Adults and Adolescents: The Same or Different? Exploring Police Trust in an Inner-city, Adolescent Population

Explores attitudes toward the police among inner-city adolescents. Data were obtained from two interviews conducted six months apart with 69 adolescents & their primary caregivers who lived in low income, high crime communities of Richmond. Virginia. Four dimensions of trust (priorities, competence, dependability, & respectfulness) were considered. The results showed that adolescents living in these high-risk communities do not necessarily exhibit similar patterns of police trust as adults who live in the same community. Prior research has shown these adult populations to be highly distrustful of police & skeptical about their ability to protect the community. Conversely, the majority of the respondents in this study displayed both respect for the police & confidence in the job they were doing in their community. Younger youths were shown to be more comfortable talking to police than older youth. The study suggests that adolescents who are exposed to high rates of crime/violence have a conceptual understanding of the role of the police. Areas for future research are suggested. Tables, Figures, References. J. Lindroth