Community crime, poverty, and proportion of Black residents influence police descriptions of adolescents.

Abstract

Objective: Our study examined officers' attitudes and perceptions of adolescents in general (and challenges in policing adolescents) and the degree to which community variables affect those perceptions. Hypotheses: Our examinations of officers' descriptions of adolescents and challenges in policing adolescents were exploratory. We hypothesized that community characteristics would significantly influence officers' perceptions of adolescents, such that working in more impoverished, higher crime, and more proportionally Black communities would be associated with more negative perceptions of adolescents. Method: Data were obtained from 1,112 active law enforcement officers representing 30 police agencies/departments across the United States. Participating officers completed a survey about adolescents and challenges in policing adolescents. Publicly available data sets were used to measure select community and police agency/ departmental characteristics. We examined qualitative data using an inductive methodological approach. Results: Police officers' descriptions of adolescents were significantly more negative than positive. Negativity was observed in the relative frequency of negative versus positive comments about adolescents as well as the use of inherently problematic descriptors. Police officers working in more impoverished, higher crime, and more proportionally Black communities displayed significantly more problematic attitudes and significantly fewer positive attitudes compared with those in less proportionally Black communities. The findings related to race were partially-but not completely-explained by other community variables. Conclusions: Officers' negative descriptors, their occasional use of inherently problematic terms, and the intensification of those tendencies when working in communities with more poverty, higher crime, and a larger proportion of Black residents suggest an urgent need for intervention to help officers better understand youth. Training that would help police officers better understand youth, recognize developmental influences, and see each youth individually rather than as a representative of a group could help officers interact more supportively with youth, be less likely to inadvertently create confrontation, and more effectively de-escalate situations involving distressed or activated youth. Public Significance StatementThese findings suggest that police officers misperceive adolescents, that they exhibit racial biases also present in the broader society, and that they could benefit from training that helps them more accurately understand adolescence.

Racial justice in psycholegal research and forensic psychology practice: Current advances and a framework for future progress.

“…Using qualitative methods, either by themselves or as part of mixed-methods research, may lead to the identification of problems, variables, or situations that previously were unknown to the researchers. In this issue, Fix et al (2023) use police officers' qualitative descriptions of adolescents to examine the frequency of problematic views about young people and the contexts in which police are more likely to espouse them. Going a step further, in participatory action research, community members are enlisted as research collaborators, helping to determine what questions are asked and how they are studied .…”

“…In the wake of the BLM movement, it is not surprising that one of the themes of the special issue is racial biases in policing. Fix et al (2023) examine descriptions of adolescents provided by a geographically diverse sample of police officers. Overall, police officers have more negative than positive associations with adolescents, and approximately one in five officers express problematic views, such as seeing adolescents as "savage."…”

Promoting safe and equitable police-youth interactions: Recommendations from young people and policing personnel

“…Beyond systemic bias are biases that individuals hold -including both policing personnel and YPwhich are cultivated through media, socialization, other societal in uences, and personal experiences and often perpetuate automatic and often inaccurate associations of people with select stereotypes. For example, policing personnel might be predisposed to think that adolescents are disrespectful and entitled (Fix, Aaron, et al, 2023) and YP that police are rigid and compelled to act (Fix, Jackson, et al, 2023). Black YP, moreover, are more likely to view police o cers as biased (Peck & Jennings, 2016), a perception that is supported by recent research on policing personnel's perceptions of YP in communities with a proportionally higher Black population (Fix, Aaron, et al, 2023).…”

“…For example, policing personnel might be predisposed to think that adolescents are disrespectful and entitled (Fix, Aaron, et al, 2023) and YP that police are rigid and compelled to act (Fix, Jackson, et al, 2023). Black YP, moreover, are more likely to view police o cers as biased (Peck & Jennings, 2016), a perception that is supported by recent research on policing personnel's perceptions of YP in communities with a proportionally higher Black population (Fix, Aaron, et al, 2023). This is noteworthy given that perceptions and expectations in uence behavior, as perceptions are impacted by unconscious and automatic processes (Tamir & Bigman, 2018).…”