Digital Commons Network^™

Changes In Big Five Personality Characteristics During Law Enforcement Academy Training, Randi A. Mitchell

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Personality is considered a relatively stable construct. However, research indicates personality is more malleable when facing adverse life events and as an individual ages across the lifespan. Some research suggests personality could be used to predict performance. The current study seeks to examine changes in personality characteristics following law enforcement academy completion. Given the demands of a job in law enforcement, one would expect certain changes to occur. The law enforcement academy curriculum includes topics such as, justification-use-of-force, confessions, and arrests, in the first week alone. The curriculum reflects the reality law enforcement professionals will face. It is a dangerous …

Focal Concerns And Case Advancement In Sexual Assault Cases: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis., David Stuart Lapsey Jr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Scholars have frequently used focal concerns to explain case advancement – suspect identification, case clearance, and arrest and charge decisions – in sexual assault cases. Indeed, focal concerns has been popularly used to explain prosecutor decision-making and, more recently, it has increasingly been used to explain police decision-making in sexual assault cases. As such, a systematic review and meta-analysis is needed to synthesize and evaluate existing literature. In this study, meta-analysis is used to estimate the overall size, strength, and direction of focal concerns variables on case advancement in sexual assault cases by using police officers’ decision to arrest and …

Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Police Officer Acquittals: Jurors' Explicit And Implicit Racism, Donovan Corson Kelley

Doctoral Dissertations

Less than .001% of cases involving police officers killing suspects result in trial convictions; acquittals are significantly higher for Black victims than for White victims. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine if explicit and implicit racism amongst jurors helped explain why police officers are rarely convicted of murder, especially in cases with Black victims. In a pilot study in which mock jurors read a trial summary involving an officer killing an unarmed victim who was either Black or White, jurors were more likely acquit officers on trial for killing a Black victim than a White victim. In Study …

The Relationship Between Organizational Culture And Police Officer Wellbeing: An Empirical Examination Of One Agency, Silas Patterson

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the relationship between organizational culture and police officer well-being, using an empirical examination of one agency. Culture is important in law enforcement. Previous studies on police culture have typically sought to understand the effect of culture on officer behaviors. This thesis takes a different approach by examining the effects of culture on individual officer well-being. The results of this study indicates that culture is related to well-being, along certain dimensions. Cultural attitudes towards an organization’s administration and the citizens officers interact with are shown to be consistent predictors of well-being. The results of this study provide implications …

Use Of Force Under Scrutiny: Impacts Of Body-Worn Cameras On Types Of Force Used By Police, Michaela Elizabeth Goldsmith

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

While several studies have examined the impact of body-worn cameras (BWCs) on the frequency of use of force incidents with mixed results, research evaluating the impact of BWCs on types of force is scant. Utilizing 86-months of use of force report data from a medium-sized mid-Atlantic police department (36 months pre, and 50 months post-BWC implementation), the current study addresses limitations in prior BWC research and explores the potential relationship between BWCs and the level/types of force used through the use of Vector Autoregression Analysis.

Police Perceptions Of Body-Worn Cameras: Can Resistance Be Predicted?, John A. Browne

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The present study sought to examine the relationships between police officers’ demographic and experiential characteristics and their perceptions of body-worn camera programs. If relationships were present, further examination would seek to identify any characteristics were predictive of the officers’ support for a body-worn camera program and their willingness to wear a body-worn camera. There were four research questions in the study: 1. Are there relationships in police perceptions of body-worn cameras based on demographic characteristics such as age, sex, race, or education? 2. If there are relationships in police perceptions of body-worn cameras based on demographic characteristics, what characteristics, if …

A Comparative Examination Of Police Interrogation Of Criminal Suspects In Australia, Canada, England And Wales, New Zealand, And The United States, Carol A. Brook, Bruno Fiannaca, David Harvey, Paul Marcus, Renee Pomerance, Paul Roberts

