The Influence of Citizenship Profiling on Policing: A Multilevel Study of Trust in Police Effectiveness

• In Event: 1255 - Section on Latina/o Sociology Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 1. Citizenship, Politics and Trust

Abstract

Across the U.S. we witness an increase in the local policing of federal immigration law. This practice has raised concerns about citizenship profiling where law enforcement stops and questions individuals about their citizenship status. The primary research objective of this study is to examine how being profiled for citizenship may led to distrust in police effectiveness. Based on primary data with 691 individual surveys collected in 46 neighborhoods, I used hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to examine the impact of citizenship profiling and neighborhood characteristics of crime and concentrated disadvantage on trust in the police. Results show that at the person-level being profiled for citizenship is associated with a reduction in trust in police. At the neighborhood-level crime exacerbates distrust in police effectiveness. In conclusion, there is evidence that the local policing of federal immigration law compromises trust in police effectiveness. This in turn can impact the reporting of crimes and compromising of community policing efforts, both of which can hard public safety.

Authors

• Maria Cristina Morales, University of Texas at El Paso

• Theodore Royer Curry, University of Texas-El Paso