Who Believes that the Police Use Excessive Force? Centering Racism in Research on Perceptions of the Police

Abstract

Objectives Police use of excessive—even fatal—force is a significant social issue, one at the symbolic heart of the Black Lives Matter civil rights movement. However, a substantial number of Americans—disproportionately White—tend to minimize the prevalence of this issue. We seek to explain differences in these views. Methods We look at whether experiences with the police, politics, and three measures of racial attitudes explain differences in views of the prevalence of police use of excessive force, and we specifically test for whether these factors help explain racial stratification in these views. Using data from three different recent national surveys collected by the American National Election Studies, we attempt to replicate our findings within this paper. Results Views of police use of force are highly stratified by race and politics and racial attitudes—in particular racial resentment—play an important role in explaining these differences. Conclusions If we hope to address this important issue, it matters that many people minimize its existence, and it matters why they minimize it. We argue that centering race in crime and justice research necessarily means centering racism.

We’ve been here before: Reactions to the murder of George Floyd and subsequent protests for justice.

“…For example, in September 2020, 91% of Black Americans acknowledged that Black Americans are treated less fairly than White Americans when interacting with police, while 58% of White Americans acknowledged this disparity (Horowitz et al, 2020). And, compared to Black and Latinx Americans, White Americans have higher anti-Black attitudes, which explains why they are less likely to believe that police use excessive force-before, during, and after the murder of George Floyd (Drakulich et al, 2022). Therefore, the large presence of White protestors at the subsequent protests for justice was not only historically unique but also unrepresentative of many White Americans' reported acknowledgment of racism in policing.…”

“…Second, we examined how alarmed (e.g., emotionally jarred) participants were by the murder of George Floyd and the presence of White protestors. Previous research demonstrates the negative impact of police brutality on Black Americans’ perceptions (e.g., Bor et al, 2018) as well as the lack of White American acknowledgment of police brutality due to anti-Black attitudes (e.g., Drakulich et al, 2022). Thus, we expected a main effect of race on reports of how alarmed participants were such that Black (relative to White) Americans would be more alarmed by both the murder of George Floyd and the significant level of White people at subsequent protests for justice.…”

Background justice: the political context of adolescent legal socialization

“…For example, recent research has found that racial resentmenta view that downplays the relevance of historical discrimination and blames racial inequality on Black peopleis a significant factor in shaping perceptions of police among white Americans. Drakulich et al (2022a) found that racial resentment plays an important role in explaining racial stratification in perceptions of the prevalence of excessive force in policing.…”