Perceptions of Police Conduct When Race and Gender Are Considered

Emily Pica1 & Lauren E. Thompson2& Joanna Pozzulo2

& Chelsea L. Sheahan2

# Society for Police and Criminal Psychology 2019

AbstractWith the recent media attention on police discretion and police discrimination, the current studies aimed to address whetherpeople believe the race and gender of a person under suspicion influences police conduct. In study 1, participants (N = 137) readan incident summary where two individuals, who were described as being Black or White and male or female, were asked toleave a local coffee establishment; the police were called, and the individuals were arrested. Participants were more likely tobelieve the call to police and the arrest were justified when the individuals were White as opposed to Black. Study 2 was anextension of study 1 whereby the race of the individual calling the police also was varied between Black and White. Participants(N = 316) in study 2 also were more likely to believe the call to police and the arrest were justified when the individuals wereWhite as opposed to Black. Additionally, participants were more likely to believe the call to the police was justified when theindividual was male compared to female. Across both studies, participants also were asked to rate how much they believed raceand gender influenced the call to the police and arrest; participants believed that both race and gender were influential in thesedecisions. The current studies provide new information regarding the public’s perception of police prejudice and suggest thatpeople may be apt to consider the negative relationships between the police and minorities when considering a specific case.Further, the results suggest that the public does not support or agree with racially driven arrests and actually counteract anyprejudice by making anti-stereotypical judgements.

Keywords Gender . Race . Use of force . Police relations . Police legitimacy

The public’s perception of police is important in a democraticcountry like the USA and Canada; trust of the public is inte-gral for a legitimate model of policing (Clark et al. 2017).Perception studies have examined people’s opinions and atti-tudes towards police (e.g., Culhane et al. 2016; Wortley andOwusu-Bempah 2011); this research examines how people ofvarious demographics feel about the police and their percep-tions of police conduct. The current studies sought to examinehow salient factors, such as a suspect’s race and gender, influ-ence people’s perceptions of the appropriateness, and legiti-macy of police conduct. This research is interesting givenseveral recent incidents of racial profiling that have grabbedlarge media attention. For example, in April of 2018, two

Black men were arrested in a Starbucks located in the USAafter being asked to leave for not ordering anything. The menexplained to an employee that they were waiting for anotherperson and would order once he arrived; the police were calledanyways and the two men were arrested on suspicion oftrespassing (Stevens 2018).

Another incident occurred in May of 2018, in Connecticut,where a Black student had the police called on her for taking anap in her university dorm’s common room. The campus po-lice came and questioned her; although she explained she wasa student, the police asked to see her dorm room and herschool identification card (Griggs 2018). These incidents,among others, led to a large social media outcry with peopleof every race claiming there was discrimination and racialprofiling on the part of the police. It appeared that the publicperception was that the race of the person under suspicioninfluenced the actions of police in each scenario. Starbuckshead office took action by mandating race sensitivity trainingfor their employees to appeal to the public’s concerns. The“perception” is that policing organizations have yet to addressrace issues. While there is research examining perceptions ofthe police in general (i.e., no scenario involved) based on theparticipants’ demographics, there is no research that examines

* Emily Picapicae@apsu.edu

1 Department of Psychological Science and Counseling, Austin PeayState University, 601 College Street, PO Box 4537,Clarksville, TN 37044, USA

2 Department of Psychology, Carleton University, 550 Loeb Building,1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-019-09346-1Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology (2020) 35:131–145

Published online: 12 September 2019

how the race and gender of someone under suspicion influ-ences perceptions of appropriate police behavior in Canada.Therefore, the purpose of the present studies was to examinewhether race and gender of the person under suspicion (stud-ies 1 and 2) and race of the person who reported the incident(study 2) would influence participants’ perceptions of appro-priate police conduct in scenarios similar to those describedabove, but with a Canadian sample.

Public Perceptions of Police Prejudice

In recent years, policing has been subject to increased scrutinydue to media attention directed at police misconduct. In theUSA, the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson,1 Missourisparked protests across the country; in Canada, the shooting ofSammy Yatim2 caused a similar uproar. These occurrences,along with many others, have given rise to the Black LivesMatter (BLM)movement. Although the movement began as ahashtag (i.e., #BlackLivesMatter) after the shooting death of aBlack teenager, Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenagerwho was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch captainwho was ultimately found not guilty (CNN 2019), the BLMbecame more than just about police use of force; it also wasconcerned with broader issues of racial profiling and racialinequality (Black Lives Matter 2019). Although one mightexpect that police use of force incidents and movements suchas BLMwould impact the public’s perception of the police, asmentioned above, few studies have been conducted examin-ing how these types of incidents impact people’s general per-ceptions of the police. It is possible that with the emergence ofthese social movements, people will be more sensitive to po-lice conduct, especially when racial factors are perceived to beinvolved.

There also have been incidents that have given rise to theBLMmovement in Canada. For example, in 2015 in Toronto,Ontario, a police officer shot and killed Jermaine Carby andsubsequently was not charged. Carby was pulled over and didhave a knife on him; however, many believe that the shootingwas unnecessary and believed the officer should have beencharged (Miller and Russell 2015). Another incident occurredwhere Andrew Loku was shot to death in his home building.While Loku was holding a hammer, witnesses reported that hewas shot and killed moments after police approached him(Miller and Russell 2015). These two incidences led protestersto shut down part of an expressway to voice their opinions andoutrage of the shooting of these two Blackmen.While the endresult was not a protest, citizens also are in uproar concerning

excessive force being used against an Indigenous man where-by he was handcuffed and kneeled over with a gun being heldpointed at his chest by a second officer (Russell 2019). Thisincident has led to an investigation and the Federation ofSovereign Indigenous Nations is calling for the officer to befired.

Most literature examining the public’s perceptions of policehas been conducted prior to the emergence of the BLMmove-ment in July 2013. For example, Rosenbaum, Schuck,Costello, Hawkins, and Ring (2005) examined race in con-junction with prior contact with police. Specifically, they ex-amined whether direct and vicarious encounters (i.e., learningabout someone else’s encounter) with the police influencesindividuals’ attitudes towards the police and whether this isdependent on race of the individual. Results identified thatWhite individuals held more positive initial attitudes towardsthe police compared to Black and Hispanic individuals. Aswell, negative contact with the police only had an adverseeffect on White individuals’ attitudes. Further, negative vicar-ious contact with the police had an adverse effect on Black andWhite individuals’ attitudes but did not affect Hispanic indi-viduals’ attitudes. In addition to the study from Rosenbaumand colleagues, there have been various studies conductedprior to the mid-2000s examining how various individualcharacteristics may influence perceptions of the police (e.g.,Reisig and Parks 2000; Sampson and Bartusch 1998; Wortleyet al. 1997), with a large portion specifically examining indi-viduals’ race and prior contact with police (e.g., Brandl andFrank 1994; Walker et al. 2000). Overall for the most part,White individuals have been found to hold more positive per-ceptions of the police than minority groups (e.g., Huang andVaughn 1996; Smith et al. 1999; Sourcebook of CriminalJustice Statistics 2012).

Note that the BLM movement emerged in the USA, and assuch, research examining the BLM has primarily beenconducted in the USA. Culhane et al. (2016) examined thepublic’s perception of police after the rise of the BLM move-ment. In this study, people’s perceptions of a mock policeshooting before and after the Michael Brown shooting foundthat participants were less likely to think the officer’s forcewas justified if surveyed after the Brown shooting. Thus, sug-gesting that the media presence of BLM raised concern withthe public questioning police officers’ actions.

Although Culhane et al. (2016) demonstrated that policeuse of force incidents may raise doubts in citizens’ perceptionsof the fairness and legitimacy of police in the USA andCanada. Based on limited Canadian research, it appears thatthe BLM movement, as well as police use of force incidents,may not be influencing Canadians’ perceptions of police racialprofiling and police misconduct. Sandu (2018) conducted astudy in which she interviewed 12 police officers in theGreater Vancouver Region asking about their experience withthe public before and after the rise of the BLM movement.

