Juvenile Attitudes Toward the Police

Abstract

The past three decades have seen an increase in research on the attitudes of juveniles toward the police. This research suggests that juveniles are generally less positive in their attitudes toward the police than are adults. However, most research on juvenile attitudes has focused on youth residing in metropolitan areas, ignoring the role of geographical location in explaining perceptions. Using survey data, the present study examined the attitudes of rural youth toward the police. The findings suggest that although the level of support among rural teenagers did not mirror the levels found within the adult literature, rural teenagers may be more supportive of the police than their metropolitan counterparts. Furthermore, whereas White teenagers were generally more positive in their perception of the police than were Black teenagers, race was not a significant predictor of attitudes toward the police. Still, many of the variables identified as theoretically relevant in the existing literature were significant predictors of the attitudes of juveniles residing in rural areas.