HOW CITIZENS ASSESS JUST PUNISHMENT FOR POLICE MISCONDUCT*

In their dealings with citizens, police in most jurisdictions across the country are prohibited from using unnecessary force, abusing their authority, discourteous behavior, and offensive language. This study examines the factors that contribute to citizens' judgments of fair punishment for police misconduct. Using a factorial survey, citizens are asked to judge vignettes of police misconduct that describe encounters between officers and civilians in detail. The findings show that citizens do weigh the officer's behavior, particularly the unnecessary use of force, and mitigating evidence, particularly the degree to which the civilian is injured. Also, the findings show that respondents' social status, including their race, does not explain ratings, but that respondents' political orientation, that is, liberal versus conservative orientation, does make a significant difference. The findings demonstrate a normative consensus among respondents about the factors to weigh in judging a fair punishment for police misconduct as well as a consensus about the relative severity of appropriate punishment. There is some disagreement among citizens, however, about how to translate judgments of relative severity into a specific punishment for a particular case.     

Opening a window into police internal affairs: Impact of procedural justice reform on third-party attitudes

The study explores the impact of a procedural innovation on justice judgments made by third party observers. The innovation involved the establishment of a review panel with civilian participants to monitor a police department's investigation of allegations of misconduct against its officers. The study distinguishes the impact on racial minority observers from that on racial majority observers. Data suggest that the innovation had a positive, though differing, impact on the justice judgments of both minority and majority observers.     

Police Misconduct,Media Coverage,and Public Perceptions of Racial Profiling: An Experiment

The purpose of this study was: (1) to assess the impact of an incident of racial profiling on residents’ attitudes about profiling; and (2) to examine the effects of exposure to a video clip of deliberation about the incident on residents’ beliefs about the causes of profiling. All residents, White and minority, were less likely to believe that Chicago police officers engaged in profiling after the incident. These findings suggest that attitudes about the prevalence of racial profiling are susceptible to the manner in which the media construct incidents of police misconduct. Exposure to the video clip was not related to differences in residents’ beliefs about the causes of profiling, but was related to differences in perceptions of the dangerousness of traffic stops. The findings highlight the need for more research on how media constructions of police misconduct influence attitudes about profiling and impact community–police relations.     

司法体制改革试点评估运作机制研究——兼以法院员额制试点改革为样本

中央深化司法体制改革的一系列部署,明确了司法改革的路线图和时间表。但在试点的过程中,没有运用科学的方法进行评估和改革,尚未建立科学完善的评价机制。改革试点评估机制是建构现代化司法制度的决策基础,可以获得和积累对新体制的知识存量,反馈修正制度设计,激发制度变革动力。以司法体制改革中的法院员额制改革为样本,着重分析当前改革试点评估的现状和问题,明确试点评估的主体、原则和基本方法,探索完善司法改革试点评估运作机制的具体路径和操作模式十分必要。     

社区矫正的制度化构想

社区矫正的机构构建应当遵循"大本土化"与"小本土化"相结合的路径来进行;社区矫正的队伍包括社区矫正官、专业矫正人员和志愿者三部分,应立足于我国的现状来培育这支队伍;应该建立科学可行的社区矫正工作经费保障制度。     

A Meta-Analysis of Race and Sentencing Research: Explaining the Inconsistencies

Numerous studies have addressed the question: Are African-Americans treated more harshly than similarly situated whites? This research employs meta-analysis to synthesize this body of research. One-hundred-sixteen statistically independent contrasts were coded from 71 published and unpublished studies. Coded study and contextual features are used to explain variation in research findings. Analyses indicate that African-Americans generally are sentenced more harshly than whites; the magnitude of this race effect is statistically significant but small and highly variable. Larger estimates of unwarranted disparity are found in contrasts that examine drug offenses, imprisonment or discretionary decisions, do not pool cases from several smaller jurisdictions, utilize imprecise measures, or omit key variables. Yet, even when consideration is confined to those contrasts employing key controls and precise measures of key variables, unwarranted racial disparities persists. Further, a substantial proportion of variability in study results is explained by study factors, particularly methodological factors.     

