Perceived Citizen Cooperation, Police Operational Philosophy, and Job Satisfaction on Support for Civilian Oversight of the Police in South Korea

While civilian oversight in matters pertaining to police accountability is commonly found in law enforcement agencies in Western countries, this concept is fairly new to many emerging democracies. This study examines the origins and development of citizen oversight of the police in South Korea. Using a sample consisting of 406 surveyed Korean police officers, this study further examines the effects of individual factors and organizational characteristics, such as police operational philosophy, citizen support, and job satisfaction, on officers’ perceptions of civilian oversight of the police. The findings suggest that, although South Korean police officers are generally ambivalent about the role of civilian oversight, there is a strong relationship between organizational characteristics and support for a civilian role in police oversight.     

Personal Value Orientation as a Moderator in the Relationships Between Perceived Organizational Justice and Its Hypothesized Consequences

This study examined whether personal value orientation moderated the relationships between perceived organizational justice and its three hypothesized consequences: group pride, respect within the group, and turnover intentions. On the basis of conceptual correspondences between self-enhancement and self-transcendence values of Schwartz's value typology and previous conceptualizations of distributive and procedural justice two hypotheses were developed and tested with a sample of 160 employees of a research organization. It was predicted and found that relationships between distributive justice and outcome variables were stronger among people who were high in self-enhancement values (power, achievement). The relationships between procedural justice and outcome variables, by contrast, were predicted to be stronger among those high in self-transcendence values (universalism, benevolence). Our results provided no support for the latter hypothesis.     

Organizational Climate, Perceived Citizen Support, and Job Satisfaction of Police Officers: Findings from the Post-Grand Reform Era in South Korea

Two major police reforms were introduced in South Korea in 1991 and 1999 to help bring about a shift from a colonial style of policing to a form more prevalent in developed economies pursuing the rule of law, observance of human rights, and the practice of democratic policing. We conclude that the findings from the present study, drawing on a survey of a national sample of 406 South Korean police officers, offer modest support for the efforts of the Grand Reform in its impact on police officers?? satisfaction with promotion and salary and benefits. While few demographic characteristics, with the exception of age and years of experience, were associated with job satisfaction, there is strong evidence for the relationship between organizational characteristics and job satisfaction. Management support and perceived citizen support of police are associated with both measures of satisfaction, promotion and salary/benefits, while the police officers?? relationship with their supervisors is less than stellar. Finally, officers who believe that the primary operating philosophy of the police is to serve the government appear to be satisfied with their jobs relative to their opportunity for promotion, which is perhaps a more critical measure for them than salary and benefits, reflecting the presence of a police organizational climate that is still rooted in the historical military culture of Korean police. The findings from this study suggest that more efforts are warranted in improving organizational climate if officers are to believe their primary goal is to serve the citizen, a fundamental element of democratic policing.     

Optimism as a Mediator Between the Experience of Child Abuse,Other Traumatic Events,and Distress

In this study, we examined the role of dispositional optimism in mediating distress among students who experienced traumatic events, including child physical abuse, emotional abuse, and sexual abuse. Participants included 199 undergraduate and graduate students (aged 18–63 years) from a private university in Oregon. In this study, dispositional optimism partially mediated distress among individuals who had experienced child physical abuse and child emotional abuse; participants with higher levels of optimism had lower levels of distress. In addition, dispositional optimism fully mediated distress among individuals who had experienced traumatic events such as rape, assault, and fire; participants with higher levels of optimism had lower levels of distress. Contrary to prediction, the experience of child sexual abuse was not associated with distress. Clinical implications of these results are addressed.     

Instrumental and Normative Pathways to Legitimacy and Public Cooperation with the Police in Turkey: Considering Perceived Neighborhood Characteristics and Local Government Performance

This study investigates the relative contributions of instrumental and normative models to the legitimacy of and cooperation with the police in Turkey. Based on a random sample of 1,800 Istanbulians, the potential contributions of perceived neighborhood characteristics also are considered. Results show that both instrumental and normative models of regulation are applicable to the highly centralized and state-serving Turkish policing context. While the instrumental model exerts relatively more influence on legitimacy than does the normative model, the two models are of equal importance in predicting legitimacy after perceived neighborhood characteristics are taken into consideration. Social cohesion and local government performance also emerged as significant predictors of police legitimacy. Public cooperation with police, on the other hand, is encouraged by increased police legitimacy, better local government performance, and higher household income. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.     

