Racial Threat and Punitive Police Attitudes

Abstract

Racial Threat Theory posits that punitive attitudes are produced when Whites are alarmed by large or growing Black populations. While research has identified a relationship between Black composition and support from community members for more punitive criminal justice policy, no research has examined whether racial composition influences punitive attitudes among criminal justice personnel—even though they represent a key population that can engage in discrimination. This study advances our understanding of racial threat and police force by examining the relationship between Black population and punitive use-of-force attitudes on the part of police. Using survey and census data for approximately 10,000 police officers in 97 agencies, multilevel analyses reveal that officers report more punitive attitudes in jurisdictions with larger Black populations and that this relationship is concentrated among White police officers. The results provide evidence that racial disparities in police outcomes are at least partly driven by motivational criteria (such as discrimination).

Keywords:

• punitive attitudes
• group threat
• racial threat
• racial profiling
• use of force

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 But see also Feldmeyer and Ulmer (2011); Holmes et al. (2019); Leiber et al. (2016); Thomas et al. (2013).

2 Researchers have used data from the American Mosaic Survey of adults (Wheelock et al., 2011), the General Social Survey (e.g. Baumer et al., 2003; Taylor, 1998), the “Eurobarometer Survey” (e.g. Ousey & Unnever, 2012) or ad hoc surveys (Hetey & Eberhardt, 2014; King & Wheelcock, 2007; Pickett, 2016; Stupi et al., 2016).

3 The researchers defined “use of force” broadly, to include frisks and an officer drawing or pointing a weapon.

4 Other studies have not confirmed the relationship between population makeup and volume of force including (Jacobs and O'Brien, 1998); Klinger et al. (2016); and Lee (2016). Other studies have examined the relationship between population make up and disparities in use of force, instead of volume (e.g. Holmes et al., 2019; Jacobs & O’Brien, 1998; Smith, 2004).

5 The reported response rates summarize all 3 waves/surveys that were part of the National Police Research Platform; the response rate for Survey B, specifically—the data we use—is unavailable.

6 For a detailed discussion of data quality, including response rates and representativeness, see Rosenbaum et al. (2019).

7 The 2013 five-year estimates are the most reliable estimates the Census Bureau provides; data reported in 2013 are based on data collected from 2008 to 2012 (ensuring temporal order between the predictor and the outcome).

8 In supplemental analyses not presented herein, we also modeled the relative change in the Black population between 2010 and 2013; we found no evidence of racial threat effects using this measure.

9 For a very small number of missing cases, the nearest available year is used in lieu of 2012 data. Due to very small odds ratios, this variable was rescaled to crimes per 1,000 residents.

10 We report differences in officers who “strongly agree” with each of the punitive attitudes in the survey, although a number of other analyses were examined. For instance, we also dichotomized the four outcomes into two simple Agree/Disagree categories and examined the interactions and marginal effects on the probability of agreeing with each statement. The results were substantively similar.

11 In the second version, the threat emanates from the majority group’s concern with cultural differences; in this case, Blacks are perceived as a threat to the Whites’ way of life.

12 Political climate was measured solely with Black Mayor and the organizational variables included the presence of absence of a police union and whether the agency was accredited. Further, the researchers did not analyze the pathway between threat and political climate and organizational factors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christopher J. Marier

Christopher J. Marier is an assistant professor of Criminal Justice at Appalachian State University. His areas of interest include race and justice, policing, and cross-national research. He is a recipient of the University of South Florida Graduate Fellowship Award and the ACJS International Section Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Award.

Lorie A. Fridell

Lorie A. Fridell is a professor of Criminology at the University of South Florida, former Director of Research at the Police Executive Research Forum, and CEO of Fair and Impartial Policing, a national law enforcement training program. Her primary research interests are police use of force, police deviance, and biases in the criminal justice system.