检察人员对分类管理改革的立场———以问卷调查为基础

对全国7省市13家中基层检察院1748位检察人员进行问卷调查发现,受访者对检察人员分类管理改革所面临的现存问题和改革必要性有较高的共识度,但在具体的改革举措上,不同岗位的受访者的改革立场存在明显差异.从数据分析结论看,今后在司法人员分类管理改革的操作方面,应当注重司法系统内外的联动性,把拓宽党政部门对司法部门的人财物支持作为分类管理改革的根本来抓,而把员额制的“入额”问题放在改革的技术层面来操作.在改革方法论方面,司法改革顶层决策者要通过科学的问卷调查等实证分析方法,来系统了解司法人员针对改革诸多事项的具体态度与不同看法,并在此基础上有针对性地进行利益相关者动员,以达到凝聚改革共识的效果.     

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.     

Will ‘broken windows policing’ work in Trinidad and Tobago? A critical perspective on zero tolerance and community policing in a multi-ethnic society

Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) is a multi-ethnic Caribbean nation currently experiencing problems with disorder and violent crime. In response, practitioners have considered the merits of introducing broken windows policing. This article examines the literature on zero tolerance policing, also known as ‘broken windows policing,’ and explores the dangers of potentially harmful interpretations of this approach, particularly in the context of racial and political conflict in a developing society. It also explores whether broken windows can be effective in T&T, where there is social unrest and declining public support for police. Based on prior research, it is suggested that broken windows policing, when incorporated with targeted problem-solving approaches, could be successful in reducing crime in the short-term. Several problem-solving strategies that were effective in New York City and other American cities are also recommended. It is suggested that community-oriented policing strategies designed to increase citizens’ trust and confidence in police be properly implemented before the adoption of any of these problem-solving strategies.     

论社区警务工作与公安派出所的关系

社区警务是当今世界各国广泛流行的一种主流警务思潮和新一轮警务改革的探索模式。公安派出所是市、县级公安机关的派出机构。是集防范、管理、打击、服务多种职能于一体的基层综合性战斗实体。两者之间的关系为:社区警务工作包含了公安派出所工作。社区警务工作是以公安派出所为主要载体展开的。实施社区警务战略决不只是公安派出所一家的事情。     

Testing the Influence of Community Characteristics on School Misconduct

This study examines the effect of dynamic and structural community characteristics on school misconduct. Data include over 45,000 students in the eighth, tenth, or twelfth grade in 237 schools. Hierarchical linear models tested the direct and interactive effects of community measures, while accounting for student and school characteristics. Community substance abuse norms as well as perceptions of community crime and disorder mediated the influence of concentrated disadvantage on school misconduct. Interaction effects demonstrated that community substance abuse norms were more influential for students enrolled in schools that had a less positive school climate although individual and school characteristics remained robust predictors of school misconduct. School misconduct is influenced by the characteristics of the surrounding community and school context, as well as the interaction between those contexts. Research relying on census data measures of community characteristics may underestimate community influence on school misconduct, and omit proximal community influences on school misconduct.     

Correlates of prisoner misconduct

Using a nationwide sample of 5586 state-prison inmates, relationships between the frequency of officially reported institutional misconduct (as reported by the inmates) and certain preinstitutional and institution-related inmate traits were examined. Findings indicate that rule-breaking behavior is associated with being young, black, and male, having a relatively high number of prior convictions, having been unemployed prior to incarceration, and having been imprisoned for a relatively long period of time. Furthermore, such misconduct shows no relationship to domestic status, educational achievement, alcohol and drug problems, military service, income level, current offense, interaction with family and friends outside of prison, hours spent outside of cell, and daily activity. Policy implications are addressed. Misconduct is considered within the broad context of interaction among inmate traits, prison-level characteristics, and extrainstitutional factors.Earlier version presented at the 1984 annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, San Antonio.     

Juvenile Court Context and Detention Decisions: Reconsidering the Role of Race,Ethnicity, and Community Characteristics in Juvenile Court Processes

The relationship between race/ethnicity, community dynamics, and juvenile court processes has long been established. Prior research has relied on city‐ or county‐level measures of community characteristics (e.g., racial composition, poverty) to examine how racial groups are processed within juvenile courts. To date, no study has utilized finer scale measures of geographic areas to examine how characteristics of juveniles’ communities impact court decisions. By utilizing official juvenile court data from a city in the southwest, this study draws upon attribution theory to examine how economic and crime community‐level measures directly and indirectly influence detention outcomes. Findings reveal that the effect of race and ethnicity in detention outcomes varies across communities, and the effect of ethnicity in detention decisions is mediated by economic community‐level measures. The theoretical and policy implications of the study findings are discussed.