Adolescent Perceptions of the Performance and Fairness of the Police: Examining the Impact of Television Exposure

This article was downloaded by: [Temple University Libraries]On: 15 November 2014, At: 18:27Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH,UK

Mass Communication andSocietyPublication details, including instructions forauthors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/hmcs20

Adolescent Perceptions ofthe Performance and Fairnessof the Police: Examining theImpact of Television ExposureAstrid Dirikx a , Dave Gelders a & Jan Van den Bulck aa School for Mass Communication Research ,Katholiek Universiteit LeuvenPublished online: 10 Jan 2013.

To cite this article: Astrid Dirikx , Dave Gelders & Jan Van den Bulck (2013)Adolescent Perceptions of the Performance and Fairness of the Police: Examining theImpact of Television Exposure, Mass Communication and Society, 16:1, 109-132, DOI:10.1080/15205436.2011.650341

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2011.650341

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all theinformation (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform.However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make norepresentations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness,or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and viewsexpressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, andare not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of theContent should not be relied upon and should be independently verified withprimary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for anylosses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages,and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or

http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/hmcs20

http://www.tandfonline.com/action/showCitFormats?doi=10.1080/15205436.2011.650341

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2011.650341

indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of theContent.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes.Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan,sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone isexpressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found athttp://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

18:

27 1

5 N

ovem

ber

2014

http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Adolescent Perceptions of thePerformance and Fairness of

the Police: Examining the Impactof Television Exposure

Astrid Dirikx, Dave Gelders, and Jan Van den BulckSchool for Mass Communication Research

Katholiek Universiteit Leuven

This study investigates the relationship between adolescents’ exposure to news,fictional police=crime shows, and reality police shows and their perceptions ofthe performance, distributive fairness, and procedural fairness of the policeand the link with their overall attitude toward the police. Based on the litera-ture, a hypothetical model of media influence is proposed and tested empiri-cally in a cross-sectional survey of 356 Flemish adolescents. Watchingreality shows was negatively related to adolescents’ perceptions of how fairlythe police exercise their authority. Exposure to the news negatively predictedrespondents’ perceptions of the distributive fairness of the police. Adolescents’beliefs about police performance were not related to media exposure. Exposureto fictional police shows did not significantly predict police perceptions. The

Astrid Dirikx (Ph.D., University of Leuven, 2012) is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the School for

Mass Communication Research at KU Leuven. Her research interests include media effects on

people’s perceptions of crime and the criminal justice system and legal socialization.

Dave Gelders (Ph.D., University of Leuven, 2005) is an Associate Professor in government

marketing and communications (Ghent University). He is also a lecturer at the University of

Amsterdam and a fellow at the Public Management Institute of the University of Leuven.

His research interests include public branding and policy communications.

Jan Van den Bulck (Ph.D., University of Leuven, 1996) is a Professor in the School for Mass

Communication and Research at KU Leuven. His research interests include the effects of media

violence and the health effects of media use.

Correspondence should be addressed to Astrid Dirikx, School for Mass Communication

Research, KU Leuven, Parkstraat 45, Box 3603, Leuven, 3000, Belgium. E-mail: astrid.dirikx@

soc.kuleuven.be

Mass Communication and Society, 16:109–132, 2013Copyright # Mass Communication & Society Division

of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication

ISSN: 1520-5436 print=1532-7825 online

DOI: 10.1080/15205436.2011.650341

109

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

18:

27 1

5 N

ovem

ber

2014

results suggest that news and reality police shows play a small but significantrole in adolescents’ fairness perceptions of the police.

INTRODUCTION

Citizens’ support for the police is a necessary condition for an efficient andeffective functioning of the police (Sunshine & Tyler, 2003). Citizens who con-sider the police to be a legitimate authority are more inclined to obey the law,cooperate with police activities (e.g., reporting crimes, calling for help), andempower the police (Sunshine & Tyler, 2003). The development of attitudestoward the police is part of the broader process of legal socialization: ‘‘the pro-cess through which individuals acquire attitudes and beliefs about the law, legalauthorities, and legal institutions’’ (Piquero, Fagan, Mulvey, Steinberg, &Odgers, 2005, p. 267). Adolescence is the most critical period for legal socializa-tion: Cognitive capacities are more strongly developed, a comprehensive under-standing of society and its institutions is formed, and there is increasedprobability of coming into contact with the police (Piquero et al., 2005). Legalsocialization occurs through personal interactions with legal actors, but also—and for most people foremost—through vicarious experiences (Piquero et al.,2005). Hurst (2007), for example, found that adolescents’ vicarious knowledgeof police misconduct was a strong (negative) predictor of their attitude towardthe police. Those vicarious interactions take place through stories of friends andfamily but also through the media (Dowler, 2002; Surette, 2007). This studyfocuses on television as a legal socializing agent for adolescents.

ATTITUDE TOWARD THE POLICE

People’s Attitude Toward the Police (henceforth: ATP) is usually measuredby asking them to rate general assertions like ‘‘In general, I am satisfied withthe police’’ (Hurst, 2007; Hurst & Frank, 2000). Following Fishbein andAjzen (1975), a person’s attitude at any given time is based on his mostsalient beliefs about the attitude object.

The traditional idea is that people’s ATP is mainly determined by beliefsregarding the performance of the police (Sunshine & Tyler, 2003). Citizenswho are convinced that the police create credible sanctioning threats forthose who break the law and who believe the police are successful in fightingcrime will most likely take a positive stance toward the police (Skogan,1990). They will support the police because they believe the police are doingtheir job and will refrain from criminal activity because they believe chancesof getting caught and punished are high (Sunshine & Tyler, 2003). Studies

110 DIRIKX, GELDERS, VAN DEN BULCK

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

18:

27 1

5 N

ovem

ber

2014

have generally found that perceptions of the performance of the police are asignificant predictor of ATP but leave a big part of its variance unexplained(e.g., Hinds, 2007; Sunshine & Tyler, 2003). Therefore, Tyler (1990) pro-posed an alternative perspective on police attitude development. He believedthat in evaluating authorities people are strongly led by normative consid-erations. Tyler (2000) conceived people’s views of what is just as ‘‘a socialfacilitator through which the interaction among people and groups isenabled’’ (p. 117). When institutions of social control rely solely onpower-based tactics the risk of inducing feelings of resentment and resist-ance in those who are being treated thus is high (Pruitt & Rubin, 1986). Thatfight over control is defused when interactions are based on fairness andcooperation. With regard to the police that means that people need to feelthat it is an authority entitled to be deferred to and obeyed (Sunshine &Tyler, 2003). According to Tyler (2000), two types of justice judgmentsare of particular interest in the evaluation of police legitimacy: distributivejustice assessments and procedural justice assessments.

Distributive justice judgments refer to evaluations of the fairness of thedistribution of police services across people and communities. The policeshould provide different groups (e.g., different in ethnicity, socioeconomicstatus, age) with the same quality of service and should not resort to profil-ing of citizens based on certain characteristics (Tyler & Wakslak, 2004).

Procedural justice judgments refer to evaluations of the fairness of the pro-cesses through which police officers come to their decisions and exercise theirauthority (Engel, 2005). Studies have found consistently that four elements con-tribute to assessments of the procedural fairness of an authority: The authorityhas to provide opportunities for participation, make decisions based upon rulesand facts, be trustworthy, and treatpeoplewithdignity and respect (Tyler, 2000).

