Criminology 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 …

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 …

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

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

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 …

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 …

The American Racial Divide In Fear Of The Police, Justin T. Pickett, Amanda Graham, Francis T. Cullen

Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology Faculty Publications

The mission of policing is “to protect and serve,” but recent events suggest that many Americans, and especially Black Americans, do not feel protected from the police. Understanding police-related fear is important because it may impact civilians’ health, daily lives, and policy attitudes. To examine the prevalence, sources, and consequences of both personal and altruistic fear of the police, we surveyed a nationwide sample (N = 1,150), which included comparable numbers of Black (N = 517) and White (N = 492) respondents. Most White respondents felt safe, but most Black respondents lived in fear of the police killing them and …

Voluntary Contacts With Police: Do Differences In Perceptions Of Police Still Exist?, Regan Harper

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Publicized police misconduct and brutality over the past decade have contributed to increased tensions between the police and community. Exposure to these encounters can result in negative perceptions of police and have serious policy implications for funding of police departments. Although prior research has focused on previous contacts with police, little is known about how voluntary contacts with police can shape an individual’s perceptions. Given the recent death of George Floyd and movement to “defund the police,” the current study aims to determine whether there are demographic differences in perceptions of police among those who have experienced prior voluntary contacts …

Law Enforcement Policy And Personnel Responses To Terrorism: Do Prior Attacks Predict Current Preparedness?, Bryce Kirk

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Terrorism has been on the mind of the American people and politicians alike since the 9/11 attacks over two decades ago. In the years since, there has been a massive shift in law enforcement priorities from community-oriented policing (COP) to homeland security-oriented policing. This was especially evident in the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon in 2001, which was established to aid law enforcement entities with terrorism preparedness. While prior literature has addressed a variety of factors that have contributed to terrorism preparedness, very little research has …

Does Diversity Matter? Police Violence, Minority Representation, And Urban Policing, Maddy Mcvaugh

PPPA Paper Prize

This paper argues that, while increasing officer diversity may prove beneficial to some urban departments, for the majority, increased diversity within law enforcement does not substantially decrease the amount of violence towards racial minorities due to police culture and institutional practices. Specifically, I examine how structural policing methods target and excessively monitor Black and Hispanic communities, which leads to increased police encounters. Through police culture, these increased encounters then create further opportunities for acts of violence to be used against these minority communities. I begin by discussing several claims regarding the value of increased officer diversity. I then discuss why …

A National Analysis Of Trauma Care Proximity And Firearm Assault Survival Among U.S. Police, Michael Sierra-Arevalo, Justin Nix, Bradley O'Guinn

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Past research on factors influencing firearm assault (FA) mortality have not focused on police officers who, compared to other U.S. workers and the general public, experience especially high rates of firearm victimization. This study focuses on this unique population of FA victims and examines the relationship between travel time to the nearest trauma care facility and the probability of survival among officers shot on duty. Combining data on trauma care center location and 7 years of data on U.S. police officers fatally or non-fatally assaulted with a firearm, we use logistic regression to model the probability of FA fatality among …

Another Digital Divide: Cybersecurity In Indigenous Communities, Laura Huey, Lorna Ferguson

Sociology Publications

The Indigenous ‘digital divide’ relates to community-level disparities in access and use of online technologies, a prominent public policy issue that federal governments have attempted to address. Following from such efforts is an expected increase in communication and other technologies. However, concurrently, cybersecurity becomes a matter warranting consideration, as increased access means increased exposure to online harms for which many Indigenous communities may lack awareness, education, and prevention skills. To offer key insights relevant to this matter, this study conducted a systematic review of research pertaining to Indigeneity and cybersecurity issues. Findings show that critical subject areas, such as human …

Towards A Psychological Science Of Abolition Democracy: Insights For Improving Theory And Research On Race And Public Safety, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Phillip Atiba Goff

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

We call for psychologists to expand their thinking on fair and just public safety by engaging with the “Abolition Democracy” framework that Du Bois (1935) articulated as the need to dissolve slavery while simultaneously taking affirmative steps to rid its toxic consequences from the body politic. Because the legacies of slavery continue to produce disparities in public safety in the U.S, both harming Black people and the institutions that could keep them safe, psychologists must take seriously questions of history and structure in addition to immediate situations. In the present article, we consider the state of knowledge regarding psychological processes …

How Did You Become A Police Officer? Entry-Related Motives And Concerns Of Women And Men In Policing, Samantha S. Clinkinbeard, Starr J. Solomon, Rachael M. Rief

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

As police agencies in the United States suffer declining applications and struggle to recruit women, the National Institute of Justice has identified workforce development as a priority research area. To recruit more effectively, we must understand what attracts people to policing and what deters them. We surveyed officers in two Midwestern police departments (n = 832) about entry motivations and concerns and examined gender differences. Serve/protect motivations were most important for men and women, though women rated the category significantly higher. Women and non-White officers rated legacy motives higher than did males and White officers. Women reported more concerns overall …

