Can youths’ perceptions of the police be improved? Results of a school-based field evaluation in three jurisdictions.

Abstract

The way police officers interact with individuals fundamentally impacts the public’s perceptions of law enforcement. Such perceptions are, in turn, linked to a variety of key outcomes, including crime commission, crime reporting, and the willingness to be a witness. Considering that the way children perceive the police may set the tone for how they view and interact with law enforcement during adolescence and into adulthood, identifying whether children’s perceptions of the police can be changed is essential. The present study examined whether a positive youth development program that enables police officers to work collaboratively with children on community service projects might improve children’s perceptions of police. The results of analyses, which used pre- and postevaluation data on a sample of predominantly Hispanic/Latinx or Black/African American 5th and 6th graders located in 3 jurisdictions in the United States, suggested that enabling law enforcement officers to work collaboratively with children can improve children’s perceptions of police.

Youth Perceptions of Law Enforcement and Worry About Crime from 1976 to 2016

“…On the contrary, this also suggests that "unjust" police practices may have especially detrimental effects in non-White communities. Considering that the data also provide evidence that across races, youth perceptions of law enforcement recently reached the lowest point in over a decade, the implications are clear: Policymakers and practitioners must focus primarily on improving biased and unjust policing practices on the ground (e.g., Mazerolle & Terrill, 2018;Swencionis & goff, 2017) and secondarily on efforts that build legitimacy (O'Brien et al, 2019) and promote "public trust by initiating positive non-enforcement activities to engage communities" (President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing, 2015, p. 2; see also Fine, Padilla, & Tapp, 2019).…”

Implications of youths’ perceptions of police bias and the code of the street for violent offending.

“…These efforts could reduce the public’s perceptions of police bias. However, in an age where confrontations between police and young people are at the fore of the national conversation (Fine, Donley, Cavanagh, & Cauffman, 2020; Fine, Rowan, & Simmons, 2019; Friedman, 2017), police are encouraged to eliminate bias in their interactions with the community in the first place and to build relationships with youth in nonenforcement contexts (Fine, Padilla, & Tapp, 2019). These actions may reduce youths’ reliance on behavioral and attitudinal repertoires that promote violence as well as improve crime reporting (Kwak, Dierenfeldt, & McNeeley, 2019).…”

Procedural justice and legal compliance

“…Conversely, two studies show greater impacts of police engagement on trust, although they do not assess compliance. Fine, Padilla, and Tapp (2019) assessed the impact of Team Kids Challenge, a five‐week program where police engage with youth over community service projects on juvenile views about police. This is again not exclusively a PJ program, but it does emphasize participation and respect.…”