How Peer Sodality Among Male College Students Causes Negative Postures Towards Females in Law Enforcement
Flagler College
Taylor Pawson
Criminological Research Methods
Dr. Behl
November 12, 2018
Introduction
Trust and reliability in law enforcement is an essential factor for the true legitimacy of law enforcement operating felicitously. When it comes to law enforcement’s relationship with the community, it becomes a two-way street. When citizens in a community do not trust the police, compliance with laws decline, police are seen as less effective in fighting crime, and people become more and less likely to seek assistance during a time of need. Those in the community rely on police officials as officials rely on those in the community. Members of the community are more liable to feel safe and cooperate in investigations if they trust law enforcement; thus, it is in the best interest of all stakeholders to understand and build confide in law enforcement (Horowitz, 2007). With elements such as the media perpetually reporting the good, yet mostly deplorable associated with law enforcement, a sense of distrust and querying has arisen in communities, many of those among minorities.
Racial and ethnic minority perceptions that the police lack lawfulness and legitimacy, predicated largely on their interactions with the police, can lead to distrust of the police (Horowitz, 2007). Public cases that have apprehended the attention of Americans such as Trayvon Martin, have led to an outrage followed along with forms of kineticist such as #BlackLivesMatter. Yet in a male-dominated presence in law enforcement, female police officers have still had the trust of many Americans in society. An individual’s peers or group of sodalities can have the impact of influencing someone’s posture towards law enforcement, especially when it comes to women.
A college is a place right out of high school where you have the facility to commence fresh and, in some cases, become an incipient individual. From the commencement of orientation all the way until graduation you are thrown into a setting with hundreds of other individuals emanating from different backgrounds and cultures with various opinions. College students have been the target for this research due to the fact the environment or friend group of someone may have the potential to influence their views toward female law enforcement officers, either positive or negative. The primary goal of this research is to fixate on the quantification of the perception of college students towards female law enforcement, and ultimately to evaluate if they are positive or negative. This research will solemnly fixate on an individual’s posture and peer sodality with the hope of quantifying if sodality with other individuals impacts one’s postures towards female law enforcement officers. The research for this project will be following the social learning theory and its four components that include, attention, retention, motor reproduction, and motivation/reinforcement (Jensen, 2003).
Literature review
The History of Women in Law Enforcement in the United States
Before World War I and II, women’s presence in law enforcement was not up to the standard it is now in 2018. Women have been considered a component of law enforcement since the 20th century but their presence was authentically only noticed within the last forty years. Throughout the 1800s, women, in particular, were motivated by positive, and feminine approaches to addressing society’s ills. Alice Stebbin Wells was claimed to be the first woman called a policewoman, hired by the Los Angeles Police Department in 1910. The International Sodality of Policewomen was established in 1915, with an effort to organize a broad base of fortification for women culling a vocation in policing (Horowitz, 2007). Beginning in the 1960s, women emerged from their specialist roles to become patrol officers rather than their typical obligations in availing and overseeing women and juveniles (Archbold, 2012). During this time frame, women were sanctioned to work undercover busting drug dealers and prostitution rings, but the parity level was still unequal as they were still not sanctioned to graduate out of the Women’s Bureau. In 1972, Congress passed an amendment to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, enjoining state and local agencies from job discrimination predicated on gender (Eisenberg, 2009). The passing of this amendment now set forth the hiring of women for jobs on an equal field with men.
