The verdict is in: how did they decide? Using drivers’ self-reported data to understand officers’ decision making during traffic stop encounters

ABSTRACT

In the United States, traffic stop is the most common form of police-citizen encounter, and for many citizens, it is the only way they will ever interact with the police. The frequency of traffic stop encounters has therefore attracted a significant research interest. In the past several years, researchers have attempted to explain the dynamics of these interactions, with the hope to change attitudes and influence policy formation. To supplement the efforts of previous researchers, the current effort analyzed self-reported data from citizens to understand police decision making at three decision points during traffic stop encounters. Specifically, the present study aims to answer three questions: what variables predict whether an officer will let a citizen go without doing anything or decide to do something? If the officer decides to do something, what influences the officer’s decision to choose an outcome over others? What are the drivers of use of force in traffic stop encounters? Results from the regression models suggest that reasons for the stop, verbal assault, officer and suspect characteristics are important predictors of police decision making behavior during traffic stop interaction. The findings have serious implications for developing better police-citizen relationships as well as improving public attitudes toward the local police.     

Macro Theory and the Study of Political Development

This article is based on the Skytte Prize lecture delivered at the University of Uppsala in October 2015.     

Does procedural fairness matter for drug abusers to stop illicit drug use? Testing the applicability of the process-based model in a Chinese context

ABSTRACT

This study examined the influences of procedural fairness on Chinese drug users’ efforts to stop substance abuse, with a primary goal to test the applicability of the process-based model in the Chinese context. According to Tyler (1990 Tyler, T. (1990). Why people obey the law. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. [Google Scholar], Why people obey the law. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press), the core theoretical argument underpinning the process-based model is that if citizens consider the police to be fair in using their powers, they will view the police as legitimate and accordingly cooperate with the police and comply with the law. Using data from a sample of 202 Chinese drug users, this study found that procedural fairness has an indirect effect on drug users’ efforts to stop illicit drug use. Specifically, procedural fairness used by the police increased Chinese drug users’ efforts to stop substance abuse through its prior effects on drug users’ perceptions of police trustworthiness. These findings provide some support for the key arguments of the process-based model of regulation, and have important implications for the direction of efforts to encourage desistance-related behavior among substance abusers.     

Improving the effectiveness of Ugandan water user committees

This article outlines issues affecting the functionality of Ugandan water user committees responsible for managing communal water and sanitation (WASH) services. Research undertaken demonstrated that their effectiveness is compromised by poor understanding of their rights and responsibilities by stakeholders within and outside the committees. Following the research, a handbook was produced that explained the rights and responsibilities in a form that is accessible to all community members. Preliminary feedback from committees that have used the handbook suggests that it has the potential to improve the functionality of the water user committees, thereby helping to improve the local management of WASH services in Uganda.     

Legal Education,Social Mobility,and Employability: Possible Selves,Curriculum Intervention,and the Role of Legal Work Experience

This article interrogates a number of assumptions underpinning the recent focus on employability and social mobility within legal education and the legal profession – in particular the capacity of legal work experience to support these policy objectives. It draws on research evidence to argue that a narrow focus upon the individual acquisition of skills and attributes fails to capture the fuller complexity of legal employability as a negotiated, situated process. It shows how the structuring properties of the field reduce the capacity of employability initiatives to disrupt the patterns of social and cultural reproduction that frame access to the legal profession. In this context, the potential of curriculum intervention to enhance employability is inhibited by the structural constraints upon the possible selves that law students are able to imagine. It suggests that students’ opportunities are not only shaped by their past, but are also constrained by their possible futures.