A Postconviction Mentality: Prosecutorial Assistance in Exoneration Cases

Prosecutors’ broad discretionary power has long been of interest to scholars, yet little is known about discretionary choices after conviction. This study addresses the gap by exploring prosecutors’ willingness to assist with exonerations. Using data from the National Registry of Exonerations (N = 1,610), the author identifies factors that influence prosecutorial assistance. Results from generalized ordered logistic regression models demonstrate that avoiding uncertainty and maintaining workgroup relationships drives decision-making. Findings indicate that prosecutors are less likely to support exonerations involving law enforcement or forensic misconduct, violent offenses, and inadequate legal defense and more likely to support exonerations involving innocence organizations, guilty pleas, and black and Hispanic defendants. These findings suggest that prosecutors’ interest in protecting professional reputations, maintaining relationships, and optimizing efficiency influences discretion in the postconviction stage just as in earlier stages of case processing.     

The Path of Least Desistance: Inmate Compliance and Recidivism

Scholars have speculated that inmate behavior may provide a signal about the probability of desistance. One such signal may be the successful avoidance of prison infractions or the cessation of them during the course of incarceration. Drawing on studies of prison socialization, recidivism, and desistance, we assess whether patterns of inmate misconduct throughout the course of incarceration provide insight into the likelihood of a successful transition back into society. Specifically, using data on a cohort of state prisoners, this study examines whether, after controlling for potential confounders, inmate misconduct trajectories predict recidivism. The analyses indicate both that unique misconduct trajectories can be identified and that these trajectories predict the probability of recidivism and desistance net of factors associated with recidivism. Results of the study lend support to scholarship on desistance and signaling, which emphasizes the salience of in-prison experiences for understanding reentry and, in particular, reoffending.     

Addressing individual and community needs in the aftermath of campus sexual misconduct: restorative justice as a way forward in the re-entry process

ABSTRACT

Restorative justice is an approach to incidents of harm involving a high level of support and accountability for people who cause harm. To date, there is neither federal regulation nor commonly applied standard of care for re-entry to campus by a student who has been found responsible for sexual misconduct. Restorative justice re-entry circles represent a promising approach to the reintegration of students, taking into account the needs of the individual survivor, the student who violated policy, and the safety concerns of the campus community. Using a case study, this article outlines an example of a re-entry circle at a university in the United States and discusses the lessons learned with regard to concerns about the student’s mental health status, issues of race and racism on campus, and the role of a trauma-informed approach to circle practice in incidents involving a complex interplay of mental health, social status, and race on campus.     

Does the police code of silence vary with police assignment? An empirical exploration of the relation between the code and assignment

ABSTRACT

This paper contains an in-depth exploration of the relation between police code of silence and police assignment. A police integrity survey was used to measure the contours of the code among Croatian patrol officers, detectives, and community-policing officers. Samples of police officers evaluated fourteen hypothetical scenarios describing various forms of police misconduct. Whereas the type of assignment was a weak predictor of the respondents’ adherence to the code of silence, the respondents’ assessments of misconduct seriousness and expected discipline, as well as perceptions whether other officers would report misconduct, were strong predictors of the respondents’ own expressed adherence to the code.     

美国警察不当行为及其对策的解读——以认知合理化为视角

美国警察使其不当行为合理化有很多认知重建策略,如否定被害人,否认受伤,指责被害人,非人格化等。正是这些对警察不当行为的认知重建心理因素使美国的警察不当行为愈演愈烈。研究支配美国警察不当行为的心理因素,能够很好地理解和认识不当行为。美国应对警察不当行为的措施是建立不当行为早期预警体系,加强对不当行为的法律监督、媒体监督和公民监督,强化警察道德和品格教育等。     

Correlates of Reduced Misconduct Among Adolescents Facing Adversity

This study examines the association between engagement in daily challenges and school misconduct in a sample of adolescents. Engagement is assessed by the amount of time spent in challenging activities and in terms of subjective ratings of success in daily challenges. Analyses employ data from a study in which adolescents provided self-reports of their immediate experience over the course of 1 week in response to signals generated at random times by alarm wristwatches. Analyses also test whether the number of opportunities for engagement in school activities is associated with misconduct. Because adolescents who face substantial adversity at home or at school are at particular risk for increased misconduct, associations are tested separately for high- and low-adversity adolescents. Results indicate that both time in daily challenge and perceived success in daily challenge are independently associated with reduced misconduct, and that these associations are slightly more pronounced for high (as compared to low) adversity adolescents. Extracurricular opportunities were shown to be associated with reductions in misconduct for high- but not low-adversity adolescents. Among high adversity adolescents, opportunity for engagement and perceived success in daily challenge were not only associated with reduced misconduct in cross-sectional analyses but also were predictive of reductions in misconduct over time.     

Race,ethnicity, and prison disciplinary misconduct

It is well known that racial and ethnic minorities (both male and female) have felt the effect of increased incarceration more than Whites, and a large amount of prior research has investigated the factors that influence higher levels of inmate misconduct, including the influence of race/ethnicity. This body of research has produced mixed results. Using recent data from one of the largest state prison systems, this study sought to determine the level of racial and ethnic disparity in the commission of inmate misconduct. Results indicate that Black inmates were significantly more likely than other inmates to commit general rule violations, serious rule violations, and assaultive rule violations. Correlates of inmate misconduct and policy implications stemming from the findings are discussed.