Conducting Surveillance: Undergraduate Criminal Justice Students’ Use and Views of Social Media

• In Event: Emerging Issues in Policing

Abstract

The tenets of rational choice theory portend social media networking site users—especially those interested in justice studies—leave beneficial digital footprints with diminished costs concomitant risk-laden posts. Based upon a survey sample of 209 undergraduate criminal justice students enrolled at a private northeastern university, the foci of this study is on how well their views of police agencies' use of social media sites align with the actual manner in which police organizations employ this technology. And, respondents’ expectations of how the content posted on their social media accounts should be utilized to discern the quality of their character by those in a position to make influential decisions relevant to their academic and career aspirations (i.e., subjective expectations of external content-based character judgments). Although some mixed results emerged, overall findings indicate that students’ expectations of external content-based character judgments were positively related to subjective assessments of content appropriateness, comfortability with others seeing their social media sites, and belief in the usefulness of social media to police. Respondents’ confidence in privacy settings and demographic characteristics produced negligible results. A modified rational choice theoretical framework is suggested to improve understanding of students’ personal and professional relationship with social media networking sites.

Authors

• Yolanda M. Leott, Roger Williams University

• Angel J. Leott, United States Coast Guard