Black and white complainants and the police: A comparison of individual and contextual characteristics

Citizens have always had an important role in the crime control process; they are most often responsible for the detection of crime. It is imperative, therefore, that citizens perceive police officers to be competent and just in the execution of their duties; in the absence of such confidence, the process suffers. Ironically, the groups which are most often the victims of crime hold the most negative attitudes toward the police. Minorities in urban communities, particularly blacks, fit this pattern. These attitudes appear to be linked to the perception of negative, differential experiences with the police, experiences which often lead to the filing of a formal complaint. Using a data set from the complaint files of a large American city, this article explores the relationship between the attitudes of blacks toward the police, experiences with the police, and complaints lodged against the police.     

Theorizing police response to domestic violence in the Singaporean context: Police subculture revisited

This article focuses on the well documented, yet potentially contested concept of rank-and-file police subculture to conceptualize police response to situations of domestic violence in Singapore. It argues that the utility of the concept to explaining police behavior is often undermined by an all-powerful, homogenous, and deterministic conception of it that fails to take into account the value of agency in police decision-making and the range of differentiated police response in situations of domestic violence. Through reviewing the literature on police response to domestic violence, this study called for the need to rework the concept of police subculture by treating it as having a relationship with, and response to, the structural conditions of policing, while retaining a conception of the active role played by street-level officers in instituting a situational practice. Using Pierre Bourdieu's relational concepts of ‘habitus’ and ‘field,’ designating the cultural dispositions of police subculture and structural conditions of policing respectively, the study attempted to reconceptualize the problem of policing domestic violence with reference to the Singaporean context.     

The effects of occupational stress on cognitive performance in police officers

The occupational stress of police officers, and its’ effect on working memory and other psychological and behavioral factors over a two-week work period have been investigated. Cognitive performance and stress levels were examined at pre and post work cycles by using a memory test and several self-reporting surveys, each designed for a specific purpose and to gauge a particular set of behaviors and personality traits. The police officers were assigned to patrol duties at the time of the investigation and placed into three groups based on years of service (1–20 years). The results of the investigation identified a deficit in working memory in Junior, Veteran, and Senior Officers, based on the Ray Osterreith Complex Figure Scores at Baseline (pre-stress) vs. Test Day (post-stress). The other survey tools measuring stress impact on personality and behavior, did not demonstrate any statistical differences in the responding groups of officers in their survey performances.     

Constructing crime: Neighborhood characteristics and police recording behavior

It has long been acknowledged that police officers have substantial levels of discretion in their day-to-day activities. There is a well developed body of literature that considers how this discretion is exercised across a broad array of situations including the decision to arrest, use force, and grant citizen requests for official action. Using both social disorganization and conflict theories as conceptual models, the purpose of this study was to determine if neighborhood characteristics affect police reporting behavior across a wide cross-section of reported call types. The findings indicated that reporting behavior widely varies across crime types with a greater percentage of more serious crimes translated into official crime. Neighborhood characteristics did affect reporting practices, but surprisingly only for more serious forms of disorder where discretion was perceived to be less. The findings lent support for both social disorganization and conflict theories. Theoretical implications are discussed.     

Information,apprehension, and deterrence: Exploring the limits of police productivity

The capacity of police departments to solve crimes and apprehend offenders is low for many types of crime, particularly crimes of profit. This article reviews a variety of studies of police apprehension and hypothesizes that an important determinant of the ability of the police to apprehend criminals is information. The complete absence of information for many types of crime places fairly clear upper bounds on the ability of the police to effect solutions.To discover whether these boundaries are high or low we analyzed data from the 1973 National Crime Panel about the types and amount of information potentially available to police through victim reports and patrol activities. The evidence suggests that if the police rely on information made readily available to them, they will never do much better than they are doing now. On the other hand, there appears to be more information available to bystanders and passing patrols than currently is being used, which suggests that surveillance strategies and improved police methods for eliciting, recording, and analyzing information supplied by victims and witnesses might increase the probability of solving crimes and making arrests. In light of this we review a few possibly helpful innovations suggested in the literature on police productivity and procedure.     

The influence of occupational strain on organizational commitment among police: A general strain theory approach

Purpose

Using a General Strain Theory (GST) framework, this study examines the role of various strains on officers’ organizational commitment to their agencies. In addition, the mediating effect of negative affect is investigated.

Methods

A total of 180 law enforcement personnel from multiple agencies in the Northern Kentucky area were surveyed.

