Race, Class, and Attitudes Toward Crime Control

Abstract

This study uses data from the 1996 General Social Survey to examine how the race, class, and ethclass perspectives account for middle-class African Americans' support toward four policyrelated dimensions of crime control. Findings vary across the dimensions and provide support for the race and ethclass perspectives. In particular, racial effects are pronounced across dimensions that involve daily contact with law enforcement agents and are muted by incumbency in a privileged class position across dimensions that do not involve daily contact with them. Overall, findings suggest the African American middle class is, in principle, at least as invested in crime control as White peers, but mistrust of its implementation explains lower levels of support than that of the White middle class. Implications concerning how the crime control issue constitutes a source of division across racial lines among the middle class are discussed and suggestions for future research are offered.