Perceived Control,Likelihood,and Severity as Explanations of Fear of the Police

Abstract

Addressing the contemporary relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve calls for nuanced attention to how individuals construct the emotions they experience toward police. One important such consideration is fear. Leveraging three established psychological conduits of fear of crime proposed by Jackson (perceptions of likelihood, severity, and control), we investigate the psychological construction of fear of unjustified police harm and how those relationships may differ across racial/ethnic identities. Results suggest that perceptions of the likelihood and severity of police harm independently predict fear, but that control plays a much more limited role. Additionally, our analyses provide little evidence that these relationships are importantly different as a function of the focal individual’s race/ethnicity. We therefore argue that interventions designed to improve public attitudes toward the police that focus on improving perceptions of its likelihood and severity are particularly worthwhile. Given its clear role in many other risky contexts but the lack of strong evidence in our data, we also call for future research to better understand what role, if any, is played by control.

Plain Language Summary

Understanding Fear of Police Through Different Perceptions of Harm

In consideration of police brutality disproportionately harming minoritized communities, there is increasing concern for how members of different identities feel toward police, especially feelings of fear. Through the investigation of established psychological conduits of fear (Jackson, 2009; perceptions of likelihood, severity, and control), we investigate how the psychological construction of fear functions in the context of police harm and how this may differ across racial/ethnic identities as well as the (non)experience of fearful police interactions. Results suggest Likelihood and Severity of Police Harm are related to fear of police harm, but Control of Harm is not. Additionally, the experience of fear did not differ depending on one’s racial/ethnic identity. Results suggest it may be useful to apply general interventions to address fear of police harm within communities which specifically address these perceptions of likelihood and severity of harm. In other words, interventions for those with varying racial/ethnic identities can be made up of the same core tenets (i.e., likelihood and severity perceptions).