Rethinking Public Support for Body-Worn Cameras: Race,Ethnicity,and Context

Abstract

This study revisits public support for the use of body-worn cameras (BWCs) in policing, with a specific focus on examining the multifaceted role of race and ethnicity. We test two models in which race and ethnicity shape attitudes toward BWCs by contextualizing two prominent factors: instrumental concern and procedural justice. Using a nationally representative sample of 3,306 U.S. adults, we examine the indirect effect of race and ethnicity through path analysis (generalized structural equation modeling [GSEM]) and their moderating effects with OLS regression. Compared to Whites, African Americans expressed greater skepticism about BWCs’ ability to reduce police use of excessive force, which in turn lowered their support for BWCs. Both African Americans and Hispanic/Latino respondents viewed the police as less procedurally just, further reducing BWC support. Moreover, the positive association between procedural justice and BWC support was weaker among African Americans than among Whites. Our findings highlight the significance and multifaceted role of race and ethnicity in shaping public perceptions of police reforms such as BWCs. In this context, building trust in minority communities requires open communication, genuine collaboration, and a clear acknowledgment of past injustices.

Keywords

body-worn camera BWC public support race and ethnicity instrumental concern procedural justice

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Atkin-Plunk

C. A.

Peck

J. H.

Armstrong

G. S.

(2019). Do race and ethnicity matter? An examination of racial/ethnic differences in perceptions of procedural justice and recidivism among problem-solving court clients. Race and Justice, 9(2), 151–179. https://doi.org/10.1177/2153368717691800

Benton

(2020). Representation is not enough: Symbolic representation and perceptions of the police. Administration & Society, 52(5), 794–822. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095399720905368

Blalock

H. M.

(1967). Toward a theory of minority group relations. Wiley.

Brunson

R. K.

(2007). Police don’t like black people: African-American young men’s accumulated police experiences. Criminology & Public Policy, 6(1), 71–101. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9133.2007.00423.x

Bureau of Justice Assistance. (2015). Law enforcement implementation checklist. Body-worn camera toolkit. Bureau of Justice Assistance.

Clair

(2020). Privilege and punishment: How race and class matter in criminal court. Princeton University Press.

Cobbina-Dungy

J. E.

Jones-Brown

(2023). Too much policing: Why calls are made to defund the police. Punishment & Society, 25(1), 3–20. https://doi.org/10.1177/14624745211045652

Cohen

(1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Routledge.

Coleman

Kocher

(2011). Detention, deportation, devolution and immigrant incapacitation in the US, post 9/11. The Geographical Journal, 177(3), 228–237. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4959.2011.00424.x

10.

Crow

M. S.

Snyder

J. A.

Crichlow

V. J.

Smykla

J. O.

(2017). Community perceptions of police body-worn cameras: The impact of views on fairness, fear, performance, and privacy. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 44(4), 589–610. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854816688037

11.

Demir

(2023). Effect of awareness and notification of body-worn cameras on procedural justice, police legitimacy, cooperation, and compliance: Findings from a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 19(2), 311–341. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-021-09487-6

12.

Du Bois

W. E. B.

(2017). Black Reconstruction in America: Toward a history of the part which black folk played in the attempt to reconstruct democracy in America, 1860–1880. Routledge. (Original work published 1935).

13.

Francis

M. M.

Wright-Rigueur

(2021). Black lives matter in historical perspective. Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 17(1), 441–458. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-122120-100052

14.

Gaston

Teti

M. J.

Sanchez

(2021). Does racial congruence between police agencies and communities reduce racialized police killings of civilians? Criminology & Public Policy, 20(4), 665–690. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12567

15.

Gau

J. M.

(2018). Statistics for criminology and criminal justice. Sage Publications.

16.

Goff

P. A.

(2021). Perspectives on policing: Phillip Atiba Goff. Annual Review of Criminology, 4(1), 27–32. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-criminol-093020-022549

17.

Goodison

S. E.

Brooks

(2023). Local police departments, procedures, policies, and technology, 2020 – Statistical tables. U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.

18.

Graham

McManus

H. D.

Cullen

F. T.

Burton

V. S.

Jonson

C. L.

(2019). Videos don’t lie: African Americans’ support for body-worn cameras. Criminal Justice Review, 44(3), 284–303. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734016819846229

19.

Han

LaPrade

Narvey

C. S.

Jang

(2026). A comprehensive examination on police use of force from individual, situational, and structural perspectives. Race and Justice, 16(2), 262–292. https://doi.org/10.1177/21533687251314137

20.