The Effect Of The September 11, 2001 Terror Attacks On Policing In Maine: The Officers Point Of View, Andrew King

Honors College

There was a marked change in policing after the terror attacks on September 11, 2001. While much research has examined this change in other areas of the country, less is known about how 9/11 impacted policing in Maine. To fill this research gap, the present study examined police officers’ perceptions of job change since the 9/11 terrorist attack. Data from semi-structured interviews with ten police officers were analyzed using focused content coding. The data analysis revealed three general themes that represent how police officers thought that their jobs had changed: (1) national security, (2) local policing, and (3) fusion centers. …

A Comprehensive Evaluation Of An Offender-Focused Domestic Violence Policing Strategy Using The Emmie Framework, Sara C. Mcfann

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the emphasis on increasing the body of evidence for (or against) policing interventions grows, so does scholars' responsibility to identify not only what works but why, for whom, and in what contexts. An emerging police approach to domestic violence (DV) using offender-focused strategies has grown in popularity. However, the evidence base is small and does not explore inside the “black box” of the main strategic activities. To address this evidence deficiency and provide the first-ever primary study of this type of program, a comprehensive evaluation of a focused deterrence-based policing intervention for DV situated around the EMMIE (Effects, …

Why Did You Become A Police Officer? Entry-Related Motives And Concerns Of Women And Men In Policing, Samantha S. Clinkinbeard, Starr Solomon, Rachael Rief

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

As police agencies in the United States suffer declining applications and struggle to recruit women, the National Institute of Justice has identified workforce development as a priority research area. To recruit more effectively, we must understand what attracts people to policing and what deters them. We surveyed officers in two Midwestern police departments (n = 832) about entry motivations and concerns and examined gender differences. Serve/protect motivations were most important for men and women, though women rated the category significantly higher. Women and non-White officers rated legacy motives higher than did males and White officers. Women reported more concerns …

Mandatory Sexual Assault Kit Testing Policies And Arrest Trends: A Natural Experiment, Scott M. Mourtgos, Ian T. Adams, Justin Nix, Tara N. Richards

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The present study employs a quasi-experimental design to evaluate the effects of a mandatory sexual assault kit (SAK) testing policy on rape arrests in a large western US jurisdiction. We use a Bayesian structural time-series model and monthly data on arrests for rape from 2010 through 2019. In the post-implementation period, we observed a downward trend in the arrest rate for rape. Based on the results, the most conservative interpretation of our findings is that the policy implementation did not affect rape arrest rates. While mandatory SAK testing policies are often advocated for based on the belief that they will …

Police Killings Of Unarmed Black Americans: A Reassessment Of Community Mental Health Spillover Effects, Justin Nix, M. James Lozada

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

We reevaluate the claim from Bor et al. (2018) that “police killings of unarmed black Americans have effects on mental health among black American adults in the general population” (p. 302). The Mapping Police Violence data used by the authors includes 91 incidents involving black decedents who were either (1) not killed by police officers in the line of duty or (2) armed when killed. These incidents should have been removed or recoded prior to analysis. Correctly recoding these incidents decreased in magnitude all of the reported coefficients, and, more importantly, eliminated the reported statistically significant effect of exposure to …

The Immediate And Long-Term Effects Of Covid-19 Stay-At-Home Orders On Domestic Violence Calls For Service Across Six U.S. Jurisdictions, Justin Nix, Tara N. Richards

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

We assessed immediate and long-term trends in calls for police service regarding domestic violence following COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. Using open data from the Police Data Initiative, we performed interrupted time-series analyses of weekly calls for service for domestic violence in New Orleans (LA), Cincinnati (OH), Seattle (WA), Salt Lake City (UT), Montgomery County (MD), and Phoenix (AZ). Results indicate that five of the six jurisdictions experienced an immediate, significant spike in domestic violence calls for service (Cincinnati being the lone exception). As stay-at-home orders were lifted throughout the remainder of 2020, domestic violence calls for service declined in every jurisdiction …

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 …

Bio-Spatial Policing In Theory And Practice: Examining Impacts And Resistance Through Mobilities And Children's Everyday Life, Emily Kaufman

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

Despite decades of reforms and technological innovations, increasing evidence shows that state securitization disproportionately harms already racially, spatially, and socio-economically marginalized communities. My research investigates uneven impacts of state securitization, from punitive welfare programs to school surveillance to policing. Across sites, I focus on scales, voices and the everyday lived experiences often left out of scholarly discourse and sensational media. In the current climate of growing awareness and scholarship on police violence, my dissertation addresses three less-studied areas: 1) the interplay between racial, gendered, spatial, and technified police practices; 2) how these practices impact the everyday lives of those racially …

