Visible Minorities and Confidence in the Police

Abstract

Il existe peu d'études sur la perception publique différentielle de la force policière au Canada. En se basant sur l'Enquête sociale générale de 2004 au Canada, on examine dans l'article l'impact de l'appartenance à une minorité visible sur la confiance des citoyens dans la force policière. En harmonie avec les prédictions théoriques, les résultats d'analyses multidimensionnelles montrent que le niveau de confiance des membres des minorités visibles était inférieur à celui des non-membres même après le contrôle des variables liées aux effets de perceptions, aux contextes communautaires et à la criminalité. Cet effet minime, mais constant, des minorités visibles soulève des questions sur les relations raciales au Canada. D'autres facteurs importants et intéressants qui contribuent à prévoir la confiance accordée à la force policière sont le contexte communautaire, les perceptions et les expériences liées à la criminalité. Les résultats indiquent que tout le monde n'a pas la même confiance dans les forces policières; des mesures de réforme sont nécessaires pour que les forces policières arrivent à gagner le coeur et la confiance des minorités visibles au Canada.Mots clés : confiance dans la force policière, minorités visibles, relations raciales au Canada Few studies have been conducted about differential public perceptions of the police in Canada. Based on the 2004 General Social Survey of Canada, this article examines the impact of belonging to the category visible minorities on citizens' confidence in the police. Consistent with the theoretical prediction, results of multivariate analyses show that members of visible minorities had lower levels of confidence than non-members of visible minorities, even after the effects of perceptions, community contexts, and crime-related variables were controlled for. The small but persistent effect of visible minorities raises questions about race relations in Canada. Other interesting significant predictors of confidence in the police are community context, perceptions, and crime experiences. The findings indicate that equal racial confidence in the police is yet to be achieved and continued reform measures are needed if the police force is to win the hearts and minds of visible minorities in Canada.Keywords: confidence in the police, visible minorities, racial relations in Canada 6 2011 CJCCJ/RCCJP

Reporting Violent Victimization to the Police: A Focus on Black, White, Asian and Hispanic Adolescent Victims

“…While the majority of United States citizens embrace the protective power of law enforcement, much of which is determined by trust in police, numerous studies show that African Americans and Hispanics remain suspicious of police [47][48][49][50][51][52]. Findings from the current study indicate that juveniles represent a unique group that remains reluctant to report victimization to law enforcement.…”

Perceptions of Police Legitimacy and Citizen Decisions to Report Hate Crime Incidents in Australia

“…Individuals who see the government as legitimate will be more likely to accept laws implemented by the government and take on the responsibility to abide by such laws and cooperate with government bodies. Dissimilarities in the confidence in the police (and government) additionally undermine social integration and create social differences (Cao 2011). Bradford (2014 has examined the links between procedural justice, social identity and police cooperation and has tested if people are more cooperative with the police if they feel included in the social group that the police represents and identify with this group.…”

Policing Transgender People

“…Accordingly, police agencies throughout the world seek to build rapport with a range of minority groups (Tyler, 1990(Tyler, , 2005Wolff & Cokely, 2007). Previous research indicates that relationships between police and minority groups have been tense due to real or perceived discriminatory police practices (Bradford, 2014;Cao, 2011;Murphy & Cherney, 2011;Tankebe, 2013;Tyler, 2005;Van Craen & Skogan, 2014). Police policy documents then often articulate strategies and approaches that police organizations want to implement in their efforts to break down barriers with minority groups.…”