Previous research has shown that Blacks are more likely than Whites to hold unfavorable opinions of criminal justice agencies in America, but the literature has rarely examined whether social class also affects these opinions. Using recent national survey data on perceptions of racial discrimination by the police and the criminal justice system, this study examines the effects of race and class on citizen attitudes. The findings indicate that (1) race is a strong predictor of attitudes and (2) class affects several of these views. An important finding is that middle-class Blacks are sometimes more critical of the police and justice system than are lower-class Blacks.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Alpert, Geoffrey
and Roger Dunham. 1988. Policing Multi-Ethnic Neighborhoods. New York: Greenwood.
2.
Bayley, David
and Harold Mendelsohn. 1969. Minorities and the Police: Confrontation in America. New York: Free Press.
3.
Brandl, Steven
, James Frank, Robert Worden, and Timothy Bynum. 1994. “Global and Specific Attitudes Toward the Police.”Justice Quarterly11: 119-134.
4.
Campbell, Angus
and Howard Schuman. 1968. “Racial Attitudes in Fifteen American Cities.” In Supplemental Studies for the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
5.
Decker, Scott
. 1981. “Citizen Attitudes Toward the Police: A Review of Past Findings and Suggestions for Future Policy.”Journal of Police Science and Administration9: 80-87.
6.
Dillingham, Gerald
. 1981. “The Emerging Black Middle Class: Class Consciousness or Race Consciousness?”Ethnic and Racial Studies4: 432-447.
7.
Feagin, Joe
and Melvin Sikes. 1994. Living With Racism: The Black Middle Class Experience. Boston, MA: Beacon.
8.
Flanagan, Timothy J.
and Michael S. Vaughn. 1996. “Public Opinion About Police Abuse of Force.” Pp. 113-128 in Police Violence, edited by W. Geller and H. Toch. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
9.
Hagan, John
and Celesta Albonetti. 1982. “Race, Class, and the Perception of Criminal Injustice in America.”American Journal of Sociology88: 329-355.
10.
Hawkins, Darnell
. 1987. “Beyond Anomalies: Rethinking the Conflict Perspective on Race and Criminal Punishment.”Social Forces65: 719-745.
11.
Jacobs, James
and Jay Cohen. 1978. “The Impact of Racial Integration on the Police.”Journal of Police Science and Administration6: 168-183.
12.
Jefferis, Eric
, Robert Kaminski, Stephen Holmes, and Dena Hanley. 1997. “The Effect of a Videotaped Arrest on Public Perceptions of Police Use of Force.”Journal of Criminal Justice25: 381-395.
13.
Kennedy, Randall
. 1997. Race, Crime, and the Law. New York: Pantheon.
14.
Kluegel, James
and Eliot Smith. 1986. Beliefs About Inequality. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
15.
Miller, Jerome
. 1996. Search and Destroy: African American Males in the Criminal Justice System. New York: Cambridge University Press.
16.
Ostrom, Elinor
and Gordon Whitaker. 1974. “Community Control and Governmental Responsiveness: The Case of Police in Black Neighborhoods.” Pp. 303-334 in Improving the Quality of the Urban Environment, edited by D. Rogers and W. Hawley. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
17.
Reiss, Albert J., Jr.
1971. The Police and the Public. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
18.
Schuman, Howard
, Charlotte Steeh, Lawrence Bobo, and Maria Krysan. 1997. Racial Attitudes in America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
19.
Smith, Douglas
. 1986. “The Neighborhood Context of Police Behavior.” Pp. 313-341 in Crime and Justice, vol. 8, edited by A. Reiss and M. Tonry. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
20.
Smith, Douglas
, Nanette Graham, and Bonnie Adams. 1991. “Minorities and the Police: Attitudinal and Behavioral Questions.” Pp. 22-35 in Race and Criminal Justice, edited by M. Lynch and E. Patterson. New York: Harrow and Heston.
21.
Tonry, Michael
. 1995. Malign Neglect: Race, Crime, and Punishment in America. New York: Oxford University Press.
22.
Tuch, Steven
and Ronald Weitzer. 1997. “The Polls—Trends: Racial Differences in Attitudes Toward the Police.”Public Opinion Quarterly61: 642-663.
23.
Walker, Samuel
, Cassia Spohn, and Miriam DeLone. 1996. The Color of Justice: Race, Ethnicity, and Crime in America. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
24.
Weitzer, Ronald
. 1996. “Racial Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System: Findings and Problems in the Literature.”Journal of Criminal Justice24: 309-322.
25.
Weitzer, Ronald
. Forthcoming. “Citizen Perceptions of Police Misconduct: Race and Neighborhood Context.”Justice Quarterly.
26.
Wilson, William J.
1978. The Declining Significance of Race. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
27.
Wilson, William J.
1987. The Truly Disadvantaged. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