Perception of Women in Law Enforcement
In today’s time, women make up 15 percent of all state, municipal, and county police officers, (Herrenkohl, 2013). From Customs and Border Protection to the Secret Service, large agencies are trundling along in a sort of time machine, with men dominating the ranks in ways they no longer do across the rest of government or even many large police departments (Ripley, 2017). Existing in a male-dominated field comes with vigorous opinions and backlash. Many believe women do not belong in this field while others suggest they offer opportunities and actions that men could not accomplish at all. The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia established a study observing female officers for a year resulting in many findings such as, Women patrol officers tended to be more effective than their male counterparts in avoiding violence and defusing potentially violent situations, Women were less likely than men to engage in serious unbecoming conduct and, Citizens involved in incidents with police officers had the same level of respect for and favorable attitudes toward patrol officers of both sexes (Eisenberg, 2009). In other words, women are seen as having a larger immense ownership of being more strategic with being able to mediate rather than using physical force, over your typical male policeman. Although there is a negative and weary perception of females in law enforcement from the males in law enforcement, citizens have shown a greater acceptance of women in this male-dominated occupation accompanying a greater confidence in their ability to perform difficult patrol tasks (Leger, 1997). In order to thoroughly understand why the perception of women has, it’s negative and positive opinions, we must understand what the typical role of a police officer entails.
Roles of Police Officers
Citizens depend on police officers to not only protect their lives but additionally their property. Common obligations of police include controlling traffic, patrolling neighborhoods, responding to emergency calls, writing citations, delivering warrants, arresting violators and submitting incident reports in a timely manner (Johnson, 2018). Law enforcement is expected to exercise authority when necessary on or off duty. The ‘color of law’ is a concept used in court to determine whether the acts of an off-duty officer are conducted under their legal rights (Oluoch, 2015). Officers have the responsibility of not only protecting and acting righteously on duty but off-duty officers have the requirement of upholding integrity, discipline, and ethics while in their private life. Any behavior or conduct whether on or off duty is a replication of the police departments image. Not only are police officers expected to enforce laws and investigate crimes, but there is also a moral and ethical obligation. Police must not show favoritism or act in a discriminatory manner recognizing that all citizens deserve respectful treatment regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, national origin or religion, for instance (Johnson, 2018). Dishonesty and corruption are prohibited and expected to not be conducted while serving as a law enforcer. Traditional duties do not subsist after an officer is sworn in, however, officers engage in proactive initiatives such as interacting with community members and business owners. Becoming acquainted with local schools, organizations, and institutions is an important fact in maintaining the law. Some law enforcement may additionally participate in outreach organizations including, helping to organize a neighborhood watch, giving presentations to schools and speaking to residents about their concerns at a neighborhood association meeting (Dowd, 2018). All efforts in participating on or off-duty help build trust within the communities making the typical role or life of an officer somewhat easy.
Social Learning Theory
Albert Bandura emphasized the importance of observing and modeling behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others. Fortunately, the most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions, this coded information serves as a guide for action (Bandura, 1997). Social Learning Theory alone explains human behavior between cognitive, behavioral, and environmental influences. There is four component processes otherwise known as (1) Attention, (2) Retention, (3) Motor Reproduction, and (4) Motivation. Social Learning Theory not only encompasses attention but memory and motivation allowing the theory to span both cognitive and behavioral ends of study. Individuals are more likely to adopt a modeled behavior if the model is similar to the observer and has admired status and the behavior has functional value (Bandura, 1986).
In terms of observational learning, individuals in society are surrounded by models throughout their life, especially during their childhood. These models range from parents within the family, characters on TV, teachers at school, and most importantly, friends within their peer group. Models provide examples of behavior to observe and imitate, e.g., masculine and feminine, pro and anti-social, etc. (Bandura, 1986). As an individual pays closer attention to their models, the behavior of such is encoded. Throughout time, imitation of the observed behavior may occur. An individual is more likely to attend to and imitates those people it perceives as similar to itself according to Bandura. Those are an individual may respond to the imitated behavior with reinforcement or punishment. If the behavior is rewarded, that person is likely to continue performing the behavior. Identification is when another person (model) involves taking on observed behaviors, values, beliefs, and attitudes of the person with whom you are identifying (Bandura, 1986). The difference between identification to imitation is, identification involves a number of behaviors being adopted, where imitation involves copying a single behavior. Bandura has the implication that humans are “active information processors” that think about the relationship between their own behavior and the consequences that follow with it. However, individuals do not automatically observe the behavior of a model and imitate it as there is some thought prior to imitation which is considered mediational processes (consideration). These mediational processes proposed by Bandura include attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation. Attention is the extent to which we are exposed/notice the behavior, retention is how well the behavior is remembered, reproduction is the ability to perform the behavior that the model has demonstrated, and motivation is the will to perform the behavior (Bandura, 1977).
