PROSECUTORIAL DISCRETION IN FILING CHARGES IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CASES*

Based on data collected from prosecutors' files on domestic violence cases, the research reported here attempts to isolate variables associated with a decision to issue criminal charges in a case. The analysis reveals that variables reflective of the defendant's current or past choices were most strongly associated with the charging decision. Specifically, the defendant's appearing at the charging conference and his use of drugs or alcohol at the time of the violence were the factors most strongly associated with the decision to issue a criminal charge. Other related factors were also reflective of choices made by the defendant: degree of injury inflicted, the instrument used, the fact of prior offenses, and prior abuse of the particular victim.     

LAW ENFORCEMENT IN A TIME OF COMMUNITY POLICING*

Community policing creates the expectation that oficers will become more selective in making arrests and that those decisions will be influenced more by extralegal considerations and less by legal ones. Data on 451 nontraffic police-suspect encounters were drawn from ridealong observations in Richmond, Virginia, where the police department was implementing community policing. The arrest/no arrest decision is regressed on variables representing legal and extralegal characteristics of the situation. Legal variables show much stronger effects than extralegal ones, but that depends upon the officer's attitude toward community policing. Supporters of community policing are, as predicted, more selective in making arrests and much less influenced by legal variables than are officers with negative views. However, pro-community-policing officers are like negative officers in the extent of influence exerted by extralegal factors. There are some differences between the two groups of officers on the strength and direction of effects of predictor variables taken individually, but only 1 of 17 is significant. Thus, in a time of community policing, officers who support it do manifest some arrest decision patterns distinguishable from those of colleagues who adhere to a more traditional view of law enforcement.     

行政自由裁量权概念的迷思与匡正

行政自由裁量权概念的发达除客观需要之外,还有人为的因素,为行政扩张服务甚至为了逃避司法审查。然而,行政自由裁量权是一个可以被内化或转化甚至淹没的概念,虽然它是事先确定的一个指引但却是一个错误的指引。国家主权理论的衰微,行政权的弱化,行政种类多样,裁量空间的压缩以及部分裁量被“不确定法律概念”涵摄,行政自由裁量权风光不再。让行政自由裁量权概念在行政法领域尽快消失。以行政法的“裁量性规范”,将行政“裁量性事实”放在行政行为下考量,通过对其目的性、公益性以及合法性进行的判断,使其获得正当性基础。行政诉讼以是否应该作为、是否超越职权、是否滥用职权为司法审查内容,以确认判决、撤销判决、确认无效判决为判决方式,取消现行的变更判决。     

WOMEN IN THE STREET-LEVEL DRUG ECONOMY: CONTINUITY OR CHANGE?*

Images of women in the contemporary drug economy are highly mixed. Most scholars emphasize change in women's roles, some emphasize continuity, and others suggest that both change and continuity are evident. At issue is whether an increased share of women were involved in selling and higher-level distribution roles in the crack cocaine markets of the late 1980s and early 1990s, compared to the heroin markets of the 1960s and 1970s. We present the results of an ethnographic study of women drug users conducted during 1989–92 in a New York City neighborhood. Contrary to those who suggest that crack cocaine markets have provided “new opportunities” for women, we find that such opportunities were realized by men. At the same time, the conditions of street-level sex work, which has traditionally provided women drug users with a relatively stable source of income, have deteriorated.     

POLICING CORPORATE COLLUSION*

This is a documentary study of the origin and investigation of all criminal prosecutions of collusive trade agreements filed by the Antitrust Division, US. Department of Justice from 1946 through 1970. The methodology seeks to reconstruct these cases from previously classified investigative files of the division. Observations include the sources of organizational intelligence, investigative methods, and encounters among antitrust victims, offenders, and officials. Most cases originate with complainants and informants outside the agency, but most evidence is obtained with the cooperation of offenders, who usually receive immunity or leniency in return. The conclusions suggest that public exposure of trade conspiracies serves as a deterrent despite weak penalties.     

