Policy Preferences Related to Police Use of Deadly Force: Exploring the Impact of Social Media Consumption and College Major

AbstractResponses to high-profile uses of deadly force by police in the U.S. suggest a disconnect between police and the public in terms of the circumstances in which deadly force should be allowed. There have been limited efforts to examine how media consumption and individual characteristics influence policy preferences related to the use of deadly force. We fill this gap in the literature through application of survey methodology to a sample of 458 college students in the Southeastern U.S. Our findings reveal that a substantial proportion of respondents prefer highly restrictive policy, including that police should be required to first shoot a suspect in the leg even when deadly force is permitted under law. These perceptions are influenced, in part, by college major and social media consumption, net of the influence of personal characteristics and experiences, but the effects vary in direction and significance based on social media platform.Keywords: Deadly forcepolice use of forceperceptions of policepolice shootings Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 The final coding of several independent variables resulted from a collapsing of original categories available in the survey. In the survey, we inquired about gender identification separately from biological sex and included an "other" category as part of the latter (0 responses). Respondents were also provided options of "Democrat," "Republican," and "Other-please describe" in relation to political affiliation. Preliminary analysis suggested the need to collapse all non-Republican responses into a single attribute. Post-hoc analysis using a sample limited to respondents who identified as either Republican or Democrat resulted in findings substantively identical to those presented here. Similarly, parents' highest level of education originally included seven options that included high school (did not graduate), high school diploma/GED, some college (did not graduate), technical/trade school, associate's degree, bachelor's degree, and graduate school. Responses to several of these categories were limited, prompting collapse into two. In terms of race, 74.9% of respondents identified as White, 11.8% as Black, 2.2% as Asian/Pacific Islander, 0.4% as Native American, 7.9% as multi-racial, and 2.8% as other. In response to a separate item that inquired about ethnicity, 8.7% identified as Hispanic/Latino. Post-hoc analysis using a sample limited to respondents who identified as either White or Black yielded finding that were substantively identical.2 As a robustness check, we conducted supplementary analyses in the form of ordinal regression and step-up mlogit models that excluded 2–3 of the independent variables. The results were substantively identical to those presented here, increasing our confidence that the relationships we report did not occur by chance.Additional informationNotes on contributorsRick DierenfeldtRick Dierenfeldt is a UC Foundation Associate Professor of Criminal Justice in the Department of Social, Cultural, and Justice Studies at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. His research interests include the intersection of structure, culture, race, gender, and crime, as well as policy evaluation in the fields of policing and corrections. His most recent publications have appeared in the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, American Journal of Criminal Justice, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, and Journal of Criminal Justice.Chance ReasonoverChance Reasonover holds a Bachelor of Science in criminal justice from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and is currently enrolled in the MSCJ program in the Department of Social, Cultural, and Justice Studies at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Her research interests include adverse childhood experiences and juvenile delinquency.Tammy S. GarlandTammy S. Garland is a Professor of Criminal Justice in the Department of Social, Cultural, and Justice Studies at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga. She received her Ph.D. from Sam Houston State University in 2004. Her current research emphasis includes popular culture and crime, drug policy issues, and victimization of the homeless, women, and youth. Select publications can be found in American Journal of Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice Policy Review, Criminal Justice Studies, Feminist Criminology, Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma, and Journal of Poverty.Jared RosenbergerJared Rosenberger is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Sociology at Ashland University. His research interests include media constructions of the criminal justice system, fear of crime, and fear of terrorism. Recent publications examine the relationship between race and attitudes toward the police, the impact of fear of terrorism on attitudes toward immigration, gender and fear of crime, and penal attitudes.Ellee JacksonEllee Jackson holds a Bachelor of Science in criminal justice from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and is currently enrolled in the MSCJ program in the Department of Social, Cultural, and Justice Studies at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Her research interests include gun crime, policing, and wrongful convictions.Kyle A. BurgasonKyle A. Burgason is an Associate Professor of Criminal Justice and Director of Graduate Education in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Iowa State University. His research interests include policing, ethics in criminal justice, race and crime, criminological theory, structural and cultural context of violent crime and victimization, capital punishment, and optimal foraging theory's applications to crime. His recent work appears in Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Homicide Studies, Crime Prevention and Community Safety, Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, Innovative Higher Education, SN Social Sciences, and International Journal of Law and Psychiatry.