Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

An Examination Of Police Response To Individuals Suffering With Mental Illness, Aliss Copsey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine police officer response to individuals suffering with mental illness. There had been little prior research that used qualitative methods and explored police officers in rural areas. Several research questions were explored, including stigmatizing beliefs held by police officers toward individuals with mental illness, perceived levels of preparedness, challenges experienced by police officers, improvements officers wish to see implemented, and the impact of Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) training. This study gathered data through semi-structured interviews with 19 police officers who worked in East Tennessee in order to address the research questions. The results …

Blacks' Intergenerational Trauma Triggered By Police Misconduct, Anselma Johnayala

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

A plethora of studies on intergenerational trauma and a nascent body of studies regarding policing are amalgamated in this phenomenological research approach. This phenomenological study aimed to understand the adverse experiences of Black individuals’ interactions with law enforcement and how these involvements contribute to the transmission of trauma. The intergenerational trauma of Blacks’ experiences could be processed through Critical Race Theory (CRT), Personal Construct Theory (PCT), and Bowen’s Multigenerational Family Systems Theory (BMFST). Each theory explains the relationship between a person’s experiences, the generational response and functioning, and the existence of racial bias as proliferated in the oppression of one …

Educated Cops: A Qualitative Analysis Of Police Chiefs' And Police Officers' Perceptions Of The Effects Of Post-Secondary Education On Job Performance, James Wesley Blair

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Municipal policing in the United requires a complex array of skills for police officers to perform the duties of their jobs effectively. At any given time, a police officer may act in the role of a warrior in confronting an armed assailant in a school or deliver a death notification to a family whose life has just been shattered by a tragic car crash. That same officer will be asked to perform CPR on a heart attack victim, counsel a suicidal individual on the edge of a bridge, and deliver a presentation to a group of business owners. Each of …

Citizen Empowerment As A Police Force Multiplier: Reproducing Social Domination Through A 21st Century Personal Safety App, Justin Turner, Travis Milburn

Faculty Publications—Sociology and Anthropology

Citizen is a digital mapping platform and personal safety app that boasts over 10 million users in the United States. Through the platform, users can report crimes, map safe routes, or rely on the app’s other functions to protect themselves from dangerous situations. Sold on a promise of empowerment, Citizen markets itself as a 21st century technology capable of repairing the ills of our social world. In this article we analyze how Citizen taps into the desire for control and safety and urges its users to actively protect their own communities. As such, we suggest that while surveillant in nature, …

Exploring Police K-9 Deaths, Their Causes, And Possible Remedies, John Wise

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Police K-9s face daily dangers due to their work. Data collected by the Officer Down Memorial Page from 2000-2023 on K-9 deaths (N = 405) shows that of K-9s that die in the line of duty, many fall victim to heat stroke. Research was conducted comparing heat stroke to all other causes of death. Through an exploration into the history of mankind’s use of working dogs, the unique capabilities of both dogs and K-9 specific dog breeds and applying Routine Activity Theory and Lifestyle Routine Activity Theory to police K-9s, this study’s objective is to bring awareness to, and …

Redistributing Justice, Benjamin Levin, Kate Levine

Scholarship@WashULaw

This article surfaces an obstacle to decarceration hiding in plain sight: progressives’ continued support for the carceral system. Despite increasingly prevalent critiques of criminal law from progressives, there hardly is a consensus on the left in opposition to the carceral state. Many left-leaning academics and activists who may critique the criminal system writ large remain enthusiastic about criminal law in certain areas—often areas where defendants are imagined as powerful and victims as particularly vulnerable. In this article, we offer a novel theory for what animates the seemingly conflicted attitude among progressives toward criminal punishment—the hope that the criminal system can …

A Quantitative Analysis Of Servant-Leadership Characteristics Among Those Called To Serve And Protect, Louden S.B. Suggs

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to determine if servant-leader characteristics were common among recruits enrolled in basic law enforcement training programs in North Carolina Community Colleges and the relationship between recruit commitment to preserving public safety and public order and the call or natural feeling to serve others. This study explored whether law enforcement recruits inherently possessed servant-leader characteristics defined by Greenleaf and Spears (1998, 2002) and described in Matthew and Mark. One hundred eleven law enforcement recruits, both men and women, from various demographic backgrounds actively enrolled in 22 North Carolina Community College System’s Basic Law …

