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Privileged protection? Effects of suspect race and mental illness status on public perceptions of police use of force

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Abstract

Objectives

This study experimentally examined the joint influence of suspect race and mental illness status on the public’s support for police use of force, and whether participants’ race and social attitudes moderated these findings.

Methods

A diverse sample of community members (n = 259) from Portland, OR completed a survey with an imbedded experiment. Participants read a case file describing a police officer using force against a suspect who varied in race (Black vs. White) and mental illness status (history of mental illness vs. not), and indicated their level of support for the officer’s use of force.

Results

While overall support for use of force was low, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) confirmed a significant interaction between suspect mental illness status and race on the public’s support for police force. Mental illness was a mitigating factor against support for police use of force, but only for White suspects. For Black suspects, mental illness instead increased support for police force, although support remained relatively low. These results were not influenced by participants’ race. Instead, effects were moderated by participants’ pre-existing affect about Blacks, such that positive affect decreased support for force against mentally ill Black suspects.

Conclusions

Mental illness status provides different protections based on suspect race, leading to racial bias in public support for police force. The results suggest that it may be relatively harder for the public to enact change against police force when it is directed against mentally ill racial minorities, as it is perceived less negatively by the public compared to White mentally ill individuals.

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Notes

  1. We would hypothesize a similar pattern based on participants’ own mental illness status, such that those individuals with a history of mental illness might be less supportive toward police use of force against mentally ill suspects. Our study was designed in sampling and recruitment to focus on participant race as a possible moderator, limiting the number of individuals with a mental illness in our sample. Our final sample size of individuals with a mental illness (n = 43) is not large enough across four conditions to reliably test this hypothesis.

  2. The group of participants who failed the manipulation check was similar to the larger sample across a variety of important dimensions. None of these 18 participants (7% of the total sample) provided demographic information about their gender, while three failed to provide their race. Of the remaining 15, seven were Black, seven were White, and one indicated other, which is consistent with the demographics of the larger sample. Three indicated that they had been diagnosed with a mental illness, while 15 said that they had not been diagnosed. Like the remaining sample, about 60% (n = 11) had read the hard copy of the experiment, while about 40% (n = 7) had participated online.

  3. For this analysis, racial minorities were defined as individuals that did not select “White” race (total n = 230). Participant race was also treated as “White vs. Black” (n = 204) and “Black vs. non-Black” (n = 230). Regardless of racial breakdown, the same pattern of results was found: three-way interactions involving participant race were non-significant [White vs. Black: F(1, 196) = 0.34, p = 0.56 and Black vs. non-Black, F(1, 222) = 1.44, p = 0.23], while two-way interactions with suspect race and mental illness status remained significant [White vs. Black: F(1, 196) = 4.30, p = 0.04 and Black vs. non-Black: F(1, 222) = 7.27, p = 0.008]. The chosen participant breakdown (White vs. racial minority) was selected to include the most data due to the lack of participant race effects.

  4. Given the small n and underpowered nature of the test, participant mental illness status did not moderate the effect of suspect race and suspect mental illness status on support for police use of force, b = −0.57, SE = 0.96, t(225) = −0.60, p = 0.55.

  5. The four-way interaction between participant race (White vs. racial minority), suspect race, suspect mental illness, and participants’ self-reported affect toward Blacks was non-significant, b = −0.20, SE = 0.28, t(202) = −0.73, p = 0.47, again indicating that the three-way interaction on support was not different for White vs. racial minority participants.

  6. There was not a feeling thermometer measuring participants’ feelings toward mentally ill individuals included in the survey, due to the overall focus on participant race. However, in the larger survey, there was a question assessing how much prejudice people perceived mentally ill individuals face in US society. Using this as a proxy for their attitudes toward the mentally ill did not lead to any significant moderation effects, b = 0.02, SE = 0.22, t(226) = 0.11, p = 0.92.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Portland State University, P.O. Box 751, Portland, OR, 97207, USA

    Kimberly Barsamian Kahn & Jean M. McMahon

  2. Department of Sociology, Portland State University, P.O. Box 751, Portland, OR, 97207, USA

    Melissa Thompson

Authors
  1. Kimberly Barsamian Kahn
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  2. Melissa Thompson
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  3. Jean M. McMahon
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kimberly Barsamian Kahn.

Appendix

Appendix

Use of force manipulation vignette

3:53 pm: Police dispatch receives a call regarding a [Black/White] male in his 40s acting erratically and in an unusual nature in the 300 Block of XXXX. At 3:59 pm, two Portland Police Officers arrive at the scene and identify the suspect as [Tyrone/Eric] Wallace. The officers are aware that [Tyrone/Eric] has [does not have] a history of mental illness. Upon identifying themselves as Portland Police Officers, [Tyrone/Eric] ignored the officers’ commands and continues to talk loudly to himself. Officers make repeated attempts to gain [Tyrone/Eric]’s compliance to no success. As [Tyrone/Eric] continues to act erratically, one of the PPB officers quickly draws his taser and fires at [Tyrone/Eric]. He immediately falls to the ground, immobilized, and hits his head, drawing blood. The officers handcuff [Tyrone/Eric] and drag him to their police car for processing at the county jail.

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Kahn, K.B., Thompson, M. & McMahon, J.M. Privileged protection? Effects of suspect race and mental illness status on public perceptions of police use of force. J Exp Criminol 13, 171–191 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-016-9280-0

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