Brief How Do People in High-Crime, Low-Income Communities View the Police?
Nancy G. La Vigne, Jocelyn Fontaine, Anamika Dwivedi
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This brief represents the experiences, views, and attitudes of community members who are often underrepresented in research on perceptions of law enforcement – people living in high-crime neighborhoods with concentrated disadvantage. The survey found that while residents of these neighborhoods are distrustful of police, they nevertheless want to cooperate and partner with police to make their communities safer. A door-to-door survey in high-crime neighborhoods of six cities found that less than a third of residents believe police respect people’s rights, but the vast majority believe laws should be strictly followed and many would volunteer their time to help police solve crimes, find suspects, and discuss crime in their neighborhood.

Research Areas Crime, justice, and safety Neighborhoods, cities, and metros Race and equity
Tags Corrections Racial and ethnic disparities Policing and community safety Racial and ethnic disparities in criminal justice
Policy Centers Justice Policy Center