Perceptions of Police Misconduct Among University Students: Do Race and Academic Major Matter?

Abstract

While much previous research has looked at how race influences perceptions about police misconduct, very little research has explored races outside of Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics. Additionally, although research has explored how academic major affects college students' attitudes about a variety of criminal justice issue, only recently has research begun to explore the impact that college major has on attitudes toward the police and perceptions about police misconduct. Using data from surveys given to students from three universities, this study explores the extent to which being White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American as well as majoring in law enforcement, criminal justice, and other disciplines influences perceptions students have about police misconduct. The findings indicate that race plays an important role related to perceptions about both general and neighborhood-level police misconduct and that academic major does have an influential impact on perceptions about police misconduct in general but does not significantly influence perceptions about neighborhood-level police misconduct.

Public servants or soldiers? A test of the police-military equivalency hypothesis

“…Prior research indicates that criminal justice majors are less punitive and tend to be more supportive of individual rights compared to the average college student (Tsoudis, 2000). In another study, students focusing on law enforcement and criminal justice studies were less likely to perceive police misconduct in their own neighborhoods (Sethuraju et al, 2017). Thus, it is difficult to conclude one way or another about which way majoring in criminal justice might influence responses to questions about the police.…”

“…Because of the sample being used for the present study, it is important to examine the literature on perceptions of police misconduct among college students. When asked about both general and neighborhood-level police misconduct, African American students perceived significantly higher levels of police misconduct than white, Hispanic, and Asian students (Sethuraju, Sole, Oliver, & Prew, 2017). Sethuraju and colleagues also found that students who majored in law enforcement studies perceived significantly lower levels of misconduct in their own neighborhoods than students majoring in fields other than criminal justice or law enforcement studies.…”

“…The police-military equivalency model will also use whether or not they are a military dependent, a veteran, in R.O.T.C., or considering a career in the military. Sex, race/ethnicity, and age are common control variables in studies of perceptions of the police (e.g., Cao et al, 1996;Hurst & Frank, 2000) and studies of college students' attitudes about criminal justice topics typically control for a student's major (e.g., Mbuba, 2010;Sethuraju et al, 2017;Tsoudis, 2000). For the interests of this study, it is worth considering whether being interested in a career in law enforcement is related to support for independent investigations of police officers and perceptions of the police and whether being interested or related to the military could impact the likelihood that one sees police officers as equivalent to soldiers.…”

“…The surveys did not ask for any information that would identify the students by name and students were promised that their responses are confidential. Consistent with studies with similar data collection strategies (e.g., Sethuraju, Sole, Oliver, & Prew, 2017), this study aimed for a sample size of 500 students. This study (ID #2017-3871) was approved by the University of Cincinnati Institutional Review Board (IRB) on…”

Do college students’ perceptions of the police differ by education level and major?

“…Only recently has research begun to examine the potential impact of justice education on college students' perceptions of the police (Sethuraju, R., Sole, J., Oliver, B. E., & Prew, P., 2017).…”