Coppin' an attitude - Attitudinal differences among juveniles toward police

Using data collected from 5,477 eighth grade students in eleven U.S. cities , this article explores the attitudes of juveniles toward police through fi ve specific questions: (I) Do juveniles hold positive attitudes toward poli ce, similar to those reported for adults?; (2) Are there differences in att itudes toward police across different racial and ethnic groups?; (3) Do att itudes toward police vary by gender?; (4) Does the city in which a juvenile resides affect his or her attitudes toward police?; and (5) Does the city where the juvenile resides interact with the race or ethnicity of the juven ile to produce a difference in attitudes toward police? Descriptive analyse s suggest that unlike the favorable attitudes reported by adults, juveniles are relatively indifferent in their perceptions of police. Significant dif ferences by race/ethnicity, gender, and city of residence were also found. The article concludes with a discussion of factors that may explain these d ifferences and policy implications of the findings. (C) 2001 Elsevier Scien ce Ltd. All rights reserved.