Confidently Wrong: Police Endorsement of Psycho-Legal Misconceptions

Public beliefs about psychological issues relevant to the legal system have been demonstrated to often be misconceived, but the endorsement of such beliefs in law enforcement samples is largely unknown. This study was the first to compare psycho-legal beliefs between law enforcement officers and the general public in the UK. Participants were presented a 50-item questionnaire measuring five psycho-legal topics; police procedures, courts, tough on crime, mental illness, and memory and cognition. Despite direct involvement and relevant experience, law enforcement officers endorsed just as many empirically contradictory beliefs as those who were not law enforcement officers. Further, law enforcement officers were more confident in their responses. This research has implications for identifying areas of limited knowledge within police samples that can be targeted by police education.     

Victims of crime in the criminal justice system in Barbados

The study focused on the treatment of victims in the criminal justice system in Barbados, a developing country in the English speaking Caribbean. Based on the administration of a pre-designed questionnaire to 458 respondents from a simple random sample of victims who made reports to the police in Barbados. It focused on victims' experiences with the police in the law enforcement process, their experiences in the courts in the adjudication process, and factors associated with these. The findings were mixed, but showed that the respondents' experiences in the law enforcement and the adjudication process were generally positive. Regression analysis showed that police seriousness about, and interest in the case were statistically significant predictors of victims' satisfaction with the police, and that these together with police politeness, and response time explained 67 percent of the variance in respondents satisfaction with the police.     

Race relations in police operations: A legal and ethical perspective for officers

This presentation looks beyond the contemporary controversy over the use of race in drug courier profiling and examines the broad spectrum of rare relations affecting police operations. Racial controversy is not new to law enforcement, nor is it a recent phenomenon in American society. American police do not get enough credit for the enormous amount of positive daily interaction within minority communities. Police are pervasively present within minority communities around the clock successfully solving disputes, responding to calls for service, and addressing community concerns. It is against this backdrop that many in law enforcement are becoming increasingly frustrated by the perception, if not the reality of deteriorating race relations between police and minorities. One thing is certain: police cannot withdraw from racial conflict. Police will continue to operate within minority communities, regardless of the racial composition of either the community or the law enforcement agency. Therefore, officer and supervisory training should not only focus on how to avoid racial conflict, but also on how to ethically and legally perform in an environment where treatment of minorities is critically examined.     

The enforcement of anti-human trafficking law in South Africa: a case of an aircraft without a pilot

This article evaluates the effectiveness of current law enforcement efforts in combating human trafficking in South Africa. Based on a broader empirical doctoral study, it was discovered that as currently structured, the South African Police Service (SAPS) cannot be effective in the enforcement of anti-trafficking law in the country. Combating human trafficking among other things, requires a formidable law enforcement agency that is explicitly proficient in the modus operandi of the crime; the sophisticated cum dynamic nature of the forces and factors that fuel the illicit trade in a vacillating milieu. Unfortunately, academic writings on this observable position in South Africa are scanty. Therefore, an article of this nature is not just timely but urgent. Findings from the study (among others) revealed that a wide-gap exist in the capacity of the SAPS, and other relevant stakeholders, to enforce anti-trafficking law in the country. Hence, it was recommended that for a result-oriented approach, South Africa needs to establish a specialised law enforcement agency distinct from the regular police structure to enforce anti-trafficking law in the country.     

Cops and drivers: Police discretion and the enforcement of Maine's 1981 OUI law

This study examined police discretionary behavior in stopping and arresting drivers suspected of drunken driving in the state of Maine (U.S.A.). A sample of 186 officers was questioned at the beginning and end of a one-year period with respect to their attitudes toward OUI (Operating Under the Influence of Alcohol) law enforcement and their discretionary behavior in regard to OUI.Significant minorities of police officers reported that they made decisions either not to apprehend (thirty-three percent) or not to arrest (forty-one percent) OUI suspects in the study year. Officers who reported discretionary decisions not to apprehend or arrest generally did so infrequently—i.e. five percent of possible apprehensions and ten percent of possible arrests.Type of police department was significantly associated with decisions not to stop OUI suspects: officers in large departments ( ≥ 20 officers) reported more discretion. Officers with longer service careers, administration responsibilities, high personal priorities on OUI enforcement, and favorable opinions of the climate of OUI enforcement were less likely not to arrest OUI suspects.     

