Demographics in Service Encounters: Effects of Racial and Gender Congruence on Perceived Fairness

We investigated the effects of outcome favorability, opportunity for voice, and demographic congruence on customer reactions to bank loan decisions. Applicants for loans engaged in a transaction with loan officers who were either congruent or incongruent with respect to race and gender. Results suggest that perceptions of outcome favorability and opportunity for voice explain significant variance in customer reactions. Customers responded more positively to unfavorable outcomes when they resulted from a race-congruent loan officer, and female customers responded more positively to low opportunity for voice from male loan officers than from female officers. Implications of the results for organizations serving customers who are diverse in race and gender are discussed.     

Racial Disparity in Police Stop and Searches in England and Wales

Data published by the United Kingdom’s Ministry for Justice clearly shows that, compared to persons who were White, members of racial minorities in England, particularly Blacks, were far more likely to be stopped and searched by the police. The question is whether such racial disparity in stops and searches could be justified by racial disparities in offending? Or whether the disparity in stop and searches exceeded the disparity in offending? This paper proposes a method for measuring the amount of excess in racial disparity in police stop and searches. Using the most recently published Ministry of Justice data (for 2007/08) for Police Areas in England and Wales it concludes that while in several Areas there was no excess to racial disparity in police stop and searches, there was, on the basis of the methodology proposed in the paper, evidence of such excess in some Police Areas of England and Wales.     

Case Dismissed: Police Discretion and Racial Differences in Dismissals of Felony Charges

Prior research has produced conflicting evidence of racial profilingduring traffic stops. We instead analyze rates of case dismissalagainst felony arrestees by race. Superficial bias based on"unobservables" should be reduced because of the evidentiaryrequirements and nonnegligible costs of filing charges. Nonetheless,using data from over 58,000 US felony cases from 1990 to 1998,our probit analysis finds higher rates of dismissals for blacksfor the subset of crimes that rely on police to make snap judgments.This suggests there may be more aggressive policing of blacksin these situations. Case dismissal rates are also elevatedfor both whites and blacks when blacks are underrepresentedon local police forces.     

Balancing International Police Cooperation: INTERPOL and the Undesirable Trade-off Between Rights of Individuals and Global Security

With 194 members, INTERPOL is the most influential actor in matters of transnational policing. Regrettably, the organisation is vulnerable against cases of misuse. Certain states manage to exploit the tools of the organisation, to persecute and track political dissidents or non-aligned members of the media outside their borders. As such, INTERPOL has become a prime example on how non-democratic countries can exert their influence and expand their reach well beyond their domestic jurisdictions via their participation in international organisations. Not wanting to allow the proliferation of criminal havens in certain regions, the organisation has opted to connect with and bring together as many police forces of different states as possible. Evidently, such connections are created with little or no consideration of the state of criminal justice systems and forms of government of the countries involved, as well as any subsequent risks. Such a complex state of affairs demands a thorough reflection on whether it is acceptable to compromise between the need for security and the rights of individuals and procedural justice. The issue has vast legal and practical ramifications, and it is ultimately a question pertaining to the realm of global constitutionalism. Does INTERPOL have the legal authority to be in charge of finding a balance between security and procedural justice? If so, on what legal basis, and to what extent?

     

A Multilevel Examination of the Relationship Between Racial Tension and Attitudes Toward the Police

Prior research has established the effect of race and ethnicity on citizens’ perceptions of the police. This paper serves to build on this body of literature by examining the effect of racial tension on attitudes toward the police. Specifically, we conduct multilevel analyses using survey data from Seattle, Washington to explore whether individual perceptions of racial tension and/or community-level racial tension are related to residents’ attitudes toward the police. The results show that attitudes toward the police were generally less favorable among respondents who perceived racial tension or mistrust in their communities. Additionally, community racial tension had significant contextual effects on residents’ perceived racial profiling by the police. This study has implications for future police policy: understanding how racial tension shapes perceptions of the police will assist in selecting and adapting crime control strategies.     

Prosecutors and the Definition of the Crime Problem in Italy: Balancing the Impact of Moral Panics

In western liberal countries late modernity brings in its wake certain distinctive patterns of crime control. Common sense, experience and stigmatization of crime and deviance seem to be the basis on which crime control policies are debated and eventually implemented. Insecurity and fear of crime are the enemies for an effective legal system. What is left for specialist crime control agencies? The Italian case can demonstrate that legal actors, in particular prosecutors, can still effectively participate in the developing of the criminal justice discourse. I will argue that prosecutorial practice can possibly provide the information to understand the socio-legal conditions that shape prosecutors’ role during the pre-trial phase. This role is far from being merely reactive to certain social, historical and cultural developments. Prosecutors’ reactions appear to be aimed at restating their role of guardians of the law. While they react to external influences they try not to adapt to them. In this way they partially mediate the impact of moral panics.     

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.     

Racial Threat,Social (Dis)organization,and the Ecology of Police: Towards a Macro-level Understanding of Police Use-of-force in Communities of Color

Abstract

In this paper, we examine use-of-force incidents as neighborhood processes to understand how rates and levels of use-of-force vary across New York City. We suggest that there are two distinct outcomes of force by the police: number of use-of-force incidents and level of force. Applying theories of racial threat, social disorganization, and Klinger’s ecological theory of policing, we conceptualize use-of-force as a neighborhood phenomenon rather than individual events. Our results suggest that rates and levels of force operate in some distinct ways. In particular, while we find that use-of-force is concentrated in Black neighborhoods, and is also more severe in Black neighborhoods, neighborhoods with higher racial and ethnic heterogeneity have decreasing force incidents, but with increasing severity. This may reflect different types of policing, with high rates of low-level police harassment occurring in primarily poorer, Black neighborhoods, and more isolated but severe incidents occurring in middle-income and wealthier mixed neighborhoods.     