Hartman

T. K.

Newman

B. J.

Scott Bell

(2014). Decoding prejudice toward Hispanics: Group cues and public reactions to threatening immigrant behavior. Political Behavior, 36(1), 143–163. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-013-9231-7

21.

Huff

White

M. D.

Padilla

K. E.

(2023). The influence of defendant race/ethnicity and police body-worn cameras on traffic case processing. Race and Justice, 13(3), 346–369. https://doi.org/10.1177/21533687211004696

22.

Hyland

S. S.

(2018). Body-worn cameras in law enforcement agencies, 2016. U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.

23.

Ilchi

O. S.

Hickling

S. J.

Frank

(2024). Citizen willingness to hold a police officer criminally responsible for the use of deadly force: Examining the correlates of finding guilt. Race and Justice, 14(4), 543–563. https://doi.org/10.1177/21533687231161770

24.

Jennings

W. G.

Fridell

L. A.

Lynch

M. D.

(2014). Cops and cameras: Officer perceptions of the use of body-worn cameras in law enforcement. Journal of Criminal Justice, 42(6), 549–556. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2014.09.008

25.

Johnson

Wilson

D. B.

Maguire

E. R.

Lowrey-Kinberg

B. V.

(2017). Race and perceptions of police: Experimental results on the impact of procedural (in)justice. Justice Quarterly, 34(7), 1184–1212. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2017.1343862

26.

Kindy

(2019, January 21). Some U.S. police departments dump body-camera programs amid high costs. Washington Post. Retrieved April 5, 2026, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/some-us-police-departments-dump-body-camera-programs-amid-high-costs/2019/01/21/991f0e66-03ad-11e9-b6a9-0aa5c2fcc9e4_story.html.

27.

Kopp

P. M.

Gardiner

C. L.

(2021). Public support for body-worn cameras: The need for inclusion of more comprehensive measures of public concerns. Criminal Justice Studies, 34(3), 289–305. https://doi.org/10.1080/1478601X.2020.1868455

28.

Lawrence

T. I.

McField

Freeman

(2023). Understanding the role of race and procedural justice on the support for police body-worn cameras and reporting crime. Criminal Justice Review, 48(1), 48–68. https://doi.org/10.1177/07340168211022794

29.

Lerman

A. E.

Weaver

V. M.

(2014). Arresting citizenship: The democratic consequences of American crime control. University of Chicago Press.

30.

Lim

Bontcheva-Loyaga

(2024). Perceptions of the U.S. Police among Latin-American immigrants: A bifocal lens view. Race and Justice, 14(4), 592–619. https://doi.org/10.1177/21533687221130277

31.

Little

R. J.

(1988). A test of missing completely at random for multivariate data with missing values. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 83(404), 1198–1202. https://doi.org/10.1080/01621459.1988.10478722

32.

Little

R. J.

Rubin

D. B.

(2002). Statistical analysis with missing data (2nd ed). Wiley-Interscience.

33.

Lum

Koper

C. S.

Wilson

D. B.

Stoltz

Goodier

Eggins

Higginson

Mazerolle

(2020). Body-worn cameras’ effects on police officers and citizen behavior: A systematic review. Campbell Systematic Reviews, 16(3), e1112. https://doi.org/10.1002/cl2.1112

34.

Lum

Koper

C. S.

(2022). Can we really defund the police? A nine-agency study of police response to calls for service. Police Quarterly, 25(3), 255–280. https://doi.org/10.1177/10986111211035002

35.

Metcalfe

Pickett

J. T.

(2022). Public fear of protesters and support for protest policing: An experimental test of two theoretical models. Criminology; An Interdisciplinary Journal, 60(1), 60–89. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12291

36.

Miethe

T. D.

Lieberman

(2020). Perceptions of trust and procedural justice as sources of receptivity and resistance to video surveillance, United States and Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, 2017–2018 (ICPSR 37341) [Data set]. ICPSR. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37341.v1

37.

Miethe

T. D.

Lieberman

J. D.

Heen

M. S. J.

Sousa

W. H.

(2019). Public attitudes about body-worn cameras in police work: A national study of the sources of their contextual variability. Criminal Justice Review, 44(3), 263–283. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734016819846241

38.

National Urban League. (2021). 21 pillars for redefining public safety and restoring community trust. National Urban League.

39.