Several studies have compared the relative importance of perceptions ofthe performance, the procedural justice, and the distributive justice of thepolice in predicting people’s ATP. Those studies generally found that thethree types of perceptions have significant predictive value and that pro-cedural justice perceptions are the strongest predictor (e.g., Engel, 2005;Hinds, 2007; Sunshine & Tyler, 2003). However, it must be noted that mostof these studies were performed in the United Kingdom and the UnitedStates. As Hough, Jackson, Bradford, Myhill, and Quinton (2010) argued,it is not certain that the procedural justice model would also work in othercountries, with different legal systems and=or a different position of the policewithin them. Hinds andMurphy (2007) tested the procedural justice model inAustralia. Although this country belongs to the same judicial family withinthe common law system as the United Kingdom, it gives us a glimpse atresults outside the United States and the United Kingdom. The study con-firmed that procedural justice was a strong driver of satisfaction with the

ADOLESCENT PERCEPTIONS OF POLICE 111

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

18:

27 1

5 N

ovem

ber

2014

police. However, support of the police was almost as substantially rooted inbeliefs about police performance (Hinds & Murphy, 2007).

To examine adolescents’ perceptions of the police, this study focuses onperceptions of the performance, procedural justice, and distributive justiceof the police. Apart from testing television’s role in predicting these percep-tions we analyze the relative importance of the different beliefs in predictingFlemish adolescents’ ATP.

Although perceptions of the performance, procedural justice, anddistributive justice of the police make a distinct contribution to a person’sATP, studies show that they are also interrelated (Hawdon, Ryan, & Griffin,2003; Tyler &Wakslak, 2004). Gau (2010) found that people’s perceptions ofprocedural justice significantly predicted their evaluation of the ability of thepolice to control crime 3 years later, even when controlling for existing viewson police effectiveness. In addition, Tyler and Wakslak (2004) found thatwhen respondents had positive views of police officers’ procedural fairnessthey were less likely to believe that profiling occurred. Next to testing theprocedural justice model this study analyzes the relationships between thebeliefs concerning different aspects of policing.

POLICING ON TELEVISION AND THE IMPACT ON VIEWERS

To understand legal socialization it is important to study the factors thatinfluence people’s performance and justice judgments of the police. Culti-vation theory posits that television offers its viewers a particular world viewand that in doing so it is an important source of socialization (Gerbner,Gross, Morgan, Signorielli, & Shanahan, 2002). The theory assumes thatheavy viewers will be more likely than lighter viewers to perceive the worldas it is depicted on television as a result of repeated exposure to similar con-tent (Morgan & Shanahan, 2010). Since its inception, the original cultivationhypothesis has been subject to a lot of criticism. In what follows we discussthe most relevant critiques from the perspective of analyzing the relationshipbetween television exposure and adolescents’ perceptions of the police.

Genre Cultivation

Some authors have argued that cultivation theory overemphasized the hom-ogeneity of television content and the fact that viewers tend to be nonselective(Bilandzic & Busselle, 2008; Segrin &Nabi, 2002). Some studies have attemptedto demonstrate that people tend to prefer certain types of shows over others andthat exposure to different genres may have different effects (Cohen & Wei-mann, 2000). Different genres tend to focus on different aspects of reality


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

18:

27 1

5 N

ovem

ber

2014

and can even present a different image of the same reality. Exposure to onegenre may thus lead to different effects than exposure to another genre (Shah,1997). Cohen and Weimann (2000) stated that studying the effects of exposureto programs in different genres is a way to differentiate between types of con-tent without reducing the study of television effects to the study of the effects ofspecific shows. Because cultivation research is focused on the metanarratives oftelevision, the use of genres in cultivation research remains debatable. Nonethe-less, in their recent overview of cultivation research Morgan and Shanahan(2010) argued that it is very common for cultivation researchers to study theeffects of television through people’s exposure to different genres.

With regard to policing three types of television programs seem parti-cularly relevant: television news, fictional police shows, and reality policeshows (Donahue & Miller, 2006). Not only do content analyses suggest thatthey focus on different aspects of policing, studies have also found that theirimpact on perceptions of the police differs.

Studies have shown that news media present conflicting images of thepolice as successful and professional while depicting them as incompetentand dishonest (Surette, 2007). Reiner, Livingstone, and Allen (2002) foundthat British newspaper reports on policing presented the police as generallyeffective and honest but that portrayals of the police had become increasinglynegative. Between 1945 and 1964 and between 1981 and 1991 there was adecrease in articles featuring crimes cleared up by the police from 73% to51%. The proportion of articles on police officers abusing their power, usingunwarranted violence, and being racist and sexist increased from 10% to 19%.Beunders and Muller (2005) found in their content analysis of two Dutchnewspapers that they generally presented a positive image of the police. How-ever, the main ‘‘hot items’’ featuring the police were reports on police mis-takes, focusing mostly on unjust behaviors. With regard to the impact ofnews exposure on perceptions of the police, Eschholz, Blackwell, Gertz,and Chiricos (2002) questioned respondents about how confident they werein the police’s ability to do their jobs and found news exposure was a positivepredictor of respondents’ answers. Dowler (2002) examined the link betweenrespondents’ primary source of crime news and perceptions of police effective-ness. However, his police effectiveness scale also contained items on policefriendliness and fairness. He did not find a significant relationship. Dowlerand Zawilski (2007) found that television news exposure was positively relatedto people’s estimations of the prevalence of police misconduct. Similarly, stu-dies by Lasley (1994) and Jefferis, Kaminski, Holmes, and Hanley (1997)showed that exposure to news reports on incidents of unwarranted policeaggression was related to more negative perceptions of police use of violence.

Studies have consistently found that fictional police officers are extremelysuccessful, with police officers catching criminals and solving cases (Surette,


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

18:

27 1

5 N

ovem

ber

2014

2007). Only a couple of studies focused on the depiction of fairness aspectsof policing. Dominick (1973) conducted a content analysis on a week ofprime-time network programming in New York. He found that the majorityof the depicted law enforcers followed the law. Jeffries-Fox and Signorielli(1978) and Surette (1997) confirmed that finding. Eschholz, Mallard, andFlynn (2004) analyzed how often cops in NYPD Blue and Law & Order vio-lated civil rights and used control talk. They found that in NYPD Blue, civilrights were violated on average 2.7 times per episode and 0.9 times in Law &Order. In both shows, control talk by police officers was also regularly fea-tured. Dirikx, Van den Bulck, and Parmentier (2012) analyzed the depictionof the procedural fairness with which police officers in CSI Miami, NCIS,Without a Trace, and The Mentalist exercise their authority. They foundon average one violation of fair police behavior per episode. Those viola-tions mostly took on the form of verbal and physical disrespectful behaviortoward citizens. Eschholz et al. (2004) argued that these types of rule bend-ing are often portrayed as an essential part of effective policing. In line withthese authors, Dirikx et al. (2012) found that rules of proper police conductwere most often violated to catch the ‘‘bad guys’’ and protect society’s moralstructure. With regard to fictional police treatment of different groups insociety we found no content analyses. Looking at the effects of exposureto fictional police shows Donahue and Miller (2006) found that watchingthese shows was related to more positive perceptions of police performance.Dowler and Zawliksi (2007) found no significant relationship betweenwatching fictional police shows and perceptions of the prevalence of policemisbehavior (e.g., use of unwarranted violence), but they did find a positiverelation between regularly watching these shows and the conviction thatwealthy people receive preferential treatment by police.

