I Know My Rights? Exploring the Public’s Working Knowledge of Rights in Police Encounters

In the United States, our rights, as provided by the Constitution and its Amendments, are sacred. Over the years, the courts have provided rulings helping clarify and contour the instances in which the public has certain rights in police encounters. However, there is reason to question whether the public knows their rights in police encounters. And are there certain groups of individuals who know more or less about their rights? This study explores the depth of working knowledge about rights in police encounters using two national-level surveys of American adults. Furthermore, it examines the cleavages in this knowledge. In one sample, respondents correctly identified an average of 5.90 of 8 statements, whereas in the other, 5.17 of 8 statements were correctly identified. Furthermore, multivariable analyses from both samples provide evidence of heterogeneity in the working knowledge of rights, which has implications for police-community encounters and the criminal justice system.