Abstract
The current studies examined whether the race and gender of a person under suspicion (Studies 1 and 2), as well as the race of the person who called the police (Study 2) influences perceptions of police conduct. Participants read a summary in which the police were called on individuals waiting in a coffee shop (Study 1; N = 133) or sleeping in their dorm common room (Study 2; N = 247). Suspect race (Indigenous vs. White) and gender (male vs. female) were varied in both studies. In Study 2, the race of the person who called the police also varied (Indigenous vs. White). Participants in Study 1 believed race influenced the call to police and the arrest when the suspect was Indigenous (vs. White). Additionally, in both studies, participants were more likely to think that gender influenced the call to police and the arrest when the suspect was described as male (vs. female). The current studies provide new insight regarding public perception of racialized police communication.
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Data Availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Notes
The authors chose to use the term ‘Indigenous Peoples’ when describing previous research. Alternative terminology that was commonplace at the time may have been used in the original research.
The race and gender of the participants were not examined in this study due to the unrepresentative nature of this sample, where participants were predominately female (73.7%) and White (54.1%).
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All authors contributed to the development of this manuscript. CS, EP, and JP contributed to the study conception, design, and methodology. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by CS and EP. The first draft of the manuscript was written by CS. Reviewing and editing was performed by all authors. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Sheahan, C.L., Pica, E., Thompson, L.E. et al. The Influence of Indigenous Identity and Gender in Perceptions of Behavior in Response to Racialized Police Communication. Race Soc Probl 15, 246–261 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-022-09363-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-022-09363-6