Predictors of resistance to equity in public safety policy: The role of social dominance orientation

In 2021, the Illinois Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act (SAFE-T Act), a comprehensive legislation aimed at improving police accountability and promoting fairness in the criminal justice system, was utilized in the current study. The study analyzed data from representative statewide surveys (N=589) to examine what demographics and other variables influence perceptions of public safety reform policies aimed at equity. Results indicate that the majority of Illinois residents (over 70%) endorse measures that seek to enhance individual rights and police accountability. While much research has focused on marginalized communities disproportionately affected by inequities in the criminal legal system, less is known about the populations most resistant to reform. This paper takes an underexplored approach in community psychology, by examining the factors that predict opposition to equity-focused public safety policies such as the SAFE-T Act. A group of individuals who expressed resistance to the increase in equitable policy measures tended to be older, to identify as white, male, less educated, conservative, to reside in suburban and rural regions, and other commonalities. The Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) theory offers a promising framework for understanding this resistant group. Social Dominance Orientation Theory asserts that the combination of supremacist cultural ideologies, and out-group prejudice, result in behaviors aimed at the maintenance of social group hierarchy. While a direct measure of SDO was not included in this study, SDO indicators were evident within the resister group across multiple demographics. These SDO indicators were able to predict the SDO aligned outcome of resistance to equity in public safety policy.