Administrative interventions on police shooting discretion: An empirical examination

In August, 1972, the New York City Police Department promulgated administrative shooting guidelines and shooting incident review procedures far more restrictive than former statutory “defense of life” and “fleeing felon” justifications for police shooting. Using a data base that includes all reported New York City police firearms discharges and serious assaults on police between 1971 and 1975, this article examines the effects of the new guidelines and procedures on shooting frequencies, patterns, and consequences.Great decreases in “fleeing felon” shootings, “warning shots,” and shooting-opponent injuries and deaths were found to be associated with the new rules. This change also appeared to have a favorable effect on line-of-duty officer deaths and serious injuries. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Intrapersonal variations in stage of moral reasoning among adolescents as a function of situational context

On a set of classical moral dilemmas and on a set of practical moral dilemmas 60 randomly selected eighth- and twelfth-grade students were asked to (a) judge the actions of others (judgment) and (b) reach a personal decision and give reasons for what they would do (deliberation). The interviews were transcribed and scored for stage of moral reasoning. Stage of moral reasoning associated with deliberation on practical moral dilemmas was found to be significantly lower than their moral judgment on classical moral dilemmas. An explanation was presented which combined social learning and cognitive-developmental moralization theory.Received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Research interests include the nature of moral character and the implications involved for the moral education curriculum.