Psychological research on the police

As a context for this special section, we surveyed the published research literature on the psychology of law enforcement in four specialty journals that feature law and psychology studies and two more broadly targeted scholarly outlets. The volume of research studies was scant and concentrated on two targets: clinical services to the police and eyewitness identification studies. We call for social scientists to engage in empirical study of psychological variables that affect the full spectrum of police activities.     

Evaluation of an objective assessment technique for the detection of malingered memory deficits

Clinicians generally operate under the implicit assumption that their clients are being honest and putting forth their best effort on assessment procedures. However, clients may realize substantial secondary gains by appearing impaired. The present study evaluates an objective assessment procedure for the detection of malingered memory deficits. Results demonstrate that college students instructed to malinger memory impairment show different patterns of responding and can be clearly differentiated from students performing their best and from actual memory-impaired patients. Applying one of two scores derived from this test to a sample of 20 students instructed to malinger, 20 control subjects, and 20 memory impaired subjects performing their best resulted in a 100% hit rate for normal controls and memory-impaired subjects, and a 65% hit rate for experimental malingerers.This study was presented in a somewhat different form at the 10th Annual Conference of the National Academy of Neuropsychology; November, 1990; Reno. The test evaluated in this study is available to researchers upon request to the second author.     

Entrapment and the entrapment defense: Dilemmas for a democratic society

Entrapment is defined and distinguished from related law enforcement practices. The subjective test of entrapment formulated by the Supreme Court and the objective test proposed by critics are discussed and evaluated. The argument is advanced that entrapment is a morally unjustifiable practice which is inconsistent with the rights of citizens in a democratic society. Guidelines are proposed for governing police conduct in potential entrapment situations and suggestions made regarding ways these guidelines might be implemented.The authors wish to thank the following individuals for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper: Joseph A. Canale; Edward W. Chandler; Gary T. Marx; and Eugene L. Shapiro.     

Mixing God's Work and the Public Business: A Framework for the Analysis of Faith‐Based Service Delivery

Over the past thirty years, there has been a dramatic transformation in the way the American political process operates. There has been a growing public perception that traditional political institutions lack the capacity to meet existing challenges. This has led many observers to call for a rethinking of how government does its work. Numerous alternatives, including the use of faith‐based organizations, have been suggested. The current popular debate on the appropriate role of faith‐based organizations in public service delivery has shed little light on a number of important issues raised by engaging such actors in governance issues. The impact of using faith‐based institutions to design and implement public policy must be considered not only in terms of traditional evaluation standards, but also regarding potential long‐term impacts on the political process itself. This article outlines a theoretical framework for the evaluation of faith‐based organizations as “alternatives” to conventional governance structures. It identifies key practical and theoretical issues raised by such substitution, in both short and long range systemic terms.