Collaborative Policing For Handling Communalconflicts (Case Study: Conflicts Betweenpapuans And Yogyakartans), Tagor Hutapea

International Review of Humanities Studies

In this study, there are 2 (two) groups of conflicting citizens, namely the Papuans living in Yogyakarta which consist of students and working residents, and Yogyakartans, that is several ethnic groups other than ethnic Papuan. This study uses a qualitative approach and the paradigm of constructivism. The root of the conflicts is the Papuans’ perception of their historical past as well as cultural elements such as poverty, lack of education, and lifestyle. The triggers of conflict is the Papuans’ negative lifestyles, namely frequently get drunk, eating without paying the bill, breaking traffic rules, and always shouting “merdeka” (meaning independence) when …

“If I Was That Cop…”: Improving Attitudes Toward Police Through An Educational Intervention For Use-Of-Force Knowledge And Empathy, Randle Aaron Molina Villanueva

All Dissertations

While public outrage in response to excessive force is appropriate and understandable (e.g., Rodney King), there are also use-of-force instances which may be misconstrued as excessive by civilians due to a lack of understanding of the law, policies, and procedures for police use of force (UOF). This can lead to negative perceptions of police officers. This poses a threat to healthy police-community relations, as positive perceptions of the police are reliable predictors of compliance and voluntary cooperation with them (Choi, 2021). To balance overly negative perceptions of police who are following protocol and potentially increase the positivity of perceptions, this …

Unf@Cking People’S Problems: A Theory Of Policing, Laura Huey, Stephen Johnston

Sociology Publications

One of the problems that has plagued policing researchers over the past few decades – ourselves included -- is the interminable question of ‘what do police do?’ Some ideas, tasks, roles, institutions and other social creations are easy to define. Policing has not been one of those. In part, it’s because it’s not only a descriptive problem, it’s also a normative one. Once you start to address the question of what do police do, then you also have to wrestle with the much meatier issue of ‘what do we want police to do’? In this paper, we exercise our theory …

A Vicious Cycle: How Racialised Moral Panics Simultaneously Reproduce (And Are Reproduced By) Repressive Policing Practices, Oscar D. Sharples

Culture, Society, and Praxis

Policing and moral panics exist in a mutually reinforcing, reciprocal relationship, the harmful outcomes of which are disproportionately directed towards poor communities of colour. This paper will draw on two examples of moral panics: those surrounding Islamic terrorism and Black crime, in order to illustrate the harm that this reinforcing relationship can cause. This harm manifests itself in increasingly restrictive antiterrorism laws, Prevent initiatives, racial profiling, and internal surveillance within the Muslim community; as well as the policies of Joint Enterprise, Knife Crime Prevention Orders (KCPOs), and the strengthening of the school-to-prison pipeline, which disproportionally target Black youth. With reference …

Examining The Role Of Evidence-Based Suspicion In Racial Disparities In Wrongful Convictions, Jacqueline Katzman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

There are clear racial disparities in the rates of wrongful convictions, with Black exonerees disproportionately represented among the population of those exonerated, in DNA and non-DNA exonerations alike (National Registry of Exonerations, 2022; Innocence Project, 2022). This racial disparity also exists for those exonerees who were wrongfully convicted, at least in part, because an eyewitness mistakenly identified them. For decades, when eyewitness scholars explored racial bias, they focused on the cross-race effect or own-race bias among eyewitnesses, a bias positing that witness performance suffers when a witness is asked to make an identification of a cross-race face (Lee & Penrod, …

Los Angeles Homeless Encampments: East Of Mainstreet, Desarey Castellanos

Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science

Homelessness can impact a person’s ability to navigate public spaces, find employment, meet basic subsistence, and have access to essential social services. Instead, the long-term consequences of homelessness have been focused of the criminalization of unhoused people. This fieldwork analyzes the daily obstacles that individuals face east of main street in downtown Los Angeles. Although wide variation exists from different locations many challenges stemming from mental illness, substance use disorder, and ostracization from mainstream society make these circumstances increasingly difficult to navigate. All these factors are influenced by the policy environments that continuously impact these targeted populations. I will present …

The Pride Ban On Police: Experiences Of Lgbtq+ With Policing In New York, Alista G. Brawner

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Social Work’S Role In Addressing Police Oppression: Social Workers’ Perspectives, Jess Husband

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Background: Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) and other marginalized identities experience constant oppression by the systems of policing. Based on the NASW Code of Ethics, social workers have an ethical responsibility to challenge social injustices. Because of the interactions between the two professions, social workers are in a unique position to engage in this social justice issue. Objective: This research study explored social workers’ perceptions of their ethical responsibilities in responding to oppressive policing. Methods: This concurrent nested mixed-method study gathered data from 12 participants. Participants were social workers within the state of Texas, recruited through …

An Experimental Look At Reasonable Suspicion And Police Discretion, Kyle Mclean, Justin Nix, Seth W. Stoughton, Ian T. Adams, Geoffrey P. Alpert

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Purpose

This study aims to demonstrate the need for further examination of legal judgments and the exercise of discretion in policing.

