Elsevier

Journal of Criminal Justice

Volume 28, Issue 3, May–June 2000, Pages 189-202
Journal of Criminal Justice

Articles
How kids view cops The nature of juvenile attitudes toward the police

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0047-2352(00)00035-0Get rights and content

Abstract

During the past two decades there has been increasing interest in the attitudes of adults toward the police. There has only been limited interest in the attitudes of juveniles, even though they comprise a significant proportion of the population subject to police contact and arrests. The present study, using data collected through a survey administered to a sample of urban and suburban juveniles, examined the determinants of juveniles' attitudes toward the police. The findings generally suggest that the overall attitudes of juveniles are not quite as favorable as those reported previously for adults, that the overall level of support voiced by juveniles varied depending on the focus of the attitude question, that many juveniles selected the “neutral” response category and failed to voice positive or negative attitudes, and that many of the variables identified as being theoretically relevant in the literature on adult attitudes toward the police (e.g., contact with police, respondents' races and genders, extent of victimization) are also significant predictors of the attitudes of juveniles.

Introduction

During the past two decades politicians, social scientists, and police administrators have become increasingly concerned with the attitudes of citizens toward the police Brandl et al. 1994, Brown & Coulter 1983, Decker 1981, Erez 1984, Frank et al. 1996, Mastrofski 1981, Percy 1986. As evaluators and police practitioners have come to see citizens' support both as an important outcome in its own right and as an essential element in the coproduction of public safety, surveys of citizens have been incorporated increasingly into evaluations of police strategies (e.g., differential police response, community policing). Most of the research concerning citizens' attitudes, unfortunately, has focused on assessing the attitudes of adults. In contrast, only a limited number of studies have examined the attitudes of juveniles toward the police.

This lack of research is unfortunate for several reasons. First, juveniles comprise a significant proportion of the population subject to police contact and arrests (Snyder & Sickmund, 1996). Second, the police are usually the first, and only, criminal justice officials with whom juveniles have contact. Together, these points may be significant because contacts early in life may shape future relations between youths and the system (Winfree & Griffiths, 1977). If the relationship between attitudes toward the police and citizen willingness to engage in behaviors supportive of the police, or in other words to act as coproducers of public safety and security, is valid Bell 1979, Goldstein 1987, Skolnick & Bayley 1988, Stipak 1979, Thomas & Hyman 1977, Wycoff 1988, then the attitudes of juveniles take on added importance.

Still, researchers have paid only limited attention to the attitudes of juveniles toward the police. This neglect is evident in the limited number of studies performed in this area Clark & Wenninger 1964, Giordano 1976, Griffiths & Winfree 1982, Leiber et al. 1998, Moretz 1980, Rusinko et al. 1978, Winfree & Griffiths 1977. In addition, with the exception of the study by Leiber, Nalla, and Farnworth (1998), most of the existing studies are quite dated, failed to include variables that recent studies on attitudes toward the police have suggested are theoretically relevant, and failed to subject their data to rigorous multivariate statistical techniques.

With these points in mind, this study expanded the existing literature by addressing three research questions. First, what is the overall level of support for the police among juveniles? Second, do variables commonly found to be statistically significant determinants of adult attitudes also explain juvenile attitudes toward the police? Third, and related, are there other factors than those within the adult literature that contribute to an explanation of juvenile attitudes?

Section snippets

Attitudes of juveniles toward the police

In 1904, noted African American scholar W. E. B. DuBois administered a questionnaire to 1,500 African American children from the Atlanta public school system and 500 students throughout Georgia, in an effort to assess their perceptions of the courts, police, and the justice system more generally (DuBois, 1904). DuBois' findings on the police revealed that slightly more than a third of the students believed the purpose of the police was to arrest people, while only 20 percent said the police

