Predictors of job satisfaction among police officers: Does personality matter?

The aim of this research was to enhance the theoretical foundation of job satisfaction within the field of policing. The data were collected through a self-report survey administered to a sample of sworn police officers (N = 87). The primary research question was whether personality characteristics significantly contribute to perceptions of job satisfaction beyond which could be explained through demographic and job characteristic variables. Although results of hierarchical multiple regressions revealed that overall personality measurement added to the variance accounted for in job satisfaction beyond demographic and job characteristic variables, none of the independent personality scales were significant predictors. Overall, results demonstrated that years of experience and the job characteristic factors of autonomy and feedback were the most important predictors of job satisfaction in this sample of police offers. Implications and future directions are discussed.     

The bones in the Abbey: are they the murdered princes? A review of the evidence

In 1674, the skeletons of two children were found in the Tower of London. They were believed to represent the remains of the "Princes in the Tower" (who had disappeared in 1483), and were reinterred as such in Westminster Abbey. Popular belief and conventional historical tradition held that the princes had been murdered by their uncle, King Richard III, to clear his path to the throne. In 1933, the bones in the Abbey were disinterred and examined, with the conclusion that they were indeed those of the princes. One skull was also thought to show evidence of death by suffocation, supporting another feature of popular legend. Later reviews of the investigation, however, revealed significant errors and omissions. This report summarizes the inconsistencies present in the scientific record and suggests that reexamination of the remains with improved techniques in both carbon dating and forensic science would provide a much more accurate analysis, thus helping to clarify the historical record.     

Corruption and economic growth: does the size of the government matter?

Economic Change and Restructuring - Corruption is often a source of contentious debate, covering different areas of knowledge, such as philosophy and sociology. In this paper we assess the effects...     

Latent justice? A review of adversarial challenges to fingerprint evidence

This article provides an overview of recent research on latent fingerprint evidence featured in reported legal decisions from England and Wales, Australia and New Zealand. The research casts doubts on the effectiveness of adversarial criminal procedure. Rather, than engage with the methodological foundations – e.g. validity and reliability – and the actual abilities of fingerprint examiners, for more than a century, challenges were based on legal considerations and the meaning of categorical identification for the specific proceedings. Lawyers challenged fingerprint evidence based on the circumstances in which reference prints were collected, whether fingerprint records were hearsay, whether relying on a fingerprint record is unfair because it suggests prior criminality, whether the jurors could make their own comparison and so forth. There is no reported consideration of the validity and reliability of fingerprint comparison, and no requirement for fingerprint examiners to qualify the significance of a match decision, even after the abandonment of point standards and the appearance of critical reports from the United States and Scotland, and advice from the Forensic Science Regulator. To the extent that they considered the admissibility and probative value of this prominent forensic science evidence, lawyers and judges relied heavily on proxies such as training, experience and long use. In consequence, the article considers how we should understand adversarial legal practice, the performance of lawyers and judges, as well as the implications for forensic scientists and their evidence.     

Does providing a written version of the police caution improve comprehension in the general population?

Abstract

Comprehension of the police caution is extremely poor across a variety of populations and jurisdictions and is particularly impaired in vulnerable populations. This has significant consequences for the admissibility of evidence in court. We investigated whether providing individuals with a written version of the caution would improve comprehension in the general population. Sixty participants (30 with low educational attainment and 30 with high educational attainment) were randomly allocated to one of three groups (Verbal presentation; Written presentation; Verbal and Written presentation). Comprehension in the three groups was evaluated using Cooke and Philip's (1998) Scottish Comprehension of Caution Instrument. Results showed that despite 95% of participants claiming to fully understand the sample caution, only 5% of individuals in the verbal presentation group demonstrated full understanding, compared to 40% and 35% in the written and combined verbal and written groups respectively. This highlights both that individuals' self-reports of understanding are higher than actual comprehension and that providing a written version of the caution may improve comprehension in the general population.     

A meta-analysis of the correlates of turnover intent in criminal justice organizations: Does agency type matter?

Purpose

The study synthesizes the literature on turnover intentions to assess what domains (e.g., personal characteristics, work environment, and job attitudes) account for the strongest association with turnover intent, what are the characteristics of these relationships, and how do these relationships differ by criminal justice practitioner type.

Methods

The current study utilizes a systematic review to obtain studies for conducting a meta-analysis. The researchers utilized the r family/correlation coefficient. Studies were weighted by sample size, correlations converted to Fisher’s z, analyses performed, and results converted back to r for interpretation.

