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.

中文翻译：

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对和平抗议者使用武力的警察是否应该受到惩罚？国家实验

目标

在大规模抗议时期，警察对抗议者使用武力经常成为全国各地的头条新闻。我们的研究通过考察对惩罚对和平抗议者使用武力的警察的支持，为有关抗议治安的公众舆论做出了贡献。

方法

我们使用了 YouGov 进行的阶乘调查实验（N  = 1000），其中一名警官对一名和平抗议者使用武力。我们随机化了武力类型、抗议目标和抗议者特征（种族、性别和年龄）——与报应直觉（正义应得）和群体威胁理论相关的因素。我们还将政治信仰和种族怨恨作为观察预测因素。受访者对武力的道德可接受性以及该警官是否应受惩罚进行了评分。

结果

受访者认为对和平抗议者使用武力在道德上是错误的，应该受到惩罚。除抗议者年龄外，实验性操作并不影响对警察使用武力的评估。然而，在使用武力评估方面存在相当大的政治分歧，这是由种族敌意调解的。

结论

当公众评估警察对待和平抗议者的行为时，比情境细节（例如抗议目标、抗议者人口统计）更重要的是评估者的政治和种族态度。政治右翼的美国人不太愿意惩罚警察的不当行为，因为他们更具有种族仇恨。