Citation

Ewanation L, Maeder EM, Yamamoto S. Can. J. Behav. Sci. 2022; 54(1): 19-27.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Canadian Psychological Association, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1037/cbs0000270

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Previous research has found that citizens' attitudes concerning police legitimacy influence their behavior toward the police. However, this relationship has yet to be studied in the context of a jury trial involving police use of force (UoF). The primary goal of this article is therefore to examine whether mock jurors' race, along with their perceptions of police legitimacy, predict verdict decisions in trials involving police UoF. We hypothesized that participants' perceptions of police legitimacy would be significantly related to their verdict decisions. Additionally, we predicted that racial minorities would be less likely to find a defendant charged with murdering a police officer guilty, and that this relationship would be mediated by perceptions of police legitimacy. We recruited 275 undergraduate students who were eligible for Canadian jury duty. One-hundred and eighty-five (67.3%) of the participants were women, 87 (31.6%) were men. One-hundred and forty-five (52.7%) participants were White, while 130 (47.3%) were non-White. Participants viewed a video of a mock trial, rendered a dichotomous verdict, and responded to the Police Legitimacy Scale. Both participants' race (OR =.44) as well as their perceptions of police legitimacy (OR = 2.08) were significantly related to their verdict decisions. Subsequent analysis revealed that the relationship between participant race and verdict was partially mediated by perceptions of police legitimacy. Our findings provide further evidence that citizens' behaviors relating to police are related to their preexisting attitudes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Keywords

Adjudication; Attitudes; Decision Making; Defendants; Juries; Minority Groups; Police Personnel; Racial and Ethnic Groups