Race, Class or Neighborhood Context: Which Matters More in Measuring Satisfaction With Police?

• NCJ Number: 226470
• Journal: Justice Quarterly Volume: 26 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2009 Pages: 125-156
• Author(s): Yuning Wu; Ivan Y. Sun; Ruth A. Triplett
• Date Published: March 2009
• Length: 32 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Using hierarchical linear modeling on 1,963 individuals within 66 neighborhoods, this study determined whether and how residents’ satisfaction with police was influenced by individual-level variables--race, class, age, gender, victimization, and police contacts--and neighborhood factors--racial composition, concentrated disadvantage, residential mobility, and violent-crime rate.

Abstract

The individual-level analysis found that both race and class were equally important predictors of satisfaction with police. African-Americans and lower class people tended to be less satisfied with police. The significant effects of race and class, however, disappeared when neighborhood-level characteristics were considered simultaneously. Neighborhood racial composition affected satisfaction with police, with residents in predominately White and racially mixed neighborhoods having more favorable attitudes toward police than those in predominately African-American neighborhoods. Further, African-Americans in economically advantaged neighborhoods were less likely than Whites in a similar neighborhood to be satisfied with police; whereas, African-Americans and Whites in disadvantaged communities expressed similar levels of satisfaction with police. The findings suggest that police-community relations can be improved when police departments actively support and participate in community-building and crime-prevention programs that benefit the general quality of life and safety of residents. Data used in this study were collected as part of the project entitled Informal Social Control of Crime in High Drug Use Neighborhoods in Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky, 2000. Part one of the study collected data from face-to-face (25 percent) and telephone interviews (75 percent) with households in 66 block groups of the 2 urban communities. Part two of the study used data on aggregated variables from Part one, as well as data from the U.S. Census, 1990, and the U.S. Census 2000 Population counts. 4 tables and 94 references