Sponsor
Hatfield School of Government. Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice
First Advisor
Christopher Campbell
Term of Graduation
Spring 2017
Date of Publication
Spring 7-20-2017
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (M.S.) in Criminology and Criminal Justice
Department
Criminology and Criminal Justice
Language
English
Subjects
Police -- Public opinion, Police and mass media, Police-community relations
DOI
10.15760/etd.5562
Physical Description
1 online resource (iv, 50 pages)
Abstract
The current climate surrounding the police in the United States could be described as strenuous. This is large in part due to certain shifts in technology and news disbursement; citizens now have the ability to record and share police-citizen encounters. Certain controversial events have been captured and undoubtedly have contributed to a growing mistrust towards the police, evident by the development of movements for police reform. Within the field of criminology, perception of police legitimacy has been a long studied concept. Research has shown that when the police are viewed as legitimate, the public is more likely to cooperate and comply. Thus, the possible decrease in the public's legitimacy perceptions of the police is deeply concerning.
In this study, a randomized experiment was employed to measure the influence of video footage of police-citizen interactions on individual's legitimacy perceptions. Participants were randomly selected to watch videos that showed the police acting in ways that were either positive, negative, or neutral. Legitimacy perceptions were measured before and after exposure to the videos. Analysis of the pre-test and post-test scores showed the videos did influence perceptions: negative videos had the largest influence and significantly decreased perceptions, whereas, positive and neutral videos both significantly increased legitimacy perceptions. The results of this study holds implications for both the police and the public.
Rights
In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/20704
Recommended Citation
Mohler, Megan Elizabeth, "Policing in an Era of Sousveillance: the Influence of Video Footage on Perceptions of Legitimacy" (2017). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 3678.
https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.5562