theory, an original framework is developed to analyze attacks as potential backfires that are usually, but not always, inhibited. Attackers can use a variety of methods to inhibit backfires, including covering up the attack, devaluing the target, reinterpreting the events, using official channels, and using intimidation and bribery. Writings on the Rodney King beating include evidence on the use of each of these methods. Studying the backfire process offers improved understanding on how to oppose unjust attacks. _______________________

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Police Brutality and Public Perceptions of Racial Discrimination: A Tale of Two Beatings

Cited by 56 publications

References 9 publications

Policing on camera

Policing on camera

Elections as Focusing Events: Explaining Attitudes Toward the Police and the Government in Comparative Perspective

The Beating of Rodney King: The Dynamics of Backfire

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