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

The interrogation process is central to the investigation and resolution of criminal matters throughout the world. It is fundamental to a comprehensive understanding of comparative criminal procedure to study and appreciate the different approaches to the interrogation process in different nations. This Article developed through a series of conversations between six international criminal justice professionals— practicing attorneys, scholars, and judges—regarding the interrogation practices and rules in their respective countries. Providing a comparative look at this important area, this Article examines the applicable practices and procedures in the common law nations of Australia, Canada, England and Wales, New Zealand, and the …

“Police Perceptions Amid The Black Lives Matter Movement”, Eadoin Grim

Honors Theses

In 2014, following the police-involved deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, researchers focused their attention on the existence of a “Ferguson Effect,” such that rising homicide rates could be attributed to a reduction in proactive policing due to concerns over heightened public scrutiny. While UCR data would eventually refute the existence of such an Effect, previous research has found that there does appear to be evidence of a perceptual belief in the Ferguson Effect among municipal officers. To date, very little research concerning officer perceptions or experiences has been conducted with campus police departments, creating a substantial gap in …

Alaska Police Officer Use Of Deadly Force: 2010-2020, Troy C. Payne, Yevgenii Kisarauskas, Robert E. Henderson

AJiC Reports

The Alaska Department of Law Office of Special Prosecutions (OSP) and the Alaska Justice Information Center (AJiC) partnered to answer two questions regarding police officer use of deadly force. First, to what extent existing OSP investigative casefiles could be used to fully describe the nature of uses of lethal force incidents in Alaska. Second, to describe lethal use of force incidents using the available information. We found that while OSP casefiles files contained sufficient information for OSP’s purpose of determining whether criminal charges are warranted under the circumstances, the OSP casefiles lacked some information of interest to policymakers and the …

Increasing Law Enforcement Understanding Of Special Needs And Disability Populations: The Role Of The Occupational Therapist, Rekha Tabjula

MOT Student Capstones

Incidences of fatalities and injuries among populations with disabilities continue to occur during police interactions. There is an increased need to address this concern with a new method, or reform, to training that has not allowed law enforcement to properly and safely engage with those who have Autism Spectrum Disorder, Intellectual Disabilities, Traumatic Brain Injuries, and mental health conditions. Occupational therapists can provide a collaborative approach to increasing law enforcement's awareness, knowledge, and confidence to these aforementioned 0 conditions. Law enforcement officers from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department viewed a training video on various conditions with a supplemental video with guest …

Rwu Law News: The Newsletter Of Roger Williams University School Of Law 04-2021, Michael M. Bowden, Barry Bridges, Political Roundtable

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

The Geopolitics Of American Policing, Andrew Lanham

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Badges Without Borders: How Global Counterinsurgency Transformed American Policing. by Stuart Schrader.

The Delicate Balance: Police In Our Schools, Mark Hanneman

Master of Arts in Criminal Justice Leadership

School resource officers (SROs) face the arduous task of balancing expectations from both police and school administrations. This paper will serve to provide an overarching view of the circumstances surrounding SROs and the job they are tasked to complete. Administrative stakeholders will be identified, unique considerations for the duality of administrations within the SRO position will be considered, and administrative strategies to mitigate the potential for conflict will be explained. A formulated action plan will analyze the impact of ethical principles within work as an SRO through the lens of fellow officers, the school district community, students, parents of students, …

Dear Courts: I, Too, Am A Reasonable Man, Marvel L. Faulkner

Pepperdine Law Review

There has been an ongoing debate regarding police-on-Black violence since the dawn of the United States police force. At every stage, the criminal justice system has had a monumental impact on the plight of the Black American community. The historical roots of racism within the criminal justice system have had adverse effects on the Black American psyche. Emerging research suggests that the upsurge in reporting police-on-Black violence—including videos shot from pedestrian camera phones and uploaded to multimedia platforms and historical accounts of the agonizing treatment Black Americans have experienced beginning with Slave Patrols—has affected individualized behavior during interactions with police …

Whose Rights Matter More—Police Privacy Or A Defendant’S Right To A Fair Trial?, Laurie L. Levenson

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

The function of the prosecutor under the federal Constitution is not to tack as many skins of victims as possible to the wall. His function is to vindicate the right of the people as expressed in the laws and give those accused of crime a fair trial.

