Identifying variation in police officer behavior between juveniles and adults

This research explores the basis of officer decision making during encounters with juvenile suspects, and compares these encounters to those between police and adults. Specifically, two types of officer behavior are examined: the decision to arrest, and the exercise of authority. Officer behavior during encounters with juvenile suspects is compared and contrasted to encounters with adult suspects. Results from multivariate analyses find juveniles are significantly more likely to be arrested than adults; however, officers do not exercise different levels of authority during interactions with juvenile suspects. Results also indicate that the factors shaping officer behavior varies across age of suspect, namely, the community context and officer's race offer significantly different influences on juveniles than on adults. Other factors also influence officer discretion differently depending on the age of the suspect, most noteworthy being disrespectful demeanor. The results indicate that police officer behavior during encounters with juvenile suspects is very different than during encounters with adults.     

Perceptions of Same-sex Domestic Violence Among Crisis Center Staff

Crisis center staff help form the frontline in the fight against domestic violence. Therefore, it is important that we understand any biases they may have when addressing cases of same-sex domestic violence. In this study, 120 crisis center staff members were given a vignette depicting a domestic dispute and asked to complete a questionnaire about their perceptions of the incident and the parties involved. We manipulated the sex of the perpetrator and victim. All other aspects of the vignette remained consistent. Because gay and lesbian relationships are often perceived as less serious than heterosexual relationships, we hypothesized that participants would perceive same-sex domestic violence as such. Consistent with this hypothesis, participants rated same-sex domestic violence scenarios as less serious than opposite-sex domestic violence and as less likely to get worse over time.     

The impact of after‐school programs on the routine activities of middle‐school students: Results from a randomized,controlled trial*

Research Summary Unsupervised after‐school time for adolescents is a concern for parents and policymakers alike. Evidence linking unsupervised adolescent socializing to problem behavior outcomes heightens this concern among criminologists. Routine activities theory suggests that, when youth peer groups congregate away from adult authority, both opportunity for and motivation to engage in deviant acts increase. After‐school programs are a possible solution to unsupervised teen socializing during afternoon hours and are much in demand. However, empirical research has yet to test the relationship between the availability of after‐school programs and youth routine activities. This study presents evidence from a multisite, randomized, controlled trial of an after‐school program for middle‐school students in an urban school district. Policy Implications Youth in the treatment group engaged in less unsupervised socializing after school than youth in the control group but not as much less as would be expected if the after‐school program was providing consistent supervision to youth who would otherwise be unsupervised. Additional analyses examined why the influence of the after‐school program was not more pronounced. We found that, although program attendance was related to decreases in unsupervised socializing, the program did not attract many delinquency‐prone youths who were unsupervised, which suggests that the students most in need of the program did not benefit. Furthermore, data obtained from a mid‐year activity survey revealed that youth in the study were highly engaged in a variety of after‐school activities. The addition of the after‐school program into the mixture of available activities had little effect on the frequency with which students participated in organized activities after school.     

History’s Challenge to Criminal Law Theory

After briefly sketching an historical account of criminal law that emphasizes its longstanding reach into social, commercial and personal life outside the core areas of criminal offenses, this paper explores why criminal law theory has never succeeded in limiting the content of criminal codes to offenses that fit the criteria of dominant theories, particularly versions of the harm principle. Early American writers on criminal law endorsed no such limiting principles to criminal law, and early American criminal law consequently was substantively broad. But even with the rise of theories in the mid-nineteenth century that sought to limit criminal law’s reach, codified offenses continued to widely and deeply regulate social life and exceed the limits of those normative arguments. This essay suggests that this practical failure of criminal law theory occurred because it was never adopted by an institutional actor that could limit offense definitions in accord with normative commitments. Legislatures are institutionally unsuited to having their policy actions limited by principled arguments, and courts passed on the opportunity to incorporate a limiting principle for criminal law once they began, in the Lochner era, actively regulating legislative decisions through Constitutional law. The one avenue through which criminal law theory has had some success in affecting criminal codes is through the influence of specialized bodies that influence legislation, especially the American Law Institute advocacy of the Model Penal Code. But the institutional structure of American criminal law policymaking permits an unusually small role for such specialized bodies, and without such an institutional mechanism, criminal law theory is likely to continue to have little effect on actual criminal codes.     

How Can We Help Witnesses to Remember More? It’s an (Eyes) Open and Shut Case

Five experiments tested the idea that instructing a witness to close their eyes during retrieval might increase retrieval success. In Experiment 1 participants watched a video, before a cued-recall test for which they were either instructed to close their eyes, or received no-instructions. Eye-closure led to an increase in correct cued-recall, with no increase in incorrect responses. Experiments 2-5 sought to test the generality of this effect over variations in study material (video or live interaction), test format (cued- or free-recall) and information modality (visual or auditory details recalled). Overall, eye-closure increased recall of both visual detail and auditory details, with no accompanying increase in recall of false details. Collectively, these data convincingly demonstrate the benefits of eye-closure as an aid to retrieval, and offer insight into why hypnosis, which usually involves eye-closure, may facilitate eyewitness recall.     

"The red zone": temporal risk for unwanted sex among college students

The "red zone" usually refers to the first few weeks of the first semester at college, when female students are believed to be at greatest risk for experiencing unwanted sex. We tested this notion using data from a survey study of 207 first-and second-year students (121 women, 84 men) at a small, liberal arts university. Results demonstrated only one significant elevation in incidence rates of first- and second-year women's unwanted sexual experiences (sexual touching, attempted and completed anal, oral, and vaginal sex), between the end of the first month and fall break (mid-October) during the second year at school. Previous research and local information about the relevant behaviors of sorority and fraternity members is discussed in light of these findings to provide heuristic material for further empirical testing. Because risk may involve both temporal and situational factors, systematic collection and dissemination of local data are recommended.     

Capture and culture: organizational identity in New York Blue Cross.

This article explores the changing corporate culture of New York's Blue Cross and Blue Shield plan in its first fifty years. As the plan grew, corporate culture evolved over four sequential phases: the plan first had the character of an experiment, then that of a movement, a business, and, most recently, a corporate agglomerate. Accompanying this evolution has been an identity crisis, as the need to adapt to a turbulent environment has challenged the plan's settled understanding of its core values, namely, voluntarism, community, and cooperation.