As in fictional police shows the law enforcers in reality police shows areusually successful. Doyle (1998) pointed out that reality shows are made incooperation with the police and by consequence will depict the police in avery positive way. Although officers are sometimes shown to treat suspectsaggressively, that does not put them in a negative light (Doyle, 1998; Oliver,1994). The shows are believed to promote a law and order ideology. Accord-ing to that ideology, society is in decline because of spiraling crime and theanswer is more and tougher police (Doyle, 1998). Eschholz et al. (2002)found that watching reality shows was positively related to people’s confi-dence in the police’s ability to do their job. Dowler and Zawilski (2007)showed that people who regularly watched police reality shows were moreinclined to believe in the occurrence of police misconduct and less inclinedto believe that White people receive preferential treatment by the police.However, that last relationship was only found among Afro-Americanrespondents.


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

18:

27 1

5 N

ovem

ber

2014

Cultivation Theory and the Active Viewer

A second criticism on cultivation theory pertains to the idea that all view-ers are similarly affected by what is shown on television (Krippendorff,1993; Newcomb, 1978). Researchers have argued that viewers do notnecessarily accept television reality passively and that television imagesare open to viewers’ interpretation. People can attach different meaningsto the same television message and may thus be affected in different ways(Jenson, 1991). Even though active viewer theory sometimes seems toassume so, television messages do not have an unlimited number of poss-ible interpretations (Livingstone, 1990). Television messages usually have‘‘preferred readings’’ (Livingstone, 1990). According to reception research,people will give meaning to television messages based on their own circum-stances and experiences (Jenson, 1991; Newcomb, 1978). These can bedetermined by factors such as developmental stage, gender, ethnicity,socioeconomic background, viewer experience, and so on (McQuail &Windahl, 1993).

In studying the relationship between television exposure and adoles-cents’ perceptions of the police, we believe it is important to take intoaccount the specific developmental stage adolescents are in. Several studiesfound that adolescence is characterized by a specific relationship with thepolice (e.g., Brunson & Weitzer, 2009; Hinds, 2007). Youths have—morethan any other age group—a high chance of coming into (adversarial) con-tact with the police. Adolescents’ extensive use of public space and theirtendency to congregate often attracts police attention (Loader, 1997). Inaddition, there is proof for an age-crime curve: an increase in delinquentbehavior between the ages of 15 and 17 (e.g., Tittle & Ward, 1993). Thispattern has been found in different countries and with youths from diversebackgrounds (boys and girls, ethnic minorities and majorities, low andhigh socioeconomical background). The police also tend to take on tasksunrelated to the prevention or detection of crime with youths, for example,truancy enforcement (Hinds, 2007). By consequence, teens often feeltargeted and unfairly treated (White, 1994), and, because of their age, dis-empowered to do something about it (Brunson & Weitzer, 2009). Thehigher chance of adversarial contacts with the police combined with weak-ening authoritarian attitudes (Altemeyer, 2006) are believed to explain theconsistent finding that adolescents take on a more negative ATP thanadults.

Following these findings it is probable that adolescents are not just passiverecipients of televised police depictions and that they will place them into thecontext of their real-life experiences. To date, only a few audience studies ontelevised police portrayals have been conducted (Tulloch, 2000), particularly


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

18:

27 1

5 N

ovem

ber

2014

with regard to adolescents (De Bruin, 2010). Tulloch (1998a, 1998b, 2000)conducted interviews with American youth to analyze their responses tocrime drama. He found that the adolescents did not believe the crime showsprovided a realistic representation of crime or of police effectiveness in hand-ling crime. These findings were confirmed by De Bruin (2010), who inter-viewed Dutch 14- to 17-year-olds about their interpretation of police seriesand by Dirikx, Gelders, and Van den Bulck (2010), who conducted focusgroup interviews with youths on, among others, their evaluation of fictionaland reality-based police shows. The youths stated to be aware of the genreconventions of these shows, that is, good triumphing over evil, and statedthe images did not affect how they thought about police performance in reallife (Dirikx et al., 2010, 2011; Tulloch, 1998a). With regard to the positiverepresentations of the fairness of the police Tulloch (1998b), De Bruin(2010) and Dirikx et al. (2010, 2011) not only detected disbelief but also acertain amount of frustration amongst the adolescents. In Tulloch’s study(1998b) the youths stated that racist cops were never featured in policeshows, but that they did encounter and heard about them in real-life. DeBruin (2010) found the same results with Dutch youths. In discussing racistpolicing they stated the representation of the police in Dutch police series wasout of touch with their real-world experiences. More specifically, the youthsthought that the image put forward in police series was too positive. Dirikxand colleagues (Dirikx et al., 2010; Dirikx, Van den Bulck, & Parmentier,2011) found that Flemish youths were frustrated with what they saw in Flem-ish reality police shows. The polite and neutral treatment that police officersin these shows offer to citizens was not in line with the youths’ personal andvicarious experiences. Because reality shows claim to represent real-worldpolicing, the youths deemed them to be very hypocritical. It frustrated themthat police officers act friendly and fair on television but seem to act theopposite way in real life. Watching the shows convinced them that they oper-ated as impression management vehicles for the police (De Bruin, 2011;Dirikx et al., 2010; Dirikx et al., 2011; Tulloch, 1998b). In sum, the findingsof the audience studies suggest that adolescents are critical about policedepictions on television.

AIM OF THE STUDY

The aim of this study is to assess the impact of television exposure onFlemish adolescents’ perceptions of and attitude toward the police. Thestudy is done within the theoretical framework of cultivation theory, takinginto account relevant critiques on the theory. In addition, insights fromprocedural justice theory are used.


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

18:

27 1

5 N

ovem

ber

2014

Hypotheses

With regard to the performance of the police, content analyses have shownthat the police are mostly portrayed positively in the news, although reportson ineffective police officers are also present. Fictional and reality policeshows mainly feature successful cops. Reception studies with adolescentshave shown that they claim to understand the genre conventions of fictionaland reality police shows and that they believe they are not influenced by theshows. In a recent qualitative study of adults’ attitudes toward the criminaljustice system, Boda and Szabo (2011) found that participants very rarelyreferred to the media when they were asked about sources of information.Even though they believed that the media manipulate public opinion, theythought themselves to be immune to such influence. On one hand, Bodaand Szabo found striking similarities between the discourse of the mediaand that of the participants, but on the other hand, they found that peoplerejected the idea that the media influenced them. In line with these findings,we expect that although adolescents deny any media influence on theirpolice performance perceptions, repetitive exposure to successful cops infictional and reality shows might be related to adolescents’ beliefs aboutpolice performance.

H1: Adolescents’ exposure to news, fictional and reality police shows will bepositively related to their perceptions of police performance.

