Women in Policing and Legitimacy: A Vignette-Based Study of Symbolic Representation

Putting A Fresh Face Forward: Does the Gender of a Police Chief Affect Public Perceptions?

“…4. However, Schuck et al (2021) found that this relationship was limited to underperforming units. 5.…”

“…The public may believe that the shared identity bureaucrat has similar values and may experience greater psychological satisfaction with the government, leading to improved perceptions of legitimacy, increased trust, and greater co-production (Riccucci and Van Ryzin 2017, Riccucci et al 2014). While evidence supporting symbolic representation regarding race and policing is mixed (Theobald and Haider-Markel 2009, Lee and Nicholson-Crotty 2022, Headley et al 2021), women’s presence in police forces (and other bureaucratic institutions) increases perceptions of fairness, legitimacy, and support (Riccucci et al 2014, Schuck et al 2021). 4 Although symbolic representation does not require a bureaucrat to act differently, attitudes often improve due to expectations that the bureaucrat will act differently, informed by stereotypes and experiences associated with their identity.…”

“…For example, abused women view female police as more sympathetic and understanding relative to men (Kennedy and Homant 1983). Beyond direct victims’ possible preferences for female officers, women’s representation in sexual assault and domestic violence units increases the public’s perceived legitimacy of the police and support for police leadership (Riccucci et al 2014, Schuck et al 2021). Therefore, female police chiefs may be viewed as more effective at addressing gender-based crimes due to perceptions that women are more likely to prioritize these issues, more likely to be sensitive to the victims, and more effective at addressing them.…”

“…To test our theory, we surveyed approximately 2,400 respondents using Lucid, a survey research firm that recruits samples of adults via the Internet, in April 2021. While Lucid provides a convenience sample and our sample is not representative of the U.S. population, the use of convenience samples is common in political science and is widely used in scholarship about policing (Schuck et al 2021, Barnes and Beaulieu 2019, Boudreau et al 2022, Davies et al 2020, Pica et al 2020, Riccucci et al 2018, Schwarz and Coppock 2021). Lucid is more representative than student samples and Coppock and McClellan (2019) demonstrate that experimental findings using Lucid samples track well with US national benchmarks.…”

Critical thoughts about critical mass in representative bureaucracy: A theoretical exploration and empirical illustration

“…Several studies indicate women are more willing to report sexual assaults to police, a process that could only occur by symbolic representation because it requires victims to act before contact with a police officer (Meier and Nicholson‐Crotty, 2005; Schuck, 2018). A number of vignette experimental studies has linked aggregate bureaucratic representation levels to increased perceptions of legitimacy or willingness to coproduce in policing (Riccucci et al., 2018; Riccucci et al., 2014; Schuck et al., 2021), recycling (Riccucci Van Ryzin and Li, 2016), and automation of traffic enforcement (Miller & Keiser, 2021). Other vignette experiments, however, yielded null results in emergency preparedness (Van Ryzin et al., 2017) and crime control (Sievert, 2021).…”