REASONING ABOUT THE REMOVAL OF A CHILD FROM HOME - A COMPARISON OF POLICE OFFICERS AND SOCIAL-WORKERS

Compared how police officers and social workers reasoned about the pre mature removal of a child from home (REMOVE) in a hypothetical child a buse and neglect case. Two case characteristics were manipulated: the child's age (6-7 years vs. 11-12 years) and the predominant race and s ocioeconomic status of the family's neighborhood (black, poor vs. whit e, upper-middle class). After reading the vignette, respondents indica ted their level of agreement with REMOVE and provided reasons for thei r decision. Compared with police officers, social workers exhibited mo re skeptical reasoning (agreeing significantly less with REMOVE and pr oviding significantly fewer reasons for agreeing with REMOVE). Across both groups, respondents agreed with REMOVE significantly less when th e child was described as both older and residing in a poor, black neig hborhood than in any other condition. The results suggest that case ch aracteristics are interpreted configurally in terms of a script.