1 Michael Brown, an unarmed Black teenager, was shot and killed by a Whitepolice officer. A grand jury decided not to indict the officer.2 Sammy Yatim was shot and killed by a Toronto police officer with noattempt to de-escalate the situation. He had a switchblade in his hand afterexposing himself.

J Police Crim Psych (2020) 35:131–145132

Sandu found that the police officers reported that the public’sperceptions of them had not declined since the rise of BLM.Further, in 2015, Statistics Canada reported that 68% of thepopulation believed the police are doing a good job treatingpeople fairly, with approximately 25% believing they are do-ing an average job, and only approximately 7% believing theyare doing a poor job. However, compared to non-visible mi-norities (69%), visible minorities were significantly less likelyto believe the police were doing a good job treating peoplefairly (66%; Statistics Canada 2015).

Research examining the perceptions of visible minorities inCanada has found that White Canadians may have more pos-itive perceptions of the police overall when compared toCanadians who belong to a visible minority group. For exam-ple, Wortley and Owusu-Bempah (2009) found that Whiteparticipants were more likely to think that the police are doinga good job enforcing the law, that police are approachable andeasy to talk to, and that police are doing a good job keepingtheir neighborhoods safe, when compared to both Black andAsian participants. In a later study, Wortley and Owusu-Bempah (2011) found a similar pattern. They asked peopleabout their perceptions of police stop and search practices inToronto, Canada, and found that White and Asian people didnot believe that the police racially profile when policing, how-ever, Black people did. These findings suggest that WhiteCanadians may hold more positive perceptions of the policeoverall.

Although survey research with Canadian samples suggeststhat Canadians generally view the police positively, there is adiscrepancy between White citizens and visible minorities.For example, the Indigenous communities may have farpoorer views of police in Canada. This distinction in percep-tion may be more pronounced in specific cases where policeconduct may be questioned such as the murders of Indigenouswomen (Austin and Bilefsky 2019). Thus, the current studieswill add to the police perceptions literature by examining howCanadians perceive police conduct given a specific circum-stance involving possible racial and/or gender profiling.

Race and Legal Decision-Making

There is a great deal of juror decision-making research thatexperimentally examines how race effects people’s decision-making (e.g., Devine and Caughlin 2014; Mitchell et al. 2005;Pfeifer and Ogloff 2003). These studies are useful for thecurrent program of research as they can provide informationon whether a suspect’s race is sufficiently influential enoughto impact legal judgments in criminal cases. Further, as study2 was interested in examining whether the race of the eyewit-ness influences perceptions of a suspect’s wrongdoing,looking to juror decision-making research examining the in-fluence of race can help provide a framework for

understanding this relationship. Regarding perceptions ofwhat constitutes a criminal, race is one of the most commonlystereotyped attributes. The stereotype that criminals are Blackhas been around for many years (Russell 2002). In areas of theCriminal Justice System, such as juror decision-making andsentencing, researchers typically find that racial minorities areviewed more negatively, found guilty more often, and givenlonger sentences than their White counterparts (e.g., Chiricoset al. 2004; Devine and Caughlin 2014; Mitchell et al. 2005;Pfeifer and Ogloff 2003; Schuller et al. 2009; Sigelman andTuch 1997).

However, this racial bias from jurors may not be as pro-nounced in Canada as recent Canadian studies suggest thatrace does not influence juror decision-making (Ewanationand Maeder 2018; Maeder et al. 2015). It is possible thatCanadians are aware of the unfavorable stereotypes towardscertain racial minorities regarding criminal activity and thusare overriding their own stereotypes when making a decisionabout guilt. The current studies will further assess Canadiansprejudice by examining whether the race of a person undersuspicion (Black vs. White) influences whether they believethe police conduct was justified. The methodology forassessing these perceptions will be unique in that the vignetteis a short description of an event, much like a real news articlethat would report the incident, and further, unique in that thevignette mirrors real cases that have been discussed in thenews.

Further, we also were interested in examining whether therace of an eyewitness influences people’s perceptions ofwrongdoing or culpability. Although reviewing jurordecision-making research may be helpful in understandingthis relationship, the research that exists examining whethereyewitness race and eyewitness-defendant race dyads influ-ences juror decision-making is limited and the results havebeen mixed (Ewanation and Maeder 2018; Maeder andEwanation 2018). Therefore, in study 2, we manipulated therace of the person who witnessed the possibly suspicious actto be either Black or White. Not only will this add to thelimited research, but it will also provide a novel look at theinfluence of these factors as participants perceptions are basedon reactions to vignettes based on real news articles ratherthan reactions based on trial transcripts.

Gender and Legal Discrimination

Gender has been identified as an important factor influencingperceptions and decisions in a variety of legal scenarios. Forinstance, various studies have demonstrated that people asso-ciate criminals with being male (MacLin and Herrera 2006;Madriz 1997) and perceive males to have traits more congru-ent with criminal behavior, such as aggressiveness and dan-gerousness (Hendree and Nicks 2000; Steffensmeier and

J Police Crim Psych (2020) 35:131–145 133

Kramer 1982). In addition, juror decision-making studies ex-amining whether the gender of the defendant influences deci-sions has generally found that male defendants are more likelyto be found guilty and be rated more negatively than femaledefendants (e.g., Dean et al. 2000; Forsterlee et al. 2004;Pozzulo et al. 2010). For example, Dean et al. (2000) exam-ined whether defendant gender would influence mock jurors’decision-making in either a car theft or assault case and foundthat the male defendant was rated more guilty than the femaledefendant in both case types. Similarly, Forsterlee et al. (2004)found that mock jurors assigned harsher sentences to a maledefendant than a female defendant in a murder trial. Therefore,it would appear that people perceive males to be more likelyand capable to commit crime and more culpable when com-mitting crime.

Lastly, we wanted to examine the intersectionality of raceand gender and their combined influence on participants’ per-ceptions of police officers’ decisions. Research examiningsentencing decisions has found race—gender influences. Forexample, White males are often sentenced more lenientlycompared to Black and Hispanic males (e.g., Steen et al.2005; Steffensmeier and Demuth 2006). More recently,Steffensmeier et al. (2017) examined sentencing data fromPennsylvania and found that for male defendants, Black andHispanic individuals were sentenced harsher than their White,male counterparts. When examining female defendants, theeffect was not as pronounced. The current studies further ex-amine the influence of gender, and the intersectionality ofgender and race, on people’s perceptions of culpability; how-ever, in this instance, we assess their influence when presentedwith a criminal scenario as opposed to a formal court case.

The Current Studies

With the recent media attention on police discretion and policediscrimination, the current studies aimed to address if peoplebelieve race and gender of a person under suspicion influencespolice conduct in a Canadian population. In addition, we alsowere interested in examining people’s own racial and genderbiases, specifically we were interested in determining whetherpeople’s perception of appropriate police behavior differs de-pending on the race and gender of the person under suspicion,and in study 2, the race of the witness.

With regard to the participants’ perceptions of whether therace and gender of the person under suspicion influenced thearrest, we hypothesized that when presented a specific scenar-io, participants will consider police prejudice. Specifically, wepredicted that when the person under suspicion is Black andmale, participants will be more likely to believe that race andgender influenced the witness’ decision to call the police andthe police officer’s decision to arrest, compared to when theperson under suspicion is White and female. These findings

however will be moderated by people’s feelings of policelegitimacy measured using the Police Legitimacy Scale(Tankebe et al. 2016). Those who have less trust in the fairnessof police will perceive race and gender to be more influentialin the police officer’s decision to arrest than those who havemore trust in police.

