Differential support for police use of force, the death penalty, and perceived harshness of the courts - Effects of race, gender, and region

Logistic regression models were estimated using the 1994 General Social Sur vey to examine effects of race, gender, and geographical region on support for various criminal justice policies. Dependent variables included support for capital punishment, perceived harshness of courts, and support for pol ice use of force under five conditions of escalating severity. African Amer icans were less likely to support capital punishment and police use of forc e than their counterparts. These results were enhanced when re-estimated us ing only the southern sample. Thus, regional prejudices affect minorities' perceptions of bias in criminal justice policy and practices. However, alth ough African Americans were less likely to endorse police use of force in g eneral, we found situationally specific instances in which African American s did endorse police use of force.