Police trust amongst immigrants in Europe: police contact, discrimination, and marginalization

• In Event: POL Panel 22. Trust, legitimacy and vulnerability: Exploring law enforcement practices and their impact

Abstract

Trust in the police is important for immigrants. It may facilitate successful integration and make immigrants less hesitant to report discrimination. Previous research uncovered a generation effect in immigrants’ police trust. 2nd generation immigrants trust the police less than 1st generation immigrants. We contribute to this research by studying whether trust in police of 2nd and 1st generation immigrants is differently affected by being marginalized and discriminated. We argue that 2nd generation immigrants feel more entitled to treatment similar to natives than 1st generation immigrants. Because they compare their situation to that of natives, 2nd generation immigrants may feel more frustrated if they are marginalized and discriminated. This sense of relative deprivation can accentuate the generation effect in trust in police. The police may be blamed for confirming or upholding the marginalized position of immigrants, or for not doing enough to protect immigrants in the face of discrimination. Our results, based on 13,000 immigrants in 17 EU-countries, confirm an immigrant generation effect; and show that this is more pronounced if 2nd generation immigrants are marginalized and discriminated. We also show that the generation effect can be partly explained because 2nd generation immigrants are more likely to experience (negative) encounters with the police, such as disrespectful treatment, assault, ethnic profiling and mishandling of reports of harassment.

Author

• Mathijs Kros, Utrecht University