STYLES OF COMMUNITY POLICING

Police agencies have distinctive philosophies, or styles, of policing. James Q. Wilson identified three policing styles by analyzing the approach of police in order-maintenance and law enforcement situations Styles can also be developed by considering policing methods in relation to their impact upon the general community. The reactive-procrctive emphasis given to wrious combinations of positive and negative methods, or counselor and enforcer roles, is the basis for the four policing styles discussed.     

ORGANIZATIONAL NORMS AND POLICE DISCRETION.

This essay explores the issues involved in designing public policies. It suggests that those programs not well designed will generate inappropriate expectations for success. This lack of design sophistication may not lead to well-conceived methods for achieving stated objectives. Taking the Low Enforcement Assistance Administration's Community Anti-Crime Program as an example, the paper analyzes the implicit sociological theory which guided the development of this new and important program. The essay concludes by highlighting some of the important contributions the Community Anti-Crime Program can make in the criminal justice policy arena despite its conceptual shortcomings. While design problems may hinder the implementation of programs, they do not necessarily have to cripple them.     

PROBLEM-ORIENTED POLICING IN VIOLENT CRIME PLACES: A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED EXPERIMENT*

Over the past decade, problem-oriented policing has become a central strategy for policing. In a number of studies, problem-oriented policing has been found to be effective in reducing crime and disorder. However, very little is known about the value of problem-oriented interventions in controlling violent street crime. The National Academy of Sciences' Panel on the Understanding and Control of Violent Behavior suggests that sustained research on problem-oriented policing initiatives that modify places, routine activities, and situations that promote violence could contribute much to the understanding and control of violence. This study evaluates the effects of problem-oriented policing interventions on urban violent crime problems in Jersey City, New Jersey. Twenty-four high-activity, violent crime places were matched into 12 pairs and one member of each pair was allocated to treatment conditions in a randomized block field experiment. The results of the impact evaluation support the growing body of research that asserts focused police efforts can reduce crime and disorder at problem places without causing crime problems to displace to surrounding areas.     

ORGANIZATIONAL DEVIANCE AND POLITICAL POLICING

Deviance in the policing of political activities may be either legal or behavioral. Both are generated to satisfy external demands without risking undeniable failure. Tactics of secrecy and scapegoating to avoid the perils of external scrutiny are supplemented by applying the principles of need to know and plausible deniability. The demand for results regardless of methods makes legal deviance inevitable and behavioral deviance very probable. Deviance in political policing is very unlikely to be inhibited significantly by legal reforms or public politics. Organizational changes are more likely to have some impact.     

POLICING RACE: THE RACIAL STRATIFICATION OF SEARCHES IN POLICE TRAFFIC STOPS*

Research on race effects in police traffic stops is theoretically underdeveloped. In this study, we derive propositions from Donald Black's theory of law to explain the interaction effects of officer and driver race on searches in traffic stops in St. Louis, Missouri. Our citywide results and those for stops in predominantly White communities are generally consistent with the theory: Searches are more likely in stops of Black drivers than in those of White drivers, especially by White officers, controlling for other characteristics of the officer, driver, and stop. In predominantly Black communities, however, stops of White drivers by White officers are most likely to result in a search. We interpret both sets of results as manifestations of racial profiling in segregated communities and suggest that Black's theory of law remains a promising theoretical framework for future research on the continuing significance of race‐based policing in the United States.     

RACE,DRUGS, AND POLICING: UNDERSTANDING DISPARITIES IN DRUG DELIVERY ARRESTS*

This article draws on several unique data sources to assess and explain racial disparity in Seattle's drug delivery arrests. Evidence regarding the racial and ethnic composition of those who deliver any of five serious drugs in that city is compared with the racial and ethnic composition of those arrested for this offense. Our findings indicate that blacks are significantly overrepresented among Seattle's drug delivery arrestees. Several organizational practices explain racial disparity in these arrests: law enforcement's focus on crack offenders, the priority placed on outdoor drug venues, and the geographic concentration of police resources in racially heterogeneous areas. The available evidence further indicates that these practices are not determined by race‐neutral factors such as crime rates or community complaints. Our findings thus indicate that race shapes perceptions of who and what constitutes Seattle's drug problem, as well as the organizational response to that problem.