Imminent Capture and Noncompliance: Probing Deterrence in Extreme Environments

Abstract

Understanding how deterrence operates under extreme conditions is both elusive and important. Studying suspect noncompliance in the form of flight during police-involved vehicle chases provides the opportunity to do this. These are crimes where the certainty of detection could not be higher, yet noncompliance is the end result and arguably comes because of the enhanced sanction risk rather than the obverse (deterrence) or in spite of it (defiance). Drawing from a qualitative sample of 25 auto thieves who have fled from the police, we explore their pre-chase perceptions, their motives for flight, and their decision-making processes during flight to probe the theoretical boundaries of perceptual deterrence. To this end, we pay particular attention to the mediating role of ambiguity aversion and belief updating in reconciling two seemingly inconsistent theoretical perspectives: risk framing and rational choice.     

“程序公正感受”研究及其启示

从 #" 世纪 ’" 年代开始,西方学者对程序公正的研究从伦理哲学分析转向社会心理学分析,试图揭示程序公正的心理规律。研究发现：程序公正的要素并没有绝对标准,具有一定的情境敏感性;不过,程序公正在促进人们接受法律、法律决定和从事积极行为等方面具有比结果公正更为重要的地位,这种现象甚至具有跨越文化、种族、性别的普遍性。为了对此进行解释,西方学者提出了发言权理论、团体价值理论、人际关系理论和公正启发理论等模式,各自都具有一定的解释力。不过,程序公正也有可能成为社会权威转移真实矛盾“欺骗”社会成员的统治策略。对于转型期的我国,程序公正感受研究带给我们的不是其具体的结论,而是告诉我们,研究公正问题时,应当抛开宏大话语,努力探寻中国人心目中的公正观。     

Fear of crime while camping: examining perceptions of risk,safety precautions,and victimization effects

Past research suggests that fear of crime is influenced by several factors including perceptions of risk and previous victimization. Fear of crime may also vary by location and context. The current study examines the influences on fear of crime among campers including perceptions of risk and past experiences with victimization while camping. Survey data collected from individuals camping in state and national parks were analyzed. Fear of crime was significantly related to perceptions of risk and taking safety precautions, however experiencing a previous victimization while camping was only marginally related to fear. Participants expressed higher levels of fear and perceptions of risk in their own neighborhoods compared to when camping. These results are discussed in terms of policy implications and suggestions for further research.     

Trauma-exposed young victims: possibilities and constraints for providing trauma support within the investigative interview

For police, the aim of an investigative interview is to obtain a detailed and reliable account from the interviewee while remaining objective and impartial. This study explores the challenges involved in interviewing traumatised young victims and providing trauma support within the legal framework. The study is based on 19 videotaped investigative interviews of highly traumatised young victims of the 2011 Utøya terror attack in Norway and research interviews with the 17 detectives who conducted the police interviews. We analysed the research interviews that comprise the main data using qualitative inductive methods. We used the videotaped investigative interviews as a framework for the research interviews. We identified various types of constraint and support that the detectives perceived and found that objectivity is critical to the interviewers’ understanding of their professional role, which results in phase-bound support. At the beginning and end of the interview, they perceive opportunities to be supportive that are in accordance with recommended trauma care. However, the interviewing detectives become more passive when the conversation is about the criminal offence and seem less confident about being supportive. This study provides relevant new insights into how police experience interviewing traumatised young victims.     

The view from city hall: Local perceptions of intergovernmental fiscal relations in the Czech Republic

This article analyzes perceptions of inter-governmental fiscal relations as held by local officials of the Czech Republic. The field study probes local perceptions of progress toward fiscal decentralization in the Czech Republic. A statistical analysis is based on a scaling of cities according to size and according to a generalized, multi-part measure of fiscal autonomy. This measure is effective in discriminating high and low autonomy cities by size, types of expenditures, and funding sources. Cities of diverse sizes are divided into groups reflecting perceptions of greater or lesser autonomy. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

TOWARD A BIFURCATED THEORY OF EMOTIONAL DETERRENCE

Since Hobbes (1957 [1651] and Beccaria (1963 [1764]), scholars have theorized that the emotion of fear is critical for deterrence. Nevertheless, contemporary deterrence researchers have mostly overlooked the distinction between perceived sanction risk and fear of apprehension. Whereas perceived risk is a cognitive judgment, fear involves visceral feelings of anxiety or dread. Equally important, a theory explicating the influence of deterrence on both criminal propensity and situational offending has remained elusive. We develop a theoretical model in which perceived risk and fear are distinguished at both the general and situational levels. We test this theoretical model with data from a set of survey‐based experiments conducted in 2016 with a nationwide sample of adults (N = 965). We find that perceived risk and fear are empirically distinct and that perceived risk is positively related to fear at both the general and situational levels. Certain background and situational factors have indirect effects through perceived risk on fear. In turn, perceived risk has indirect effects through fear on both criminal propensity and situational intentions to offend. Fear's inclusion increases explanatory power for both criminal propensity and situational offending intentions. Fear is a stronger predictor than either self‐control or prior offending of situational intentions to offend.     

Munchausen by Proxy: A Qualitative Investigation into Online Perceptions of Medical Child Abuse

In Munchausen by proxy (MBP) maltreatment, increasingly termed “medical child abuse” (MCA), a caregiver fabricates or induces illness in another. The perpetrator's goal for the behavior is to meet personal emotional needs by forcing unnecessary or misguided medical or psychological treatment. Generally, a mother is the perpetrator and her child is the victim. There is a serious lack of research into most aspects of MCA, and this study is the first to utilize the anonymity of an Internet forum to investigate victims' first‐hand experiences of, and the public's opinions about, suspected and confirmed MCA. Three‐hundred and fifty‐six posts by 348 members were explored and coded using formal qualitative content analysis. By accessing an open‐thought online forum, this paper acquired information regarding social perceptions about the nonperpetrating partners who are unaware of the maltreatment; the disturbing and counterintuitive phenomenon of MCA itself; and the resistance often faced by those who attempt to report it.     

Beliefs about secondary confession evidence: a survey of laypeople and defense attorneys

We surveyed students, community members, and defense attorneys regarding beliefs about secondary confession evidence (i.e. when a third party tells authorities that a person has confessed to him or her) from jailhouse informants and other sources. Results indicated that laypeople perceive secondary confessions as less credible than other types of evidence (e.g. forensics, DNA, eyewitness testimony), and they are knowledgeable about factors that may influence the veracity of secondary confessions, such as incentives or previous testimony. However, they underestimated or were uncertain about how persuasive secondary confessions would be to themselves or other jurors. Compared to laypeople, defense attorneys were more sensitive about issues affecting the reliability of secondary confessions.