Crime Clearance and Temporal Variation in Police Investigative Workload: Evidence from National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) Data

Objectives

Police workload’s relationship with crime clearance has been studied widely. In the challenging environment now facing police, even small and possibly temporary changes in investigative workload could harm clearance. However existing workload-clearance research either used only a yearly average that obscures temporal variability in caseload, or explored proxy rather than direct measures of workload’s short-term variation. Our improved workload measures capture caseload’s daily changes as crimes are reported, cleared, or remain uncleared but reach the end of active investigation. We examine relationships between clearance and both long- and short-term variability in workload.

Methods

Using NIBRS and LEMAS data, we calculated between-agency (typical or long-term) and time-varying, within-agency (daily fluctuating or short-term) workload measures. We used these and other agency/jurisdiction- and incident-level variables in multi-level survival analysis of clearance by arrest for serious violent incidents from 2007 NIBRS.

Results

Both workload measures were significantly and negatively related to the clearance hazard rate; higher long- and short-term workloads are associated with reduced chance of a case being cleared. The estimated relationship between longterm workload and clearance became progressively stronger (more negative) as the crime incident’s legal seriousness decreased. However, estimates indicated greater sensitivity of the clearance hazard to short-term workload fluctuations for more serious crimes, though the workload-clearance relationship remained negative for all crime types.

Conclusion

Crime clearance should be considered by police agency planners when addressing workload through staffing decisions. Refinement of our workload measures will require additional information, and should be considered in future agency- and incident-level data collection.

     

Distinguishing Characteristics of Robotic Writing

Advances in robotic handwriting technology create new challenges for forensic document examiners. In the past, devices such as the autopen were used to replicate signatures of government officials and corporate companies. In today's technology, companies such as Bond utilize robots to create written documents, which mimic natural patterns of handwriting. They generate customizable written samples by simulating pen movements and letter formations. Four forensic document examiners were given various reproduced questioned documents and utilized a modified ACE‐V (analysis, comparison, evaluation, verification) methodology to determine their genuineness. Examiners were able to make a distinction between the human writing samples and the skilled robotic equivalents. Several distinct features that are not seen in natural handwriting, such as even pen pressure and the superimposition of letterforms were observed in the robotic samples. Careful examination of identifying features of the Bond produced documents resulted in an opinion of nongenuineness.     

Ridge Width Correlations between Inked Prints and Powdered Latent Fingerprints

A methodology to estimate the time of latent fingerprint deposition would be of great value to law enforcement and courts. It has been observed that ridge topography changes as latent prints age, including the widths of ridges that could be measured as a function of time. Crime suspects are commonly identified using fingerprint databases that contain reference inked tenprints (flat and rolled impressions). These can be of interest in aging studies as they provide baseline information relating to the original (nonaged) ridges’ widths. In practice, the age of latent fingerprints could be estimated following a comparison process between the evidentiary aged print and the corresponding reference inked print. The present article explores possible correlations between inked and fresh latent fingerprints deposited on different substrates and visualized with TiO₂. The results indicate that the ridge width of flat inked prints is most similar to fresh latent fingerprints_, and these should be used as the comparison standard for future aging studies.     

Perceptions of Economic Inequality and Support for Redistribution: The role of Existential and Utopian Standards

Perceived greater economic inequality is supposedly associated with higher demand for redistribution. However, the findings in the literature are mixed in this regard, with some researchers providing evidence in favour of this association and some findings evidence against it. Given that perceived economic inequality and endorsement of system-justifying beliefs are related to increased inequality acceptance, we explore the interplay between them in relation to support for redistribution. This study is intended to shed light on the role of utopian standards (ideal estimates about what ought to be) as one mechanism that affects the relationship between perceived greater economic inequality and support for redistribution. Based on correlational data (N?=?794), we conducted a conditional process analysis and found that perceived greater inequality displayed a negative indirect effect on support for redistribution, through acceptance of ideal level of economic inequality: Perception of higher inequality was related to increased ideal levels of inequality and thus with lower support for redistribution. In addition, we found that economic system-justifying beliefs conditioned the effect of perceived economic inequality in two ways: First, perceived economic inequality was positively associated with higher acceptance of inequality, and this association was stronger for those that justified the economic system more, and perceived greater inequality was associated with higher support for redistribution—but only for those who endorsed lower levels of economic system justification beliefs. These findings provide evidence that perceived greater economic inequality does not in itself lead to a push for more redistribution; rather, utopian standards such as ideal estimates of economic inequality, which are conditioned by system-justifying ideologies.     

The Relationship between Homelessness and Behavior Problems among Youth in North Texas: a Brief Report

This study sought to examine the relationship between homelessness and behavior problems among a community-based sample of youth in North Texas. Data were obtained from a cross-sectional, probability sample of households and a targeted sample of homeless families in Dallas, Texas, with children older than 5 years old (N?=?5232). Parents were asked to report five behavior problems on behalf of their children including arrest or trouble with police, academic problems, behavior problems at school, suspension, and suicide attempts. Logistic and negative binomial regression procedures were used to examine the relationship between homelessness and behavior problems. Youth exposed to homelessness were 36% (OR?=?1.63; 95% CI 1.00–1.85) more likely to exhibit any kind of behavior problems than youth who had never experienced homelessness. Homeless youth had 5.51 times the odds of arrest (95% CI 2.60–11.68), 1.74 times the odds of academic problems (95% CI 1.24–2.43), and more than 3 times the odds of suicide attempts (95% CI 1.46, 7.61) than youth who had never been homeless. Homelessness was associated with higher rates of problem behavior, including arrests, academic problems, and suicide attempts. Because homeless youth are commonly enrolled in school and present at health care clinics and emergency departments, clinics and schools may aid in the identification of homeless youth, as well as referral to care. In this way, clinicians may help reduce the burden of behavioral problems that disproportionately affect homeless youth.     

Effort,incentives, and culture in the Czech Senate

This paper uses the natural experiment of seat allocation in the first Czech Senate to assess the effects of incentives on legislative effort. Contrary to previous work using similar research designs, the incentive of longer terms has little effect on the effort levels of legislators. This may reflect the parliamentary context, the newness of the Czech Senate, or, most interestingly, political culture.