Results

In terms of the individual predictors for law enforcement, the five strongest variables included alternative job search behavior, job satisfaction, psychological distress, emotional exhaustion, procedural and distributive justice. The five strongest predictors of turnover intent for institutional corrections were normative commitment, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, affective commitment, and job satisfaction. The five strongest predictors for community corrections included experience, alternative job search behavior, perceptions of coworkers, growth need strength, and job satisfaction.

Conclusions

The results of the meta-analysis confirmed the domain of personal characteristics, overall, has the weakest association with turnover intent whereas work environment and job attitude domains consistently display moderate-to-large effects for both law enforcement and corrections.     

Conclusions from the history of research into the effects of police force size on crime—1968 through 2013: a historical systematic review

Objectives

We describe and explain how the findings from nonexperimental studies of the relationship between police force size and crime have changed over time.

Methods

We conduct a systematic review of 62 studies and 229 findings of police force size and crime, from 1971 through 2013. Only studies of U.S. policing and containing standard errors of estimates were included. Using the robust variance estimation technique for meta-analysis, we show the history of study findings and effect sizes. We look at the influence of statistical methods and units of analysis, and time period of studies’ data, as well as variation in police force size over time.

Results

Findings vary considerably over time. However, compared to research standards and in comparison to effect sizes calculated for police practices in other meta-analyses, the overall effect size for police force size on crime is negative, small, and not statistically significant. Changes in research methods and units of analysis cannot account for fluctuations in findings. Finally, there is extremely little variation in police force size per capita over time, making it difficult to estimate the relationship with reliability.

Conclusions

This line of research has exhausted its utility. Changing policing strategy is likely to have a greater impact on crime than adding more police.

     

Confidence in the police: Balancing public image with community safety – A comparative review of the literature

Examining the evolution of British and Australian policing, this comparative review of the literature considers the historical underpinnings of policing in these two countries and the impact of community legitimacy derived from the early concepts of policing by consent. Using the August 2011 disorder in Britain as a lens, this paper considers whether, in striving to maintain community confidence, undue emphasis is placed on the police's public image at the expense of community safety. Examining the path of policing reform, the impact of bureaucracy on policing and the evolving debate surrounding police performance, this review suggests that, while largely delivering on the ideal of an ethical and strong police force, a preoccupation with self-image may in fact result in tarnishing the very thing British and Australian police forces strive to achieve – their standing with the public. This paper advocates for a more realistic goal of gaining public respect rather than affection in order to achieve the difficult balance between maintaining trust and respect as an approachable, ethical entity providing firm, confident policing in this ever-evolving, modern society.     

Do police crackdowns disrupt drug cryptomarkets? A longitudinal analysis of the effects of Operation Onymous

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of online illicit markets where participants can purchase and sell a wide range of goods and services such as drugs, hacking services, and stolen financial information. Second-generation markets, known as cryptomarkets, provide a pseudo-anonymous platform from which to operate and have attracted the attention of researchers, regulators, and law enforcement. This paper focuses on the impact of police crackdowns on cryptomarkets, and more particularly on the impact of Operation Onymous, a large-scale police operation in November 2014 that targeted many cryptomarkets. Our results demonstrate that cryptomarket participants adapt to police operations and that the impact of Operation Onymous was limited in time and scope. Of particular interest is the finding that prices did not increase following Operation Onymous, even though many dealers retired shortly after it occurred.     

Contamination of forensic DNA evidence in the light of Hungarian court decisions – A review of 25 years

The evaluation of forensic DNA expert opinions (in some countries expert witness testimonies) and the way it affects criminal judgement is of paramount importance. We have selected one of the largest challenges when it comes to the evaluation of forensic DNA evidence, contamination of DNA samples, and examined how it influences the decisions judges make about the credibility of DNA evidence in Hungary.     

Can experts help jurors to evaluate eyewitness evidence? A review of eyewitness expert effects

Courts occasionally permit psychologists to present expert evidence in an attempt to help jurors evaluate eyewitness identification evidence. This paper reviews research assessing the impact of this expert evidence, which we argue should aim to increase jurors' ability to discriminate accurate from inaccurate identifications. With this in mind we identify three different research designs, two indirectly measuring the expert's impact on juror discrimination accuracy and one which directly assesses its effect on this measure. Across a total of 24 experiments, three have used the superior direct methodology, only one of which provides evidence that expert testimony can improve jurors' ability to discriminate between accurate and inaccurate eyewitness identifications.     

Can corruption constrain the size of governments?

