Title
Measuring Geographic Sentiment toward Police Using Social Media Data
Department/School
Justice and Peace Studies
Date
2022
Document Type
Article
Keywords
Opinion mining, setiment analysis, Twitter messages, attitude towards police
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-021-09614-z
Abstract
Using Twitter messages published online from October 2018 to June 2019, and opinion mining (OM) technology, the current study analyzes the geographic sentiments toward police in 82 metropolitan areas within the United States. Building on the frameworks of the neighborhood social contextual models, the construct validity of "sentiment toward the police" is assessed via its relationship with the features of various metropolitan areas. Results of the regression analysis indicate that the violent crime rate, racial heterogeneity, and economic disadvantage significantly affect sentiment toward the police. Our results suggest that opinion mining of social media can be an important instrument to understand public sentiment toward the police.
Published in
American Journal of Criminal Justice
Citation/Other Information
Oh, G., Zhang, Y., & Greenleaf, R.G. (2022). Measuring Geographic Sentiment toward Police Using Social Media Data. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 47(5), 924-940. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-021-09614-z