Policing protests: an experimental evaluation of the impact of protester race on support for police reform

Objectives To assess how media images of protests calling for police reform affect public support for police reform policies. Methods Participants were randomly assigned to view a picture of a protest, which depicted predominately White protesters or predominately Black protesters. Participants then...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of experimental criminology Vol. 19; no. 2; pp. 343 - 364
Main Authors Dunbar, Adam, Hanink, Peter A.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.06.2023
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Criminology and Criminal Justice
Demonstrations & protests
Law and Criminolgy
Police reform
Political Science
Public opinion
Race
Social Sciences
Pubic opinion
Police reform
Protests
Police
Experiment
Race
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Summary:Objectives To assess how media images of protests calling for police reform affect public support for police reform policies. Methods Participants were randomly assigned to view a picture of a protest, which depicted predominately White protesters or predominately Black protesters. Participants then indicated their support for eight police reform policies. As a follow-up to the primary analyses, we conducted regression analyses to determine how assumptions of protest demographics influence support for reform. Results Exposure to images highlighting the racial demographics of a protest does not affect support for reform. However, support for police reform is influenced by preexisting opinions about protests calling for police reform, including the perceived racial composition of a protest. Conclusions Although the public is generally supportive of police reforms, support can be affected by situational factors; beliefs about the race of who is attending protests inform support for police reform.
ISSN:1573-3750
1572-8315
DOI:10.1007/s11292-021-09499-2