While the previous hypotheses concern participants’own prejudices, we also wanted to examine participants’perceptions of police prejudices. Participants may bemore inclined to consider the adverse relationship be-tween minorities and the police, and the possibility thatpolice may be racially biased (see Mitchell et al. 2005for a review on how race plays a role in jurors’ deci-sions). Thus, we predicted that when the person undersuspicion is described as Black, the participants wouldrate the police arrest and phone call to the police as lessjustified than when this person is described as White.Based on the limited research that has found that therace of an eyewitness is effecting decision-making (i.e.,more credibility given to the minority races; Maeder andEwanation 2018; Ewanation and Maeder 2018), we pre-dicted that in study 2 where race of the eyewitness wasmanipulated, participants would rate the call to the po-lice and police arrest as more justified when the witnessis Black compared to when the witness is White. This isbased on the idea that Canadians are aware of the ad-verse relationship between people of color and theCriminal Justice System due to the increased mediaawareness; thus, they may view a Black witness willingto call the police despite their distrust of the legal sys-tem as especially legitimate.

Although we predicted that participants would try tocounteract the stereotype about race and criminal activ-ity, we do not believe they will try to counteract thestereotype about gender and criminal activity. Thus, wepredict the call to the police and arrest will be seen asmore justified when the person under suspicion is malecompared to female. We also predict that gender will bemore influential than race, thus participants will believethe call/arrest is more justified with a Black male than aWhite female suspect.

Study 1

Method

Participants Undergraduate students (N = 137; 63.5% female)were recruited from a university in Eastern Ontario, Canada.Participants’ ages ranged from 18 to 51 years old (M = 20.20;SD = 3.91). Most participants (64.2%) identified themselvesasWhite, with small numbers of Asian (17.5%), Latino/Latina(0.7%), Indigenous (0.7%), Black (7.3%), and those who

J Police Crim Psych (2020) 35:131–145134

identified themselves as either mixed or “other” (9.5%).Participants received a 0.5% course credit for theirparticipation.3

Design A 2 (race: Black vs. White) × 2 (gender: male vs.female) between-subjects factorial design was used.

Materials

Incident Summary Four versions of the summary were createdthat varied the individual’s race and gender. The summarydescribed how two individuals were asked to leave after notordering anything at the local coffee establishment for tenminutes. When they would not leave because they werewaiting for a friend, the police were called, and the individualswere arrested for loitering.

Perceptions Form Participants were asked for their percep-tions on the incident and whether they agreed the police werejustified in their arrest and whether race and gender played arole in the manager and police officers’ decisions.Specifically, one set of questions examined participants’own prejudices while the second set examined participants’perceptions of police prejudice.

Police Legitimacy Scale Participants were asked to answerquestions on the Police Legitimacy Scale (Tankebe et al.2016) on Likert-type scales, ranging from 1 = strongly dis-agree to 4 = strongly agree. The scale consists of four sub-scales: lawfulness which refers to the perception of policebeing seen as working within established rules; proceduralfairness which refers to the extent to which the authoritativenature of police is exercised in a fair, respectful, and even-handed manner; distributive fairness which refers to the vari-ation in police fairness in the different outcomes and alloca-tions of their resources; lastly, there is police effectivenesswhich refers to the ability of police to respond to citizens’safety and security needs (Tankebe et al. 2016).

Procedure Data were collected through the online surveytool Qualtrics. Participants were provided with the linkupon signing up for the study through an online univer-sity recruitment tool. They were then randomly assignedto one of the four conditions. Participants read throughthe incident summary, and once they were finished read-ing, they were asked to complete the subsequent ques-tionnaires. Upon completion, participants were debriefedand thanked for their participation.

Results and Discussion

Justification Participants were asked two questions regardingwhether the call to the police was justified (yes/no) and wheth-er the police were justified in their arrest (yes/no). Overall,71.5% believed the call to the police was justified and38.7% believed the arrest was justified. A sequential logisticregression was conducted with individual race and gender asthe independent variables and whether the call to the policewas justified as the dependent variable. Model 2, including themain effects and interaction, was significant, χ2(3) = 13.77, p= .003; however, the individual effects were non-significant,as such, model 1 was retained, χ2(2) = 13.77, p = .001. Therewas a significant effect of individual race, B = − 1.48, SE =.42, p < .001. exp.(B) = 0.23, 95%CI [0.10, 0.52]. Participantswere more likely to believe the call to the police was justifiedwhen the individuals were White (.86) compared to when theindividuals were Black (.58). The remaining effects were non-significant.

A second sequential logistic regression was conducted withindividual race and gender as the independent variables andwhether the arrest was justified as the dependent variable.Model 2, including the main effects and interaction, was sig-nificant, χ2(3) = 11.33, p = .01; however, the individual effectswere non-significant, as such, model 1 was retained, χ2(2) =11.28, p = .004. There was a significant effect of individualrace, B = − 1.18, SE = .37, p = .002, exp.(B) = 0.31, 95% CI[0.15, 0.64]. Participants were more likely to believe the arrestwas justified when the individuals wereWhite (.51) comparedto Black (.25). The remaining effects were non-significant.

Participants thenwere asked whether they believed the caseshould proceed to prosecution. A sequential logistic regres-sion was conducted with individual race and gender as theindependent variables and whether the case should proceedto prosecution as the dependent variable. Model 1 was non-significant, χ2(2) = .07, p = .97, thus suggesting that neitherrace nor gender were influential.

Influential Responses Participants were asked a series of ques-tions regarding how influential they believed race and genderwere in both the manager’s and police officer’s decisions. Aseries of multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) wereconducted with individual race and gender as the dependentvariables and potential influence of race and gender in themanager’s decision as the independent variables. There wasa significant multivariate effect of both individual gender, F(2,113) = 15.75, p < .001, ηp2 = .22, as well as individual race,F(2, 113) = 49.95, p < .001, ηp2 = .47. When examining theinfluence of individual gender, participants believed that whenthe individuals were male, this was more influential (M =55.68, SD = 30.77) compared to when the individuals werefemale (M = 27.68, SD = 28.71), F(1, 114) = 25.17, p < .001,ηρ2 = .18. When examining the influence of individual race,

3 Students are not required to participate in any studies. Students can choose toparticipate in various studies at the university if theywould like to receive extracourse credit in their introductory psychology courses (up to 2% maximum).

J Police Crim Psych (2020) 35:131–145 135

participants believed that when the individuals were Black,this was more influential (M = 75.23, SD = 24.26) comparedto when the individuals were White (M = 23.68, SD = 31.35),F(1, 114) = 98.07, p < .001, ηρ2 = .46 (see Fig. 1). No mul-tivariate interactions were present.

A secondMANOVAwas conducted to examine howmuchinfluence participants believed the individuals’ race and gen-der had in the police officer’s decision to arrest. There was asignificant multivariate effect of both individual gender, F(2,109) = 20.18, p < .001, ηp2 = .27, as well as individual race,F(2, 113) = 94.32, p < .001, ηp2 = .63. When examining theinfluence of individual gender, participants were more likelyto think that gender played a role in the police officers’ deci-sion to arrest when the individuals were male (M = 51.57, SD= 31.97) compared to when the individuals were female (M =21.84, SD = 24.99), F(1, 110) = 30.71, p < .001, ηp2 = .22.When examining the influence of individual race, participantswere more likely to think that race played a role in the policeofficers’ decision to arrest when the individuals were Black(M = 73.39, SD = 21.81) compared to when the individualswere White (M = 15.46, SD = 23.37), F(1, 114) = 184.00, p <.001, ηp2 = .63 (see Fig. 1). No multivariate interactions werepresent.