Bandura’s view on Social Learning approach examines the thought processes and points out the role those processes have in deciding if a behavior is to be imitated or not. More importantly, the Social Learning Theory must be examined in terms of crime. The probability that persons will engage in criminal and deviant behavior is increased and the probability of their conforming to the norm is decreased when they differentially associate with others who commit criminal behavior and espouse definitions favorable to it… (Akers, 2004). According to Akers, there are four concepts including, differential association, differential reinforcement, definitions, and imitations (Akers, 1998).
First, the differential association is understood as the emphasis of interactions between family and friends, teachers, neighbors, and organizations such as church groups. Each individual group is seen to contribute to the attitudes and values and individual adopts, as well as to how that person behaves in various social contexts (Akers, 1998).
Second, differential reinforcement is the process individuals experience with anticipation of the consequences following their behavior. Whether individuals will refrain from or commit a crime at any given time (and whether they will continue or desist from doing it in the future) depends on the past, present, and anticipated future rewards and punishments for their actions” (Akers and Sellers, 2004).
Third, definitions are what is understood to be a person’s own values and attitudes in regard to what is acceptable or not acceptable behavior. Attitudes and values have been linked to the influence of general and specific definitions (Akers, 2004). With criminal behavior, definitions have been generalized to approving or neutralizing behavior.
Lastly, imitation is just as its name implies, the notion that individuals engage in behavior that they have previously witnessed others doing. The extent to which behaviors are imitated is determined in large part by the “characteristics of the models, the behavior observed, and the observed consequences of the behavior” (Akers, 2004).
HYPOTHESES
For this study, my hypothesis is that participants will display that their individual peer association impacts a negative perception of females in law enforcement. Individuals with surrounding peers that view female law enforcement officers negatively, along with reinforcing disrespectful behavior towards female officers, and showing minimal respect for authority, will perceive officers in that manner. On the other hand, participants with surrounding peers that view female law enforcement officers in a positive way, with respectful behavior especially to authority, will perceive officers with the given respect.
METHODS
PARTICIPANTS
The participants utilized in this research will be 200 male students attending Lynn University and 200 male students attending Florida Atlantic University. Participants included will range in age, race, and academic majors in order to fully represent male college students accurately. The participants will be recruited through social media online and offered monetary compensation of $10.00 for the completion of the survey. Each participant must obtain a webcam in order to ascertain that their individual survey is proctored and that only one participant completes the survey once.
DESIGN
The study will allow each participant to express their attitudes and views towards female law enforcement officers while using the 5-point Likert scale while representing how differential association, differential reinforcement, imitation, and definition, impacts their views using the same scale. The Likert scale will allow each participant to express if they agree or disagree with a statement, (1: Strongly Disagree, 2: Disagree, 3: Neutral, 4: Agree, 5: Strongly Agree) (Likert, 1932).
PROCEDURE
Each participant will take a survey consisting of 30 questions on a computer with a webcam to identify their attitudes towards female law enforcement officers while measuring the four components of the social learning theory, (differential association, differential reinforcement, imitation, and definition).
Differential Association
Questions here will be designed to measure differential association which proposes criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other persons in a process of communication, while measured using the 5-Point Likert scale. These questions will have the general subject of asking questions in regard to how peers of each individual participant perceive females in law enforcement. The ten questions will include:
(1) My friends think female police officers are trustworthy, (2) my friends think getting pulled over by a female cop is less stressful than a male, (3) my friends think female officers are my understanding, (4) my friends think female officers have the best interest of the community, (5) my friends think female officers are friendly, (6) my friends think female officers do not discriminate, (7) my friends think female officers are fine people, (8) my friends think female officers are unbiased, (9) my friends think female officers provide an adequate amount of safety, (10) my friends think being honest with female officers is the right thing to do.