Concerning the procedural and distributive justice of the police, research-ers have found that, throughout time, the news featured more items on policeofficers behaving in an unjust manner and that those items were oftendepicted as ‘‘hot items.’’ With regard to fictional and reality police showsthe limited number of content analyses have suggested that they mostly showfair police behavior. In addition, when fictional shows depict police officerswho are misbehaving, these misbehaviors are usually embedded in a positivecontext (Dirikx et al., 2012; Eschholz et al., 2004). However, receptionstudies have shown that the positive depictions of police officers’ fairnessin fictional and reality shows frustrate adolescents because they perceive abig difference between how police officers act on television and how theyact in real life (De Bruin, 2010; Tulloch, 1998a). Several studies have shownthat youths have a high chance of personal and vicarious contacts with policebehavior and that police officer’s conduct in these contacts tends to be eval-uated negatively (Hinds, 2007; Murphy, 2009). Specifically with regard toreality police shows, the positive depiction of police behavior was deemedhypocritical. In line with these findings, we expect news viewing and exposureto fictional and reality police shows to be negatively related to beliefs aboutthe fairness of the police. Although studies detected frustration with the


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

18:

27 1

5 N

ovem

ber

2014

representation of police officers’ fairness in fictional police shows, frustrationseemed to be much bigger with police officers’ depiction in reality shows.Other researchers (Callanan & Rosenberger, 2011; Surette, 2007) haveconfirmed that reality perceptions of different genres play an important rolein the impact these shows have on police perceptions. Therefore, we expectthat the negative relationship between reality show viewing and justice per-ceptions will be stronger than between exposure to fictional police showsand fairness perceptions.

H2: Adolescents’ exposure to news, fictional police shows, and reality policeshows will be negatively related to their perceptions of the proceduraljustice of the police.

H3: Adolescents’ exposure to news, fictional police shows, and reality policeshows will be negatively related to their perceptions of the distributivejustice of the police.

We expect that adolescents’ perceptions of police officers’ performance,distributive justice, and procedural justice will positively predict their overallATP and that adolescents’ perceptions of procedural justice will be the stron-gest predictor. In addition, respondents’ perceptions of the procedural justiceof the police are, in accordance with recent findings, assumed to have animpact on their perceptions of the performance and the distributive fairnessof the police.

H4: Adolescents’ perceptions of the performance, distributive justice, andprocedural justice of the police will be positive predictors of their ATP.Perceptions of procedural justice will be the strongest predictor.

H5: Adolescents’ perceptions of the procedural justice offered by the policewill be positively related to their perceptions of the performance andthe distributive fairness of the police.

Studies have consistently shown that personal experience is a strongpredictor of adults’ (e.g., Bradford, Jackson, & Stanko, 2009; Orr & West,2007) and adolescents’ (e.g., Griffiths & Winfree, 1982; Hinds, 2007; Hurst,2007) perceptions of the police. More specifically, the perceived treatmentduring personal experiences has been found strongly to affect perceptionsof police performance and evaluations of police officers’ fairness (e.g.,Bradford et al., 2009; Murphy, 2009; Tyler & Huo, 2002). Several studieshave suggested that the relationship between evaluations of police contactsand support for the police is asymmetrical, that is, that the impact of nega-tive contact is stronger than that of positive contact (e.g., Skogan, 2006).Leiber, Nalla, and Farnsworth (1998) focused specifically on adolescentsand found that positive contacts did not even affect youths’ ATP, whereas


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

18:

27 1

5 N

ovem

ber

2014

negative contacts did significantly lower their support for the police.Because personal contacts and specifically negative contacts seem to playan important role in adolescents’ perceptions of the police, we include thevariable negative police contact in our hypothesized model.

H6: Adolescents who had a negative contact with the police during the pastyear will have more negative perceptions of the performance, proceduraljustice, and distributive justice of the police.

Age, gender, and educational level are standard demographic variablesthat are used as control variables in both research on perceptions of thepolice (e.g., Hinds, 2007; Hurst, 2007) as in studies on the impact of televisionon social reality beliefs (e.g., Dowler, 2002; Eschholz et al. 2002; Lasley,1994). In addition, studies have shown that age, gender, and educational levelare related with the nature of personal contacts with the police, that is, olderboys from a lower educational level have a higher chance of adversarialpolice contacts (Bradford et al., 2009). In testing our hypotheses we holdthe influence of these covariates on the constructs in our model constant.

METHODS

Data Collection

Surveys were administered to a random sample of secondary school studentsin Flanders (the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium). From an official list ofFlemish secondary schools we selected every 10th school (schools were inrandom order), until we had 20 schools. The principals of these schools werecontacted via an e-mail that explained the study and requested the adminis-tration of paper-and-pencil surveys to students from the first and last year ofhigh school. That e-mail was followed up by telephone contacts. Five schoolsagreed to participate in the study. Two graduate students went to the schoolsand administered a total of 400 surveys. Forty-four questionnaires were dis-carded because they were only partially filled in. Three hundred and fifty-sixsurveys were used for analysis.

Of the questioned adolescents, 66.9% were boys and 33.1% were girls.There were 48.0% in their 1st year of secondary school, which correspondedwith an average age of 13 (M¼ 12.57, SD¼ 1.09) and 52.0% of the respon-dents were in their last year of secondary school, which corresponded withan average age of 18 (M¼ 17.98, SD¼ 1.06). In Flemish secondary schools,a distinction is made between three types of educational levels: general edu-cation (ASO), technical education (TSO), and vocational education (BSO).


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

18:

27 1

5 N

ovem

ber

2014

The type of schooling level in part determines access to further educationand job prospects. ASO is often regarded as the highest educational leveland BSO as the lowest. Of the adolescents, 56.7% were in ASO, 30.6% inTSO, and 12.6% in BSO.

Measures

Concerning the sociodemographic information, adolescents were asked theirgender, age, school year, and educational level.

Exposure to the news was assessed by asking the adolescents, ‘‘How oftendo you watch the Flemish news?’’ on a scale of 1 (never), 2 (a few times ayear), 3 (a few times a month), 4 (a few times a week), and 5 (almost every day).

To measure respondents’ exposure to reality-based police shows we askedthem how often they watched three popular reality police shows aired onFlemish television (Patrouille and Wegmisbruikers [Flemish shows] andCops [American show]) on a scale of 1 (never), 2 (sometimes), 3 (regularly),and 4 (almost every episode) (Cronbach’s a¼ .74).

Exposure to fictional police=crime shows was assessed similarly. AlthoughFlemish police shows are popular with the adult population, Flemish ado-lescents do not enjoy them very much and prefer to watch police shows pro-duced in the United States (D’Hoest, 2010; Dirikx et al., 2011). Respondentswere therefore asked how often they watched the popular shows CSI, Bones,and The Mentalist on a scale of 1 (never), 2 (sometimes), 3 (regularly), and 4(almost every episode) (Cronbach’s a¼ .78).

Adolescents’ perceptions of the performance, distributive justice, andprocedural justice of the police were questioned by providing them withstatements on which they had to answer with 1 (completely disagree), 2(disagree), 3 (agree), or 4 (totally agree) (Sunshine & Tyler, 2003). To assessrespondents’ perceptions of the performance of the police they had to rate thestatements that ‘‘the police are good at’’ (1) ‘‘stopping people from sellingdrugs,’’ (2) ‘‘controlling burglaries,’’ (3) ‘‘controlling theft,’’ and (4) ‘‘secur-ing people’s safety.’’ With regard to the distributive justice of the police thepresented statements were (5) ‘‘The police sometimes give people less helpthan they give others due to their race’’ (reverse-coded), (6) ‘‘Minority groupsreceive a lower quality of service from the police’’ (reverse-coded), (7) ‘‘Thepolice treat adults better than adolescents’’ (reverse-coded), and (8) ‘‘Thepolice provide better services to the wealthy’’ (reverse-coded). Finally, ado-lescents’ perceptions of the procedural justice of the police were assessed.Respondents were asked how much they agreed with (9) ‘‘The police givepeople a chance to express their views before making decisions,’’ (10) ‘‘Thepolice consistently apply the rules to different people,’’ (11) ‘‘The police sin-cerely try to help people with their problems,’’ and (12) ‘‘The police treat


