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

• Published date: 01 April 2019
• DOI: 10.1177/2153368716689709
• Author: Paul Prew,Jason Sole,Raj Sethuraju,Brian E. Oliver
• Date: 01 April 2019
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Perceptions of Police

Misconduct Among

University Students: Do

Race and Academic Major

Matter?

Raj Sethuraju

1

, Jason Sole

1

, Brian E. Oliver

2

and Paul Prew

3

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 mis-

conduct in general but does not significantly influence perceptions about

neighborhood-level police misconduct.

Keywords

race and policing, police brutality, citizen satisfaction, college major, police misconduct

1

Metropolitan State University, Brooklyn Park, MN, USA

2

Brian Oliver Consulting, Minneapolis, MN, USA

3

Minnesota State University, Mankato, Mankato, MN, USA

Corresponding Author:

Brian E. Oliver, Brian Oliver Consulting, 1108 25th Avenue SE, Unit 2, Minneapolis, MN 55414, USA.

Email: brianeoliver@sbcglobal.net

Race and Justice

2019, Vol. 9(2) 99-122

ªThe Author(s) 2017

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DOI: 10.1177/2153368716689709

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Police misconduct is one of the most controversial subjects in America today.

Although tensions have existed between police and members of minority racial

populations for decades, as a consequence of several recent high-profile deaths of

unarmed Black males at the hands of police officers, there has been widespread public

debate about policing not previously witnessed at this magnitude. National protests

against police procedures have occurred, along with calls for criminal charges against

the officers involved in the shootings, a presidential commission has been formed to

study police misconduct and there have been renewed calls for reforms and training of

police officers. What makes the recent shootings more likely to have a long-term

impact on policing is the fact that there have been a series of incidents that have

occurred in a very compressed period of time added to the fact that these incidents

have gained traction as a result of enormous amounts of media and social media

coverage (Weitzer, 2015). With these events fresh in the minds of many Americans,

better understanding the perceptions that people have about policing and police

misconduct have become crucial.

While the study involving public perceptions about the police began in the 1930s

(i.e., Bellman, 1935; Parrett, 1937, 1938), serious interest on this topic began in 1960s

as a response to social unrest that occurred during the civil rights movement. Since

that time, there have been hundreds of studies that have looked at perceptions about

police (see B. Brown & Benedict, 2002; Peck, 2015, for reviews). The findings from

these studies have provided evidence about the effects that individual-level charac-

teristics (such as race, gender, and age) and contextual variables (such as neighbor-

hood crime levels and previous experiences with police) have on attitudes toward the

police. The research to date continues to give readers a better understanding of how

perceptions about the police are formed and influenced.

One of the most consistent findings from research is that race matters, as it has

been shown to be one of the strongest predictors in affecting attitudes toward police

(B. Brown & Benedict, 2002). The majority of research that has looked at how race

affects attitudes toward police has compared Blacks and Whites and most of this

research has found that Blacks view the police less favorably than Whites (Avdija,

2010; K. Brown & Coulter, 1983; Eschholz, Blackwell, Gertz, & Chiricos, 2002; Ho

& McKean, 2004; Hurst, Frank, & Browning, 2000; Jacob, 1971; Scaglion &

Condon, 1980; Weitzer & Tuch, 2002). In recent years, research has als o begun

looking at the perceptions of Hispanics/Latinos toward police (see, e.g., Garcia &

Cao, 2005; McCluskey, McCluskey, & Enriquez, 2008; Webb & Marshall, 1995).

A limitation of research about perceptions of police in relation to race, however, is

that other minority racial and ethnic groups have had very little research conducted

about them and, as a result, very little is known about their perceptions about

policing and police misconduct.

Better understanding the perceptions that these groups, more specifically Asians

and Native Americans, have about policing and police misconduct has important

theoretical and practical value. Theoretically, understanding Asian and Native

American perceptions about the police helps fill a gap in the literature regarding

understanding how specific minority groups, outside of Blacks and Hispanics,

100 Race and Justice 9(2)