Islam is the New Black: Observing Muslim Perceptions of Police Officers

Although many studies have investigated minority discrimination in the criminal justice system, only a small portion focuses on the Islamic community. Hostility towards the Islamic community has, unfortunately, been on the rise in the United States since the attacks of 9/11. Therefore, it is just as imperative to explore police-Muslim interactions as it is to explore police interactions with other minority groups. Healthy police-community relationships are important for an effective police department, and it is the central idea behind community-oriented policing. The present study asks: how do Muslim community members perceive the police, and how do their interactions with police affect their perceptions of law enforcement? Similar to other racial minorities, it is hypothesized that Muslims perceive the police negatively, and that their interactions with police negatively affect their perceptions. A survey will be distributed to a sample of Muslim community members to measure their perceptions of police. The sample will be drawn from a mid-size city in the Northwest