Critical Knowledge of Policing and Police Reform Policy Support, Systemic Racism Perception, and Race-Crime Stereotype Endorsement

These two studies offer evidence that critical knowledge – or knowledge about past racism – of policing predicts support for police reform policy and perceptions of systemic racism more broadly. We posit that the institutional context of critical knowledge may play a role in predicting attitudes toward reform. In Study 1, White and Black Americans completed a novel measure of critical knowledge assessing their historical knowledge of policing in the U.S. Across racial groups, we found that higher critical knowledge was predictive of higher policy support aimed at police reform and greater acknowledgement of systemic racism. Critical knowledge predicted lower race-crime stereotype endorsement in Black participants only. Higher racial identity relevance weakened the impact of critical knowledge on support for two policies among Black participants, and higher racial devaluation weakened the impact of knowledge on systemic racism perceptions in White participants. In Study 2, we did not find support that an exposure to an explicit example of systemic racism in policing (i.e., policing legislation during the War on Drugs) affected policy support, systemic racism perceptions, or race-crime stereotype endorsement. We argue this may be due to a joined perception of incarceration and policing, and that the history of systemic racism within the criminal justice system may be salient even within historical examples that don't explicitly mention it. These results highlight how critical knowledge of historically oppressive institutions contributes to attitudes toward reform and suggest that educational efforts should account for both institutional context and the racial identity of the target group.