Youth Perceptions of Law Enforcement and Worry About Crime from 1976 to 2016

• Author: Sachiko Donley,Adam D. Fine,Elizabeth Cauffman,Caitlin Cavanagh
• DOI: 10.1177/0093854820903752
• Published date: 01 May 2020
• Date: 01 May 2020
• Subject Matter: Articles

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2020, Vol. 47, No. 5, May 2020, 564 –581.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854820903752

Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions

© 2020 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology

564

YOUTH PERCEPTIONS OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

AND WORRY ABOUT CRIME FROM 1976 TO 2016

ADAM D. FINE

Arizona State University

SACHIKO DONLEY

Princeton University

CAITLIN CAVANAGH

Michigan State University

ELIZABETH CAUFFMAN

University of California, Irvine

Recent unjust interactions between law enforcement and youth of color may have provoked a “crisis” in American law

enforcement. Utilizing Monitoring the Future’s data on distinct, cross-sectional cohorts of 12th graders from each year

spanning 1976–2016, we examined whether youth perceptions of law enforcement have changed. We also traced youth

worry about crime considering declining perceptions of law enforcement may correspond with increasing worry about

crime. Across decades, White youth consistently perceived law enforcement the most positively and worried least about

crime, followed by Hispanic/Latinx then Black/African American youth. During the 1990s, among all youth, perceptions

of law enforcement declined while worry about crime increased. However, recently, such trends were limited to White

youth; among youth of color, perceptions of law enforcement declined while worry about crime remained largely stable.

Problematically, youth perceptions of law enforcement recently reached a decades-long low and racial/ethnic gaps in

perceptions appear to be growing.

Keywords: law enforcement; procedural justice; race; policing; fear of crime

INTRODUCTION

Perceptions of law enforcement are associated with deference to their authority, to crime

reporting, and to crime commission (Bolger & Walters, 2019; Corsaro et al., 2015; Fagan &

Tyler, 2005). Consequently, understanding perceptions of law enforcement has been argued

to be “almost as important as the management of crime itself” (Sindall et al., 2012, p. 744).

Indeed, improving perceptions of police and the justice system is a central component of

modern criminological research and public policy (J. Jackson & Gau, 2016; Moule, Burruss,

AUTHORS’ NOTE: The authors thank Danielle Wallace and Dustin Pardini for their comments on the

analyses and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback. Correspondence concerning this article

should be addressed to Adam D. Fine, Assistant Professor, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice,

Arizona State University, 411 N. Central Ave., Suite 633, Phoenix, AZ 85004; e-mail: adfine@asu.edu.

903752CJBXXX10.1177/0093854820903752Criminal Justice and BehaviorFine et al. / Youth, Race, and Police

research-article2020

Fine et al. / YOUTH, RACE, AND POLICE 565

et al., 2019; Peyton et al., 2019; Walters, 2018; Walters & Bolger, 2018). In particular,

researchers are also increasingly focusing on youth because perceptions developed during

childhood and adolescence may set the tone for how youth view and interact with law

enforcement into adulthood (Augustyn, 2016; Cavanagh & Cauffman, 2019; Granot &

Tyler, 2019; D. B. Jackson et al., 2019; McLean et al., 2019; Nivette et al., 2020; Tyler &

Trinkner, 2018).

In the United States, the relationship between law enforcement and youth of color has

been long, complicated, and often unjust. Consider, for instance, the many recent high-

profile deaths of unarmed youth of color (e.g., Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Laquan

McDonald). It is believed that these events have ignited a national conversation about law

enforcement practices and have contributed to worsening perceptions of law enforcement

(Fine, Rowan, & Simmons, 2019; Friedman, 2017; Trinkner, Kerrison, & Goff, 2019).

From a historical perspective, some scholars believe that we have entered an “era of mis-

trust” in law enforcement (Trinkner & Tyler, 2016) or even a “crisis of confidence” (Tyler,

Goff, & MacCoun, 2015). While researchers are beginning to identify developmental trends

in youth perceptions of law enforcement and procedural justice (Augustyn, 2016; McLean

et al., 2019), the empirical question of the extent to which youth perceptions of law enforce-

ment have declined in recent years is largely unknown.

Simultaneously, research suggests that individuals who are afraid of crime report nega-

tive perceptions of law enforcement (e.g., Hauser & Kleck, 2017; Trinkner, Rodrigues,

et al., 2019). Consequently, if America’s youth are reporting worse perceptions of law

enforcement in recent years, it must be established whether this trend is merely indicative

of increasing worry about crime. That is, to the extent that the present study reveals empiri-

cal evidence that American youth perceptions of law enforcement have been declining in

recent years, we must also identify whether there are simultaneous shifts in youth worry

about crime. To provide a comprehensive image of modern youth perceptions at the inter-

section of race, crime, and law enforcement in the United States, this study tracks youth

perceptions of law enforcement and their worry about crime over the past 40 years.

HISTORICAL TRENDS IN PUBLIC RELATIONS WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT

Despite current media attention, acrimonious relations between law enforcement and

individuals of color are not a 21st-century phenomenon. In particular, consider the 1990s

and the beating of Rodney King that precipitated the widely publicized Los Angeles riots

(Murty et al., 1994). More than 90% of the nation was aware of the incident (Tuch &

Weitzer, 1997). It is believed that as a result of ubiquitous media coverage that included

violent video footage, perceptions of law enforcement declined among adults (McAneny,

1995), especially among Black/African Americans (Lasley, 1994; Tuch & Weitzer, 1997).

Yet at the same time, crime rates rose in the early 1990s and policing became more con-

trolling and punitive (Feld, 1991; Scott & Steinberg, 2009). The 1990s were also marked by

the sensationalized “rise of the super-predators” (Krisberg et al., 2009), in which youth

were referred to as incorrigible, remorseless criminals who threatened public safety (Fox,

1996; Pizarro et al., 2007). The general population seized this language, and solidified the

image of remorseless, teenage criminals as a major threat (DiIulio, 1995; Gilliam & Iyengar,

2005), particularly in the wake of the “Central Park Five” case concerning young males of

color (Stratton, 2015). Although crime rates declined in the mid-1990s, media coverage of

crime continued to increase (Goidel et al., 2006) and was consistently the top subject in