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

18:

27 1

5 N

ovem

ber

2014

people with dignity and respect.’’ On this scale a principal axis factor analysiswith direct oblimin rotation was performed. The Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin mea-sure was .84, indicating a factor analysis of the items was preferable. Inaddition, a Bartlet test of sphericity showed the data met assumptions neces-sary for factor analysis, v2(66)¼ 1219.21, p< .001. Three factors with eigen-values greater than 1 could be discerned. In addition the scree test showed abreak point in the data at the fourth factor. Based on our sample size wedecided to use .45 as a cutoff point in regards to the accepted level of factorloadings (Comrey, 1973; Mertler & Vannatta, 2001). Table 1 shows thatFactor 1 contains all the procedural justice items, Factor 2 contains the fourdistributive justice items, and Factor 3 reflects the performance items. Therewere no cross-loading items, meaning items with a factor loading of .30 orhigher on a second factor. Because the item ‘‘the police are good at securing

TABLE 1

Factor Analysis of Perceptions of the Police

Factor loadings

Item

Procedural

justice

Distributive

justice

Police

performance

The police give people a chance to express their views

before making decisions

.684

The police consistently apply the rules to different

people

.495

The police sincerely try to help people with their

problems

.755

The police treat people with dignity and respect .712

The police sometimes give people less help than they give

others due to their race(reverse-coded)

�.733

Minority groups receive a lower quality of service from

the police (reverse-coded)

�.712

The police treat adults better than adolescents

(reverse-coded)

�.660

The police provide better services to the wealthy

(reverse-coded)

�.716

The police are good at stopping people from selling

drugs

.552

The police are good at controlling burglaries .525

The police are good at controlling theft .617

The police are good at securing people’s safety .284 .438

Eigenvalues 4.068 1.772 1.190

% of variance 33.897 14.769 9.920

Note. Only item loadings >.20 are listed. Extraction method: principal axis factoring.

Rotation Method: Oblimin with Kaizer Normalization.


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

18:

27 1

5 N

ovem

ber

2014

people’s safety’’ had a factor loading smaller than .45, this item was droppedform the performance factor. Our final performance scale thus consisted of thethree items that questioned adolescents’ perceptions of how good the policeare at controlling drug dealers, burglaries, and thefts. Moderate correlationsbetween the factors were found, substantiating the use of an oblique rotationmethod: �.453 (p< .01) between procedural justice and distributive justice,.455 (p< .01) between procedural justice and performance of the police, and�.229 (p< .01) between distributive justice and performance of the police.

Internal consistency for each of the scales was examined using Cron-bach’s alpha, which was .60, .80, and .77, respectively, for the perceptionsof the performance, distributive justice, and procedural justice of the police.

Adolescents’ ATP was assessed with two statements on which they had toanswer with (a) completely disagree, (b) disagree, (c) agree, or (d) totallyagree (Hurst, 2007, p. 128), namely, ‘‘In general, I trust the police’’ and‘‘In general, I am satisfied with the police’’ (a¼ .62).

Finally, the respondents were asked whether they had come into contactwith the police during the past year and how they evaluated that (mostrecent) contact on a 4-point scale ranging from very dissatisfied to very sat-isfied. These variables were recoded into a new variable negative contact withthe police consisting of two categories: (a) 0, for adolescents with no negativecontact with the police during the past year (those with no contact and thosewith a (somewhat) positive contact); this category contained 89% of therespondents, and (b) 1, for adolescents with a (somewhat) negative contactduring the past year; this category contained 11% of the respondents.

FIGURE 1 Hypothetical model.


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

18:

27 1

5 N

ovem

ber

2014

To assess the relationships between television exposure and perceptionsof the police the structural equation model presented in Figure 1 was esti-mated using AMOSTM 18. To hold the control variables gender, age, andeducational level constant without using up model degrees of freedom, con-trol variables were partialled out of the covariance matrix prior to analysis.Fletcher, Selgrade, and Germano (2006) showed that when covariates aremeasured directly with no error, partialling their effects from the indicatorsis a good alternative to modeling the variables in the model (cf. Kammeyer-Mueller & Wanberg, 2003; Yang & Oliver, 2010).

RESULTS

Of the respondents, 66.3% watched the news a few times a week to almostevery day, and 18.5% watched the news a couple of times a month. Reality-based police shows were watched sometimes or more by 29.7% (Patrouille),45.2% (Wegmisbruikers), and 26.2% (Cops) of the respondents. The Americanfictional police shows were popular among the youngsters: 54.5% (CSI),36.2% (Bones), and 31.2% (The Mentalist) watched the questioned showssometimes or more. Descriptive statistics about the constructs in our modelare provided in Table 2.

The data fitted the hypothetical model well (v2¼ 235.777, p¼ .001),comparable fit index (CFI)¼ .967; root mean square error of approxi-mation (RMSEA)¼ .032. The RMSEA indicates how well the modelwould fit the population covariance matrix. A value of �.05 is an indi-cation of a good fit. The CFI ranges between 0 and 1; a value of �.90is indicative of a good model fit (Diamantopoulos & Siguaw, 2000).Figure 2 shows the estimated standardized regression coefficients of thehypothesized model.

Exposure to the news was not significantly related to adolescents’ percep-tions of the performance of the police (c¼�.12, ns). Similarly the pathsbetween reality show exposure and perceptions of police performance(c¼ .02, ns) and between fictional police show exposure and views on policeperformance (c¼ .02, ns) were not significant. Regularly watching realitypolice shows was negatively related to adolescents’ perceptions of the pro-cedural justice of the police (c¼�.17, p< .01). Exposure to the news(c¼ .09, ns) and fictional police shows (c¼ .00, ns) was not significantlyrelated to procedural justice perceptions. Watching the news was found tobe a negative predictor of adolescents’ perceptions of the distributive justiceof the police (c¼�.16, p< .01). Reality show exposure (c¼�.01, ns) andfictional police show exposure (c¼�.12, ns) were not significantly relatedto distributive justice beliefs.


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

18:

27 1

5 N

ovem

ber

2014

TABLE2

PartialCorrelationCoefficients,Sca

leRanges,MeanValues(M

)andStandard

Deviations(SD)

12

34

56

78

1Reality

police

shows

Range:

1-4

M¼1.45S.D

.¼.58

2New

s.12�

Range:

1-5

M¼3.72S.D

.¼1.23

3Fictionalpolice

shows

.19��

.01

Range:

1-4

M¼1.71S.D

.¼.82

4Proceduraljustice

�.10

.08

�.04

Range:

1-4

M¼2.45S.D

.¼.62

5Perform

ances

�.01

�.05

.01

.36��

Range:

1-4

M¼2.40S.D

.¼.56

6Distributivejustice

�.12�

�.11�

�.10

.37��

.15��

Range:

1-4

M¼2.60S.D

.¼.67

7Attitudetoward

police

�.16��

.06

�.05

.55��

.40��

.35��

Range:

1-4

M¼2.85S.D

.¼.60

8Negativepolice

contact

�.01

�.06

.08

�.27��

�.08

�.11�

�.23��

Range:0-1

M¼.11S.D

.¼.31

Note

1.Lab

elsofscale

categories

canbefoundin

themethodsection.

Note

2.Thecorrelationsrepresentpartialcorrelationsin

whichtheinfluence

ofgender,ageandeducationishold

constan

t.� C

orrelationissignificantatthe.05level

(2-tailed).

