The influence of strain on law enforcement legitimacy evaluations

Purpose

While law enforcement officers have the state-sanctioned authority to use force as a way to ensure citizen obedience with the law, research has found that when private citizens evaluate the police as legitimate, they are more likely to comply with legal demands and cooperate with the police. Although procedural justice has shown to be a highly significant predictor of perceived police legitimacy, research has found other correlates of this outcome, including ethnic identity, low self-control and structural economic disadvantage. To date, no study has explored whether strain influences perceptions of the legitimacy of law enforcement.

Methods

A series of linear regression equations was estimated using survey data collected from a convenience sample of college students to determine the effect of strain on perceived police legitimacy.

Results

Even after controlling for procedural justice, strain exerted a negative and statistically significant influence on law enforcement legitimacy evaluations.

Conclusions

Police officers are encouraged to interact with citizens in procedurally just manners and to also consider people's strain levels when enforcing the law.     

The AFSP Standard - a lesson for law enforcement agencies

Compliance with the AFSP (Association of Forensic Science Providers) Standard [1] which concerns the formulation of an evaluative opinion requires consideration of the defence case. This can be problematic for forensic scientists working with or for law enforcement agencies. Among the aims of law enforcement agencies is to secure a conviction while in many jurisdictions the forensic scientist owes an overriding duty to the Court. This casework report demonstrates that early consideration of the defence case by a forensic scientist complying with the AFSP Standard may help rather than hinder the prosecution. The dichotomy as to a conflict of interest for the scientist between supporting the police/prosecutors and being scientifically objective is shown to be a false dichotomy. Compliance with the Standard ensures that science is a better servant of justice.     

行政执法环境存在的问题及对策

依法治国,建设社会主义法治国家,是党的十五大确立的基本治国方略。依法治国的核心就是依法行政。十五大以来,依法行政工作虽取得很大成就,但在现实中还存在着许多不尽如人意的地方。笔者就当前行政执法环境中存在的问题、困扰和影响行政机关执法的原因分析、改善行政执法环境的建设等三个方面来分析当前行政执法环境存在的问题和原因,研究解决问题的办法和对策。     

税收执法风险与对策研究

随着我国法律制度的不断完善以及对税收执法行为监督力度的不断加强,税务机关及其工作人员的执法工作风险逐渐加大.因此,分析税收执法风险的表现形式和成因,探讨防范税收执法风险的对策至关重要.     

构建和谐社会对行政执法的影响

和谐社会是人类文明社会追求的一种理想社会形态,而依法治国与依法行政是实现与构建和谐社会的必备要求,本文从行政执法的角度分析构建和谐社会对行政执法的影响,以期待完善行政执法质量,提高行政执法水平,实现和谐社会。     

Validation of a short aggression inventory for law enforcement

This study cross-validates a short aggression inventory using a sample of 250 law enforcement professionals. The instrument under investigation is the 12-question modified version of the Buss-Perry Aggression Scale (Buss & Perry, 1992). Statistical and external validation methods were used to ascertain the appropriateness of this scale's use with law enforcement professionals. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that both the firstorder, four-factor model, {ie12-1}, GFI=.94, NFI=.84, NNFI=.88, and CFI=.91, and the second-order model with a single, global Aggression “super” factor, {ie12-2}, GFI=.94, NFI=.84, NNFI=.89, and CFI=.91, provided a reasonable goodness-of-fit to the data. Subscales of this instrument correlated meaningfully with departmental measures of citizen complaints for physical and verbal aggression by officers, as well as the number of shooting incidents in which the officers were involved. The need for a short measure of aggression is discussed and applications in law enforcement are offered.     

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.     

The economics of environmental law enforcement: end-of-life vehicles

Abandoned End-of-Life Vehicles (ELVs) have been an environmental concern for a long time in a number of countries. This article examines different ways to address the issue by changing the incentive structure for agents. Following (Polinsky A. M., & Shavell, S. (2000). The Economic theory of public enforcement of law. Journal of Economic Literature, 38, 45–76.) a model is used to compare a fine-based system with a deposit-refund system; a combination of the two is then considered. It is shown that when the environmental harm is relatively low and constant, a deposit-refund system is preferred. When cases of high environmental harm are included, the optimal choice would be a combined system.      

