NCJ Number
156684
Journal
American Journal of Police Volume: 13 Issue: 4 Dated: (1994) Pages: 135-155
Date Published
1994
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This study assesses the public's perceptions of policing responsibility in relation to the AIDS patient and whether or not these perceptions are clouded by homophobia.
Abstract
The study was conducted at a medium-sized conservative southern university and used a sample of 300 undergraduates that was 52 percent male and 48 percent female. Subjects identified their political outlook as very conservative (13 percent); conservative (51 percent); liberal (29 percent); and very liberal (7 percent). Students were randomly assigned to one of five conditions. In each condition, students read a short scenario that described an automobile accident in which the victim was bleeding profusely from the leg. The five scenarios differed in two ways. The first difference involved the victim's general health status. In four of the conditions, the victim was known to have AIDS. These four conditions were differentiated by how the victim of the accident contracted the disease. Each respondent was asked about police officers' responsibilities to provide medical intervention and care for the "healthy" victim and each of the four victims with AIDS contracted through different means. The findings show that the respondents viewed the "healthy" victim as being most deserving of every type of police intervention, followed in order of completeness of services rendered to the victims who acquired the disease through blood transfusions, through heterosexual contact, through needle sharing, and through homosexual contact. 10 tables, 34 references, and appended scenario descriptions