Police Legitimacy The police legitimacy scale (α = .92) isbroken down into four subscales: lawfulness (α = .81), proce-dural fairness (α = .91), distributive fairness (α = .79), andpolice effectiveness (α = .70) with higher scores indicatingless favorable perceptions. A series of correlations were con-ducted to determine whether there were any relationships be-tween the four scales and participants’ perceptions of howmuch race and gender influenced the police officers’

decisions. Participants who believed that race was influentialin the police officers’ decision to arrest were both related toprocedural and distributive fairness such that the more influ-ence participants’ believed race held, the lower their percep-tions concerning the police exercising procedural fairness anddistributive fairness. When examining gender, similar resultswere observed such that the more influence participants’ be-lieved gender had, the less favorable perceptions they hadconcerning the police exercising procedural fairness and dis-tributive fairness. See Table 1 for relationships.

Regression analyses were then conducted to determinewhether the police legitimacy subscales moderated the rela-tionships between race and whether participants believed thatrace played a role in the police officers’ decision to arrest. Nomoderating effects of the distributive fairness or police effec-tiveness subscales were found. However, the proceduralfairness subscale was found to significantly moderate the re-lationship between race and how much participants believedthat race played a role in the police officers’ decision to arrest,B = 16.81, SE = 7.19, t = 2.34, p = .02, 95% CI [2.57, 31.06].When examining simple slopes, participants rated that racewas significantly more influential when the suspect wasBlack compared to White at both low procedural fairnessscores (i.e., − 1 SD), B = 89.51, SE = 5.30, t = 16.89, p <.001, and high procedural fairness scores (i.e., + 1 SD), B =109.52, SE = 8.34, t = 13.13, p < .001 with the effect mostpronounced at high scores of procedural fairness.

Additionally, the lawfulness subscale was found to signif-icantly moderate the relationship between race and how muchparticipants believed that race played a role in the police offi-cers’ decision to arrest, B = 16.87, SE = 6.76, t = 2.50, p = .01,95% CI [3.48, 30.26]. When examining simple slopes,

Fig. 1 Perceived influence of racein manager’s and police officers’decisions

J Police Crim Psych (2020) 35:131–145136

participants rated that race was significantly more influentialwhen the suspect was Black compared to White at both lowlawfulness scores (i.e., − 1 SD), B = 89.27, SE = 5.33, t =16.76, p < .001, and high lawfulness scores (i.e., + 1 SD), B =110.86, SE = 8.50, t = 13.04, p < .001 with the effect mostpronounced at high scores of lawfulness.

The results of study 1 are intriguing and appear to representthe community sentiment held after this incident had occurredin real life. While participants were more likely to believe thatthe call to the police, and the police officers’ decision to arrestwere justified when the individual was White they also be-lieved that race was more influential when the individual wasBlack, thus suggesting that they believe race to be an influen-tial factor when police officers decide to make an arrest.Relating to this, participants who believed that race was aninfluential factor in the police officers’ decisions to arrest heldless favorable views of their police legitimacy, thus suggestingthey do not believe that police act in a fair and lawful manner.

Study 2

The purpose of study 1 was to examine how individuals per-ceive racially charged interactions when the race and genderof the individuals are varied. Based on the incident that oc-curred at Starbucks in April 2018, study 1 found a similarsentiment whereby participants believed race was a motivat-ing factor when the individual was Black. Because of this, wewanted to further examine how participants perceived a sec-ond incident that occurred inMay 2018 where a Black studentwas asked to prove her student status when the race and gen-der of the individual, as well as the race of the reporting stu-dent who called the police, were varied.

Method

Participants Undergraduate students (N = 316; 64.2% female)were recruited from a university in Eastern Ontario, Canada.Participants’ ages ranged from 18 to 46 years old (M = 19.90;SD = 3.29). Most participants (62.7%) identified themselves

asWhite, with small numbers of Asian (14.8%), Latino/Latina(2.8%), Indigenous (0.9%), Black (11.7%), and those whoidentified themselves as either mixed or “other” (5.7%).Participants received a 0.5% course credit for their participa-tion (see Footnote 3).

Design A 2 (reporter/Res fellow race: Black vs. White) × 2(student gender: male vs. female) × 2 (student race: Black vs.White) between-subjects factorial design was used.

Materials and Procedure

Incident Summary Eight versions of the summary were creat-ed that varied the race and gender of the student working in thedormitory common room as well as the race of the residence(Res) fellow (i.e., an individual who lives in a dormitory andacts as a role model, resource person, and leader to students).The summary described how the student fell asleep whileworking, when the residence fellow woke him/her up andasked him/her to leave due to trespassing. The police werecalled, and the student informed them he/she was a studentbut had lost his/her identification card. The police thenarrested the student because he/she could not present themwith his/her identification card. The remaining materials andprocedure were the same as those used in study 1.

Results

Justification Participants were asked two questions regardingwhether the call to the police was justified (yes/no) and wheth-er the police were justified in their arrest (yes/no). Overall,37.3% believed the call to the police was justified and33.9% believed the arrest was justified. A sequential logisticregression was conducted with student race and gender andthe Res fellow’s race as the independent variables and whetherthe call to the police was justified as the dependent variable.Model 3, including the main effects, two-way interactions,and three-way interaction, was significant, χ2(7) = 15.15, p

Table 1 Relationships betweenperceived influence of race andgender and the Police LegitimacyScale subscales

Race Gender Lawfulness Procedural Distributive Police

Race 1 0.53** 0.17 0.21* 0.22* − 0.05

Gender 0.53** 1 0.13 0.19* 0.25** 0.15

Lawfulness 0.17 0.13 1 0.80** 0.62** 0.16

Procedural 0.21* 0.19* 0.80** 1 0.76** 0.32**

Distributive 0.22* 0.25** 0.62** 0.76** 1 0.37**

Police − 0.05 0.15 0.16 0.32** 0.37** 1

Race, perceived influence of race; Gender, perceived influence of gender; Procedural, procedural fairness;Distributive, distributive fairness; Police, police effectiveness

*p < .05. **p < .01

J Police Crim Psych (2020) 35:131–145 137

= .03, and model 2, including the main effects and two-wayinteraction was significant, χ2(6) = 15.04, p = .02; however,the individual effects were non-significant in either model, assuch, model 1 was retained, χ2(3) = 13.26, p = .004. Therewas a significant effect of the student’s race, B = .58, SE = .24,p = .02, exp.(B) = 1.79, 95%CI [1.12, 2.87], as well as gender,B = .59, SE = .24, p = .01, exp.(B) = 1.80, 95%CI [1.13, 2.87].When the student was White, participants were more likely tobelieve that the call to the police was justified (.44) comparedto when the individual was Black (.31). Additionally, partici-pants were more likely to believe the call to the police wasjustified when the student was male (.45) compared to female(.31). The remaining effects were non-significant.

A second sequential logistic regression was conducted withstudent race and gender and the Res fellow’s race as the inde-pendent variables and whether the arrest was justified as thedependent variable. Model 3, including the main effects, two-way interactions, and three-way interaction, was significant,χ2(7) = 22.98, p = .002; however, the individual effects werenon-significant, as such, Model 2 was retained, χ2(6) = 22.95,p = .001. There was a significant effect of the student’s race, B= 3.54, SE = 1.54, p = .02, exp.(B) = 34.44, 95% CI [1.70,700.89]. Participants were more likely to believe the arrestwas justified when the student was White (.47) compared toBlack (.23). The remaining effects were non-significant.Lastly, participants were asked whether they believed the caseshould proceed to prosecution. A sequential logistic regres-sion revealed no significance, χ2(3) = 3.60, p = .31.

