Date of Award

5-3-2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Criminal Justice

First Advisor

Molly Smith

Abstract

Muslim perceptions of police are not often understood. In order to better understand these attitudes, this dissertation approached Muslim respondents with two main factors in mind: racial identity and religiosity, both identities that often set Muslims apart from other Americans. This dissertation asked respondents four questions about police respect, police importance, police use of force and police defunding. The data for this dissertation was collected by Yaqeen Institute of Islamic Research in summer 2020. In order to compute these questions, a series of structural equation models were run. Findings included Muslim respondents who were aware of discrimination in mosques and were proud of their identity tended to feel negatively about police. Muslims who took part in religious rituals and felt that Muslims were important to society acquiesced to police. The model minority myth was applied to help explain results. Finally, some potential policy and theoretical implications follow, including pathways to future research.

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