Race and Perceptions of Police Misconduct

applying social learning theory to police misconduct

Although numerous studies have attempted to understand the causes of various forms of police misconduct, there is still no clear theoretical explanation of police misbehavior. Akers’ social learning theory posits that peer associations, attitudes, reinforcement, and modeling are predictors of delinquency and crime in general. With this article, we seek to determine if the theory can account for...

Police Misconduct, Media Coverage, and Public Perceptions of Racial Profiling: An Experiment

Police–Community Relations in a Majority-Black City

Minority racial and ethnic groups often view themselves as targets of abusive treatment at the hands of the police. Although racial variation in public assessments of the police in the United States has been amply documented in past research, less research has explored the sources of these differences at the intersection of demographic, interactional, and ecological levels. This article examine...

Perceptions of the police: Past findings, methodological issues, conceptual issues and policy implications

This research updates and expands upon Decker’s article `̀ Citizen attitudes toward the police: a review of past findings and suggestions for future policy’’ by summarizing the findings from more than 100 articles on perceptions of and attitudes toward the police. Initially, the value of research on attitudes toward the police is discussed. Then the research pertaining to the impact of individua...

American Policing Under Fire: Misconduct and Reform

A cluster of recent police killings of African American men has sparked an unprecedented amount of public debate regarding policing in the United States. Critics and protesters have made sweeping allegations about the police; a presidential commission has been formed to study police misconduct; and reforms are being debated. These events provide a backdrop for this article’s review of recent po...