��Correlationissignificantatthe.01level

(2-tailed).

124

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

18:

27 1

5 N

ovem

ber

2014

Adolescents who experienced a negative contact with the police duringthe previous year had significantly less positive views of the proceduraljustice of the police (c¼�.30, p< .001). Having had a negative contact ornot was not directly related to perceptions of the performance (c¼ .06, ns)or distributive justice of the police (c¼ .04, ns). However, negative policecontact indirectly influenced performance (Z¼�3.60, p< .001) and dis-tributive justice beliefs (Z¼�3.79, p< .001) by predicting procedural justiceevaluations.

Procedural justice perceptions were a strong predictor of evaluations ofthe performance (c¼ .58, p< .001) and distributive fairness of the police(c¼ .50, p< .001). As expected, adolescents’ perceptions of the performance(c¼ .33, p< .001) and procedural justice (c¼ .62, p< .001) were significantpositive predictors of their ATP. Adolescents’ perceptions of the proceduraljustice were the strongest direct predictor. Procedural justice beliefs alsoindirectly impacted ATP by predicting respondents’ views of the perfor-mance of the police (Z¼ 2.73, p< .01). Youths’ evaluations of the distribu-tive justice were not significantly related to their ATP (c¼ .12, ns). In total,82% of the variance in youths’ ATP was explained.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

This study analyzed the role of television viewing in Flemish adolescents’perceptions of the police. We tested how exposure to the news, fictional,

FIGURE 2 The estimated standardized path coefficients of the hypothesized model.


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

18:

27 1

5 N

ovem

ber

2014

and reality police shows related to beliefs about diverse aspects of policingthat have been proven to be important predictors of general ATP. Becauseadolescence is characterized by a specific relationship with the police,additional insights from criminological and reception studies were used toconstruct a hypothetical model of media influence. The impact of adversarialpolice contacts was included in the model, and gender, age, and educationserved as control variables.

Contrary to the predictions of H1, exposure to news, fictional, and realitypolice shows was not significantly related to perceptions of the performanceof the police. Watching reality police shows was negatively related toadolescents’ perceptions of the procedural justice of the police (partly con-firming H2). News exposure and watching fictional police shows were notsignificantly related to procedural justice perceptions. In line with H3,exposure to the news negatively predicted respondents’ perceptions of thedistributive fairness of the police. Watching fictional and reality policeshows was not significantly related to distributive justice perceptions. Con-firming H6, youths who had a negative contact with the police during thepast year had significantly more negative beliefs about police officers’ pro-cedural fairness. Negative contact was also indirectly related to performanceand distributive fairness beliefs through procedural justice assessments. Inaccordance with H4, perceptions of the performance and procedural justiceof the police significantly predicted adolescents’ ATP, with proceduraljustice beliefs being the strongest predictor. Adolescents’ perceptions ofprocedural justice also strongly predicted respondents’ views of the perfor-mance and distributive fairness of the police (confirming H5). Evaluationsof the distributive justice were not significantly related to ATP. Our dataconsequently support the procedural justice model.

Previous studies found that exposure to news (Eschholz et al., 2002), fic-tional police shows (Donahue & Miller, 2006), and reality police shows(Eschholz et al., 2002) were positive predictors of adults’ police performancebeliefs. In our adolescent sample we found that none of the exposure variableswere significantly related to police performance beliefs. This can have severalreasons. First, adolescents tend to have more (direct and vicarious) contactswith the police. In addition, these contacts tend to be adversarial in nature.When answering survey questions on the police, studies have shown thatpeople tend to fall back on their top-of-the-head thoughts and that negativeideas tend to be more salient than positive ones (Frank, Smith, & Novak,2005). Tversky and Kahneman (1973) argued that the content of these top-of-the-head thoughts is based on the ease with which people can retrieve relevantexamples. It is likely that youths can easily retrieve and imagine real-lifeexamples of policing. Although these examples may mainly pertain tofairness aspects of policing, studies have shown that these beliefs are related


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

18:

27 1

5 N

ovem

ber

2014

to performance perceptions. Our data confirmed that having had a negativecontact with the police was related to performance perceptions by negativelypredicting procedural justice beliefs. Studies have shown that televisionexposure can make television information cognitively more accessible forheavy viewers (Shrum, 1996). Given adults’ lower chance of (influential)direct contacts with the police, it can be assumed that they are more likelyto relay on televised depictions of police performance. Second, measures ofperceptions of police performance differ between studies. Researchers likeEschholz et al. (2002) and Donahue andMiller (2006) have questioned policeperformance beliefs by asking respondents in general ‘‘How confident are youin the police’s ability to do their job?’’ We opted to question police perfor-mance by specifically asking respondents how good the police were at severallaw enforcement tasks. It is possible that the different findings are linked tothe fact that we tapped into different thoughts about the police.

With regard to studies on media and police perceptions we find that littleattention has been paid to the exposure variable. A flaw inherent to manycultivation studies according to Van den Bulck (2011). Our study suggestsa difference between the impact of exposure to police reality and news, onone hand, and to police fiction, on the other hand. Although news and realityshow viewing were significant predictors of justice perceptions, the paths fic-tional police shows to police perceptions did not reach significance. Surette(2007) suggested that people will be more likely to be influenced by televisionnews and reality-based crime shows because they are more likely to acceptthese formats as representative of reality. A recent study by Callanan andRosenberger (2011) revealed that adults’ confidence in the police was relatedto news and reality crime show exposure but not to fictional shows. Withregard to our results, we also believe that the found differences might bedue to ideas about ‘‘reality-claims’’ by the different formats and to the specificmanner in which the effects of these programs seem to operate among adoles-cents. Content analyses have shown that news items on police fairness usuallyconcern an item on police misbehavior (Beunders & Muller, 2005; Reineret al., 2003). Youths who regularly watch the news can then experience whatcultivation researchers have called resonance (Morgan & Shanahan, 2010).Resonance involves a process in which exposure to television reinforces aperson’s existing beliefs. More specifically, when there is a high degree of con-sistency between the television reality and personal experiences, televisioncan reinforce a person in what he or she was already thinking (Morgan &Shanahan, 2010). In contrast to the news, audience studies with youthsshowed that fictional and reality police shows are not deemed reliable sourceswith regard to depictions of the police (De Bruin, 2010; Tulloch, 1998a).Adolescents stated that being confronted with the positive images of policeofficers in a continuous way, while hearing about and experiencing negative


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

18:

27 1

5 N

ovem

ber

2014

encounters with the police in real-life, made them feel frustrated with (theimages of) the police (De Bruin, 2011; Tulloch, 1998b; Dirikx et al., 2010;Dirikx et al., 2011). This was particularly so with regard to reality policeshows. Although youths also did not find fictional depictions of police offi-cers’ fairness realistic, they seemed to be less concerned about it because theseshows do not proclaim to represent real-life policing. That can explain whyreality show exposure was found to be negatively related to procedural fair-ness beliefs while watching fictional police shows was not. Future researchshould include a perceived realism scale to underpin this finding.

We believe that taking into account the specific developmental stageadolescents are in is necessary to understand the impact that television hason their world views. Specifically with regard to perceptions of authorities.As Van den Bulck (2011) stated, the introduction of the active viewer doesnot have to imply that cultivation research has become meaningless.Although multiple interpretations of a text are possible, he believed that tele-vision messages still offer boundaries to the set of possible interpretations.Because police officers are portrayed overly positive in reality shows, it isnot surprising that groups that have a high chance of negative encounterswith the police might interpret these images as hypocritical. We believe thatour study indicates once more that it is important for cultivation researchersto recognize that different meanings can be attached to the same text.

