Should police officers who use force against peaceful protesters be punished? A national experiment

Objectives

In a period of mass protest, police use of force against protesters regularly makes headlines across the country. Our study contributes to the literature on public opinion about protest policing by examining support for punishing officers who use force against peaceful protesters.

Methods

We used a factorial survey experiment administered by YouGov (N = 1000), wherein an officer used force against a peaceful protester. We randomized the type of force, the protest goal, and protester characteristics (race, sex, and age)—factors relevant to theories of retributive intuitions (just-deserts) and group threat. We also included political beliefs and racial resentment as observational predictors. Respondents rated the moral acceptability of force and the officer’s deservingness of punishment.

Results

Respondents evaluated the use of force against peaceful protesters as morally wrong and deserving of punishment. Except for protester age, the experimental manipulations did not affect evaluations of police use of force. However, there was a sizable political divide in use-of-force evaluations, which was mediated by racial animus.

Conclusions

When it comes to public evaluations of police behavior toward peaceful protesters, what matters more than situational details (e.g., protest goals, protester demographics) is the evaluators’ political and racial attitudes. Americans on the political right are less willing to punish police misbehavior because they are more racially resentful.