RACE AND ITS EFFECT ON POLICE OFFICERS PERCEPTIONS OF MISCONDUCT

Because of the attributed role of race in criminal justice interaction s, one should expect it to be significant in police-citizen encounters . This point is accentuated by the cases of Rodney King and O.J. Simps on, and by other well-known cases in the media in which race is presen ted as an important factor. Employing vignettes and the factorial surv ey method in a sample of 718 Ohio police officers, this study examined the extent to which a suspect's race influences the perceived serious ness of an officer's conduct toward that suspect. In vignettes describ ing police misconduct, it was expected that police officers would perc eive misconduct toward a minority suspect as significantly less seriou s than toward a White suspect, reflecting police bins against minority -citizens. Contrary to this expectation, race was not found to be a si gnificant determinant of perceived seriousness. The suspect's demeanor was significant, however. African Americans' perceptions of police bi as are interpreted in light of these findings. (C) 1998 Elsevier Scien ce Ltd.