To measure exposure to fictional police shows, only American policeshows were taken into account. This raises questions about whether andhow these shows elicit feelings about the police in general from Flemishyouth. A study of D’Hoest (2010) in which the relative proximity of Flem-ish, Dutch, and American TV fiction for Flemish audiences was examined,showed that the younger viewers (16–25) were not very concerned withproximity and preferred American fiction. In addition, Dirikx and collea-gues (Dirikx et al., 2010; Dirikx et al., 2011) found that Flemish adolescentsthink American shows sensationalize policing but nonetheless believe thatfor many aspects ‘‘there’s some truth to it.: The portrayed ideas abouthow the police treat different groups in society, how trustworthy and neutralpolice officers are, and so on, are thought to be, albeit sensationalized, areasonably good reflexion of U.S. policing and, in a toned-down way, ofFlemish policing.

Finally, our study confirmed the procedural justice model. Beliefs aboutpolice performance also significantly predicted adolescents’ ATP, but partof this effect was due to the impact of procedural justice beliefs on perfor-mance perceptions. Procedural justice perceptions also strongly predicteddistributive justice beliefs. However, distributive justice beliefs were notsignificantly related to ATP. These findings are in line with what Hindsand Murphy (2010) found among Australian respondents.


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

18:

27 1

5 N

ovem

ber

2014

Overall, our research shows that news and reality police shows can play arole in how adolescents think about the fairness of the police. This studysuggests that both off-putting direct and televised encounters with the policecan have a negative impact on their perceptions and attitude toward thepolice.

REFERENCES

Altemeyer, B. (2006). The authoritarians. Winnipeg, Canada: University of Manitoba.

Beunders, H., & Muller, E. (2005). Police and the media: Facts, fiction and image politics.

Rotterdam, the Netherlands: Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Bilandzic, H., & Busselle, R. W. (2008). Transportation and transportability in the cultivation

of genre-consistent attitudes and estimates. Journal of Communication, 58, 508–529.

Boda, Z., & Szabo, G. (2011). The media and attitudes towards crime and the justice system: A

qualitative approach. European Journal of Criminology, 8, 329–342.

Bradford, B., Jackson, J., & Stanko, E. A. (2009). Contact and confidence: Revisiting the

impact of public encounters with the police. Policing and Society, 19, 20–46.

Brunson, R. K., & Weitzer, R. (2009). Police relations with black and white youths in different

urban neighborhoods. Urban Affairs Review, 44, 858–885.

Callanan, V. J., & Rosenberger, J. S. (2011). Media and public perceptions of the police: Exam-

ining the impact of race and personal experience. Policing and Society, 21, 167–189.

Cohen, J., & Weimann, G. (2000). Cultivation revisited: some genres have some effects on some

viewers. Communication Reports, 13, 99–114.

Comrey, A. (1973). A first course on factor analysis. Londonm, UK: Academic Press.

De Bruin, J. (2010). Young people and police series: A multicultural television audience study.

Crime, Media, Culture, 6, 309–328.

D’Hoest, A. (2010, June). The persistence of national TV: Language and cultural proximity in

Flemish fiction. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication

Association, Singapore.

Diamantopoulos, A., & Siguaw, J. A. (2000). Introducing Lisrel. A guide for the uninitiated.

London, UK: Sage.

Dirikx, A., Gelders, D., & Van den Bulck, J. (2010, June). Television exposure and adolescents’

perceptions of the police. Paper presented at the 60th Annual Conference of the International

Communication Association, Singapore.

Dirikx, A., Van den Bulck, J., & Parmentier, S. (2011). Vlaamse jongeren en de politie:

percepties, evaluaties en het gebruik van media als bron van informatie [Flemish adolescents

and the police: perceptions, evaluations and the use of media as a source of information]. In

Handboek voor de politiediensten (pp. 69–138). Mechelen, Belgium: Kluwer.

Dirikx, A., Van den Bulck, J., & Parmentier, S. (2012). The police as societal moral agents:

‘‘Procedural justice’’ and the analysis of police fiction. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic

Media, 56, 38–54.

Dominick, J. R. (1973). Crime and law enforcement on prime-time television. The Public

Opinion Quarterly, 37(2), 241–250.

Donahue, A. K., & Miller, J. M. (2006). Experience, attitudes and willingness to pay for public

safety. The American Review of Public Administration, 36, 395–418.

Dowler, K. (2002). Media influence on attitudes toward police effectiveness. Policing and

Society, 12, 227–238.


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

18:

27 1

5 N

ovem

ber

2014

Dowler, K., & Zawilski, V. (2007). Public perceptions of police misconduct and discrimination:

examining the impact of media consumption. Journal of Criminal Justice, 35, 193–203.

Doyle, A. (1998). ‘‘Cops’’: Television policing as policing reality. In M. Fishman & G. Cavender

(Eds.), Entertaining crime: Television reality program (pp. 95–116). Hawthorne, NY: Aldine

de Gruyter.

Engel, R. S. (2005). Citizens’ perceptions of distributive and procedural injustice during traffic

stops with police. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 42, 445–481.

Eschholz, S., Blackwell, B. S., Gertz, M., & Chiricos, T. (2002). Race and attitudes toward

the police. Assessing the effects of watching ‘‘reality’’ police programs. Journal of Criminal

Justice, 30, 327–341.

Eschholz, S., Mallard, M., & Flynn, S. (2004). Images of prime time justice: a content analysis

of ‘‘NYPD Blue’’ and ‘‘Law & Order.’’ Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture, 10,

161–180.

Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, attitude, intention and behavior: an introduction to theory

and research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Fletcher, T. D., Selgrade, K. A., & Germano, L. M. (2006). On the use of partial covariances in

structural equation modeling. Paper presented at the 21st Annual Conference of the Society

for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Dallas.

Frank, J., Smith, B. W., & Novak, K. J. (2005). Exploring the basis of citizens’ attitudes toward

the police. Police Quarterly, 8, 206–228.

Gau, J. M. (2010). A longitudinal analysis of citizens’ attitudes about police. Policing: An Inter-

national Journal of Police Strategies and Management, 33, 236–252.

Gerbner, G., Gross, L., Morgan, M., Signorielli, N., & Shanahan, J. (2002). Growing up with

television: Cultivation processes. In J. Bryant & D. Zillmann (Eds.), Media effects: Advances

in theory and research (pp. 43–67). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Griffiths, C. T., & Winfree, L. T. (1982). Attitudes toward the police: A comparison of Cana-

dian and American adolescents. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal

Justice, VI(2), 127–141.

Hawdon, J. E., Ryan, J., & Griffin, S. P. (2003). Policing tactics and perceptions of police

legitimacy. Police Quarterly, 6, 469–491.

Hinds, L. (2007). Building police–youth relationships: the importance of procedural justice.

Youth Justice, 7, 195–209.

Hinds, L., & Murphy, K. (2007). Public satisfaction with police: Using procedural justice to

improve police legitimacy. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 40,

27–42.

Hough, M., Jackson, J., Bradford, B., Myhill, A., & Quinton, P. (2010). Procedural justice,

trust, and institutional legitimacy. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 4, 203–210.

Hurst, Y. G. (2007). Juvenile attitudes toward the police: An examination of rural youth. Crimi-

nal Justice Review, 32, 121–141.

