Confidence in the police, due process, and perp walks: public opinion on the pretrial shaming of criminal suspects
Perp walks have been declared constitutionally acceptable even though the practice could be perceived to be a form of preconviction punishment and a manifestation of populist punitiveness. In adjudicating the constitutionality of perp walks, courts have employed a balancing test in which the interes...
| Authors: | ; ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2018
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| In: |
Criminology & public policy
Year: 2018, Volume: 17, Issue: 3, Pages: 605-634 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Keywords: |
| Summary: | Perp walks have been declared constitutionally acceptable even though the practice could be perceived to be a form of preconviction punishment and a manifestation of populist punitiveness. In adjudicating the constitutionality of perp walks, courts have employed a balancing test in which the interests of the press and the public's desire to know about the activities of law enforcement are weighted heavily. No research has been aimed at examining public opinion about this practice, however. We report the results of a national opt‐in survey of public opinion on perp walks and find that less than one third of the sample respondents support them. By employing models derived from research on the influence of race and ethnicity on attitudes toward criminal justice policies, we find that, after controlling for concerns about the police and due process rights violations, African Americans and Hispanics/Latinos are more supportive of perp walks than are Whites. These findings suggest that perp walks are one of a few areas in which racial/ethnic minorities might take a harsher view of punitive criminal justice policies compared with Whites. |
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| ISSN: | 1745-9133 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/1745-9133.12380 |