Islam is the New Black: Muslim Perceptions of Law Enforcement

Although minority discrimination in the criminal justice system is a regularly studied subject, only a small portion focuses on the Islamic community. Unfortunately, hostility towards the Muslim community has risen since 9/11. Therefore, it is as imperative to explore police-Muslim interactions as it is to explore police interactions with other minority groups. 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? 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.