Influential Responses Participants were asked a series of ques-tions regarding how influential they believed the student’srace and gender, as well as the Res fellow’s race, were in theRes fellow’s and police officer’s decisions. A series of multi-variate analyses of variance were conducted with student’srace and gender and Res fellow race as the independent vari-ables and the potential influence of race and gender in the Resfellow’s decision as the independent variables. There was asignificant multivariate effect of Res fellow race, F(2, 269) =6.37, p = .002, ηp2 = .06, the student’s race, F(2, 269) =104.06, p < .001, ηp2 = .44, and the student’s gender, F(2,269) = 49.29, p < .001, ηp2 = .27. However, there also was asignificant multivariate interaction between the Res fellow’srace and the student’s race, F(2, 269) = 21.26, p < .001, ηp2 =.14. When examining the univariate effects of the influence ofthe student’s race, participants were more likely to believe thatrace played a role Res fellow’s decision to call police when thestudent was Black (M = 68.00, SD = 30.49) compared toWhite (M = 22.70, SD = 26.34), F(1, 270) = 195.81, p <.001, ηp2 = .42. Additionally, participants were more likelyto believe that gender played a role when the student was male(M = 55.76, SD = 27.69) compared to female (M = 27.69, SD= 27.46), F(1, 270) = 70.33, p < .001, ηp2 = .21.When the Resfellow was White, participants believed that the student’s race

played a role in the Res fellow’s decision to call the police (M= 52.88, SD = 38.14) compared to when the Res fellow wasBlack (M = 40.43, SD = 33.68), F(1, 270) = 9.28, p = .003,ηp2 = 03.

However, these main effects must be interpreted in light ofthe significant univariate interaction between the student’srace and Res fellow’s race, F(1, 270) = 33.93, p < .001, ηp2

= .11. Participants were more likely to believe the student’srace was influential in the Res fellow’s decision to call thepolice when the Res fellow was White and the student wasBlack (M = 82.03, SD = 19.30) compared to when the studentwas White (M = 18.00, SD = 22.79), t(139) = 18.06, p < .001.Additionally, when the Res fellow was Black, participantswere more likely to believe that race was influential in theRes fellow’s decision when the student was Black (M =51.07, SD = 34.23) compared to White (M = 25.45, SD =28.23), t(147) = 4.99, p < .001 (see Fig. 2).

Participants also were asked the same questions in regard tothe police’s decision to arrest the student. There was a signif-icant multivariate effect of the individual’s race, F(2, 256) =123.43, p < .001, ηp2 = .49 and the individual’s gender, F(2,256) = 44.50, p < .001, ηp2 = .26. When the individual wasWhite, participants believed that race was more influential inthe police officers’ decisions (M = 50.78, SD = 37.08) com-pared to when the individual was Black (M = 43.42, SD =35.05), F(1, 257) = 229.91, p < .001, ηp2 = .47. Additionally,participants weremore likely to think gender was influential inthe police officers’ decision when the student was male whenthe individual was male (M = 54.51, SD = 29.16) compared tofemale (M = 28.38, SD = 27.52), F(1, 257) = 59.62, p < .001,ηp2 = .19. There also was a significant interaction between therace of the Res fellow and the student who was sleeping, F(2,256) = 6.78, p = .001, ηp2 = .05. When the Res fellow wasWhite, and the student was Black, participants thought thiswas more influential in the police officers’ decisions to arrest(M = 75.47, SD = 26.33) compared to when the student wasWhite (M = 18.70, SD = 22.02), t(136) = 13.47, p < .001.Additionally, when the Res fellow was Black, and the studentwas Black, participants thought this was more influential inthe police officers’ decision to arrest (M = 62.82, SD = 30.25)compared to when the student was White (M = 21.36, SD =25.66), t(135) = 8.59, p < .001.

Lastly, participants were asked how much the Res fellow’srace played a role in the decision to call police. There was asignificant effect of Res fellow race, F(1, 263) = 47.66, p <.001, ηp2 = .15 and the student’s race, F(1, 263) = 52.74, p <.001, ηp2 = .17. There also was a significant interaction be-tween the Res fellow’s race and the student’s race, F(1, 263) =20.56, p < .001, ηp2 = .07 as well as the Res fellow’s race andthe student’s gender, F(1, 263) = 3.85, p = .05, ηp2 = .01.When the Res fellow was White, participants believed thiswas more influential in the decision to call the police (M =53.26, SD = 33.96) compared to Black (M = 28.07, SD =

J Police Crim Psych (2020) 35:131–145138

28.57). Additionally, participants believed that the Res fel-low’s race was more influential when the sleeping studentwas Black (M = 52.90, SD = 33.90) compared to White (M= 27.09, SD = 28.05).

When interpreting the interactions, participants were morelikely to believe the Res fellow’s race was influential when theRes fellow was White and the sleeping student was Black (M= 71.20, SD = 25.16) compared to White (M = 30.92, SD =30.15), t(135) = 8.52, p < .001. There were no differencesobserved when the Res fellow was Black. Follow-up testswere run to determine where the differences lied in the inter-action between Res fellow race and the sleeping student’sgender; however, the follow-up analyses were non-significant (see Fig. 3).

Police Legitimacy The police legitimacy scale (α = .91) isbroken down into four subscales: lawfulness (α = .75),procedural fairness (α = .90), distributive fairness (α =.82), and police effectiveness (α = .72) with higher scoresindicating less favorable perceptions. A series of correla-tions were conducted to determine whether there were anyrelationships between the four scales and participants’ per-ceptions of how much race and gender influenced the po-lice officers’ decisions. Participants who believed that racewas influential in the police officers’ decision to arrestwere related to lawfulness, procedural fairness, and distrib-utive fairness such that the more influence participants’believed race held, the lower perceptions they hadconcerning the police exercising lawfulness, proceduralfairness, and distributive fairness. When examining gen-der, the more influence participants’ believed gender had,

the lower perceptions they had concerning the policeexercising procedural fairness, distributive fairness, andpolice effectiveness. See Table 2 for relationships.

Regression analyses were then conducted to determinewhether the police legitimacy subscales moderated the rela-tionships between race and whether participants believed thatrace played a role in the police officers’ decision to arrest. Nomoderating effects of the police effectiveness subscale werefound. However, the procedural fairness subscale was foundto significantlymoderate the relationship between student raceand how much participants believed that race played a role inthe police officers’ decision to arrest, B = 16.33, SE = 6.04, t =2.70, p = .007, 95% CI [4.44, 28.23]. When examining simpleslopes, participants rated that race was significantly more in-fluential when the suspect was Black compared to White atboth low procedural fairness scores (i.e., − 1 SD), B = 79.57,SE = 5.04, t = 15.78, p < .001, and high procedural fairnessscores (i.e., + 1 SD), B = 96.56, SE = 7.49, t = 12.90, p < .001with the effect most pronounced at high scores of proceduralfairness.

Additionally, the lawfulness subscale was found to signif-icantly moderate the relationship between student race andhow much participants believed that race played a role in thepolice officers’ decision to arrest, B = 16.74, SE = 5.78, t =2.90, p = .004, 95% CI [5.36, 38.11]. When examining simpleslopes, participants rated that race was significantly more in-fluential when the suspect was Black compared to White atboth low lawfulness scores (i.e., − 1 SD), B = 80.68, SE =4.92, t = 16.39, p < .001, and high lawfulness scores (i.e., + 1SD), B = 99.10, SE = 7.45, t = 13.30, p < .001 with the effectmost pronounced at high scores of lawfulness.

Fig. 2 Perceived influence ofstudent race and Res fellow’s racein res fellow’s decision

J Police Crim Psych (2020) 35:131–145 139

Distributive fairness also was found to significantly mod-erate the relationship between student race and how muchparticipants believed that race played a role in the police offi-cers’ decision to arrest, B = 21.96, SE = 5.15, t = 4.26, p <.001, 95% CI [11.81, 32.10]. When examining simple slopes,participants rated that race was significantly more influentialwhen the suspect was Black compared to White at both lowdistributive fairness scores (i.e., − 1 SD), B = 95.70, SE = 5.43,t = 17.61, p < .001, and high distributive fairness scores (i.e., +1 SD), B = 122.06, SE = 8.06, t = 15.14, p < .001 with theeffect most pronounced at high scores of distributive fairness.

