More Black than Blue? Comparing the Racial Attitudes of Police to Citizens1. (12th September 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: LeCount, Ryan Jerome
• Other Names: Cerulo Karen A. guestEditor.; Ruane Janet M. guestEditor.
• Is Part Of: Sociological forum. Volume 32(2017)Supplement 1
• Page Start: 1051
• Page End: 1072
• Publication Date: 2017-09-12
• Subjects: attitudes -- group threat -- police bias -- racial prejudice -- racial resentment -- stereotypes; Sociology -- Periodicals; 301
• DOI: 10.1111/socf.12367
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0884-8971

Abstract

Abstract : How are the racial attitudes of police officers distinct from those of the public? How might the officer's own race shape those attitudes? Recent high‐profile cases of contested uses of lethal force by white police officers against citizens of color have reanimated a long‐established debate about the way(s) that race shapes police contact. While research has documented substantial racial disparities across a variety of criminal justice outcomes, little is known about how law enforcement officers might differ from citizens in the way that they think about citizens of color. Existing studies of such attitudes are often limited by the idiosyncrasies of small and unrepresentative samples. The present study overcomes these limitations by employing the first nationally representative survey comparing citizens and police a range of racial attitudes. Findings suggest that white police are, indeed, more racially resentful, more likely to see blacks as violent, and more likely to minimize anti‐black discrimination than are white nonpolice. Black police officers, however, are not significantly more racially conservative than black citizens on any of the measures examined, lending modest evidence to the "selection effect" theory of Police Personality.