TY - JOUR
T1 - Public Expressions of Empathy and Sympathy by U.S. Criminal Justice Officials After Controversial Police Killings of African-Americans
AU - Maguire, Edward R.
AU - Giles, Howard
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to Emily Bingham, Brenda Melchor, and Lex Weber for their research assistance on this paper. We are also grateful to Natasha Shrikant and the two anonymous reviewers for their invaluable comments on earlier drafts.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - Police use of force against minorities, particularly African-Americans, has become a prominent national issue in the United States. In a number of controversial instances, such as the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, African-Americans have died under questionable circumstances due to police use of force. These incidents have fueled the growth of the #BlackLivesMatter movement and have often resulted in large-scale protests and riots. In this paper, we examine statements made by four types of criminal justice officials – police executives, police department spokespersons, police union representatives, and prosecutors – in the immediate aftermath of 30 such incidents that occurred in 2020. We examine the language used by these officials in social media postings, news releases, and press conferences, focusing specifically on the extent to which they express empathy or sympathy toward the decedent or his or her loved ones, as well as the community at large. Our analysis reveals that criminal justice officials rarely express empathy or sympathy in the aftermath of these incidents, though there are noteworthy differences between different types of officials. Our findings are helpful for understanding how the language used by these officials, particularly the public expression of empathy and sympathy, fits into broader debates about race and criminal justice in the United States.
AB - Police use of force against minorities, particularly African-Americans, has become a prominent national issue in the United States. In a number of controversial instances, such as the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, African-Americans have died under questionable circumstances due to police use of force. These incidents have fueled the growth of the #BlackLivesMatter movement and have often resulted in large-scale protests and riots. In this paper, we examine statements made by four types of criminal justice officials – police executives, police department spokespersons, police union representatives, and prosecutors – in the immediate aftermath of 30 such incidents that occurred in 2020. We examine the language used by these officials in social media postings, news releases, and press conferences, focusing specifically on the extent to which they express empathy or sympathy toward the decedent or his or her loved ones, as well as the community at large. Our analysis reveals that criminal justice officials rarely express empathy or sympathy in the aftermath of these incidents, though there are noteworthy differences between different types of officials. Our findings are helpful for understanding how the language used by these officials, particularly the public expression of empathy and sympathy, fits into broader debates about race and criminal justice in the United States.
KW - African-Americans
KW - emotion
KW - empathy
KW - language
KW - minorities
KW - police
KW - sympathy
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U2 - 10.1177/0261927X211057238
DO - 10.1177/0261927X211057238
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85120452117
SN - 0261-927X
VL - 41
SP - 49
EP - 75
JO - Journal of Language and Social Psychology
JF - Journal of Language and Social Psychology
IS - 1
ER -