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Full-Text Articles in Law
Racial Threat, Urban Conditions And Police Use Of Force: Assessing The Direct And Indirect Linkages Across Multiple Urban Areas, Karen F. Parker, John M. Macdonald, Wesley G. Jennings, Geoffrey P. Alpert
Racial Threat, Urban Conditions And Police Use Of Force: Assessing The Direct And Indirect Linkages Across Multiple Urban Areas, Karen F. Parker, John M. Macdonald, Wesley G. Jennings, Geoffrey P. Alpert
Faculty Publications
Traditionally explanations of police use of force have relied on a racial threat perspective. Tests of this perspective, however, typically offer a single indicator of threat (the relative size of the black population) and fail to adequately take into account the complex relationship between racial threat and police use of force. Drawing on racial threat, social disorganization, and police use of force literature, this study hypothesizes that macro-level patterns in police use of force are embedded in the racial and structural composition of cities and the organizational climate of local politics and police departments. The present study examines these relationships …
Toward A Better Benchmark: Assessing The Utility Of Not-At-Fault Traffic Crash Data In Racial Profiling Research, Geoffrey P. Alpert, Michael R. Smith, Roger G. Dunham
Toward A Better Benchmark: Assessing The Utility Of Not-At-Fault Traffic Crash Data In Racial Profiling Research, Geoffrey P. Alpert, Michael R. Smith, Roger G. Dunham
Faculty Publications
As studies on racial profiling and biased policing have begun to proliferate, researchers are debating which benchmark is most appropriate for comparison with police traffic stop data. Existing benchmark populations, which include populations estimated from census figures, licensed drivers, arrestees, reported crime suspects, and observed drivers and traffic violators, all have significant limitations. This article offers a new, alternative benchmark for police traffic stops, a benchmark that has not been previously applied or tested in a racial profiling research setting. The analysis presented compares traffic observation data, gathered at selected, high volume intersections during an ongoing racial profiling study in …
Effective Community Policing Performance Measures, Geoffrey P. Alpert, Daniel Flynn, Alex R. Piquero
Effective Community Policing Performance Measures, Geoffrey P. Alpert, Daniel Flynn, Alex R. Piquero
Faculty Publications
As the philosophy of policing moves from a traditional to a community-oriented approach, performance measures must shift as well. Unlike the typical police performance measures of arrest and crime rates found in traditional police philosophies, community-oriented policing performance measures are more general and tend to measure the extent to which police affect the quality of life in the communities they serve as well as the problems they solve. This manuscript begins the process of developing effective community policing performance measures and presents three case studies through which objectives and performance measures are conceptualized.
Police Accountability And Early Warning Systems: Developing Policies And Programs, Geoffrey P. Alpert, Samuel Walker
Police Accountability And Early Warning Systems: Developing Policies And Programs, Geoffrey P. Alpert, Samuel Walker
Faculty Publications
The identification of police officers who have potential problems has emerged as a popular approach for curbing police misconduct and achieving accountability. Early warning (EW) systems are data-driven programs whose purpose is to identify officers whose behavior is problematic and to subject those officers to some kind of intervention, often in the form of counseling or training. Because of their potential for providing timely data on officer performance and giving police managers a framework for correcting unacceptable performance, early warning systems are consistent with the new demands for performance evaluation raised by community policing and the effective strategic management of …
Public Opinion About Punishment And Corrections, Francis T. Cullen, Bonnie S. Fisher, Brandon K. Applegate
Public Opinion About Punishment And Corrections, Francis T. Cullen, Bonnie S. Fisher, Brandon K. Applegate
Faculty Publications
"Get tough" control policies in the United States are often portrayed as the reflection of the public's will: Americans are punitive and want offenders locked up. Research from the past decade both reinforces and challenges this assessment. The public clearly accepts, if not prefers, a range of punitive policies (e.g., capital punishment, three-strikes-and-you're-out laws, imprisonment). But support for get-tough policies is "mushy." Thus citizens may be willing to substitute a sentence of life imprisonment without parole for the death penalty. Especially when nonviolent offenders are involved, there is substantial support for intermediate sanctions and for restorative justice. Despite three decades …
Toward The Development Of A Pursuit Decision Calculus: Pursuit Benefits Versus Pursuit Cost, Thomas J. Madden, Geoffrey P. Alpert
Toward The Development Of A Pursuit Decision Calculus: Pursuit Benefits Versus Pursuit Cost, Thomas J. Madden, Geoffrey P. Alpert
Faculty Publications
To make unbiased decisions about whether to pursue a fleeing vehicle, officers must understand both the costs and the potential benefits of a pursuit. This manuscript describes an approach that identifies and assesses the impact of pursuit characteristics on pursuit costs. Data from official pursuit forms generated by officers in the Miami-Dade police department were used as a basis of the study. Log-linear models were used to identify direct and interactive effects of the pursuit characteristics. Upon finding significant effects, odds ratios were calculated. The findings indicate that there are certain pursuit characteristics, including number of units and speed, that …
Policing Hot Pursuits: The Discovery Of Aleatory Elements, Geoffrey P. Alpert, Roger G. Dunham
Policing Hot Pursuits: The Discovery Of Aleatory Elements, Geoffrey P. Alpert, Roger G. Dunham
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Neighborhood Differences In Attitudes Toward Policing: Evidence For A Mixed-Strategy Model Of Policing In A Multi-Ethnic Setting, Roger G. Dunham, Geoffrey P. Alpert
Neighborhood Differences In Attitudes Toward Policing: Evidence For A Mixed-Strategy Model Of Policing In A Multi-Ethnic Setting, Roger G. Dunham, Geoffrey P. Alpert
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.