Gender studies

Sociology

Criminology

Political science

Psychology

Officer

Enforcement

Law enforcement

Computer science

Computer security

Race (biology)

Social psychology

Vulnerability (computing)

International Journal of Police Science & Management

The death of George Floyd on 25 May 2020 again left people asking why U.S. police officers so commonly resort to the use of deadly force when interacting with Black individuals. The current article proposes that media, combined with cultivation theory and social cognition concepts may create implicit biases that are potential contributors to this problem. Police officers have a greater vulnerability to these biases because intake of crime-related media positively predicts their interest in selecting law enforcement as a career. Other predictors of an interest in working in law enforcement, and implications of these findings, are discussed.

Cultivation theory: The impact of crime media's portrayal of race on the desire to become a U.S. police officer