Results

Two strains, the failure to achieve positively valued goals and the removal positively valued stimuli, significantly predicted greater negative affect. Negative affect did not serve as a mediating variable between strain and officers’ commitment to the department. The failure to achieve positively valued goals, the removal of positive stimuli, and the two measures of presentation of noxious stimuli all significantly and directly influenced an officer's commitment to the agency after controlling for negative affect.

Conclusions

GST is a viable theoretical framework in which to study organizational commitment among police officers as various strains have been shown to result in officers being less committed to their police agencies. Consequently, policies that attempt to alleviate those strains or stressors commonly faced by officers can increase the dedication and possibly the job performance of America's law enforcement officials.     

The subculture of violence and ethnicity

Using data from the General Social Surveys, this article examines the subculture of violence thesis as it relates to three ethnic groups—blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians. The data suggest that blacks and American Indians have had more violence experiences (hitting and firearms) than have the general population. Contrary to what would be predicted from the thesis, the data indicate that blacks and Hispanics had lower tolerance of violence than the general population. Only American Indians, on all factors considered, appeared to support the thesis. Even this support, however, took on less significance when regression results were examined. Demographic and residential variables explained more of the variance in violence tolerance and experiences with violence than did ethnic background. These findings suggest that the influence of ethnicity on the subculture of violence is minor and indirect.     

The demographic and psychiatric characteristics of 110 personal injury litigants.

One hundred ten litigants who were suing for emotional damages were assessed by the author for medical-legal reasons. Most of the plaintiffs were involved in motor vehicle accidents and suffered from "whiplash" injuries. Semi-structured interviews were used to reach criteria based on DSM-III-R diagnoses. Requests for consultation, on average, came 25 months after the patient's accident. Approximately 70 percent of patients had evidence for continuing physical injuries to account for the physical and emotional symptoms. The most common DSM-III-R diagnoses were psychiatric condition affecting physical illness (N = 56), major depression (N = 27), and somatoform disorder (N = 12). Alternative diagnoses relating the effect of the accident on the patient's life included: emotional reaction to physical condition (N = 29), difficulty coping with developmental tasks (N = 20), severe depression (N = 20), aggravation of normal premorbid personality (N = 18), aggravation of abnormal premorbid personality (N = 14), phobia (N = 7), no permanent effect (N = 12), and independent illness (N = 2). Severe emotional problems and disability are common among litigants. The causes of their suffering are more complex and less poorly understood than is assumed from the pejorative labels that are sometimes applied. Lawyers and the courts need the help of psychiatrists to understand this suffering. Empirical data such as these may lead to better classification systems and improve our understanding and treatment of these patients.     

Legal rights and communicable disease: AIDS, the police power, and individual liberty

The policy debate over AIDS has focused on how to balance the rights of individuals who have the disease against the rights of the public. This paper examines the nature of both sets of rights by analyzing the development of public health law and its dominant visions today. The article argues that while once public health rights implied a vast reserve of community authority and obligation to prevent illness, today the rights of the public and those of individuals are seen as being in opposition. Public health jurisprudence now presupposes that illness is primarily a matter of individual concern. In this view, the science of medicine mediates the relationship between the individual and the public. This understanding of rights protects some of the interests of infected individuals, but is inadequate for addressing many of the major problems raised by the AIDS epidemic, particularly the spread of infection among the uninfected.     

Is occupational fraud “typical” white-collar crime? A comparison of individual and organizational characteristics

Controversy over the appropriate unit of analysis plagued the white-collar crime literature. This state of affairs was a product, at least in part, of the continued development of two distinct research traditions. Researchers interested in “occupational crime” focused on individuals, whereas “corporate crime” researchers studied organizations. As a result, assumptions persisted about the “typical” offender and organizational setting for white-collar crime. Using a sample of 1,142 occupational fraud cases, the present study addressed voids in the literature by comparing differences in individual offender characteristics (i.e., age, gender, education, and position in the organization) and organizational victim characteristics (i.e., size, type, existing control mechanisms, and revenue) for three types of occupational fraud: asset misappropriation, corruption, and fraudulent statements. The analysis revealed that individuals who committed fraudulent statements conformed to the literature's “high status” image, while those involved in asset misappropriation or corruption more closely resembled D. Weisburd, S. Wheeler, E. Waring, and N. Bode's (1991) “middle-class” offenders. Moreover, organizations victimized by corruption were similar to the literature's depiction of the large, profit-making company setting for white-collar crime, while the other two types of occupational fraud occurred in distinctly different settings. Implications for future research and fraud prevention are provided.     