Violent Stalkers. Detecting Risk Factors by the Police

In the experience of stalking victims a common element is the fear of physical violence. Until now risk factors that predict physical violence within stalking contexts have been carried out in relatively small, clinical-forensic samples. Consequently, the validity and practical utility of these risk factors in the law enforcement context remains unknown. Furthermore some risk factors have been identified in this research on the basis of information that is not available for or difficult to detect by the police in an early stage of the law enforcement process. The identification of risk factors of physical violence in stalking incidents in an early stage by the police was the subject of the presented study. Risk factors are identified based on literature, content analysis of police records and by testing interaction terms. Therefore 204 judicial files were analyzed, resulting in a five factor model predicting physical violence. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

基于派出所法律实施的基层社会治理法治化——以浙江K派出所为例

改革开放三十多年来,"严打"、"普法"、"社会治安综合治理"以及"社会管理综合治理"等方式可以看作是国家对基层社会进行治理的探索.十八届四中全会提出"推进基层治理法治化"吹响了全面依法治理基层社会的号角.作为拥有执法人员数量最多的基层执法机构,处在社会矛盾解决第一线的派出所的法律实施依据、方法和技术理应为基层社会治理提供法治资源和法治路径.浙江省K派出所的案例、做法和制度有力地诠释了派出所的法律实施契合基层社会治理.派出所法律实施所展现出来的四大法治功能是推进基层社会治理法治化的桥梁.派出所应从人口管理、行政执法、刑事司法、服务社会、走群众路线、严格遵守程序原则和善于运用非正式制度性因素等方面来为基层社会治理法治化提供理念支持和行动榜样.     

Police officers who commit suicide by cop: a clinical study with analysis

Suicide by cop has become a familiar topic among members of law enforcement, mental health professionals, and the general public. This paper presents two cases where police officers chose to commit suicide by getting other police officers to kill them. The two police officers studied, by examination of closed case files, were found to be similar to civilians who committed suicide by cop on several demographic (gender, age, history of mental illness, and suicide attempts), and situational (stress factors, trigger) variables. The cases help us to understand possible motives and management for individuals who choose to end their life in this manner.     

Joining anthropology and law enforcement

The role of anthropology in law enforcement involves three aspects of law enforcement activity; forensic anthropology, police-community relations research, and legal ethnographic research on the law enforcement agencies themselves. The first of these contributions to law enforcement by physical anthropologists faces competition from other closely related fields. Police-community relations research is a potential growth area for the application of anthropological efforts, as is legal ethnographic analysis of police organizationa. These latter two areas are within the realm of social anthropology, while the former is a specialty of physical anthropology. This article reviews the contributions of anthropologists and the applications of anthropological methods to law enforcement. It contends that criminal justice educators and police practitioners alike can benefit from knowing more about how these anthropological specialties have contributed and can continue to contribute to law enforcement.     

The effect of local political culture on policing behaviors in the 1990s: A retest of Wilson’s theory in more contemporary times

In research on policing, James Q. Wilson was among the first scholars to suggest that local political culture constitutes a significant factor in explaining variation among law enforcement agency practices. Almost forty years after the publication of Varieties of Police Behavior, a classic study of police organizational behavior, Wilson’s monograph remains the basis of a widely held theory used to explain variation in police agency behaviors. More specifically, Wilson (1968) identified three distinctive styles of policing: the legalistic, the watchman, and the service styles. In his empirical work with these styles of policing, Wilson argued that local political culture was the major determinant of variation in policing styles. The purpose of this study was to retest the validity of Wilson’s argument in today’s policing environment. Using panel data collected among police agencies across the U.S. surveyed in 1993, 1996, and 2000, the authors found that there was little evidence to support the application of Wilson’s theory to the practices of contemporary police organizations.     

