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Full-Text Articles in Criminology
What Does The Public Want Police To Do During Pandemics? A National Experiment, Justin Nix, Stefan Ivanov, Justin T. Pickett
What Does The Public Want Police To Do During Pandemics? A National Experiment, Justin Nix, Stefan Ivanov, Justin T. Pickett
Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications
We administered a survey experiment to a national sample of 1,068 US adults in April 2020 to determine the factors that shape support for various policing tactics in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Respondents were sharply divided in their views about pandemic policing tactics, and were least supportive of policies that might limit public access to officers or reduce crime deterrence. Information about the health risks to officers, but not to inmates, significantly increased support for “precautionary” policing, but not for “social distance” policing. The information effect was modest, but may be larger if the information came from official …
Racial Differences In Conceptualizing Legitimacy And Trust In Police, Erin M. Kearns, Emma Ashooh, Belen Lowrey-Kinberg
Racial Differences In Conceptualizing Legitimacy And Trust In Police, Erin M. Kearns, Emma Ashooh, Belen Lowrey-Kinberg
Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications
Scholarly debate on how best to conceptualize legitimacy and trust in police has generally assumed these conceptualizations are stable across demographics. Recent evidence, however, suggests that this may not be the case. We examine how the public conceptualizes legitimacy and trust in police, how public conceptualizations relate to academic debate on these terms, and how public views differ between and within racial groups. This work is exploratory, though it is rooted in differences found in theoretically driven empirical work on the subject. Data are from online, national samples of White (N = 650), Black (N = 624), and …
Prison Officer Legitimacy, Their Exercise Of Power, And Inmate Rule Breaking, Benjamin Steiner, John Wooldredge
Prison Officer Legitimacy, Their Exercise Of Power, And Inmate Rule Breaking, Benjamin Steiner, John Wooldredge
Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications
Prison officers are directly responsible for transmitting penal culture and prison policy to the confined, yet few studies of officers’ impact on inmate behavior have been conducted. We examined the effect of inmates’ perceptions of officer legitimacy on rule breaking within prisons, as well as the effects of officers’ reliance on different power bases on rates of rule breaking across prisons. The findings from bi-level analyses of data from inmates and officers from 33 prisons revealed that inmates who held stronger views regarding officer legitimacy committed fewer nonviolent infractions but that perceived legitimacy did not affect the number of violent …
Exploring Officer Views Of Community Policing In Counterterrorism, Erin M. Kearns
Exploring Officer Views Of Community Policing In Counterterrorism, Erin M. Kearns
Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications
Recently there has been increased emphasis on actionable intelligence in counterterrorism. Building from the process-based model of regulation, police chiefs and scholars generally agree that community policing has promise in this regard. Yet, it is not clear the extent to which police officers concur. Since officers are in a position to implement community policing practices, it is important to understand variants in officer-level support. Using data collected from 741 officers in three departments, this project explores officer-level views of community policing’s utility to address terrorism and more common crimes. Overall, officers view community policing as appropriate to address both common …
Command-Level Police Officers’ Perceptions Of The “War On Cops” And De-Policing, Justin Nix, Scott E. Wolfe, Bradley A. Campbell
Command-Level Police Officers’ Perceptions Of The “War On Cops” And De-Policing, Justin Nix, Scott E. Wolfe, Bradley A. Campbell
Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications
Policing has been the subject of intense public scrutiny for the better part of two years after several high-profile police killings of unarmed African Americans across the United States. The scrutiny has been so extreme that some contend there is currently a “war on cops”—whereby citizens are emboldened by protests and negative media coverage of the police, and are lashing out by assaulting police officers more frequently. In response, it is argued that officers are de-policing (i.e. avoiding proactive stops). We surveyed command-level police officers from a southeastern state about their attitudes concerning the war on cops and de-policing. The …
Police Perceptions Of Their External Legitimacy In High And Low Crime Areas Of The Community, Justin Nix
Police Perceptions Of Their External Legitimacy In High And Low Crime Areas Of The Community, Justin Nix
Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications
Until recently, police legitimacy research has primarily focused on citizen perceptions of the police. However, it may be that the police believe citizens associate other factors, such as distributive justice or performance, with legitimacy. The present study adds to the literature by surveying a nationally representative sample of U.S. police officers about how they believe citizens residing in high and low crime areas of the community evaluate police in terms of legitimacy. Findings suggest that respondents believe procedural justice and distributive justice are important to citizens of both areas in terms of generating trust. At the same time, respondents believe …
Do The Police Believe That Legitimacy Promotes Cooperation From The Public?, Justin Nix
Do The Police Believe That Legitimacy Promotes Cooperation From The Public?, Justin Nix
Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications
Tyler’s process-based model of regulation suggests that when citizens perceive the police as a legitimate authority, they are more likely to cooperate in the form of reporting crimes and providing information to the police. Yet most studies have considered citizens’ perceptions of police legitimacy—few studies have asked the police what they feel makes them legitimate in the eyes of the public. Likewise, no studies have considered whether the police believe legitimacy is associated with cooperation from the public. The present study addresses this gap using data from a stratified sample of U.S. police executives. Findings suggest police believe performance, rather …