Racial Differences in Police Legitimacy and Cooperation: The Mediating Effect of the Obligations to Obey

• In Event: Police Legitimacy and Public Opinion

Abstract

Racial minorities tend to perceive the police as having less legitimacy, which impacts their willingness to cooperate with the law. While legitimacy directly affects cooperation with the police, the obligation to obey the law also indirectly mediates the relationship between police legitimacy and the willingness to cooperate. This paper aims to explore racial differences in police legitimacy and cooperation, with a particular focus on the mediating role of the obligation to obey the police. Self-report survey data (n=508) were collected from residents of Georgia using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) platform. Results indicated that minorities in Georgia perceived significantly lower levels of police legitimacy and willingness to cooperate with the police than whites, but there are no racial differences in the measurement of the obligation to obey the police. The path analysis indicates that the impact of police legitimacy on both obligations to obey and cooperation with the police was significant, but obligations to obey did not have a significant impact on cooperation with the police. In addition, there was no racial difference in this mediating model. The results will be compared with previous studies, and limitations of the study will be assessed for future research.

Authors

• Gang Lee, Kennesaw State University

• Christopher Totten, Kennesaw State University