Design/methodology/approach

A factorial vignette survey with traffic stop scenarios based on US Court of Appeals decisions was administered to 396 police officers across six states. Officers were asked to indicate their assessment of the presence of reasonable suspicion and the likelihood that they would extend the stop for investigatory purposes.

Findings

Officers' reasonable suspicion judgments are significantly influenced by the vignette facts and align with court ruling expectations. However, even in the presence of reasonable suspicion, responses indicate a …

Law Library Blog (February 2023): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Unraveling The "Thin Blue Line": Policing As An Engine Of Inequality - Appendix: Survey Materials, Vanessa Massaro, Geoff A. Boyce

Other Faculty Research and Publications

This zip file contains the data collection materials that accompany this forthcoming paper.

A Race-Police Regime: Nypd Technology And Urban Governance In New York City, Elliott Liu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation draws on three years of ethnographic and archival research to explore the relationship between technology, policing and race at the NYPD. In focusing on the ways problems are constructed and police power enacted, I explore the more-than-human entanglements in the production of race and the governance of cities under racial capitalism. My overarching claim is that urban governance works through contentious techno-political arrangements I call race-police regimes, which sanction and elicit race by enacting forms of exclusion and belonging. Racial capitalism in New York City, I argue, is governed through a technocratic mode of policing which leverages …

The Murder Of George Floyd: A Case Study Examining How The Policing Of Black Men And Grassroots Activism Influence The Will Of Black Women To Lead, Ella Gates-Mahmoud

Doctorate in Education

This study's objective investigates the viewpoints held by Black women in two urban areas of Minnesota about the social upheaval that followed the murder of George Floyd in 2020 for using a counterfeit $20 bill. In the last decade, police killings of innocent Black people in the United States have received more attention, and Floyd's death is only one example of this phenomenon. In the U.S., the likelihood of a police officer taking the life of a Black man is higher than that of a White man. Between 2013-2019 there have been 1,641 fatal shootings of defenseless Black men by …

Seeking Sexual Order: Moral Panic And The Politics Of Prostitution During The Progressive Era, Kennadi Yates

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Interiorization And Localization: An Analysis Of Immigration Enforcement In Local Contexts, Manuel N. Leiva

Theses and Dissertations

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal agency that plays a large role in surveilling, apprehending, detaining, incarcerating, and deporting undocumented immigrants in the United States. Due to constraints on the number of ICE’s available personnel and resources, the agency relies on deputizing, or devolving to local law enforcement agencies the authority to enforce federal immigration policies. Prior to the 1990s, the enforcement of policies directed at controlling flows of undocumented immigrants was generally under the purview of federal law enforcement agencies and administrators, not state or local ones. The attacks on September, 11^th 2001 represented a flashpoint, …

How The “Black Criminal” Stereotype Shapes Black People’S Psychological Experience Of Policing: Evidence Of Stereotype Threat And Remaining Questions, Cynthia J. Najdowski

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Cultural stereotypes that link Black race to crime in the U.S. originated in and are perpetuated by policies that result in the disproportionate criminalization and punishment of Black people. The scientific record is replete with evidence that these stereotypes impact perceivers’ perceptions, information processing, and decision-making in ways that produce more negative criminal legal outcomes for Black people than White people. However, relatively scant attention has been paid to understanding how situations that present a risk of being evaluated through the lens of crime-related stereotypes also directly affect Black people. In this article, I consider one situation in particular: encounters …

A Comparison Of The Mental Health Of Police Officers And Correctional Officers In Rural Appalachia, Sierra Thomas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore perceptions of mental health among police officers and correctional officers within rural Appalachia. The main goal of this research was to better understand how the occupational demands of working in the criminal justice field can impact one’s mental health over time. Several research questions were explored, including the prevalence of various mental health problems, associated stressors, the structure of support among officers, and the perceptions of mental health treatment services. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with 21 police and correctional officers located in rural Appalachia. Results provided a better understanding of …

