Keywords
intellectual disability; police officer attitudes; police officer professional development; disability awareness
Abstract
As individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities are increasingly integrated into society, their vulnerability to mishandling by the criminal justice system and police officers intensifies. However, police officer perceptions about persons with intellectual disability remain an under-researched area. In this study, 188 officers from three police districts in the Southeast United States were surveyed using a modified Social Distance Questionnaire (Haring et al., 1983). Results indicate that the majority of police officers surveyed had little or no training with regard to disabilities and that most are willing to interact socially with individuals with intellectual disabilities. Further, this study found that female officers have significantly greater positive attitudes toward individuals with intellectual disabilities than male respondents and that white respondents are more knowledgeable about these individuals than those from minority backgrounds. While these results are significant, it should be noted that the number of female and minority participants was relatively low.
Date Created
January 2016
STARS Citation
Eadens, Danielle; Cranston-Gingras, Ann; Dupoux, Errol; and Eadens, Daniel, "Police Officer Perspectives on Intellectual Disability" (2016). EGS Content. 189.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/egs_content/189
https://works.bepress.com/daniel-eadens/17/download/
Included in
Civil Procedure Commons, Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Disability Law Commons, Disability Studies Commons, Mental and Social Health Commons