Assessing public perceptions of police use-of-force: legal reasonableness and community standards

Mourtgos, Scott M.; Adams, Ian T.

doi:10.1080/07418825.2019.1679864

Cited by 80Policing Practices and PerceptionsCriminal Justice and PenologyRestraint-Related Deaths

Assessing public perceptions of police use-of-force: legal reasonableness and community standards

Mourtgos, Scott M., Adams, Ian T.·2020·Justice Quarterly

DOI 10.1080/07418825.2019.1679864

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Abstract

How do public expectations of police use-of-force align with the strict professional and legal guidelines under which police officers train and operate? This is a largely unexamined but salient question in the use-of-force literature and is important given the ongoing public discourse regarding police use-of-force, community standards, and perceived gaps between the two. This study focuses on two main research questions: Are substantial portions of the public predisposed to disapprove of legally reasonable police use-of-force? If so, what are the principal correlates of those disapproving attitudes? We analyze responses (n = 20,781) to General Social Survey (GSS) questions from 1990 through 2018 entailing police use-of-force scenarios that are prima facie legally reasonable. We find a substantial proportion of GSS respondents have expressed their disapproval of legally reasonable, justifiable police uses-of-force over the entire period, and such disapproval has increased over time. Causes and policy implications of this misalignment are discussed.

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“In reality, most citizens know relatively little about many criminal justice institutions, yet public judgments of policy interventions often emerge from limited, context-specific information (34, 35).”
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Authors: Mourtgos, S. M., & Adams, I. T.
Affiliations: University of Utah (US)
Corresponding author: Mourtgos, Scott M.
ORCID: Mourtgos, Scott M.
Adams, Ian T.
Venue: Justice Quarterly
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Published: 2019-10-26
Volume: 37
Issue: 5
Pages: 869-899
ISSN: 0741-8825 (ISSN-L)
1745-9109
DOI: 10.1080/07418825.2019.1679864
OpenAlex: W2982191876
Semantic Scholar: eb0793a51adee02f02602d917a1a7e3684ddb017
Cited by: 80
References: 83
Citations by year: 2026: 11 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1
FWCI: 22.21
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: Justice Quarterly (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Policing Practices and Perceptions
Social Sciences › Law › Criminal Justice and Penology
Health Sciences › Medicine › Emergency Medicine › Restraint-Related Deaths
Keywords: police use of force, public perception, community standards, police legitimacy, General Social Survey

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Assessing public perceptions of police use-of-force: legal reasonableness and community standards

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