Process-based model in adolescence. Analyzing police legitimacy and juvenile delinquency within a legal socialization framework

The empirical evidence on the process-based model of self-regulation shows that procedural justice evaluations and the perceived legitimacy of authorities impact law-abiding behavior. However, few studies analyze this theory from the perspective of adolescent legal socialization. The present study aims to examine the process-based model and other socializing agents such as family, school and peers that may have an effect on it. The sample comprised 2041 youths residing in Spain, aged between 13 and 18 years. The data form part of the Third International Self-Report Delinquency Study (ISRD-3). Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to predict police legitimacy and juvenile delinquency. The results reveal that police legitimacy perceptions are not only influenced by procedural justice, but also by parental monitoring, school attachment, and delinquent peers. Moreover, perceptions of police legitimacy, parental monitoring, and delinquent peers predict juvenile delinquency. These findings complement and add new explanatory factors to the process-based model.     

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.     

Race,occupational status,and pro-active police arrest for drinking and driving

The issue of pro-active police arrest bias by race, occupational status, and police patrol intensity is examined using the offense of DUI (Driving Under the Influence of alcohol). Intoxicated drivers from a 10-weekend roadside survey of vehicles randomly selected from the streets of a medium-sized southeastern metropolitan area are compared to officially arrested drivers apprehended during a corresponding time period. Upon examination, no statistically significant arrest bias was detected by the driver's race. However, compared to the roadside survey population, lower occupational status drivers (i.e., blue collar) were significantly more likely to appear in the arrested population than an upper status (i.e., white collar) driver—especially in the lightly patrolled middle and upper class residential sections of town. The significance of occupational status, when combined with the finding that race was not a significant indicator of difference between the arrested and roadside survey populations, suggests that pro-active police arrest bias is more a function of institutionally determined police patrol practices rather than overt racial prejudice on the part of individual officers.     

Promoting academic engagement: university context and individual characteristics

The Journal of Technology Transfer - This paper aims to explore the impact of organizational context on individuals’ industry activities in Chinese universities. Academic engagement, which...     

Police occupational solidarity: Probing a determinant in the deterioration of police/citizen relations

The deterioration of police/citizen relations has had a major impact on the administration of justice. Mutual suspicion, hostility, distrust, and fear have resulted in minimal citizen cooperation and, consequently, an increase in police use of aggressive enforcement procedures. These procedures adversely affect the police as well as the citizenry. Use of aggressive enforcement has two salient consequences: it isolates the police from the citizen, and it generates occupational solidarity among police personnel. Solidarity subsequently increases police/citizen polarization. The process, thus, is circular. The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the determinants of social isolation and occupational solidarity.To investigate these determinants, a multivariate, multistage conceptual model was developed and analyzed. The findings suggest that the conceptual model, save two minor modifications, fits the data. Policy implications based on these findings are presented and discussed.     

Unrealistic expectations: The police and crime control

B.A., Gettysburg College 1961; M.A., New York University 1965; Ph.D., New York University 1971.     

Further exploration of the demeanor hypothesis: The interaction effects of suspects' characteristics and demeanor on police behavior

Recent research has reexamined the hypothesis that suspects' demeanor affects police behavior. Reanalyses have supported this demeanor hypothesis, but none have considered the possible interaction effect of demeanor with other extralegal variables. Utilizing systematic observational data collected in 24 police departments in three metropolitan areas, this research examines whether demeanor and suspects' characteristics interact, and ultimately produce differential patterns of citation, arrest, and the use of force. These estimated interaction effects provide a clearer understanding of the effect of demeanor in different contexts; more important, they acknowledge that officers accept some forms of disrespect but not others, depending on factors outside demeanor alone.     

Correction to: Promoting academic engagement: university context and individual characteristics

The Journal of Technology Transfer - The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. The corresponding author’s name was incorrect. The given name and family name were...     

Youth justice conferencing and police referrals: The gatekeeping role of police in Queensland, Australia

Youth justice conferencing in Queensland, Australia relies on the discretionary referral of young offenders by the police. The low rate of police referrals to conferencing is an ongoing concern for conference organizers. The research presented in this study explored Queensland police officers' training, experience, understandings of youth justice conferencing, and their individual discretionary policing style. The impact of these factors on officers' attitudes towards conferencing and their reported likelihood of referring to conference were examined. One hundred eighty-four Queensland police officers stationed in police regions where conferencing was available participated in the study. Of these officers, 15 percent had never heard of conferencing. Of officers who had heard of conferencing, 35 percent had received training, 21 percent had referred a young person to a conference, and 20 percent had attended a conference. Officers' understandings of conferencing were significantly related to their reported likelihood of referring a young person to a conference. The results indicated that to increase police referrals of young people to conferences, police need to be exposed (both through training and attendance) to the philosophy of and procedures involved in conferencing.