General Discussion

Although research has examined how various personal char-acteristics influence the public’s perceptions of police (e.g.,Simpson 2017); the current studies examined various factors

within a case can influence perceptions of the police. Whilethere is a general sentiment that the public perceives Whitepolice officers as using unjustified use of force with Blackindividuals (e.g., Michael Brown, Eric Garner, etc.), far lessis known on how the public perceives instances where use offorce is not used, but rather an arrest is made for a non-violentcrime. Therefore, the purpose of the current studies was toexamine the effects of gender and race on the perceptions oftwo different encounters with the police. Not only were weinterested in examining whether people believed the policeacted with prejudice, but we also were interested in examiningpeople’s own prejudice.

Justified Actions and Personal Prejudice

Race has been found to be influential in various deci-sions by police officers from arrest and throughout thetrial process including sentencing (e.g., Franklin 2018;

Fig. 3 Perceived influence of student race and Res fellow race in police officers’ decision

Table 2 Relationships betweenperceived influence of race andgender and the Police LegitimacyScale subscales

Race Gender Lawfulness Procedural Distributive Police

Race 1 0.52** 0.16** 0.24** 0.23* 0.09

Gender 0.52** 1 0.11 0.19* 0.15* 0.13*

Lawfulness 0.16 0.11 1 0.76** 0.64** 0.22**

Procedural 0.24** 0.19** 0.76** 1 0.75** 0.23**

Distributive 0.23** 0.15* 0.64** 0.75** 1 0.22**

Police 0.09 0.13* 0.22** 0.23** 0.22** 1

Race, perceived influence of race; Gender, perceived influence of gender; Procedural, procedural fairness;Distributive, distributive fairness; Police, police effectiveness

*p < .05. **p < .01

J Police Crim Psych (2020) 35:131–145140

Simoiu et al. 2017; Starr and Rehavi 2013). Even moreso, this is evident in the media and has led to the BlackLives Matter movement where individuals believe thatBlack individuals are treated more harshly than Whiteindividuals. Examining a Canadian sample, the resultsof the current studies also reflect this notion. For exam-ple, across both studies, participants believed that whenthe individual was White (compared to Black), the callto the police and the police officers’ decision to arrestwere justified. This may be due to various reasons;however, we speculate there are two primary reasonsthese results may have emerged. The first is the BlackSheep Effect whereby we tend to shame members ofour in-group that bring our in-group shame or a badname (e.g., Marques et al. 1988). Note that the majorityof the Canadian sample was White. While people tendto have in-group favoritism, people also do not wantmembers of their in-group doing something to cast anegative light on them. Given that the sample was pre-dominately White, participants may have been engagingin this and thus over-compensating by believing the callto police and arrest of the individual was justifiablewhen the individual was White. Moreover, participantsin the current studies may have been aware of the casesthat these vignettes were based on and may have beentrying to overcompensate. While we can only speculateon this, future research may want to examine their priorknowledge of police-minority interactions as well as theBlack Lives Matter movement.

Additionally, participants may believe that “loitering”is predominately White crime given that White individ-uals are more likely to be arrested for loitering thanBlack individuals (Criminal Justice InformationServices Division 2016). Previous research has reliablyshown that race-crime congruency is influential indecision-making whereby White individuals are foundguilty more often for stereotypically-White crimes suchas embezzlement compared to Black individuals whileBlack individuals are found guilty more often forstereotypically-Black crimes such as assault (Osborneand Davies 2013).

Gender also was influential in participants’ determi-nation of whether the call to police was justified. Instudy 2, when the sleeping individual was male, partic-ipants were more likely to agree the call to police wasjustified compared to when the sleeping individual wasfemale. This is not surprising as men have been foundto be perceived as aggressive and dangerous (e.g.,Hendree and Nicks 2000). Additionally, the jurordecision-making literature has found similar resultswhereby male defendants are typically more likely tobe found guilty and rated more negatively than theirfemale counterparts (e.g., Dean et al. 2000; Forsterlee

et al. 2004). Participants in the current study may havebelieved that the incident could have further escalatedwhen the individual was male.

Perceptions of Police Prejudice

As Weitzer and Tuch (2005) discuss, race is a reliablepredictor of how society, and individuals within it, per-ceive the police. Given that the public has expressed asentiment that race is influential in police officers’ de-cisions to apprehend suspects (e.g., Walker 2001), thecurrent study sought to examine whether this also heldtrue when participants were specifically asked consider-ing race and gender relations. Both race and genderwere perceived to be influential in both the decision tocall the police as well as the police officers’ decisionsto arrest across both studies. Participants were morelikely to believe that race was influential when the in-dividual was Black, thus reinforcing the belief thatBlack individuals are targeted more so than White indi-viduals (Walker 2001). Additionally, in both Canada andthe USA, Black individuals are over-represented in theCriminal Justice System (Nellis 2016; The John HowardSociety of Canada 2017). These facts, along with thebelief that Black individuals are targeted more thanWhite individuals may perpetuate an uneasy feelingwhen it comes to interactions with the police, especiallywhen the individual is Black, and the arresting officer isWhite.

Study 2 found support for both cross-race and same-race influences such that participants said that the raceof the Res fellow (White or Black) influenced the Resfellow’s decision to call more when the student wasBlack compared to White. Therefore, there was asame-race influence for the Black Res fellow in thesense that when the student was Black and the Resfellow was Black, the race of the Res fellow was per-ceived as being more influential than when the studentwas White. On the other hand, there was a cross-raceeffect for the White Res fellow in the sense that whenthe sleeping individual was Black and the Res fellowwas White, the race of the Res fellow was perceived asbeing more influential than when the sleeping individualwas White. While we expected to find this effect for aWhite Res fellow and Black student, we were surprisedto find that the Black-Black dyad also was perceived tobe influential in the decision to call the police.Participants may have believed that a Black Res fellowwould be less inclined to call the police and report on aWhite individual for the fear of not being taken serious-ly whereas a Black Res fellow may feel more confidentcalling the police on another Black individual.

J Police Crim Psych (2020) 35:131–145 141

Media exposure may play into this perception, espe-cially when it is a White officer and Black arrestee.Weitzer and Tuch (2005) examined whether exposureto media reports of police misconduct influences percep-tions of police misconduct among White, Black, andHispanic individuals. Weitzer and Tuch found that ex-posure to the media does, in fact, increase the percep-tion of police bias. While we did not measure exposureto media in the current studies, it can be speculated thatthe participants in the current studies have seen newsreports concerning the police use of deadly force witha White officer and Black individual as well as differentstories of people coming forward expressing support forthe Black Lives Matter movement. Given that partici-pants in the current studies were more likely to believethe call to police and the later arrest were justified whenthe individual was White, but believed race played arole when the individual was Black, our findings sug-gest that race is perceived as the motivator when it isstereotypical, i.e., a Black suspect. Everyone involved inthe justice system is expected to behave impartially, thatis, to follow the law without prejudice. However, itappears as though lay people believe that this is nothappening and that various extralegal factors, such asrace and gender, are influential in how police officersrespond to certain situations.

Police Legitimacy

When examining the four subscales concerning policelegitimacy, all four were related to participants’ percep-tions concerning whether race and/or gender influencedthe police officers’ decisions to make an arrest. In study1, participants who believed that race was influentialwere less likely to believe the police engaged in proce-dural and distributive fairness. This is not surprisinggiven that race was thought to be most influential whenthe individual was Black. This certainly does not followwith beliefs that police officers working within a fair,respectful manner (i.e., procedural fairness), nor does itfollow with the notion that police act fairly with thedifferent allocations of their resources (i.e., distributivefairness). Similar results were observed in study 2, withthe addition of a relationship between perceived influ-ence of race and lawfulness; again, this is not surprisingas when people believe race is a contributing factor toan arrest that is not seen as acting within the law (i.e.,lawfulness). If police were only to ever act in accor-dance with the law, demographic characteristics wouldnot be relevant in an arrest.

