Police and the Black Male (From Constructions of Deviance: Social Power, Context, and Interaction, P 122-133, 1994, Patricia A and Peter Adler, eds. -- See NCJ-151012)

• NCJ Number: 151017
• Author(s): E Anderson
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 12 pages
• Sale Source: Wadsworth Publishing Co
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Reprinted from "Streetwise" (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990)

Annotation

Whites often receive more consideration and deferential treatment by the police than blacks; consequently, many black males are suspicious of the police.

Abstract

Because young black males are aware of many cases in which innocent black persons have been wrongly accused and detained, they have developed negative attitudes toward the police. Further, young black males are often deferential toward the police even when they are completely within their rights and have done nothing wrong. Middle-class black people frequently attempt to approximate middle-class whites in self-presentation styles in public, but young working class blacks tend to reject middle-class symbols. The need for police to establish positive relationships with black youth, especially in high-crime neighborhoods, is stressed, and police-community relations in one violent neighborhood are described. Social and criminal justice issues associated with black attitudes toward the police are addressed, particularly with respect to drug-related and violent crime. 8 references and 2 notes