– William O. Douglas

Law Library Blog (February 2021): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (Lvmpd) Activity Report, 2020, Olivia K. Cheche, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Criminal Justice

This fact sheet synthesizes data on the types of calls that the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) responded to between January 1st, 2020 and December 26th, 2020. Data from the weekly statistical activity report published by the LVMPD are included. This fact sheet explores the types of calls that the LVMPD received throughout the jurisdiction, and call data for the five area commands that received the highest number of calls in 2020.

The Development And Validation Of The General Attitudes Toward Police (Gap) Questionnaire, Rachel Greis

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Previous studies have examined the relationships between various demographic characteristics (e.g., race/ethnicity, prior arrest experience, residential living area, political affiliation) and various measures of attitudes toward police (e.g., trustworthiness, legitimacy; Brown & Benedict, 2002; Hindelang, 1974; Rizer & Trautman, 2018; Schuck et al., 2008). However, a measure of overall general attitudes toward police has not been established. The main goal of the present research was to fill this gap in the literature by creating and validating a brief questionnaire that effectively captures respondents’ general attitudes toward police. In Study 1, a brief 14-item questionnaire that captured general attitudes toward police …

Preserving Due Process: Require The Frye And Daubert Expert Standards In State Gang Cases, Fareed Nassor Hayat

New Mexico Law Review

Police officers are almost universally offered and admitted as experts in gang prosecutions. Without being subjected to the stringent requirements of Frye and Daubert expert standards, criminal Defendants’ due process rights are violated. Once admitted, police officers are permitted to testify to the psychology, customs, motivations, social structures and subjective mental states of individual gang members and gang organizations. Police gang expert testimony should only be admitted after the underlying criminal matter has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt, and even then, only if the police gang expert testimony abides by clearly defined rules of evidence. This article advocates for …

Surveillance And The Tyrant Test, Andrew Guthrie Ferguson

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

How should society respond to police surveillance technologies? This question has been at the center of national debates around facial recog- nition, predictive policing, and digital tracking technologies. It is a debate that has divided activists, law enforcement officials, and academ- ics and will be a central question for years to come as police surveillance technology grows in scale and scope. Do you trust police to use the tech- nology without regulation? Do you ban surveillance technology as a manifestation of discriminatory carceral power that cannot be reformed? Can you regulate police surveillance with a combination of technocratic rules, policies, …

Facial Recognition And The Fourth Amendment, Andrew Ferguson

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Facial recognition offers a totalizing new surveillance power. Police now have the capability to monitor, track, and identify faces through networked surveillance cameras and datasets of billions of images. Whether identifying a particular suspect from a still photo, or identifying every person who walks past a digital camera, the privacy and security impacts of facial recognition are profound and troubling.

This Article explores the constitutional design problem at the heart of facial recognition surveillance systems. One might hope that the Fourth Amendment – designed to restrain police power and enacted to limit governmental overreach – would have something to say …

Submission To The Toronto Police Services Board’S Use Of New Artificial Intelligence Technologies Policy- Leaf And The Citizen Lab, Suzie Dunn, Kristen Mj Thomasen, Kate Robertson, Pam Hrick, Cynthia Khoo, Rosel Kim, Ngozi Okidegbe, Christopher Parsons

Reports & Public Policy Documents

We write as a group of experts in the legal regulation of artificial intelligence (AI), technology-facilitated violence, equality, and the use of AI systems by law enforcement in Canada. We have experience working within academia and legal practice, and are affiliated with LEAF and the Citizen Lab who support this letter.

We reviewed the Toronto Police Services Board Use of New Artificial Intelligence Technologies Policy and provide comments and recommendations focused on the following key observations:

1. Police use of AI technologies must not be seen as inevitable
2. A commitment to protecting equality and human rights must be integrated …

Beyond Qualified Immunity, Fred O. Smith Jr.

Michigan Law Review Online

I never watched the video. The descriptions themselves have always felt like enough. Traumatizing enough. Invasive enough. George Floyd, father of two, laying on the ground, as an unfazed officer kneeled on his neck for at least eight minutes and forty-six seconds. He pleaded for his life and cried out to his deceased mother until he met his inevitable death. His name should be said for the record before saying almost anything else. The recording of the chilling final minutes of his life is, in all probability, one of the impetuses for this multi-journal Reckoning and Reform Symposium.

