The criminal stereotype

The current research was designed to assess the content of the criminal stereotype from a Hispanic population. In Study 1 participants were asked to provide general information about the concepts associated with criminals. Study 2 used this information to develop a questionnaire that assessed specific perceptions of criminals, criminal behavior, and criminal activities. In addition, stereotypes for Hispanic, White, Black, and Asian criminals were assessed. Results present a picture of the typical criminal, as well as uncovering differences in people's stereotypes of criminals of varying ethnicities. A brief review of the criminal stereotype literature is provided along with a discussion on the potential impact criminal stereotypes may have on eyewitness memory and identification. Stereotypes can be thought of as the mental representations that people have for members of a group (e.g. racial or ethnic groups, gender, etc.). These mental representations typically exaggerate the differences between groups and minimize the differences of people within the same group (Schneider, 2004; Stangor & Ford, 1992). In addition, the group being stereotyped (the out-group) tends to be viewed more negatively and as more homogeneous than the in-group, which is perceived more positively and as more heterogeneous (Kunda, 1999). Research has shown that people have well-defined stereotypes for racial/ethnic groups, males/females, and for youth/elderly (Schneider, 2004). The content of these stereotypes is often in the form of trait ascriptions as well as personality and social category information (e.g., loud, lazy, poor). Stereotypes impact information processing (Kunda, 1999), and previous research has supported the notion that when stereotypes are elicited, individuals are likely to interpret others' actions in ways that are consistent with the predetermined labels (Cantor & Mischel, 1977; Schneider, 2004; Yarmey, 1993). Criminal stereotypes may thus introduce a bias into the legal system that negatively affects people's lives and the course of law enforcement activities. An understanding of the composition of people's criminal stereotypes is important, and this paper focuses on uncovering people's stereotypes about criminals in general, and criminals of specific ethnicities. A criminal can be defined as a person having been convicted of a crime or who engages in criminal activity. When thinking about a criminal, concepts, images, and experiences come to mind that enable one to form a mental representation of a criminal. While there is a great deal of literature on stereotypes in general, the research on criminal stereotypes is not as extensive (for a review see Bull & Rumsey, 1988). The literature has supported the assertion that individuals hold well-formed ideas about what types of people commit crime and who looks like a criminal, and some studies have demonstrated that there is consensus regarding criminal and non-criminal appearances as well as matching faces to crimes (Bull & Green, 1980; Chapman, 1973; Goldstein, Chance, & Gilbert, 1984; Gordon, Michels, & Nelson, 1996; Jones & Kaplan, 2003; Mueller, Thompson, & Vogel, 1988; Shoemaker & South, 1978; Shoemaker, South, & Lowe, 1973; Sunnafrank & Fontes, 1983; Thornton, 1939). However, unlike research on ethnic and racial stereotypes (e.g., Devine & Baker, 1991; Niemann, Jennings, Rozelle, Baxter, & Sullivan, 1994), there is much less information about the traits associated with a criminal. The existing research on the content of criminal stereotypes shows that they are comprised of physical, trait and social category information, much as are stereotypes of other groups. Reed and Reed (1973) sought to determine whether three particular occupational groups had a general image of a criminal and whether the existence of this image affected the punishment of the criminal, and lastly whether having this image affected the degree to which individuals were willing to have personal relationships with the criminal. …