Police Body-Worn Cameras: Perceptions of Law Enforcement Leadership

Many people are enthusiastic about the potential benefits of police body-worn cameras (BWC). Despite this enthusiasm, however, there has been no research on law enforcement command staff perceptions of BWCs. Given the importance that law enforcement leadership plays in the decision to adopt and implement BWCs, it is necessary to assess their perceptions. This is the first study to measure law enforcement leadership attitudes toward BWCs. The study relies on data collected from surveys administered to command staff representing local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in a large southern county. Among the major perceptual findings are that command staff believe BWCs will impact police officers’ decisions to use force in encounters with citizens and police will be more reluctant to use necessary force in encounters with the public. Respondents also believe that use of BWCs is supported by the public because society does not trust police, media will use BWC data to embarrass police, and pressure to implement BWCs comes from the media. Perceptions of the impact of BWCs on safety, privacy, and police effectiveness are also discussed.     

“警察人性化执法”刍议

警察人性化执法,是指警察在执法过程中,在依法保障当事人合法权益的前提下,依照法定的职权和法定的程序,改变执法观念和执法方式,以人为本,实现执法公正的一项专门活动。在警察人性化执法中,严格执法是前提,依法保障当事人的合法权益(包括警察自身的合法权益)是核心内容,人文关怀是方式,实现执法公正是终极目标。而"懦弱执法"、"人情执法"、"不平等执法"和"首次不罚"的执法都不是警察的人性化执法。警察人性化执法实现的途径主要有三:一是完善公安法律制度;二是提高人民警察自身的素质;三是加强监督,从严治警。     

The Reconstitution of Law in Local Settings: Agency Discretion, Ambiguity, and a Surplus of Law in the Policing of Hate Crime

An important yet poorly understood function of law enforcement organizations is the role they play in distilling and transmitting the meaning of legal rules to frontline law enforcement officers and their local communities. In this study, we examine how police and sheriff's agencies in California collectively make sense of state hate crime laws. To do so, we gathered formal policy documents called “hate crime general orders” from all 397 police and sheriff's departments in the state and conducted interviews with law enforcement officials to determine the aggregate patterns of local agencies' responses to higher law. We also construct a “genealogy of law” to locate the sources of the definitions of hate crime used in agency policies. Despite a common set of state criminal laws, we find significant variation in how hate crime is defined in these documents, which we attribute to the discretion local law enforcement agencies possess, the ambiguity of law, and the surplus of legal definitions of hate crime available in the larger environment to which law enforcement must respond. Some law enforcement agencies take their cue from other agencies, some follow statewide guidelines, and others are oriented toward gaining legitimacy from national professional bodies or groups within their own community. The social mechanisms that produce the observed clustering patterns in terms of approach to hate crime law are mimetic (copying another department), normative (driven by professional standards about training and community social movement pressure), and actuarial (affected by the demands of the crime data collection system). Together these findings paint a picture of policing organizations as mediators between law‐on‐the‐books and law‐in‐action that are embedded in interorganizational networks with other departments, state and federal agencies, professional bodies, national social movement organizations, and local community groups. The implications of an interorganizational field perspective on law enforcement and implementation are discussed in relation to existing sociolegal research on policing, regulation, and recent neo‐institutional scholarship on law.     

Ambivalent sexism,empathy and law enforcement attitudes towards partner violence against women among male police officers

Police attitudes towards partner violence against women (PVAW) can play an important role in their evaluation and responses to this type of violence. The present study aims to examine ambivalent sexism and empathy as determinants of male police officers' law enforcement attitudes towards PVAW. The study sample was composed by 404 male police officers. Results suggested that male police officers scoring low in benevolent sexism expressed a general preference for unconditional law enforcement (i.e. regardless of the victim's willingness to press charges against the offender), whereas those scoring high in benevolent sexism expressed a preference for conditional law enforcement (i.e. depending on the willingness of the victim to press charges against the offender). Results also showed that police officers scoring high in empathy and low in hostile sexism were those who expressed a general preference for unconditional law enforcement. The presence of sexist attitudes and low levels of empathy among some police officers, and their influence on law enforcement attitudes, highlights not only the importance of specific training, but also the need to pay attention to the selection process of police officers dealing with PVAW.     

