ABSTRACT Both, the number of people wearing visible body modifications, e.g., tattoos, and their acceptance in society have been significantly increased. Thus, rules and regulations of German police officers’ appearance prohibiting to show tattoos during police services are challenged. Basically, such standards aim to minimize risk factors in police service and to maximize safety at work, thus fostering police operations and finally promoting a favorable image of the police organization. Within the scope of the “Police Officer Appearance”-project (2016–2018) of the Rhineland-Palatinate Police University, we aimed to answer the question how police officers in uniform with visible tattoos are evaluated by others. Within a sub-project, we focused on an important target group in police services: criminal offenders. While previous studies found evidence that wearing a uniform was associated with more favorable ratings of police officers as compared to people in civilian clothing (“uniform-effect”), showing a tattoo had a rather detrimental effect of attitudes toward police officers (“tattoo-effect”). In the present study, we investigate whether these effects transfer to the sub-population of criminal offenders. A total of N = 98 inmates of a correctional institution in Rhineland-Palatinate participated in the study. Inmates were presented pictures of police officers in police uniform or civilian clothing with or without visible tattoos. Results revealed the “uniform-effect” among inmates, i.e., a more positive evaluation of police officers wearing police uniform. However, the “tattoo-effect” was not present in this subgroup. Implications for theory, limitations and future research directions, as well as practical implications are discussed.

中文翻译：

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罪犯如何看待警官的外貌：制服和纹身对囚犯态度的影响

摘要穿有明显身体修饰的人（例如纹身）的人数及其在社会上的接受度都得到了大大提高。因此，德国警务人员禁止在警务期间显示纹身的规章制度受到了挑战。基本上，此类标准旨在最小化警察服务中的风险因素并最大程度地提高工作安全，从而促进警察行动并最终提升警察组织的良好形象。在莱茵兰-普法尔茨警察大学的“警务人员出场”项目（2016-2018年）范围内，我们的目的是回答以下问题：他人如何评估身穿可见纹身的警务人员。在一个子项目中，我们专注于警察服务中的一个重要目标群体：犯罪分子。虽然先前的研究发现有证据表明，与穿着便服的人相比，穿着制服与对警察的评价更高（“统一效果”），但表明纹身对警察的态度产生了相当有害的影响（“纹身-影响”）。在本研究中，我们调查了这些影响是否转移到了犯罪分子中。莱茵兰-普法尔茨州一家惩教所的N = 98名囚犯参加了这项研究。向犯人展示了身穿警察制服或便服的警官的照片，上面有或没有明显的纹身。结果显示了囚犯之间的“统一效应”，即对穿着警服的警官的评价更为积极。但是，该子组中没有“纹身效果”。对理论的启示