Persistence of police legitimacy: understanding Asian American perspectives
Date
2022
Authors
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Volume Title
Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Many studies have been conducted over the past few decades to assess people's perceptions of the police. Racial minorities, particularly Blacks, have consistently rated the police less favorably than Whites. Although this vein of inquiry has greatly strengthened our understanding of public attitudes toward the police, Asian Americans and immigrants have been noticeably under-investigated in the existing literature. ☐ The main purpose of this study is to examine Asian Americans’ perceptions of the police, focusing on how they construct support of the police. I draw upon the system justification theory, which posits that people tend to support the current institutional structures even when the system is disadvantageous to them. Applying it to the arena of policing, one may speculate that Asian Americans are likely to express their support of the police because they perceive regulatory authorities as legitimate. ☐ Data used in this study came from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 20 Asian Americans residing or working in mid-Atlantic states. Findings indicate that police legitimacy is associated with perceptions of neighborhood safety and amount of personal police contact. Additionally, police legitimacy is accomplished through multiple forms of rationalizing individual police misconduct. Finally, participants discussed police-Asian American community relations, informing policy implications relating to race and policing.
Description
Keywords
Asian American, Legitimacy, Police, Qualitative, Race, System justification