Indigenous Peoples and Satisfaction with the Police in Canada

• In Event: Perspectives on Crime and Justice in an International Context

Abstract

This study advances the literature on satisfaction with the police in three ways. First, by selecting a subsample of people with contact with the police in the past 12 months, we focused the analysis of resident satisfaction with police services instead of the general population. Second, by separating attitudinal variables from experiencing variables, we have made a stronger case for a causal relation implied in the regression analysis. Third, this study has provided empirical evidence on why Indigenous peoples have a lower satisfaction with the police. Consistent with the prediction of cognitive dissonance theory and prior research, three experiential variables, including the variable discrimination, have been found to significantly add explained variance in our model. We conclude that both historical and current experiences of Indigenous peoples are consequential in predicting satisfaction with the police, for which police legitimacy in Canada is at stake.

Author

• Liqun Cao, Ontario Tech University