The Impact of Restorative Community-Police Dialogue Circles on Criminal Justice Student Ratings of Police Legitimacy

• In Event: Police Procedural Justice Training and Interventions

Abstract

Police-community relationships have been strained in recent years, particularly with respect to ratings of police legitimacy among young adults and college students. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of a series of community-police dialogue sessions offered to Seattle University students in the Department of Criminal Justice, Criminology & Forensics as a 1-credit practicum course. The purpose of the practicum is to engage student community members and police personnel in conversation to build sustainable and trustworthy relationships, share their stories, insights, and ideas for change in a safe, non-confrontational space, and collaboratively come up with tangible and implementable ideas for systemic change. Subjects were students and police personnel who completed the practicum course in 2022 and 2023. A pre/post survey instrument was administered to the dialogue participants to solicit information regarding the students’ thoughts and feelings on the legitimacy of police, and police personnel thoughts and feelings regarding whether they gained a deeper and/or different understanding about students and their views and whether they are more hopeful about the future police-community interactions and partnerships. Implications of the findings for increasing police-community engagement with focus on young adults, is discussed.

Authors

• Jacqueline B. Helfgott, Seattle University

• Brooke Gialopsos, Seattle University

• Shannon Christensen, Southern Illinois University Carbondale

• Brandon Bledsoe, University of Cincinnati