The Female Experience In Law Enforcement, Matia Martz

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The following research was conducted to achieve a better understanding of what issues women face when entering the career field of law enforcement, and how to better educate the projected audience, whether that be a member of law enforcement or a future female recruit, in these issues. Outside of personal experiences from the author, this research will be done via literature review and conclude with what future research can do to aid in this field. The following passages will cover career challenges that women have faced, how gender can affect one’s perceived ability to work in law enforcement, how different …

Comparing 911 And Emergency Hotline Calls For Domestic Violence In Seven Cities: What Happened When People Started Staying Home Due To Covid-19?, Tara N. Richards, Justin Nix, Scott Mourtgos, Ian Adams

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

We examine changes in help-seeking for domestic violence (DV) in seven U.S. cities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using Bayesian structural time-series modeling with daily data to construct a synthetic counterfactual, we test whether calls to police and/or emergency hotlines varied in 2020 as people stayed home due to COVID-19. Across this sample, we estimate there were approximately 1,030 more calls to police and 1,671 more calls to emergency hotlines than would have occurred absent the pandemic.Inter-agency data analysis holds great promise for better understanding localized trends in DV in real time. Research-practitioner partnerships can help DV coordinated community response teams …

Body-Worn Cameras And Organizational Stress In Canadian Policing: A Qualitative Study, Chelsea Doiron

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Body-worn camera (BWC) technology has gained traction in North American police services as a tool to enhance police transparency and accountability. To date, the research available on BWCs has focused on the impact BWCs have on police services, investigations, officer and citizen behaviour, and, police officers’ and community members’ attitudes towards BWCs (Lum et al., 2019). The vast majority of this existing research has been quantitative in nature and has been conducted in the United States, where police practices and policies differ from those in Canada. While there have been a number of pilot projects and research evaluations conducted on …

Policing And Fatherhood Identities: A Gendered Analysis Of The Work And Home Experiences Of Police Fathers Before And During Covid-19, Danielle Thompson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Policing scholars have long pointed to police culture as an explanation for the negative behaviour of officers (Chan 1996), yet police culture also plays a crucial role in informing how officers make sense of their experiences both inside and outside of the organization. Much of the research on gendered experiences of police culture have focused on the experiences of women police, yet little attention has been given to the experiences of male officers in macho police culture. Moreover, there is a paucity of literature that has focused specifically on how police who are fathers perceive their own experiences, either at …

Mapping Cyber-Enabled Crime: Understanding Police Investigations And Prosecutions Of Cyberstalking, Brianna Jane O'Shea, Nicole L. Asquith, Jeremy Prichard

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Stalking is one of the main types of abusive behaviour facilitated by technology. The purpose of the current study was twofold: to identify the challenges of cyberstalking investigations and prosecutions in Australia and determine how best to investigate these types of offences. A qualitative analysis of four years of interviews, focus groups and participant observations with police departments provides an overview of the cyberstalking investigative process. The findings map out the process from the initial report of the incident to the preparation of the prosecution brief. This analysis positions cyberstalking investigations as an interesting case study in the midst of …

The Yakuza: Organized Crime In Japan, Darlene N. Moorman

The Downtown Review

Examining organized crime groups should not be purely economic; in other words, the culture, social structure, political contexts, and so on, are also critical in an insightful analysis of any organized crime group. For this paper, the Japanese yakuza are considered both in an economic viewpoint, such as how they make money, but also in other areas, such as its syndicates' notable cultural contributions and specific social characteristics. Moreover, this paper explores the dynamic changing of the organization overtime, especially in regards to its shifting relationship with the Japanese government.

Who Dreams Of Badges? Gendered Self-Concept And Policing Career Aspirations, Samantha S. Clinkinbeard, Starr J. Solomon, Rachael M. Rief

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

NIJ’s Policing Research Plan (2017-2022) highlights the need to understand factors that attract diverse candidates. We explored whether college students had ever considered policing and found men were significantly more likely than women to contemplate policing careers. Further, we found higher levels of masculinity were associated with greater odds of policing aspirations; the relationship between gender and aspirations was fully mediated by masculine self-concept. Although men typically reported higher masculinity scores, within-gender analyses indicated that masculinity was important for both men and women. Our findings suggest the continued association of masculinity with policing may undercut efforts to recruit a representative …

A Randomized Controlled Trial Of The Impact Of Body-Worn Camera Activation On The Outcomes Of Individual Incidents, Jessica Huff, Charles M. Katz, E. C. Hedberg

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Objectives

Evaluate the impact of body-worn cameras (BWCs) on officer-initiated activity, arrests, use of force, and complaints.

Methods

We use instrumental variable analysis to examine the impact of BWC assignment and BWC activation on the outcomes of individual incidents through a randomized controlled trial of 436 officers in the Phoenix Police Department.

Results

Incidents involving BWC activations were associated with a lower likelihood of officer-initiated contacts and complaints, but a greater likelihood of arrests and use of force. BWC assignment alone was unrelated to arrests or complaints; however, incidents involving officers who were assigned and activated their BWC were significantly …