Subjective interpretation of “objective” video evidence: Perceptions of male versus female police officers’ use-of-force.

Abstract

The police face great scrutiny after highly publicized instances of lethal force. Dash-camera footage ostensibly provides "objective" evidence of whether the force was excessive. We tested whether participants interpreted the same "objective" video of an officer exerting force differently based on the officer's gender and race. Hypothesis: We predicted that when (a) a male (vs. female) officer used force and (b) a Black (vs. White) officer used force, participants would endorse more internal and less external explanations for their use-of-force, which would be associated with less trust in and perceived effectiveness of the officer. Method: We randomly assigned Amazon's Mechanical Turk workers (N ϭ 452; 53% female, 80% White) to (a) see a segment of a police-civilian interaction video that either included or did not include exertion of force, and to believe that the officer was (b) male versus female, and (c) Black versus White. They reported their trust in the officer and perceptions of the officer's effectiveness, and their degree of agreement with external and internal attributions for the officer's behavior. Results: When officers used force, people trusted officers less (d ϭ 1.13) and perceived them to be less effective (d ϭ .78) relative to when they did not. Despite all participants viewing the same interaction, people who thought they saw a male (vs. female) officer perceived his use-of-force to be driven more by internal traits, such as being aggressive and emotionally reactive, and less by the external situation, which was associated with decreased trust and perceived effectiveness. In contrast, people perceived female (vs. male) officers' force to be driven more by external aspects of the dangerous situation, which was associated with increased trust and perceived effectiveness. This pattern did not depend on the officers' race or participants' gender. Conclusion: This constitutes a rare instance of women benefiting from violating gender stereotypes in the workplace because people assumed her counterstereotypical behavior was more justified by the situation and less about her being an aggressive and emotionally reactive person. Public Significance StatementWhen officers use force, the public trusted them less and perceived them to be less effective than when they did not use force. The public's negative reaction toward the use-of-force was somewhat buffered, however, for female officers relative to male officers. This effect was due to people explaining female officers' use-of-force as a result of the dangerous external situation, but the male officers' force as a result of his internal traits, such as being aggressive and emotionally reactive.

The Impact of Experienced and Expressed Emotion on Legal Factfinding

“…Favorable reactions to emotional female victims might also explain why people rate female police officers who violate gender roles by expressing aggression and anger by exerting force more favorably than male officers who exert force. We found that when a male officer exerted force, people believed it was because he was an aggressive person and trusted him less, whereas they believed that a female officer exerted force because of external danger that she was in and trusted her more (Salerno & Sanchez 2020). Thus, factfinders might react favorably to female emotion when they perceive those women to be in the role of a potential victim.…”

Perceptions of identity management in police-civilian interactions: considering the role of gender and race

“…Our manipulation showcased a use of force scenario, and research finds that female officers are both trusted and believed to be more effective than male officers when using force against a civilian (Salerno and Sanchez, 2020). Salerno and Sanchez (2020) found that people believe that females were compelled to use force because of external forces (i.e. a dangerous situation), while men wanted to use force because of internal forces (i.e., impulse to act on trait aggression).…”

“…White, female officers were perceived as more appropriate in their actions than their male counterparts. Our manipulation showcased a use of force scenario, and research finds that female officers are both trusted and believed to be more effective than male officers when using force against a civilian (Salerno and Sanchez, 2020). Salerno and Sanchez (2020) found that people believe that females were compelled to use force because of external forces (i.e.…”

“…Specifically, White, female officers were perceived as more appropriate in their actions compared to White, male officers, but only when they were engaging with White, male civilians. Gendered biases can result in White, female officers being perceived as non-threatening when policing White, male civilians (Alpert and Dunham, 1997;Salerno and Sanchez, 2020), and thus more appropriate in their actions. Finally, another two-way interaction emerged for appropriateness of actions, such that when White officers policed White, female civilians, the IM strategy of transcending was more advantageous in comparison to denying and avoiding strategies.…”

“…An extension of our studies could involve having participants watch police-civilian interactions as these would likely exacerbate the reactions to IM strategies used (e.g. dashcam videos; Salerno and Sanchez, 2020). However, such efforts would require coding all videos for IM strategies, which can be a resource-intensive endeavor.…”