Suspicion, suspicion: police perceptions of juveniles as the "symbolic assailant"
Loading...
Date
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Nova Southeastern University
Abstract
Jerome Skolnick’s (2011) "symbolic assailant" is a result of police attributing particular
demeanor, gestures, language, and a style of dress to people they believed were most
likely to commit violent crimes. The challenge became when police applied these
characteristics to specific groups such as juveniles. Literature published before and after
Skolnick (2011) indicated police were more likely to stop, arrest, interrogate, or surveille
juveniles based on their demeanor, gestures, style of dress, lack of respect, deference to
authority, the severity, and remorse for their offenses in addition to race.
However, current research indicated race, gender, and Socioeconomic Status (SES)
determined if police perceived juveniles as the symbolic assailant regardless of offense
type. The current research also suggested the symbolic assailant is the foundation for
related theories such as racial profiling and the “juvenile offender type-script.”
Thus, this dissertation sought to determine if juveniles’ demeanor, gestures, race, gender,
and offense type predicted if police perceived them as having characteristics analogous to
the symbolic assailant. The researcher conducted a nonexperimental predictive
correlational research design analyzing secondary data from Connecticut’s Effective
Police Interactions with Youth’s Pretest Survey. The results showed weak to moderate
relationships between the predictor and criterion variables such as police believed
juveniles’ fidgeting, pacing, and mouthing off as signs of guilt indicated a weak
relationship. The strongest predictor was a combination of race and offense type as the
patrol officers responded all races and ethnicities were most likely to carry weapons
equally in the past 30 days, which differed from the current symbolic assailant and related literature.
Description
Citation
Coleman, A. R. (2018). Suspicion, suspicion: Police perceptions of juveniles as the "symbolic assailant". Retrieved from ProQuest Digital Dissertations. (AAT 10935007)