The personality assessment inventory as a selection device for law enforcement personnel

The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) is a recent development in psychological assessment which has attracted attention because of the breadth of its coverage and the fact that it includes a four-point scale of item agreement. Matrix, Incorporated, is a psychological assessment center that specializes in the assessment of law enforcement personnel. Matrix has collected performance variables on 800 police officers who had taken the PAI prior to being hired. Correlational analysis was performed and there was a significant effect in the data. Discussion focuses upon the criteria in relation to the PAI variables, particularly with regard to aggression, antisocial characteristics and the validity scales. The data clearly demonstrate that the PAI has good potential for the selection of law enforcement officers. Emily DeCoster-Martin was an undergraduate psychology major at The University of Evansville at the time this paper was written     

Measuring the impact of a targeted law enforcement initiative on drug sales

Law enforcement focused on drug sales with special intensity in particular during the 1980s and 1990s because of their impact on community decline and violence. This study considered the impact and implications of one particular law enforcement intervention, the establishment of “drug free zones” in Portland, Oregon. The analysis of possible effects of the drug free zone strategy employed multiple methods including mapping and multilevel analytic techniques. Together, these methods were employed to identify hypothesized impacts of the drug free zone intervention, in the context of the effects of temporal shifts and community characteristics, on drug sales arrests. Findings from the research suggested that future consideration be given to the development of meaningful measures of the relationship between drug free zone status and law enforcement practices. Findings also shed light upon the relative importance of ecological predictors of crime at the block group level.     

The organizational values of law enforcement agencies: The impact of field training officers in the socialization of police recruits to law enforcement organizations

This article examines how the values communicated by Field Training Officers (FTOs) influence the behaviors of police recruits to conform to the norms of the police culture. Analysis and interpretation of the written responses of police recruits to a program evaluation form in a police department located in the western United States were used to identify the explicit and implicit values that were communicated during the Field Training Program (FTP). The findings of this study indicated that although positive explicit values were communicated during the FTP, several potentially negative implicit values were also communicated to police recruits. Consequently, the perceived status of the FTO is an important factor in police recruits learning job-related values. Recommendations are made for developing effective leadership strategies for bringing greater levels of congruency between the explicit and implicit values of law enforcement organizations that are communicated to police recruits during the training process and organizational socialization. Author Note: Wade Engelson is a lieutenant with the Fresno Police Department. He has been with the department for 12 years and is currently assigned as the Commander of the Special Investigations Bureau. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business/Economics and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from California State University, Fresno. He holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of California, Davis/California State University, Fresno Joint Doctoral Program. He has taught in a variety of settings and has published articles in the fields of sexual harassment, organizational socialization, tactics, and training issues. His research interests include leadership issues, organizational socialization, and the hidden curriculum of organizations.     

Measuring the impact of law enforcement on organized crime

This article explores the possibility of measuring the impact of law enforcement on organized crime in a reliable and accountable manner, both in general terms and with a practical focus on the Canadian context. In considering measures to combat organized crime, a focus on process measurement has obscured the more substantial question of progress as regards the dependent variable itself: the bottom line of reducing the impact of organized criminal behaviour. While outcome measures are more challenging to identify than process measures, this fact alone does not minimize the need to demonstrate the connection between organized crime enforcement and its presumed outcomes to a greater degree of certainty. To date, this has not been realized to any significant degree, as revealed by a review of existing international approaches to measuring the impact of enforcement activity. The article argues that a multidisciplinary focus on community level indicators of crime, if initially less accessible than process measures of impact on organized crime groups, offers promise as a measurement of absolute and relative impact of state investment in enforcement.

The relationship of imagery and mental practice to learning law enforcement skills

Visualization and mental rehearsal/ practice have beem empirically evaluated in the athletic area for many years and found to be viable forms of performance enhancement. Gross motor skills and certain psychological/physiological dysfunctions are also susceptible to improvement through use of these techniques. A general overview of these concepts is presented as well as potential applications in the law enforcement context.     

Paradoxical effects of law enforcement policies: the case of the illicit drug market

This paper presents a model of a vertically organized distribution network of illicit drugs. The key assumptions are costs imposed by law enforcement on drug sellers and the vertical relationship between trackers and retailers. We study the effects of a tougher drug law enforcement policy on wholesale and retail prices of drugs according to the identity of the pursued member of the distribution network, trafficker or retailer. We show that these effects are different according to the used law enforcement tool (probability of detection or sanction) and according to the seller who undergoes the law enforcement (retailer or trafficker). Moreover, results of tougher law enforcement can be opposite to a usual objective of the drug policy, namely, the decrease of the number of consumers. This model could partially explain the failure of the “war on drugs” in the United States in the 1980s.     

The contributions of higher education to ethical behavior in law enforcement

This paper examines the relationship between higher education and ethical practice among law enforcement officers. The spoken and unspoken values of the academic world and their influence on college educated police is explored. The specific values of studying options available to law enforcement practitioners in an academic setting is reviewed, e.g., the role of a policeman acting as a witness at a trial. The areas where college experience can appreciably increase the ethical awareness of policemen is presented.