Female Police Officers and Their Experiences: The Metropolitan Police of Buenos Aires Context

This research explores the experience of female police officers in the Metropolitan Police of Buenos Aires, which began providing public safety in 2010. The purpose of this research is to better understand the barriers and opportunities female officers are encountering in this new context of community policing in Latin America. With better understanding, law enforcement officials will be better equipped to ensure that female officers achieve at the highest levels in organizations. Responding female officers identified civic duty as a primary reason for joining the force. Female officers did not report significant levels of institutional discrimination but did report informal disparaging treatment, including sexual harassment. The results of this research suggest that as this young police force matures, officials should pay close attention to the emerging culture of the organization, as many common and negative aspects of it have already started to form.     

Elusive justice: tribal police officers’ perception of justice in an American Indian community

This paper explores justice-related perceptions among tribal police officers providing service within a southeastern Indian Reservation in the United States. Interviews with 27 tribal police officers were conducted to understand the manner of the administration of tribal justice. Almost half of the participants interviewed felt that their tribal justice system was dysfunctional due to inter-tribal politics, federal government restrictions, and lenient tribal judges. Additionally, tribal police officers also described the failure of the federal government in prosecuting felony crimes on the reservation. As a result, they believed that both the tribal and federal criminal justice systems did not adequately address crime on the reservation.     

Modeling Change in Perceptions about Sanction Threats: The Neglected Linkage in Deterrence Theory

Deterrence theory describes a process of offender decision making that consists of two linkages—one in which official sanctions and other information affect a would-be offenders perceptions about the risks of criminal conduct, and another in which such perceptions influence the decision whether or not to offend. Decades worth of empirical research has concentrated virtually exclusively on this latter linkage, and in so doing, has produced an incomplete account of the deterrence process. This article develops a model of how perceptions of sanction certainty are modified in response to an individuals involvement in criminal activity and the consequences (if any) therefrom. Implications of the model are tested with data from a multi-wave, panel survey of 1,530 high school students from the southeastern U.S. Key findings include: the manner in which new information affects perceived certainty depends on the level of perceived certainty before the new information is received, and the extent of peer offending was one of the most influential factors in determining change in perceived sanction certainty over time.     

The Effect of Gender in the Perception of Elder Physical Abuse in Court

Two experiments investigated mock jurors' perceptions of elder abuse (EA) in a physical assault case. In Experiment 1, participants read a fictional criminal trial summary of a physical assault case in which the alleged victim was 66, 76, or 86 years old. In Experiment 2, the age of the alleged victim was 76 years old, but the gender of the alleged victim and the gender of the defendant were crossed. The results of the experiments showed that women believed the alleged victim more and rendered a guilty verdict more often than men. Overall, the alleged victim was believed more than the defendant regardless of the age of the alleged victim, and most verdicts were guilty. These results are discussed in terms of the factors that affect perceptions of alleged victims of EA in court.     

Victim's perceptions of initial police responses to robbery and aggravated assault: Does race matter?

Despite the fact that police officers are usually the first persons within the criminal justice system to respond to a criminal victimization, the majority of research investigating racial discrimination within the system has examined primarily the effects of race on adjudication outcomes which occur after initial police interventions, such as conviction decisions and sentences. Very little empirical effort has been devoted to examining the effects of race on early police responses to a reported victimization. Using data from the National Crime Victimization Survey from 1987 to 1992, this paper investigates the effects of both the victim's and the offender's race on three police responses to robbery and aggravated assault: (1) police response time to the scene, (2) effort exerted by the police at the scene, and (3) likelihood of arrest. It was found that police were quicker to respond and also exerted more effort at the scene such as searching and taking evidence to incidents of black on white robbery compared to all other racial dyads. This relationship held even after controlling for other factors such as victim-offender relationship, poverty, injury to the victim, and victim's gender. No significant effects of race, however, were found when predicting the probability of arrest in cases of robbery. The effects of race on police responses to aggravated assault were more complicated. For assaults involving strangers, police were significantly more likely to exert additional effort at the scene if the victim was white and the offender was perceived to be black. This effect was reversed, however, for nonstranger assault victimizations. Police were significantlyless likely to exert effort at the scene or to make an arrest in black on white assaults involving nonstrangers. The most consistent predictors of arrest in both stranger and nonstranger assault victimizations were police response time, injury to the victim, and the incident occurring in a public setting.     

