Coppin' an Attitude: Attitudinal Differences Among Juveniles Toward Police

• NCJ Number: 190121
• Journal: Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 29 Issue: 4 Dated: July/August 2001 Pages: 295-305
• Author(s): Terrance J. Taylor; K. B. Turner; Finn-Aage Esbensen; L. Thomas Winfree Jr.
• Editor(s): Kent B. Joscelyn
• Date Published: August 2001
• Length: 11 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

In understanding youthful attitudes toward the police, this article explored how these attitudes varied across ethnicity (racial and ethnic groups), gender, and city context and the consistency of previous study findings.

Abstract

The last 30 years has seen an abundance of research examining citizens’ attitudes toward police. While most previous research examined attitudes of adults in a single city, this study explored the attitudes of 5,477 eighth grade students in 11 U.S. cities. Five specific questions were addressed: (1) do juveniles hold positive attitudes toward police, similar to those held by adults; (2) are there differences in attitudes toward police across different racial and ethnic groups; (3) do attitudes toward police vary by gender; (4) does the city in which a juvenile lives affect his or her attitudes toward police; and (5) does the city where the juvenile lives interact with the race or ethnicity of the juvenile to produce a difference in attitudes toward police? The results suggested that juvenile were generally indifferent in their attitudes toward police. This was consistent with existing research using younger samples. However, even though the findings did not suggest that juveniles were critical of police, the youth in the study were not as supportive as the adult respondents in other studies. Significant racial differences were discovered. Whites and Asians reported the most favorable attitudes toward police, while African Americans reported the less favorable perceptions and Hispanics’ and Native Americans’ attitudes fell between the Whites and Asians and African Americans. In addition, gender differences in juvenile attitudes were very apparent. Girls consistently reported more favorable attitudes toward police than boys. When analyzing the city in which a juvenile lived, attitudes toward the police were affected. However, since the study did not examine the reasons for differences across cities, the effects were only suggestive. The results of the study provided support to the findings of previous “attitude toward police” studies in terms of race and gender differences; however, the results were limited to description only. Tables and references