Nix

Todak

Tregle

(2020). Understanding body-worn camera diffusion in U.S. Policing. Police Quarterly, 23(3), 396–422. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098611120917937

40.

Park

(2018, March 27). Police shootings: Trials, convictions are rare for officers. Retrieved September 24, 2025, from https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/18/us/police-involved-shooting-cases/index.html.

41.

Peck

J. H.

(2015). Minority perceptions of the police: A state-of-the-art review. Policing: An International Journal, 38(1), 173–203. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-01-2015-0001

42.

Pew Research Center. (2014, December 8). Sharp racial divisions in reactions to Brown, Garner decisions. Retrieved September 20, 2025, from https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/12/08/sharp-racial-divisions-in-reactions-to-brown-garner-decisions/.

43.

Preacher

K. J.

Hayes

A. F.

(2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40(3), 879–891. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.40.3.879

44.

President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. (2015). Final report of the President’s task force on 21st century policing. Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

45.

Ray

Marsh

Powelson

(2017). Can cameras stop the killings? Racial differences in perceptions of the effectiveness of body-worn cameras in police encounters. Sociological Forum, 32(S1), 1032–1050. https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.12359

46.

Rempala

D. M.

Okdie

B. M.

(2023). This party stinks: Self-definitions and justifications of the politically unaffiliated. Current Psychology, 42(22), 19169–19184. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03097-9

47.

Roche

S. P.

Lee

Pickett

J. T.

Graham

Cullen

F. T.

(2024). Validation of short-form scales of self-control, procedural justice, and moral foundations. Justice Quarterly, 41(7), 1002–1031. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2024.2406535

48.

Sampson

R. J.

Groves

W. B.

(1989). Community structure and crime: Testing social-disorganization theory. American Journal of Sociology, 94(4), 774–802. https://doi.org/10.1086/229068

49.

Sandhu

Haggerty

K. D.

(2017). Policing on camera. Theoretical Criminology, 21(1), 78–95. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362480615622531

50.

Sousa

W. H.

Miethe

T. D.

Sakiyama

(2018). Inconsistencies in public opinion of body-worn cameras on police: Transparency, trust, and improved police–citizen relationships. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 12(1), 100–108. https://doi.org/10.1093/police/pax015

51.

Sunshine

Tyler

T. R.

(2003). The role of procedural justice and legitimacy in shaping public support for policing. Law & Society Review, 37(3), 513–547. https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-5893.3703002

52.

Thompson

A. J.

Pickett

J. T.

Graham

Cullen

F. T.

(2025). The racial-partisan gradient in policing attitudes: Toward a framed-group-position theory. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 62(4), 656–698. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224278251330263

53.

Thompson

P. S.

Peterson

B. E.

Lawrence

D. S.

(2020). Community perceptions: Procedural justice, legitimacy and body-worn cameras. Policing: An International Journal, 43(3), 495–509. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-10-2019-0161

54.

Tyler

T. R.

(2006). Restorative justice and procedural justice: Dealing with rule breaking. Journal of Social Issues, 62(2), 307–326. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2006.00452.x

55.

Unnever

J. D.

Barnes

J. C.

Cullen

F. T.

(2016). The racial invariance thesis revisited: Testing an African American theory of offending. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 32(1), 7–26. https://doi.org/10.1177/1043986215607254

56.

Unnever

J. D.

Cullen

F. T.

(2010). The social sources of American’s punitiveness: A test of three competing models. Criminology; An Interdisciplinary Journal, 48(1), 99–129. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2010.00181.x

57.

Unnever

J. D.

Gabbidon

S. L.

(2011). A theory of African American offending: Race, racism, and crime. Routledge.

58.

White

I. R.

Royston

Wood

A. M.

(2011). Multiple imputation using chained equations: Issues and guidance for practice. Statistics in Medicine, 30(4), 377–399. https://doi.org/10.1002/sim.4067

59.

White

M. D.

Flippin

Malm

(2019). Key trends in body-worn camera policy and practice: A four-year policy analysis of US Department of Justice-Funded Law Enforcement Agencies. Bureau of Justice Assistance.

60.

White

M. D.

Todak

Gaub

J. E.

(2018). Examining body-worn camera integration and acceptance among police officers, citizens, and external stakeholders. Criminology & Public Policy, 17(3), 649–677. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12376

61.

Williams

(2021). Explaining public support for body-worn cameras in law enforcement. Police Practice and Research, 22(6), 1603–1617. https://doi.org/10.1080/15614263.2021.1905529

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.02 MB

0.00 MB