Enhancing The Representation Of Women: How Gender Diversity Signals And Acknowledgement Affect Attraction To Men-Dominated Professions, Thomas P. Depatie, Anmol Sachdeva, Comila Shahani-Denning, Rebecca Grossman, Kevin P. Nolan

Personnel Assessment and Decisions

While organizations around the world recognize the importance of gender diversity and inclusion, many struggle to reach gender parity (Sneader & Yee, 2020). Particularly, women account for less than 15% of all sworn police officers (Donohue Jr, 2020). Considering signaling theory and novel research in organizational impression management, we examined the utility of various recruitment messaging techniques for attracting women job seekers to professions dominated by men, at both a consulting firm and law enforcement agency. Women evaluating consulting firm materials perceived greater behavioral integrity and were subsequently more attracted to the organization if recruitment messages included both high gender …

Public Interest Or Policy Diffusion: Analyzing The Effects Of Massage Therapist Municipal Licensing, Darwyyn Deyo, Kofi Ampaabeng, Conor Norris, Edward Timmons

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

Massage therapy is widely licensed by the states. However, municipalities also often passed massage therapist licensing, motivated by preventing prostitution. Using a novel dataset on municipal licensing and crime data from the FBI, we test if local massage therapist licensing reduced prostitution. We also test a policy diffusion hypothesis, in which cities pass responsive massage therapist licensing. We find that municipal massage therapist licensing does not lead to a reduction in prostitution, but we find support for the policy diffusion hypothesis, with municipalities up to 65% more likely to pass responsive licensing within three years of their neighbor doing so.

Evaluating The Panoptic Deterrent Effect Of Skywatch Surveillance Towers: A Mixed Methods Analysis, Penny M. Geyer

Doctoral Works at the University of New Haven

The internalization of an all-seeing gaze is an important component of crime control, whether in the form of suitable guardians, place managers, or meticulous surveillance ceremonies. Specifically, panoptic technologies have the potential to “normalize” behaviors through visible yet unverifiable surveillance. Although marketed as a technology that deters crime, SkyWatch surveillance towers’ actual deterrent effect has never been empirically evaluated. Such an assessment is critical not only from a crime reduction perspective, but also one of cost-effectiveness as these towers cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Utilizing a sequential triangulation mixed method procedure, information from 21 semi-structured interviews was combined with …

Crime Attractors In Sin City? A Pre/Post Test Of Crime Patterns And Police Enforcement Around Recreational Marijuana Facilities, Joshua Donnelly

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The federalist system in the United States has created criminal opportunities within jurisdictions that have approved recreational marijuana facilities (RMFs). These facilities have characteristics that are attractive for motivated offenders including marijuana and marijuana-related tangible goods. Through ArcGIS, this research examined the crime patterns and police enforcement patterns that occurred within a 288-meter street-network buffer around RMFs through a pre/post-test exploratory design in the Las Vegas area. The time periods examined were 2015 to 2016 (pre-legalization), and 2018 to 2019 (post-legalization). Calls for service data were used to demonstrate both crime and enforcement patterns. Furthermore, facilities were classified into “local …

Policing The Project: Crime, Carcerality, And Chicago Public Housing, Madeleine Rose Hamlinn

Dissertations - ALL

This project examines how Chicago's public housing was policed from 1937 to 2000, when the city announced plans to redevelop public housing into privately-owned mixed-income communities under the Plan for Transformation. Drawing upon interviews, historical newspapers, and archival records, it centrally argues that policing contributed to making public housing into a carceral space: one that resembled the prison in design and management and also funneled residents into the criminal-legal system. Writing against popular narratives of public housing as an inherent site of crime and violence, this project instead positions the police—and, by extension, the state—as a central contributor to violence …

Dividing The Blue Line: The Cultural Work Of Rural Policing In Upstate New York, Michael Branch

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation focuses on the ways in which residents of Old Forge, New York make use of policing as a resource to structure and reproduce social and symbolic boundaries. Drawing on in-depth interviews with a combination of 40 permanent residents and second-home owners in the area, I explore how policing in this rural amenity-based tourist town is rooted in the economic and social histories of the area and how it structures access to social and moral capital for residents. I focus on how social divisions between permanent residents and second-home owners are observed and experienced by both groups and how …