论法治理性视野下警察执法和谐的构建

以法治理性的价值判断和价值选择审视和优化警察执法环境,是坚持以人为本、以自由秩序原则和民主法治精神构建警察执法和谐的关键所在。以自由秩序原则和民主法治精神构建警察执法和谐是法治理性的基本要求;尊重和保障人权是警察执法和谐的真谛;体现法治理性的宽容精神是警察执法和谐的需要。警察执法和谐呼唤体现法治理性的积极守法精神。培养积极守法精神对于促进公民理性守法,警察理性执法,实现警察执法效益的最大化以及构建和谐社会都具有重要意义。     

Death wearing a badge--a study of police officers who died in the line of duty in Metro Dade County from 1956 to 1982

A study of police officers who died in the line of duty in Metro Dade County, U.S.A. was performed. All cases in which a law enforcement officer died while on duty or, off duty while performing police action were collected from the files of the Medical Examiner Department from 1956 to 1982. Cases were then analyzed as to age, race, sex, cause and manner of death, scene circumstances, alcohol and drugs detected at autopsy. A total of 37 cases was studied.     

Exploring the two trigger fingers thesis: racial and ethnic differences in officer involved shootings

This article provides a comparative, qualitative and quantitative, analysis of officer-involved shootings of residents who were white, black, or Latino in the City and County of Denver, Colorado from 1983 to 2012. This research project combined district attorney summaries, police shooting files, and police shooting video interviews to understand the patterns involving 213 officer-involved shootings resulting in 103 deaths. Thematically, the differences by race and ethnicity are outlined by three themes including (1) suspect characteristics, (2) officer characteristics, and (3) contextual factors. The findings highlight similarities and differences between incident narratives and compare these observations with aggregated statistics to explore whether law enforcement officers possess one trigger finger for whites and another for blacks and Latinos. This comprehensive analysis of racial and ethnic differences in officer-involved shootings indicates the intersectionality of suspect and officer characteristics along with contextual factors.     

Local television news and voter support for law enforcement

Television has become “the” medium of the masses in contemporary America. However, there has been very little systematic investigation about television’s impact upon agents of political authority, such as municipal police agencies. This research analyzes potential linkages between voter support for local police and voter viewing habits of local television news. The impact of television news upon voter support for police is assessed in the context of a multivariate model, which includes media and non-media predictor variables. Voter “support” for a municipal police agency is deemed a multidimensional concept and is measured in absolute and relative terms. The findings of this exploratory study suggest that local television news has minimal or no impact (positively or negatively) upon voter attitudes toward local police agencies. The inability of mediaand non-media variables to explain voter support for municipal law enforcement indicates the need for a completely new paradigm to guide research in this niche of criminal justice.     

An administrative dilemma: Sexual harassment and liability

Conservative estimates suggest that 40% of working women and 15% of their male counterparts have experienced some form of sexual harassment; and law enforcement personnel are no exception. Police officers are expected to adhere to the highest ethical standards and are subjected to greater public scrutiny than civilians. With criminal and civil remedies readily available to deter police misconduct, police agencies should be establishing policies that take a strong, pro-active stance against sexual harassment in the workplace. Surprisingly, though, 34% of police agencies in this country are still without formal policies regulating such behavior. This article is a guide to the legislation and case law that regulates those behaviours. Recommendations for policy formulation and implementation also are included. sexual harassment in the workplace presents a clear and present danger to law enforcement agencies. A recent survey found that thirty-four percent of law enforcement agencies in the United States have yet to formulate a written sexual harassment policy.