What do you understand by the terms prejudice and discrimination and stereotyping? Discuss how these might impact on the work of a police officer.

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What do you understand by the terms prejudice and discrimination and

stereotyping? Discuss how these might impact on the work of a police

officer.

Prejudice, discrimination and stereotyping are powerful terms, more often

viewed in a bad light. This essay will show an understanding of each of these

terms, explaining what they mean and how they overlap with each other. The

impact they have on the work of a police officer, whether that is positive or

negative, will also be reviewed here including internal and external

perspectives.

In its very simplest terms, a prejudice is a prejudgement. Most lexicon

definitions are similarly uncomplicated, for example, the Oxford English

Dictionary (OED) describes prejudice as a preconceived opinion, bias or

learning, usually with unfavourable connotations. Such straightforward

phrases would suggest that a single agreed definition exists, but this is not the

case. In The Nature of Prejudice, Allport (1954, p.9) provides the following

definition:

An antipathy based upon a faulty and inflexible generalisation. It

may be felt or expressed. It may be directed towards a group as a

whole or towards an individual because