This paper analyzes the relationship between government size and the level of corruption. We propose a theoretical model where production decisions and corrupt behavior are endogenously determined. We model corruption assuming production in the formal sector is regulated by public officials who can use their public power for private gain. In this context, the underground economy emerges as an outside option that allows entrepreneurs to avoid dealing with bureaucrats. The fact that investments in the informal sector may influence public finances, introduces the possibility of multiple equilibria with different levels of corruption. Consistent with previous theoretical works and recent empirical evidence, we find out that corruption and the shadow economy are complements as they positively correlate across equilibria, which implies that corruption may limit the size of the public sector.     

Do photos of police-civilian interactions influence public opinion about the police? A multimethod test of media effects

Journal of Experimental Criminology - To test whether exposure to news images depicting law enforcement affects public attitudes toward the police. Participants drawn from a national online panel...     

Does public criticism Erode trust in the police? The case of Jari Aarnio in the Finnish news media and its effects on the public’s attitudes towards the police

A significant part of the general public’s observations and image concerning the police comes through the mass media. It has been assumed that one factor affecting the level of trust is the way the media handles the police. This article describes the media uproar that arose in Finland in November 2013 about police misconduct, and its effects on the public trust in the police. Two hypotheses were tested in the study: (a) negative publicity always decreases trust, and so, too, in this case; and (b) a change in trust is affected by the public’s independent interpretation of the publicity battle, in which case criticism might also increase trust. The study materials comprise the news coverage concerning the uproar and four opinion surveys collected after it occurred. The first survey was conducted immediately after the press conference of the case in week 48/2013 and the other ones in three-week intervals. The results show that following the uproar, compared to the earlier results of the European Social Survey, trust in the police did not decrease—on the contrary, it increased slightly. Our results suggest that in this case a large part of the audience has taken, to use the term of Stuart Hall, the oppositional position when interpreting negative news about the police.     

Intensive supervision programs: Does program philosophy and the principles of effective intervention matter?

Although traditional intensive supervision programs that have aimed at increasing control and surveillance in the community have not been shown to reduce recidivism, prior research indicates that intensive supervision programs that are based on a human service philosophy and provide treatment to offenders offer more promise. The current research examined the effectiveness of fifty-eight intensive supervision programs and sought to determine whether program philosophy and treatment integrity are associated with reductions in recidivism. The results indicated that both program philosophy and treatment integrity vary independently of one another and are related to the ability of programs to produce meaningful effects on recidivism.     

College students’ perceptions of police use of force: do suspect race and ethnicity matter?

Incidents of police use of force continue to draw a considerable amount of attention from both researchers and the public alike. The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between suspect race and ethnicity and perceptions of police use of force among college students. Using a vignette research design with manipulated independent variables, this study seeks to answer the question: Do suspect race and ethnicity affect college students’ perceptions of police use of force? Three vignettes were developed regarding an incident in which an encounter between a suspect and a police officer resulted in the officer using force. College students were randomly assigned to one of the three vignettes and were asked to complete a questionnaire. Results indicate that although suspect race and ethnicity do not predict perceptions of police use of force among college students, there are significant respondent race and gender effects. Male and white respondents are significantly more likely to perceive police use of force as justified compared to female and non-white respondents. The policy implications of these findings for police-citizen interactions are discussed.     

Does residency matter? Local residency as a predictor of arrest

Prior studies show that a number of offender characteristics impact police officer use of discretion. Although there are exceptions, characteristics such as race and gender have been shown to influence decisions made by police officers with racial/ethnic minorities and men more likely to be arrested than their counterparts. Yet, much less is known about the impact of morphology, an important component from Black’s Behavior of Law, on enforcement decisions. Using 2014 state-wide data on Class ‘B’ arrests in Idaho, we examine the role of morphology, as operationalized by offender residency in the community in which the violation occurred, on the odds of a police officer affecting an arrest as opposed to writing a citation for the violation. Results of logistic regression models show that local residents are significantly less likely to experience an arrest than non-residents. Theoretical explanations and implications for these findings are offered.     

Does neighborhood watch reduce crime? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Neighborhood watch grew out of a movement in the USA during the late 1960s that promoted greater involvement of citizens in the prevention of crime. Recent estimates suggest that over a quarter of the UK population and over 40% of the US population live in areas covered by neighborhood watch schemes. The current paper presents the results of a recent systematic review of evaluations of neighborhood watch. The main findings of the narrative review were that about half of the schemes evaluated showed that neighborhood watch was effective in reducing crime, with most of the other evaluations having uncertain effects. The main findings of the meta-analysis were that 15 of the 18 studies provided evidence that neighborhood watch reduced crime. While the results of the review are encouraging, it was concluded that more high-quality research needs to be done to help explain why study variations exist.