Hurst, Y. G., & Frank, J. (2000). How kids view cops: The nature of juvenile attitudes toward

the police. Journal of Criminal Justice, 28, 189–202.

Jefferis, E. S., Kaminski, R. J., Holmes, S., & Hanley, D. E. (1997). The effect of a videotaped

arrest on public perceptions of police use of force. Journal of Criminal Justice, 25, 381–395.

Jeffries-Fox, S., & Signorielli, N. (1978). Television and children’s conceptions of occupations.

In H. S. Dordick (Ed.), Proceedings of the sixth annual telecommunications policy research

conference (pp. 21–38). Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.

Jenson, K. B. (1991). When is meaning? Communication theory, pragmatism, and mass media

reception. In J. Anderson (Ed.),Communication yearbook (pp. 3–32). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

18:

27 1

5 N

ovem

ber

2014

Kammeyer-Mueller, J. D., & Wanberg, C. R. (2003). Unwrapping the organizational entry

process: disentangling multiple antecedents and their pathways to adjustment. Journal of

Applied Psychology, 88, 779–794.

Krippendorff, K. (1993). The past of communications hoped-for future. Journal of Communi-

cation, 43, 34–44.

Lasley, J. R. (1994). The impact of the Rodney King incident on citizen attitudes toward the

police. Policing and Society, 3, 245–255.

Leiber, M. J., Nalla, M. K., & Farnsworth, M. (1998). Explaining juveniles’ attitudes toward

the police. Justice Quarterly, 15, 151–173.

Livingstone, S. (1990). Making sense of television: The psychology of audience interpretation.

Oxford, UK: Pergamon.

Loader, I. (1997). Policing and the social: Questions of symbolic power. British Journal of

Sociology, 48, 1–18.

McQuail, D., & Windahl, S. (1993). Communication models for the study of mass communication.

London: Longman.

Mertler, C. A., & Vannatta, R. A. (2001).Advanced and multivariate statistical methods: Practical

application and interpretation. Los Angeles, CA: Pyrczak.

Morgan, M., & Shanahan, J. (2010). The state of cultivation. Journal of Broadcasting & Elec-

tronic Media, 54, 337–355.

Murphy, K. (2009). Public satisfaction with police: the importance of procedural justice and

police performance in police–citizen encounters. The Australian and New Zealand Journal

of Criminology, 42, 159–178.

Murphy, K., & Gaylor, A. (2010). Policing youth: Can procedural justice nurture youth

cooperation with police? Geelong, Australia: Alfred Deakin Research Institute, Deakin Uni-

versity. Retrieved from www.deakin.edu.au/research-services/ ... /adri-working-paper-06.pdf

Newcomb, H. (1978). Assessing violence profile studies of gerbner and gross—humanistic

critique and suggestion. Communication Research, 5, 264–282.

Oliver, M. B. (1994). Portrayals of crime, race and aggression in ‘reality-based’ police shows: A

content analysis. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 38, 179–192.

Orr, M., & West, D. M. (2007). Citizen evaluations of local police – personal experience or

symbolic attitudes. Administration & Society, 38(6), 649–668.

Piquero, A. R., Fagan, J., Mulvey, E. P., Steinberg, L., & Odgers, C. (2005). Developmental

trajectories of legal socialization among serious adolescent offenders. The Journal of Criminal

Law and Criminology, 96, 267–298.

Pruitt, D. G., & Rubin, Z. (1986). Social conflict: Escalation, stalemate and settlement. New

York, NY: Random House.

Reiner, R., Livingstone, S., & Allen, J. (2002). From law and order to lynch mobs: Crime news

since the Second World War. In P. Mason (Ed.), Criminal visions: Media representations of

crime and justice (pp. 208–231). Cullompton, UK: Willan.

Reiner, R., Livingstone, S., & Allen, J. (2003). From law and order to lynch mobs: Crime news

since the Second World War. In P. Mason (Ed.), Criminal visions: Media representations of

crime and justice (pp. 13–32). Cullompton, UK: Willan.

Segrin, C., & Nabi, R. L. (2002). Does television viewing cultivate unrealistic expectations

about marriage? Journal of Communication, 52, 247–263.

Shah, D. (1997). Civic participation, interpersonal trust, and television use: A motivational

approach to social capital. Paper presented at the International Communication Associated,

Montreal, Canada.

Shrum, L. J. (1996). Psychological processes underlying cultivation effects: Further tests of

construct accessibility. Human Communication Research, 22, 482–509.

Skogan, W. G. (1990). Disorder and decline. New York, NY: Free Press.


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

18:

27 1

5 N

ovem

ber

2014

Skogan, W. G. (2006). Asymmetry in the impact of encounters with the police. Policing and

Society, 16, 99–126.

Sunshine, J., & Tyler, T. R. (2003). The role of procedural justice and legitimacy in shaping

public support for policing. Law and Society Review, 37, 513–547.

Surette, R. (1997). Media, crime and criminal justice: Images and realities. 2nd edition. Belmont,

CA: Wadsworth Publishing. Retrieved from http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~surette/lawenf.html

Surette, R. (2007).Media, crime and criminal justice: images, realities and policies. Belmont, CA:

Thomson-Wadsworth.

Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2001). Using multivariate statistics (4th ed.). Needham

Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Tittle, C. R., & Ward, D. A. (1993). The interaction of age with the correlates and causes of

crime. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 9, 3–53.

Tulloch, J. (1998a). Focus group interviews. In W. Blood, M. Enders, C. Jennett, D. Lupton, T.

Tulloch, M. Tulloch & M. Brown (Eds.), Fear of crime (pp. 278–294). Canberra, Australia:

National Campaign Against Violence and Crime Unit & Criminology Research Council.

Tulloch, J. (1998b). Long interviews. In W. Blood, M. Enders, C. Jennett, D. Lupton, T.

Tulloch, M. Tulloch & M. Brown (Eds.), Fear of crime (pp. 252–263). Canberra, Australia

: National Campaign Against Violence and Crime Unit & Criminology Research Council.

Tulloch, J. (2000). Watching television audiences: Cultural theories and methods. London, UK:

Arnold.

Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1973). Availability-heuristic for judging frequency and prob-

ability. Cognitive Psychology, 5, 207–232.

Tyler, T. R. (1990). Why people obey the law. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Tyler, T. R. (2000). Social justice: Outcome and procedure. International Journal of Psychology,

35, 117–125.

Tyler, T. R., & Wakslak, C. J. (2004). Profiling and police legitimacy: procedural justice,

attributions of motive, and acceptance of police authority. Criminology, 42, 253–281.

Tyler, T. R., & Huo, Y. J. (2002). Trust in the law: Encouraging public cooperation with the police

and courts. New York, NY: Russell-Sage.

Van den Bulck, J. (2011). ‘‘Cultivation’’ (in print). In E. Scharrer (Ed.), Media effects=Media

psychology. New York, NY: Wiley–Blackwell.

White, R. (1994). Street life: Police practices and youth behaviour. In R. White & C. Alder

(Eds.), The police and young people in Australia (pp. 102–127). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge

University Press.

Yang, H., & Oliver, M. B. (2010). Exploring the effects of television viewing on perceived

life quality: a combined perspective of material value and upward social comparison. Mass

Communication and Society, 13, 118–138.


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

18:

27 1

5 N

ovem

ber

2014

Documents

Adolescent Perceptions of the Performance and Fairness of the Police: Examining the Impact of Television Exposure