Crime And The Mythology Of Police, Shima Baughman

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

The legal policing literature has espoused one theory of policing after another in an effort to address the frayed relationship between police and the communities they serve. All have aimed to diagnose chronic policing problems in working towards structural police reform. The core principles emanating from these theoretical critiques is that the mistrust of police among communities of color results from maltreatment, illegitimacy and marginalization from the law and its enforcers. Remedies have included police training to encourage treating people with dignity, investing in body cameras and other technology, providing legal avenues to encourage constitutional action by police, and creating …

Meaningless Guarantees: Comment On Mitchell E. Mccloy's “Blind Justice: Virginia's Jury Sentencing Scheme And Impermissible Burdens On A Defendant's Right To A Jury Trial", Alexandra L. Klein

Faculty Articles

Despite the important role that jurors play in the American criminal justice system, jurors are often deprived of critical information that might help them make sense of the law their oaths require them to follow. Such information with regard to sentencing might include the unavailability of parole, geriatric release, sentencing guidelines, or other information that is relevant to determining a defendant's penalty. Withholding information from juries, particularly in sentencing, risks unjust and inequitable sentences. Keeping jurors in the dark perpetuates injustices and undermines public confidence and trust in the justice system.

Mitch McCloy's excellent Note provides a compelling illustration of …

Analyzing Wrongful Convictions Beyond The Traditional Canonical List Of Errors, For Enduring Structural And Sociological Attributes, (Juveniles, Racism, Adversary System, Policing Policies), Leona D. Jochnowitz, Tonya Kendall

Touro Law Review

Researchers identify possible structural causes for wrongful convictions: racism, justice system culture, adversary system, plea bargaining, media, juvenile and mentally impaired accused, and wars on drugs and crime. They indicate that unless the root causes of conviction error are identified, the routine explanations of error (e.g., eyewitness identifications; false confessions) will continue to re-occur. Identifying structural problems may help to prevent future wrongful convictions. The research involves the coding of archival data from the Innocence Project for seventeen cases, including the one for the Central Park Five exonerees. The data were coded by Hartwick College and Northern Vermont University students …

Officer-Created Jeopardy: Broadening The Time Frame For Assessing A Police Officer’S Use Of Deadly Force, Cynthia Lee

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

When a police officer’s use of deadly force kills or seriously injures a civilian, that officer may face civil liability or criminal prosecution. In both civil and criminal cases, a critical question that the jury must decide is whether the officer’s use of force was reasonable or excessive. As a general matter, the jury will be advised that it should consider all the relevant facts and circumstances—the totality of the circumstances—to answer this question.

An officer’s decisions and conduct prior to that officer’s use of deadly force can create jeopardy for the civilian and the officer, increasing the risk of …

Federal (De)Funding Of Local Police, Stephen Rushin, Roger Mikalski

Faculty Publications & Other Works

Across the political spectrum, politicians, commentators, and activists frequently invoke federal funding as a lever to induce changes in local police behavior. But can federal funding function as an effective policy lever at the local level? Is federal funding or the threat of defunding a sufficiently strong tool to effectuate deeply contentious policy goals over local opposition?

This Essay conducts an empirical examination of federal funding for local and state police agencies in the United States. It finds that the federal government remains a relatively minor contributor to local police budgets. We find that federal funding only reaches a minority …

Federal (De)Funding Of Local Police, Roger Michalski, Stephen Rushin

Faculty Publications & Other Works

Across the political spectrum, politicians, commentators, and activists frequently invoke federal funding as a lever to induce changes in local police behavior. But can federal funding function as an effective policy lever at the local level? Is federal funding or the threat of defunding a sufficiently strong tool to effectuate deeply contentious policy goals over local opposition?

This Essay conducts an empirical examination of federal funding for local and state police agencies in the United States. It finds that the federal government remains a relatively minor contributor to local police budgets. We find that federal funding only reaches a minority …

Improving Police Officer Accountability In Minnesota: Three Proposed Legislative Reforms, Jim Hilbert

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.