Trust in the Police in Rural China: a Comparison Between Villagers and Local Officials

Although the past decade has witnessed the rise of studies on Chinese evaluations of the police, rural villagers’ assessments of the police remain under-researched. Drawing upon performance theory and survey data from China’s countryside, this study tested whether variations in satisfaction with government performance and life are linked to villagers’ and officials’ trust in county and local/town police. We found that villagers displayed lower levels of trust in the police than local officials. Higher satisfaction with government performance and integrity were associated with greater trust in county police among both villagers and officials. Villagers’ greater satisfaction with crime control and safety led to their stronger trust in both county and town police, but such satisfaction was not significantly related to officials’ trust in both levels of police forces. Rural residents’ generalized trust and particularized trust were associated with a greater likelihood of viewing the police as trustworthy. Meanwhile, female respondents, both villagers and officials, and higher-income officials were more likely to view the police as trustworthy. Directions for future research and policy are discussed.

     

Predictors of Group Performance in a Police Criminal Investigation Department: the Role of Gender Homogeneity,Leadership and Team Characteristics

The Netherlands’ Ministry of Security and Justice has agreed on performance targets with the country’s police departments. Introducing the targets created a shift to controlling performance in team management focus. This empirical study of police teams in Utrecht in the Netherlands (N = 134) focuses on the influence of leadership style, gender and psychosocial team factors when teams are required to achieve agreed performance objectives. We address calls in the literature for more research into (objective) measures relating to effective police leadership and existing (police) management practices. Gender homogeneity, a combination of charismatic, empowering and transactional leadership styles, and team members’ awareness of team achievements were found to be relevant. The practical implications of these results are discussed.     

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.     

E-mail,the Police,and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: Retooling Our Understanding of a Reasonable Expectation of Privacy in the Cyber Age

As in other jurisdictions, technological innovation continues to impose burdens on our understanding of the reasonable expectation of privacy in Canada. Recently, the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench was forced to weigh the privacy rights guaranteed under section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms against Her Majesty's interest in collecting electronic evidence (in order to facilitate criminal proceedings against an individual who was accused of using e-mail to gain possession of child pornography). For the first time ever in Canada, the Court's analysis focused specifically on the technological aspects of e-mail. Although technological enthusiasts applaud this approach, it has resulted in a decision which, if followed, is sure to render ineffectual the ability of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to protect the privacy of Canadian e-mail users against overly intrusive police wire-tap interceptions. Upon a detailed review of this decision (within the context of an overview of the Canadian jurisprudence on unreasonable search and seizure), the author of this paper argues that the traditional test for sanctioning privacy protection must shift away from a merely technological analysis of the actual security offered by the communications medium in question. The author submits that the proper analysis should focus instead on the reasonable Canadian e-mail user's typical understanding and perception of the medium.     

Police shooting as a method of self-harming: A review of the evidence for ‘suicide by cop’ in England and Wales between 1998 and 2001

There is increasing evidence that some individuals actively seek to bring about their own deaths by provoking armed police officers to shoot them. The current paper examines 22 police shooting incidents, nine fatal, between 1998 and 2001, to assess the likelihood of suicidal motivation in each of these cases. All 22 individuals shot were male, 18 were white, three black and one Asian and ages ranged from 18 to 51. Around half of the shootings examined have some evidence indicating a suicidal motive in those shot, with further indications of irrational behaviour in a number of the other cases. This has clear implications for the choice of police strategy in responding to such incidents and an imperative to develop ‘less lethal’ options to minimise the risk to such vulnerable populations.     

增强执政能力与提高参政水平的互动关系

历史证明,中国共产党的执政能力与民主党派的参政能力是相辅相成、不可分割的。中共的执政能力不强,民主党派的参政能力也不会强;反之,如果民主党派的参政能力不强,中共的执政能力也不会强。当中共提出加强执政能力建设问题时,如何提高参政议政水平,也成为作为参政党的各民主党派必须引起高度重视的重大问题。     

Committee Inquiries in the Australian Parliament and their Influence on Government: Government Acceptance of Recommendations as a Measure of Parliamentary Performance

Committees in the Australian parliament often make recommendations to government and attempt to persuade the government to accept them. Using a sample of committee reports tabled between the 2001 and 2004 elections, this paper measures the government acceptance of committee recommendations as a proxy for committees' influence. On average, the government stated it accepted three majority recommendations out of 11 per report, although this figure drops to two and a half when viewed as recommendations implemented and not merely promised. The government accepted virtually no minority recommendations. The most important report characteristic is the extent to which it affects the government's reputation, but the breadth of political support that it can muster is also relevant.     

