ArticlesHow kids view cops The nature of juvenile attitudes toward the police
Introduction
During the past two decades politicians, social scientists, and police administrators have become increasingly concerned with the attitudes of citizens toward the police Brandl et al. 1994, Brown & Coulter 1983, Decker 1981, Erez 1984, Frank et al. 1996, Mastrofski 1981, Percy 1986. As evaluators and police practitioners have come to see citizens' support both as an important outcome in its own right and as an essential element in the coproduction of public safety, surveys of citizens have been incorporated increasingly into evaluations of police strategies (e.g., differential police response, community policing). Most of the research concerning citizens' attitudes, unfortunately, has focused on assessing the attitudes of adults. In contrast, only a limited number of studies have examined the attitudes of juveniles toward the police.
This lack of research is unfortunate for several reasons. First, juveniles comprise a significant proportion of the population subject to police contact and arrests (Snyder & Sickmund, 1996). Second, the police are usually the first, and only, criminal justice officials with whom juveniles have contact. Together, these points may be significant because contacts early in life may shape future relations between youths and the system (Winfree & Griffiths, 1977). If the relationship between attitudes toward the police and citizen willingness to engage in behaviors supportive of the police, or in other words to act as coproducers of public safety and security, is valid Bell 1979, Goldstein 1987, Skolnick & Bayley 1988, Stipak 1979, Thomas & Hyman 1977, Wycoff 1988, then the attitudes of juveniles take on added importance.
Still, researchers have paid only limited attention to the attitudes of juveniles toward the police. This neglect is evident in the limited number of studies performed in this area Clark & Wenninger 1964, Giordano 1976, Griffiths & Winfree 1982, Leiber et al. 1998, Moretz 1980, Rusinko et al. 1978, Winfree & Griffiths 1977. In addition, with the exception of the study by Leiber, Nalla, and Farnworth (1998), most of the existing studies are quite dated, failed to include variables that recent studies on attitudes toward the police have suggested are theoretically relevant, and failed to subject their data to rigorous multivariate statistical techniques.
With these points in mind, this study expanded the existing literature by addressing three research questions. First, what is the overall level of support for the police among juveniles? Second, do variables commonly found to be statistically significant determinants of adult attitudes also explain juvenile attitudes toward the police? Third, and related, are there other factors than those within the adult literature that contribute to an explanation of juvenile attitudes?
Section snippets
Attitudes of juveniles toward the police
In 1904, noted African American scholar W. E. B. DuBois administered a questionnaire to 1,500 African American children from the Atlanta public school system and 500 students throughout Georgia, in an effort to assess their perceptions of the courts, police, and the justice system more generally (DuBois, 1904). DuBois' findings on the police revealed that slightly more than a third of the students believed the purpose of the police was to arrest people, while only 20 percent said the police
Attitudes toward the police: expanding the literature on juveniles
With the exception of the study by Leiber and his colleagues (1998), studies on juveniles' attitudes toward the police are dated and limited in number. Leiber et al. provided a rigorous test of the relationship between subculture theory and the attitudes of juveniles toward the police, and included in their models many variables found to be theoretically relevant in research on adult attitudes toward the police, though their analysis only included males that were “either accused of delinquency
Levels of support for the police: examining the adult literature
One consistent finding in the literature on the attitudes of adults toward the police has been that most people voice favorable attitudes, irrespective of the focus of the attitude question or the response categories (e.g., level of satisfaction, whether police did a good job, etc.). Brandl, Frank, Wooldredge, and Watkins (1997) found that 80 percent of their sample was satisfied with the police, while Frank et al. (1996) reported that approximately 65 percent of their sample was at least
Study sample
Data for this study were collected using self-administered surveys distributed to high school students in and around Cincinnati, Ohio. The sample consisted of ninth through twelfth graders enrolled in two Cincinnati public schools and one Hamilton County public school. Students attending Cincinnati public schools generally reside within the city limits, while students attending Hamilton County public schools generally reside outside the city limits but within the county in which Cincinnati is
Findings
Two strategies were utilized to examine the attitudes of juveniles toward the police. First, the frequencies to the eleven attitudinal items were examined to assess the extent of support the police enjoy. Second, to explore the determinants of juveniles' attitudes toward the police, the results of multivariate analyses are presented.
Discussion and conclusion
This study examined the attitudes toward the police of a rarely studied population—juveniles. This is unfortunate because juveniles comprise a substantial portion of the population likely to have contact with the police (Snyder & Sickmund, 1996), attitudes formed early in life are likely to persist over time, and these attitudes may influence both teenager willingness to act as coproducers of public safety and their behavior during encounters with the police Bell 1979, Goldstein 1987, Skolnick
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