Explaining the Disparity in Results Across Studies Assessing Racial Disparity in Police Use of Force: A Research Note

In the spring and summer of 2016, seven studies that examined the impact of subject race on police use of force were announced in the media and the paraphrased headlines ranged from “there is bias in the use of force,” “there is no bias in the use of force,” and “there is bias in some types of force, but not others.” The purpose of this research note is to examine these disparate findings and the methods that might explain them, with attention to sample characteristics, the types of analyses, the number and character of agencies studied, and how concepts are operationalized. This analysis will help research consumers analyze critically the results from race-and-force studies and, hopefully, add to our understanding of this important national issue.     

The Problem of Self-Representation at International Criminal Tribunals: Striking a Balance between Fairness and Effectiveness

The principle that the right to self-representation is not absolute,as established by international criminal tribunals, raises difficultquestions of application that are still being worked out inthe jurisprudence. There has been a recent shift in focus, fromestablishing the modalities for the exercise of the right inthe early stages of the Miloevi trial to establishing the circumstancesin which the right may be qualified. This article examines recentdevelopments and considers where the threshold for revokingor qualifying the right to self-representation lies, how thevarious modes of court imposed representation may be synthesizedand what the standard is for counsel who is representing anuncooperative accused.     

论刑事诉讼中实体公正与程序公正之关系

程序公正近年来在我国法学理论界引起很大争论与探讨,就刑事诉讼中实体公正与程序公正之关系,各种观点百家争鸣,而该问题不仅为诉讼理论问题,且关系到诉讼中人权保障、诉讼模式等一系列实质内容,但有些提法抛开法律文化背景与法制现状,一味强调程序优先或过分坚持实体优先,有失偏颇。     

The Politics of Racial Disparity Reform: Racial Inequality and Criminal Justice Policymaking in the States

Racial inequalities in criminal justice are pressing problems for policymakers. Prior literature suggests elected officials promulgate punitive, racially disparate criminal justice policies due to partisanship and racial fears, but scholarship has yet to explain how and why elected officials address racial problems in criminal processing. This article introduces the framework of racial disparity reform policymaking. A racial disparity reform is a policy that seeks to reduce distinctions in criminal justice institutions’ treatment of racial groups. Elected officials pursue these policies due to ideological beliefs in civil rights ideals and political interests in appearing to solve social problems. Using an original database of policy enactments, this article first presents the distribution and types of reform measures adopted by elected officials in all 50 states between 1998 and 2011. It then examines social and political explanations for when state legislatures and executives adopt racial disparity reforms. Policy enactment is predicted by worsening problems of racial disproportion in criminal processing, Democratic control of elected branches, and the absence of judicial efforts to improve racial fairness within a state’s criminal justice system. Similar dynamics encourage the development of different measures types within policies. Such ideological and problem-solving explanations for racial disparity reform show a potential for elected officials to forge more racially just criminal justice practices.     

The Police and the New Magistracy: Independent Members and the New Police Authorities

Independent appointed members to police authorities were introduced as part of the reforms brought about by the Police and Magistrates' Courts Act 1994. This radical change to the make-up of police authorities was defended by government ministers as a necessary reform in order to broaden the expertise and experience available in such bodies. Critics, by contrast, saw the change as a move to further centralise control, and as a means of reducing local democratic input, over policing. Using data from a national telephone survey of police authority clerks, and case studies of three police force areas, this article examines the role of `independent' appointed members to local police authorities. We argue that the early signs are that the new members are becoming well integrated into police authorities, although such bodies have been significantly depoliticised as a result of this and other changes. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Residential Stability and Trust in the Police: an Understudied Area of Police Attitudinal Research

American Journal of Criminal Justice - Residential in/stability has been observed to influence several behavioral outcomes such as mental health, child abuse, adolescent substance uses and...     

Packer in Context: Formalism and Fairness in the Due Process Model

Herbert Packer's The Limits of the Criminal Sanction (1968) has spawned decades of commentary. This essay argues that Packer's two‐model conceptualization of the criminal process is best understood within his professional milieu of doctrinal legal scholarship and the political context of the Warren Court revolution. Within this context, the essay suggests a distinction between two due process visions: formalism and fairness. This distinction is useful for illuminating debates and decisions on criminal procedure matters in the Supreme Court such as Terry v. Ohio (1968) and Apprendi v. New Jersey (2000) . I conclude by encouraging sensitivity to legal and historical context in future commentary on Packer's framework.     

Police Prosecutor and Police Prison: A Note on Summary Justice in Austria

The Austrian Administrative Code, designed to manage relatively minor violations, authorizes an extraordinary court that practices summary justice through a police prosecutor who can impose short sentences to a police prison. This paper concentrates on the use of this remarkable legal institution as a form of holding action that reduces delay between formal charges and final disposition in prosecution under criminal law.     

Racial Differences in Public Support for the Death Penalty: Can Racist sentiment and Core Values Explain the Racial Divide?

Prior research has established a strong and enduring “racial divide” in support for capital punishment, but little research has explored the processes that explain the racial divide. Following the lead of Unnever and Cullen (Social Forces 85:1281–1301, 2007a), this research explores whether racist sentiment and core values (individualism, egalitarianism, symbolic patriotism, and authoritarianism) can partially explain the racial divide in public support for capital punishment. The findings suggest that racist sentiment by Whites and belief in core values by Whites partially explains the racial divide in support for capital punishment.