Further, it was found that procedural fairness, lawful-ness, and distributive fairness (study 2) moderated therelationships between the “suspect’s” race and how

much participants believed that race played a role inthe police officers’ decision to arrest. Specifically, par-ticipants both high and low in these subscales believethat race was more influential in the decision to arrestwhen the individual was Black compared to White.However, this effect was more pronounced for thosehigh in procedural fairness, lawfulness, and distributivefairness (study 2) compared to those who rated low inthese scales. In other words, those who have less favor-able views of the police believe the police to be moreracially discriminatory when making an arrest comparedto those who have more favorable views of the police.We expected to find this pattern for those who have lessfavorable views; however, it was surprising to find thateven those who have favorable views still believed thatrace was influential in the police officers’ decision toarrest. These findings may demonstrate that those whohave more favorable views are not as concerned withracially driven arrests and thus do not consider racewhen answering questions about the fairness/lawfulnessof police. Alternatively, this may suggest that answeringgeneric survey type questions (e.g., the questions on thepolice legitimacy scale) may elicit a different perceptionof police then when presented a specific scenario ofpolice action. As we did not ask participants to expandon their answers when responding to the police legiti-macy scale, we can only speculate as to why this pat-tern emerged.

Gender also was found to relate to distributive fair-ness and police effectiveness (study 1) in addition toprocedural fairness (study 2). As with race, if peopleperceive gender to be influential in a police officer’sdecision to arrest, this does not align with the notionthat the police act fairly with the allocation of theirresources (i.e., distributive fairness) and perform theirduties in a respectful, even-handed manner (i.e., proce-dural fairness). Further, in study 1, the more peopleperceived gender to be influential to the police officer’sdecision to arrest, the lower the ratings of police effec-tiveness. Although this may not be expected, it is pos-sible that those who believe police are arresting basedon gender may not think the police are properly doingtheir job and thus believe they are not able to respondto their safety needs accordingly as has been seen withthe inquiry into the murders of Indigenous women inCanada (Austin and Bilefsky 2019).

Police legitimacy must be taken seriously for a law-ful society. When the public believes that arrests aremade due to an individual’s gender or race, it decreasesthe legitimacy and effectiveness of the police to main-tain order. The relationship in the current study betweenlower perceptions of police legitimacy and greater per-ceptions that police consider race and gender when

J Police Crim Psych (2020) 35:131–145142

making decisions suggests the importance of police ac-tions on public opinion. In the current studies, it is notclear whether participants’ perceptions regarding policelegitimacy influenced their belief that police were actingbased on race/gender, or the other way around. Eitherway, with fewer gender and/or racially driven policeincidents, the public’s perceptions of police legitimacywill likely improve. As trust and confidence from thepublic is integral to any model of policing in a demo-cratic society (Clark et al. 2017; Rosenbaum et al.2005), these are critical considerations.

Limitations and Future Directions

There are some methodological limitations that warrantdiscussion and that pave the way for future research.One notable limitation is that the current studies didnot include participant race or officer race; future re-search may want to examine how this may influenceresponses and whether there are differences betweenBlack and White participants and how they viewWhite—Black and Black—White police encounter.Moreover, Canada race tensions are often seen betweenthe Indigenous and White groups whereas the White-Black groups seem more relevant in the USA. InCanada, there is a higher proportion of Indigenouspeople (reported 2.1 million) compared to Black indi-viduals (Statistics Canada 2016) and the Indigenous areover-represented in prison (Statistics Canada 2018).Examin ing Whi te - Ind igenous re la t ions wi th aCanadian sample and White-Black relations in theUSA would be important to further elucidate percep-tions held about police. Additionally, the current studyused a written vignette to describe the events that tran-spired. The medium in which this information is pre-sented may influence the results of future studies; wesuggest that future researchers may want to use a morerealistic medium such as a videotaped mock news storywith a re-enactment of the events. One last avenuewould be to measure exposure to the media, specifical-ly, instances of police use of force to determine wheth-er exposure to these incidents has any influence onparticipants’ responses.

Conclusion

Overall, the results of the current studies mimic what is seen inthe real world whereby race influences the decisions of peoplein authority (i.e., coffee shop manager, Res fellow) as well aspolice officers in their decision-making. The current studiesprovide new information regarding the public’s perception ofpolice prejudice and suggest that people may consider the

negative relationships between the police and minorities whenconsidering a specific case. Further, the results suggest that theCanadian public does not support or agree with racially drivenarrests and actually counteract any prejudice by making anti-stereotypical judgements.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Conflict of Interest The authors declare that they have no conflict ofinterest.

Ethical Approval All procedures performed in studies involving humanparticipants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institu-tional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 HelsinkiDeclaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by anyof the authors.

Informed Consent Informed consent was obtained from all individualparticipants included in the study.

References

Austin, I., & Bilefsky, D. (2019). Canadian Inquire calls killings ofIndigenous women genocide. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/world/canada/canada-indigenous-genocide.html. Accessed 11June 2019

Black Lives Matter. (2019). About. https://blacklivesmatter.com/about/.Accessed 5 June 2019

Brandl SG, Frank J (1994) Global and specific attitudes toward the police:disentangling the relationship. Justice Q 11(1):119–134. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418829400092161

Chiricos T, Welch K, Gertz M (2004) Racial typification of crime andsupport for punitive measures. Criminology 42(2):359–390. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2004.tb00523.x

Clark M, Davidson D, Hanrahan V, Taylor NE (2017) Public trust inpolicing: a global search for the genetic code to inform policy andpractice in Canada. J Commun Safety Well-Being 2(3):101–111

CNN. (2019). Trayvon Martin shooting fast facts. https://www.cnn.com/2013/06/05/us/trayvon-martin-shooting-fast-facts/index.html.Accessed 11 June 2019

Criminal Justice Information Services Division. (2016). Arrests by raceand ethnicity, 2016. https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/topic-pages/tables/table-21. Accessed 5 June 2019

Culhane SE, Boman JH, Schweitzer K (2016) Public perceptions of thejustifiability of police shootings: the role of body cameras in a pre-and post-Ferguson experiment. Police Q 19(3):251–274. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098611116651403

Dean K, Wayne JH, Mack D, Thomas K (2000) An examination ofhappiness, racism, and demographics on judgments of guilt. JAppl Soc Psychol 30(4):816–832. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2000.tb02825.x

Devine DJ, Caughlin DE (2014) Do they matter? A meta-analytic inves-tigation of individual characteristics and guilt judgments. PsycholPublic Policy Law 20(2):109–134. https://doi.org/10.1037/law0000006

Ewanation L, Maeder E (2018) The influence of witness intoxication,witness race, and defendant race on mock juror decision making.Can J Criminol Crim Justice 60(4):505–536. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjccj.2017-0047.r2

J Police Crim Psych (2020) 35:131–145 143

Forsterlee L, Fox GB, Forsterlee R, Ho R (2004) The effects of a victimimpact statement and gender on juror information processing in acriminal trial: does the punishment fit the crime? Aust Psychol39(1):57–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/00050060410001660353

Franklin TW (2018) The state of race and punishment in America: isjustice really blind? J Crim Just 59:18–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2017.05.011

Griggs B (2018) A black Yale graduate student took a nap in her dorm’scommon room. So a white student called police, CNN Retrievedfrom https://www.cnn.com

Hendree PK, Nicks SD (2000) Perceptions of violent crimes in relation tosex of perpetrator. Percept Mot Skills 90(2):485–488. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.2000.90.2.485

Huang WSW, & Vaughn MS (1996). Support and confidence:public attitudes toward the police. In T. J. Flanagan & D.R. Longmire (Eds.), Americans view crime and justice: anational public opinion survey (pp. 31-45). doi: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483326900.n3

MacLin MK, Herrera V (2006) The criminal stereotype. N Am J Psychol8(2):197–208

Madriz EI (1997) Images of criminals and victims: a study on women’sfear and social control. Gend Soc 11(3):342–356. https://doi.org/10.1177/089124397011003005

