Public attitudes toward the police: A comparative study between Japan and America

Comparative research on the police in Japan and in the United States is largely based on qualitative or participatory observation techniques. These studies in general seem to suggest that the Japanese public has a higher evaluation of their police than the Americans. The present study uses quantitative data from both countries and attempts to test the hypothesis that the Japanese public has higher confidence in their police than does the American public. Preliminary findings in the multivariate analysis indicate, surprisingly, that the Japanese have significantly lower confidence in their police compared to Americans. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.