NCJ Number
100611
Journal
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume: 75 Issue: 4 Dated: (Winter 1984) Pages: 1276-1299
Date Published
1984
Length
24 pages
Annotation
Police records and interview data from a 10-percent representative sample (971) of a 1945 Philadelphia birth cohort of 9,945 males (Wolfgang, 1972) were used to examine the relationship between citizens' attitudes toward police and the type (search, questioning, warning, chase) and frequency of their prior experience with police.
Abstract
Of this subsample, only 567 subjects could be reached and interviewed (a 58-percent success rate). An additional 50 subjects refused to be interviewed. The frequencies of two classifications were compared: by race and by official offender status. Data indicate that the frequency of police status contacts did not vary with race, but did vary with offender status. While blacks were more frequently searched by police, blacks and whites were equally likely to be questioned, warned, or chased by police. Further, in cases of direct contact with police, few indicated having experienced verbal or physical abuse. Despite this lack of differences, blacks exhibited more negative attitudes toward police than did whites. Race had a more negative effect on police assessments than did offender status for all contacts, but particularly for contacts that were penal in nature. In the case of the first offense leading to arrest, official offenders did not differ significantly from nonoffenders in their assessments of police. Results suggest that factors other than actual experience may account for blacks' negative assessments of police. It is suggested that offenders may perceive their experiences with police in terms of just deserts, while blacks may feel they deserve responsive and sympathetic law enforcement. 87 footnotes.