Policy influences on community trail development

This study explores processes and policies that facilitate the development of community trails. With funding from Active Living Research and the research framework of the Physical Activity Policy Research Network (PAPRN), we conducted a multiple-site case study. A total of six trails in Hawaii, Massachusetts, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Washington were chosen for study. The goals of this case study were to identify the policy influences on trail development, explore the roles of key players in trail development, and compare and contrast findings from the different trails. Trail development can be a long process. Some of the trails took over a decade to complete because of funding, opposition, and roadblocks in the form of design standard policies. Work in trail development requires a team of many players, and it is necessary to balance their varied motives to accomplish a shared overall goal. Foresight through the master planning process is also a vital component of successful trail development. Finally, community involvement is key. Communities contemplating trail development should explore the effects of policy on the trail projects reported here to proactively identify potential influence.     

Learning on the job: Studying expertise in residential burglars using virtual environments*

In this article, we describe a quasi‐experiment in which experienced incarcerated burglars (n = 56), other offenders (n = 50), and nonoffenders (n = 55) undertook a mock burglary within a virtual neighborhood. We draw from the cognitive psychology literature on expertise and apply it to offending behavior, demonstrating synergy with rational choice perspectives, yet extending them in several respects. Our principal goal was to carry out the first robust test of expertise in offenders by having these groups undertake a burglary in a fully fledged reenactment of a crime in a virtual environment. Our findings indicate that the virtual environment successfully reinstated the context of the crime showing clear differences in the decision making of burglars compared with other groups in ways commensurate with expertise in other behavioral domains. Specifically, burglars scoped the neighborhood more thoroughly, spent more time in the high‐value areas of the crime scene while traveling less distance there, and targeted different goods from the comparison groups. The level of detail in the data generated sheds new light on the cognitive processes and actions of burglars and how they “learn on the job.” Implications for criminal decision‐making perspectives and psychological theories of expertise are discussed.     

The Impact of the Boston Marathon Bombings on Public Willingness to Cooperate with Police

While a key to law enforcement success is the willingness of the public to cooperate with police, we have limited understanding of how terrorist attacks affect this public readiness. Prior research suggests that terrorist attacks might increase citizen cooperation with police through both prevention efforts and rally effects. We test these assertions with three nationally representative surveys on respondents’ willingness to help police combat terrorism: one before the Boston Marathon bombings and two after. As predicted, public willingness to report suspicious behavior to police increases significantly following the bombings and there is evidence that these increases generalize to ordinary crime. We also find that knowledge of key counter terrorism programs increases after the bombings, effects are somewhat stronger for the New England area than other regions, and the strength of the results are greatly diminished 16 months after the attacks. Conclusions are similar for both panel and cross-sectional analyses.     

Ensuring the validity of police use of force training

This research examined the skills and abilities required of officers to effectively manage situations where the use of force may be required. The research also considered the nature of training required to facilitate the development of these skills/abilities. Seventy Western Australia Police officers participated in focus groups. Identified skills/abilities fell into seven categories: Aware, Assess, Approach, Act, Automatic, Appraise and Adapt. With regard to developing proficiency in these skills, officers emphasised the importance of relevant, applied and dynamic training, debriefing and the use of scenarios/role plays. The research highlights the need to change the scope of annual refresher training from the appropriate and effective application of force to the effective management of situations in which the use of force may be required, in their entirety. Findings also highlight the need to change the focus of training from performance and assessment to continued skill development (i.e. practice and learning).     

Keeping Up with the Souzas: Social Influence and Electoral Change in a Weak Party System,Brazil 2002–2006

Despite weak partisanship and considerable political change in the wake of the 2002 election, three‐quarters of Brazilian voters supported a presidential candidate in 2006 from the same party they had backed in 2002. This article assesses the factors causing both electoral stability and electoral change with a transition model, a model testing whether the effects of respondents' evaluative criteria depend on their initial vote choices. Social context—personal discussion networks, neighborhood influences, and the interactions of social networks and municipal context—is the major force promoting stability and change, while the impact of partisanship is limited to a small share of voters.     

Implicit attitudes toward violence among male perpetrators of intimate partner violence: a preliminary investigation

Whereas cognitive variables are hypothesized to play an important role in intimate partner violence (IPV) etiology and intervention, cognitive assessment methods have largely targeted offenders' explicit, controlled cognitive processing using paper-and-pencil questionnaires prone to social desirability biases. Using an implicit measure of attitudes (the Implicit Association Test [IAT]), we assessed attitudes toward gender, violence, and the association between gender and violence among 50 men enrolled in an IPV treatment program and a comparison sample of 40 nonviolent (NV) men. Although no group differences were noted on explicit attitudinal measures, men in the IPV group showed more positive implicit attitudes regarding violence, and a more rapid association between women and violence. Among men in treatment for IPV, the attitudes toward violence IAT was significantly correlated with self/partner-reported IPV frequency. In accordance with social information processing models of aggression, these results suggest that aggressogenic attitudes are likely to operate automatically and with little conscious deliberation. As a result, clinicians and researchers must adapt assessment and intervention strategies to capture both implicit and explicit aspects of cognitive processing.