“Stop Or I'll Shoot”: Racial Differences in Support for Police Use of Deadly Force

Abstract

Based on a telephone survey of a stratified sample of 239 Cincinnati residents, we explored the impact of race on support for police use of deadly force on fleeing felons. The analysis revealed that, consistent with the standards demarcated by the U.S. Supreme Court in Tennessee v. Gamer, both Blacks' and Whites' approval of force was high when offenders manifested “past dangerousness” and was less pronounced when offenders committed nonviolent crimes. African Americans, however, were less likely than Whites to endorse the illegal use of deadly force. This attitudinal cleavage appeared to be rooted in broader racial differences in crime ideology, with Blacks being more liberal and Whites being more conservative in their views on crime and its control.