Maeder EM, Ewanation L (2018) What makes race salient? Jurordecision-making in same-race versus cross-race identificationscenarios and the influence of expert testimony. Crim JusticeBehav 45 (8 ) : 1234–1251 . h t t p s : / / do i . o rg / 10 .1177 /0093854818776998

Maeder E, Yamamoto S, Saliba P (2015) The influence of defendant raceand victim physical attractiveness on juror-decision making in asexual assault trial. Psychol Crime Law 21:62–79. https://doi.org/10.1080/1068316X.2014.915325

Marques J, Yzerbyt V, Leyens J (1988) The “black sheep effect”: extrem-ity of judgments towards ingroup members as a function of groupidentification. Eur J Soc Psychol 18:1–16

Miller, A., & Russell, A. (2015). Black Lives Matter protesters shut downsection of Allen expressway. https://globalnews.ca/news/2134082/hundreds-protest-deaths-of-jermaine-carby-and-andrew-loku-in-toronto/. Accessed 11 August 2019

Mitchell TL, Haw RM, Pfeifer JE, Meissner CA (2005) Racial bias inmock juror decision-making: a meta-analytic review of defendanttreatment. LawHumBehav 29(6):621–637. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10979-005-8122-9

Nellis, A. (2016). The color of justice: racial and ethnic disparity in stateprisons. The Sentencing Project. https://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/ uploads/2016/06/The-Color-of-Justice-Racial-and-EthnicDisparity-in-State-Prisons.pdf. Accessed 5 June 2019

Osborne D, Davies P (2013) Eyewitness identifications are affected bystereotypes about a suspect’s level of perceived stereotypicality.Group Process Intergroup Relations 16:488–504

Pfeifer JE, Ogloff JRP (2003) Mock juror ratings of guilt in Canada:modern racism and ethnic heritage. Soc Behav Personal Int J31(3):301–312. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2003.31.3.301

Pozzulo JD, Dempsey J, Maeder E, Allen L (2010) The effects of victimgender, defendant gender, and defendant age on juror decision mak-ing. Crim Justice Behav 37(1):47–63. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854809344173

Reisig MD, Parks RB (2000) Experience, quality of life, and neighbor-hood context: a hierarchical analysis of satisfaction with police.Ju s t i c e Q 17 (3 ) : 607–630 . h t t p s : / / do i . o rg / 10 .1080 /07418820000094681

Rosenbaum DP, Schuck AM, Costello SK, Hawkins DF, Ring MK(2005) Attitudes toward the police: the effects of direct and vicariousexperience. Police Q 8(3):343–365. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098611104271085

Russell KK (2002) The racial hoax as crime: the law as affirmation. In:Gabbidon SL, Greene HT, Young VD (eds) African American clas-sics in criminology and criminal justice. Sage, Thousand Oaks, pp349–376

Russell, A. (2019). Sask., Quebec arrest videos show ‘startling’ examplesof excessive police force: Experts. Retrieved on August 13, 2019from https://globalnews.ca/news/5456773/sask-quebec-arrest-videos-excessive-police-force-experts/. Accessed 13 August 2019

Sampson RJ, Bartusch DJ (1998) Legal cynicism and (subcultural?) tol-erance of deviance: the neighborhood context of racial differences.Law Soc Rev 32(4):777–804. https://doi.org/10.2307/827739

Sandu N. (2018). “They don’t have a platform here”: exploring policeperceptions of the black lives matter movement in Canada (Master’sthesis). Retrieved from http://summit.sfu.ca/collection/130

Schuller RA, Kazoleas V, Kawakami K (2009) The impact of prejudicescreening procedures on racial bias in the courtroom. Law HumBehav 33(4):320–328. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10979-008-9153-9

Sigelman L, Tuch SA (1997) Metastereotypes: Blacks’ perceptions ofwhites’ stereotypes of blacks. Public Opin Q 61(1):87–101. https://doi.org/10.1086/297788

Simoiu C, Corbett-Davies S, Goel S (2017) The problem of infra-marginality in outcome tests for discrimination. Ann Appl Stat11(3):1193–1216. https://doi.org/10.1214/17-AOAS1058

Simpson R (2017) The police officer perception project (POPP): an ex-perimental evaluation of factors that impact perceptions of the po-lice. J Exp Criminol 13:393–415

Smith SK, Steadman GW, Minton TD, Townsend M (1999) Criminalvictimization and perceptions of community safety in 12 cities,1998. U.S. Department of Justice, Washington

Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics. (2012). Table 2.12.2012.https://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/pdf/t2122012.pdf. Accessed20 May 2019

Starr SB, Rehavi MM (2013) Mandatory sentencing and racial disparity:assessing the role of prosecutors and the effects of booker. Yale LawJ 123(1):1–80

Statistics Canada. (2015). Criminal victimization in Canada, 2014 (no.85-002-X). Retrieved from https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2015001/article/14241-eng.htm. Accessed 21March 2019

Statistics Canada. (2016). Ethnic and cultural origins of Canadians:Portrait or a rich heritage. Retrieved from https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/as-sa/98-200-x/2016016/98-200-x2016016-eng.cfm. Accessed 21 March 2019

Statistics Canada. (2018). Adult and youth correctional statistics inCanada, 2016/2017 (no. 85-002-X). Retrieved from https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2018001/article/54972-eng.htm. Accessed 21 March 2019

Steen S, Engen RL, Gainey RR (2005) Images of danger and culpability:racial stereotyping, case processing, and criminal sentencing.Criminology: An Interdisciplinary Journal 43(2):435–468. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0011-1348.2005.00013.x

Steffensmeier D, Demuth S (2006) Does gender modify the effects ofrace—ethnicity on criminal sanctioning? Sentences for male andfemale White, Black, and Hispanic defendants. J Quant Criminol22(3):241–261. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-006-9010-2

Steffensmeier D, Kramer JH (1982) Sex-based differences in the sentenc-ing of adult criminal defendants: an empirical test and theoreticaloverview. Sociol Soc Res 66(3):289–304

Steffensmeier D, Painter-Davis N, Ulmer J (2017) Intersectionality ofrace, ethnicity, gender, and age on criminal punishment. SociolP e r s p e c t 60 ( 4 ) : 8 10–833 . h t t p s : / / d o i . o rg / 10 . 1177 /0731121416679371

Stevens M (2018). Starbucks C.E.O. apologizes after arrests of 2 Blackmen. The NewYork Times.Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com

Tankebe J, ReisigM,WangX (2016)Amultidimensional model of policelegitimacy: a cross-cultural assessment. Law Hum Behav 40:11–22

J Police Crim Psych (2020) 35:131–145144

The John Howard Society of Canada. (2017). Race, crime, and justice inCanada. Retrieved from http://johnhoward.ca/blog/race-crime-justice-canada/. Accessed 4 June 2019

Walker S (2001) Police accountability. Wadsworth, BelmontWalker S, Spohn C, DeLoneM (2000) The color of justice: race, ethnicity

and crime in America, 2nd edn. Wadsworth, BelmontWeitzer R, Tuch S (2005) Determinants of public satisfaction with the

police. Police Q 8:279–297Wortley S, Owusu-Bempah A (2009) Unequal before the law: immigrant

and racial minority perceptions of the Canadian criminal justicesystem. J Int Migr Integr 10(4):447–473. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-009-0108-x

Wortley S, Owusu-Bempah A (2011) The usual suspects: police stop andsearch practices in Canada. Polic Soc 21(4):395–407. https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2011.610198

Wortley S, Hagan J, Macmillan R (1997) Just des(s)erts? The racial po-larization of perceptions of criminal injustice. Law Soc Rev 31(4):637–676. https://doi.org/10.2307/3053983

Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdic-tional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

J Police Crim Psych (2020) 35:131–145 145