Adolescents as offenders, social order, and the morality of work in a postindustrial society: The Australian experience

This article argues that traditional views of employment as both financially necessary and morally imperative for guaranteeing a relatively smooth transition from adolescence to responsible adult status are naive in the context of a postindustrial society. Increased youth unemployment since the mid-1970s has excited considerable anxiety and debate about the criminal potential of “youth,” generating debate and research claiming a causal link between youth unemployment and crime. Analyzing this gives rise to inquiry about some of the old assurances and certitudes of full-time, waged labor in a context where full-time, waged labor is steadily becoming a minority activity for most people of working age. The pursuance of youth, political, and economic policies based on assumptions about an indefinite growth in the labor market, or a return to the “full-time employment” of the past, are problematic and require rethinking. Rather than providing corrective measures that entail the restoration of now unfeasible certainties (“full” employment), effort can be better spent appreciating the significance of the shift toward a postindustrial society and considering other ways of providing the inner stability and the fundamental social experiences for young people once obtained through waged work.     

The Historical Basis for the Understanding of a State in Modern Russia: A Case Study Based on Analysis of Components in the Concept of a State,Established Between the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique - Using semiotic and historical methods, the article recovers the ancient Russian concept of...     

When you reach a fork in the road, take it: science and product development as linked paths

There is a simple underlying message in this discussion, which has three parts. First, science has the capacity to generate new knowledge and harness that knowledge in the cause of developing products and technology that can reduce disease burdens among developing nation populations. Second, intellectual property is a tool to use in order to insure that new knowledge is not expropriated and exploited in a manner that threatens the ability to provide products and technology to poor people at an affordable price. Third, and finally, academic scientists need to understand that they can stride both pathways of the R&D road, remaining involved in generating basic knowledge while participating in the application of that knowledge towards product development and, through the use of best practice IP management, making it available in resource-poor environments. In order for this to happen, academia needs to maintain bridges to the private sector, while assiduously avoiding financial conflicts of interest, a topic not discussed in this paper. Academic scientists, whether already established or still completing their education, need access to training modules that allows them to define the challenges of the high disease burdens in the third world in human, and not just in consumption or dollar, terms. They also need education regarding the problems they work on, in order to engage them in the technology transfer from academia to the private sector; promote collaboration with scientists in the developing world; provide them with enough insights into the process and how it operates so that they know about the terms of any agreements with the private sector that would prevent poor people from accessing the ultimate product; and finally "reward" them in the academic system by advancement based on applied and field-based international translational and operational applied research. If these education programs develop and expand to increasing numbers of people in the research sector of academia, the number of people taking both paths described here will substantially increase. With that, the amount of research relevant to improving the health status--and indirectly, development--of developing countries will have been substantially increased.     

Psychological Assessment of Symptom and Performance Validity,Response Bias,and Malingering: Official Position of the Association for Scientific Advancement in Psychological Injury and Law

Evidence-based forensic psychological opinions require thorough and accurate information about examinees. Psychometric instruments can facilitate diagnostic decision making, but they rely on examinees to respond honestly to questions and put forth good effort on cognitive tests. Given the strong incentives for examinees in psychological injury cases to minimize prior problems and emphasize postaccident or posttrauma problems, the assessment of validity as part of forensic psychological evaluations is essential. Best practices in forensic psychology have their foundation in ethical principles. The purpose of this position statement is to promote ethical psychological practice in legal contexts by reviewing validity assessment issues and their ethical foundations. Because no previously published document focused specifically on symptom and performance validity assessment in psychological injury evaluations performed in forensic contexts, such a position statement provided by a professional organization devoted to the interface of psychological injury and law was needed to inform and guide practitioners and to educate other interested parties. The position statement emphasizes (a) the need for ethical practice in assessing validity, (b) consideration of factors such as culture and functional limitations, and (c) the importance of adopting a comprehensive, impartial, and scientific approach to validity assessment. The position statement acknowledges areas of differing opinions and the need for further research.     

Trophoblastic microemboli as a marker for preeclampsia-eclampsia in sudden unexpected maternal death: a case report and review of the literature

The authors report the case of a 25-year-old white woman at 7 months' gestation who died suddenly and unexpectedly at home. Anatomic findings at autopsy included a tongue contusion, glomerulonephritis, changes indicative of systemic hypertension, and trophoblastic microemboli in the lungs. Review of the prenatal care record disclosed 3+ proteinuria 2 days before death. The features of the postmortem examination were consistent with clinically undiagnosed preeclampsia-eclampsia and glomerulonephritis. The authors discuss the rarity of fatal preeclampsia-eclampsia, the contribution of concomitant glomerulonephritis, and the significance of trophoblastic microemboli in the lungs.