Differential Reinforcement
Questions here will be designed to measure differential reinforcement which proposes there will be consequences or reinforcement through their peers, while measures using the 5-Point Likert scale. These questions will have the general subject of asking how the individuals peers react to their own perception of females in law enforcement. The five questions will include:
(1) My friends would approve of me being respectful to female officers, (2) my friends would encourage me to be friendly and comply with female officers, (3) my friends would encourage me to be disrespect to female officers, (4) my friends would encourage me to not call the police and take matters into my own hands, (5) my friends would approve of me ignoring a police officer and resisting communication.
Definitions
Questions here will be designed to measure definitions used in the social learning theory which implies, understood to be a person’s own values and attitudes in regard to what acceptable or not acceptable behavior is (Akers, 1966). This will refer to an individual’s own beliefs and attitudes toward specific behaviors while using the 5-Point Likert scale. These questions will have the general subject of asking the individuals attitudes towards certain behaviors. These ten questions will include:
(1) Resisting arrest from a female officer is wrong, (2) being dishonest towards female officers is wrong, (3) disrespecting a female officer is fine, (4) assaulting a female officer is wrong, (5) threatening a female officer is fine, (6) giving a female officer dishonest information is wrong, (7) allowing a female officer to talk is fine, (8) calling a female officer for help is fine, (9) disrespecting as female officer is wrong, (10) female officers have authority.
Imitations
Questions here will be designed to measure imitations used in the social learning theory, which implies, the notion that individuals engage in behavior that they have previously witnessed others doing (Akers, 2004) while using the 5-Point Likert scale. These questions will have the general subject of asking the actions of the individual's peers and the accuracy of the individual repeating or imitating them. The five questions will include:
(1) If I observed my friends refusing to comply with a female officer I would as well, (2) If I observed my friends running from the police even if they were innocent I would as well, (3) if I observed my friends fighting with a female officer I would as well, (4) if I observed my friends being friendly and respectful towards a female officer I would as well, (5) if I observed my friends talking about threatening a female officer I would as well.
DEPENDENT VARIABLE
Perception of Female Police Officers
The dependent variable for this study will be the measured perception of female police officers by the individuals participating in this study, which can later be compared to the responses from the questions that will measure peer association to conclude if associations impact the individual’s perceptions.
Questions here will be designed to measure male college student’s perceptions of female police officers while using the 5-Point Liker scale. These questions will have the general subject on how safe and gratified individuals feel around female police officers, how reliable and how important female police officers are to them personally. The ten questions will include:
(1) Female police officers protect me, (2) female police officers are unbiased, (3) female police officers do not discriminate, (4) female police officers are sympathetic, (5) female police officers are trustworthy, (6) female police officers care about my safety, (7) female police officers are overall good citizens, (8) female police officers are caring, (9) female police officers treat everyone equally, (10) female police officers get the job done.
IMPLICATIONS
The main goal of this study is to accurately measure and observe the perception of male college students towards female police officers while also counting the perception of those who they surround themselves with. This study will be consequential in understanding the culture circumventing college campuses, especially with male students. A positive outcome of this study could be categorical programs being created to educate youth and college students about female police officers. Having a correct understanding of what a police officer does is the first step but understanding that female police officers have more of a challenge, especially with perceptions is the second step. Police officers have a working relationship with citizens which designates trust is an astronomically immense factor in successfully deterring criminal activities. Educating college students, where peer sodality is an immensely important factor, could avail further perceptions or stereotypes of female officers to be correct.
In terms of future research, perceptions that subsist from male officers should be examined. Many male police officers have the perceptions that females cannot adequately complete the job of a police officer correctly. Further studying could help change the typical workspace for females making an easier adjustment and more open arms from male officers. This research should look into how a male officer’s posture towards female officers could affect their demeanor, especially when it comes to trusting a female officer with their own life and protection.