Just the Ticket? The Labour Party's Deputy Leadership Election of 2007

Although there were six contenders for Labour's Deputy Leadership contest, it was conducted with remarkably little personal animosity. Nor, for the most part, were there substantive policy differences between the challengers, with the notable exception of the Iraq War. Instead, there was a clear determination to 'move on' from Blairism, and an acknowledgement that changes or new priorities were now necessary in key areas of policy, albeit without lurching to the Left or reviving 'Old Labour'. As such, the main differences between the candidates derived from their differing perceptions of the role of the Deputy Leader, and what they would each contribute to the post if elected. The ballot also revealed the manner in which support for the six contenders varied across the three sections of Labour's electoral college, so that each candidate tended to be more popular among one section of the Party, but enjoyed less support from the other two sections.     

‘Just kidding. I'm white!’ knowledge,perceptions and attitudes of white and Indian male university students towards HIV prevention

This article reports the findings of a qualitative study that explored what white and Indian students at a South African university felt and knew about HIV prevention. The study explored the knowledge, perceptions and attitudes of white and Indian male students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal's (UKZN) Howard College towards medical male circumcision (MMC) as an HIV prevention procedure. The study was prompted, in part, by a cynical tweet by Justine Sacco, which implied that HIV is an exclusively black disease. More substantially, the research aimed to fill a gap in studies of non-black student demographics with regard to HIV prevention. The level of knowledge and the attitudes of white and Indian male students were explored to establish the acceptability of HIV prevention amongst these two demographics. To what extent do non-black students care about HIV prevention and prevalence amongst themselves? The prevention method selected for the study was MMC - a choice informed by UKZN's formal adoption and roll out, in 2013, of MMC as its latest HIV prevention strategy for students and staff. The study, which sampled 40 students, was rooted in the Health Belief Model, which explains health behaviour change in terms of barriers, benefits and cues to action, as well as the Social Ecology Model, which recognises the interwoven relationship between individuals and their greater environment. A qualitative, interpretive, exploratory research design was employed. Data were collected using semi-structured interview questions, and analysed thematically. The findings suggest a relatively widespread perception that white and Indian students are not at risk of HIV, demonstrating that the association of HIV with a specific race is both a sad fact and a sign of enduring prejudice and stigma.     

INDEFINITE PUNISHMENT AND THE CRIMINAL RECORD: STIGMA REPORTS AMONG EXPUNGEMENT‐SEEKERS IN ILLINOIS*

Although criminal records in the United States are more publicly accessible than ever before, we lack knowledge about how record‐bearers seek to overcome the negative consequences associated with a visible criminal record as they apply for jobs, housing, and financial aid. Furthermore, although criminal histories record all arrests—and not just those that result in conviction—researchers have yet to compare how those with more extensive versus minor criminal records cope with criminal record stigma. We present interview data from a comparative study of expungement‐seekers (N = 53) who have petitioned the courts to remove their criminal records from public view. One group had extensive criminal records (46 percent); the other group had more minor criminal records (54 percent). Several key findings emerged. First, both groups of participants tried, but failed, to persuade potential employers and landlords to overlook the criminal record. They also faced restricted educational opportunity. Second, participants in both groups expressed distress that criminal justice contact could follow them throughout their lives, subjecting them to ongoing stigma. However, those with extensive versus minor criminal records offered different rationales explaining why the visible criminal record history unfairly burdened them. Implications for reintegration theory and policy are discussed.     

国际社会对全球安全倡议的多重认知与中国的推进策略

全球安全倡议是破解全球安全困境的中国方案。全球安全倡议提出后受到国际社会的极大关注，相关分析对于全球安全倡议提出的背景、意图、价值、实施步骤和面临的挑战进行了多方面解读。这些分析认为中国提出倡议的动机主要包括打造新安全秩序论、贡献安全机遇论、提升安全话语论、维护国家安全论及另起炉灶论等。全球安全倡议能够纠正国际安全秩序失衡状况，推动构建国际和地区安全新架构，同时动摇美国对国际安全事务的霸主地位，提升中国的国际安全话语权与地区影响力。当前，国际层面的分析从评估中国提出全球安全倡议的意图转向批判性地评估中国将倡议付诸行动的能力。总体上，国际舆论对全球安全倡议可行性的态度包括积极响应、谨慎乐观、中立观望、质疑担忧和否定抵制五派论调。国际负面认知的原因既有西方地缘政治安全的理论荒谬原因，也有美国追求对抗性权力博弈的实践霸道原因；既有国际倡议被误读的一般原因，又有安全倡议被误读的特殊原因；既有国际社会根深蒂固安全竞争的外部原因，也有倡议作为新理念尚待具体化的内部原因。基于“舆论—回应”机制，中国应理性看待这些负面认知，采取有针对性的应对策略，消除部分国家对全球安全倡议的误解。坚持多方位传播，推动更多国家支持并加入全球安全倡议，打造不可分割的安全共同体，探索中国特色热点问题解决之道。