Attitudes toward the police: expanding the literature on juveniles

With the exception of the study by Leiber and his colleagues (1998), studies on juveniles' attitudes toward the police are dated and limited in number. Leiber et al. provided a rigorous test of the relationship between subculture theory and the attitudes of juveniles toward the police, and included in their models many variables found to be theoretically relevant in research on adult attitudes toward the police, though their analysis only included males that were “either accused of delinquency

Levels of support for the police: examining the adult literature

One consistent finding in the literature on the attitudes of adults toward the police has been that most people voice favorable attitudes, irrespective of the focus of the attitude question or the response categories (e.g., level of satisfaction, whether police did a good job, etc.). Brandl, Frank, Wooldredge, and Watkins (1997) found that 80 percent of their sample was satisfied with the police, while Frank et al. (1996) reported that approximately 65 percent of their sample was at least

Study sample

Data for this study were collected using self-administered surveys distributed to high school students in and around Cincinnati, Ohio. The sample consisted of ninth through twelfth graders enrolled in two Cincinnati public schools and one Hamilton County public school. Students attending Cincinnati public schools generally reside within the city limits, while students attending Hamilton County public schools generally reside outside the city limits but within the county in which Cincinnati is

Findings

Two strategies were utilized to examine the attitudes of juveniles toward the police. First, the frequencies to the eleven attitudinal items were examined to assess the extent of support the police enjoy. Second, to explore the determinants of juveniles' attitudes toward the police, the results of multivariate analyses are presented.

Discussion and conclusion

This study examined the attitudes toward the police of a rarely studied population—juveniles. This is unfortunate because juveniles comprise a substantial portion of the population likely to have contact with the police (Snyder & Sickmund, 1996), attitudes formed early in life are likely to persist over time, and these attitudes may influence both teenager willingness to act as coproducers of public safety and their behavior during encounters with the police Bell 1979, Goldstein 1987, Skolnick

References (45)

  • S. Brandl et al.

    On the measurement of public support for the policea research note

    Policing: An Int J of Police Strat & Mgmt

    (1997)
  • K. Brown et al.

    Subjective and objective measures of police service delivery

    Public Admin Rev

    (1983)
  • L. Cao et al.

    Race, community context, and confidence in the police

    Am J Police

    (1996)
  • J. Clark et al.

    The attitudes of juveniles toward the legal institution

    J Crim Law, Crim, & Police Sci

    (1964)
  • J. Christenson et al.

    The socially constructed and situational context for assessment of police services

    Soc Sci Quart

    (1983)
  • D. Dean

    Citizen ratings of the policethe difference police contact makes

    Law & Policy Quart

    (1980)
  • S. Decker

    Citizen attitudes toward the policea review of past findings and suggestions for future police

    J Police Sci & Admin

    (1981)
  • W.E.B. DuBois

    Some Notes on Negro Crime, Particularly in Georgia

    (1904)
  • D. Easton

    A Framework for Political Analysis

    (1965)
  • E. Erez

    Self-defined “desert” and citizens' assessment of the police

    J Crim Law & Crim

    (1984)
  • J. Frank et al.

    Reassessing the impact of race on citizens' attitudes toward the policea research note

    Just Quart

    (1996)
  • F. Furstenberg et al.

    Calling the policethe evaluation of police service

    Law & Soc Rev

    (1973)
  • Cited by (226)

    • Exploring further determinants of citizen satisfaction with the police: The role of strain

      2022, Journal of Criminal Justice
      Citation Excerpt :

      Among demographic variables, one of the more widely analyzed has been race. Though some studies found Caucasians to be less satisfied with the police when compared to Blacks or African Americans (Cao et al., 1996; Ren, Cao, Lovrich, & Gaffney, 2005; Schuck & Rosenbaum, 2005), across a preponderance of prior studies, it is the latter who have generally been more dissatisfied with law enforcement (Engel, 2005; Frank, Smith, & Novak, 2005; Gabbidon & Higgins, 2009; Hurst & Frank, 2000; Reisig & Parks, 2000). In addition to race, studies have also explored the effects of ethnicity in predicting citizen satisfaction with law enforcement.

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text