Depolicing: Rhetoric or Reality?

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 437-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willard M. Oliver
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Police Officer ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Racial Profiling ◽  
Political Rhetoric ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Laws And Policies

While the topic of depolicing is often discussed in political rhetoric, media reporting, and reports on police behavior, there exists little empirical analysis of the phenomenon at the police officer (individual) level. To further our understanding of the phenomenon of depolicing, the present study draws on a convenience sample of 25 police officers from across the United States to provide an inductive understanding of the nature, scope, and causes of depolicing. Among the findings is a strong belief that depolicing is a real and growing phenomenon, that it is more widespread than most agencies are willing to admit, and that its causes are highly varied, but include civil litigation, new laws and policies, and accusations of racial profiling. The article discusses the implications of depolicing and the need for future research.

scholarly journals Air pollution and COVID-19 mortality in the United States: Strengths and limitations of an ecological regression analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (45) ◽  
pp. eabd4049 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. Wu ◽  
R. C. Nethery ◽  
M. B. Sabath ◽  
D. Braun ◽  
F. Dominici
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Regression Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Outcome Data ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Ecological Regression

Assessing whether long-term exposure to air pollution increases the severity of COVID-19 health outcomes, including death, is an important public health objective. Limitations in COVID-19 data availability and quality remain obstacles to conducting conclusive studies on this topic. At present, publicly available COVID-19 outcome data for representative populations are available only as area-level counts. Therefore, studies of long-term exposure to air pollution and COVID-19 outcomes using these data must use an ecological regression analysis, which precludes controlling for individual-level COVID-19 risk factors. We describe these challenges in the context of one of the first preliminary investigations of this question in the United States, where we found that higher historical PM2.5 exposures are positively associated with higher county-level COVID-19 mortality rates after accounting for many area-level confounders. Motivated by this study, we lay the groundwork for future research on this important topic, describe the challenges, and outline promising directions and opportunities.

scholarly journals Disentangling Race, Poverty, and Place in Disparities in Physical Activity

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 1193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Armani Hawes ◽  
Genee Smith ◽  
Emma McGinty ◽  
Caryn Bell ◽  
Kelly Bower ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
United States ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Physically Active ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact

Significant racial disparities in physical activity—a key protective health factor against obesity and cardiovascular disease—exist in the United States. Using data from the 1999–2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the 2000 United States (US) Census, we estimated the impact of race, individual-level poverty, neighborhood-level poverty, and neighborhood racial composition on the odds of being physically active for 19,678 adults. Compared to whites, blacks had lower odds of being physically active. Individual poverty and neighborhood poverty were associated with decreased odds of being physically active among both whites and blacks. These findings underscore the importance of social context in understanding racial disparities in physical activity and suggest the need for future research to determine specific elements of the social context that drive disparities.

scholarly journals Representations of Policing Problems and Body-Worn Cameras in Existing Research

2021 ◽  
pp. 105756772110208
Author(s):  
Christel Backman ◽  
Cecilia Hansen Löfstrand
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Police Legitimacy ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Blind Review ◽  
Scholarly Publications ◽  
Problem Representations

In this article, we analyze scholarly publications on body-worn cameras (BWCs) to shed light on scholars’ grounding assumptions about BWC technology and the policing problems assumed to be amended by it. We conducted a systematic search and a double-blind review, including 90 peer-reviewed journal articles, and analyzed how scholars warrant their studies, their findings and their recommendations. We found that BWC research largely investigates the effectiveness of BWCs worn by police officers in the United States and build upon a set of dominant policing problem representations: the police crisis in the United States and the police use of force, lack of oversight and control of police officers, citizen dissatisfaction and lack of police legitimacy, and police officer resistance toward BWC use. Assumptions underlying all four problem representations is that BWC technology will amend these problems and is legitimate and useful if the public supports it. Taken together, this enhances the representation of BWC technology as a self-evident means of improving community relations and police legitimacy in the United States. Finally, we provide recommendations for future research on BWCs, particularly the need for research departing from altogether different problem representations.

Predictors and Outcomes of U.S. Quality Maternity Leave: A Review and Conceptual Framework

2021 ◽  
pp. 089484532110373
Author(s):  
Haley M. Sterling ◽  
Blake A. Allan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Maternity Leave ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Subjective Experiences ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Work Related

Maternity leave includes the time that mothers take off from work to care for their baby and heal after childbirth. The United States’ maternity leave provisions lag behind other industrialized countries, resulting in poor quality maternity leave (QML) for many mothers. Accordingly, scholars have begun examining QML, a new construct that captures mothers’ subjective experiences of their leave, including dimensions like time off and flexibility. However, researchers know little about predictors and outcomes of QML. Therefore, in this literature review, we will integrate societal-, work-, and individual-level predictors as well as well-being and work-related outcomes of maternity leave into a testable conceptual framework for QML. This review has important implications for U.S. policy makers and organizations regarding their support of mothers. Future research should continue to build this framework to ensure that mothers and parents in the United States and internationally are provided the QML they need to thrive.

scholarly journals Police Bodycams as Equiveillance Tools?: Reflections on the Debate in the Netherlands

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 284-287
Author(s):  
Lotte Houwing ◽  
Gerard Jan Ritsema van Eck
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Police Officer ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Regulatory Framework ◽  
Police Action

In the United States of America, police body-worn cameras (bodycams) were introduced to protect civilians against violence by law enforcement authorities. In the Netherlands, however, the same technology has been introduced to record and discipline the behavior of the growing number of citizens using their smartphone cameras to film the (mis)conduct of police. In answer to these citizens sousveilling the police and publishing their images on social media, the bodycam was introduced as an objective referee that also includes the perspective of the police officer. According to this view, the bodycam is a tool of equiveillance: a situation with a diversity of perspectives in which surveillance and sousveillance are in balance (Mann 2005). Various factors, however, hamper the equiveillant usage of bodycams in the Netherlands. Firstly, the attachment of the bodycam to the uniform of the officer leads to an imbalanced representation of perspectives. The police perspective is emphasized by the footage that is literally taken from their perspective, in which others are filmed slightly from below, making them look bigger and more overwhelming. Also, the police officers’ movements create shaky footage with deceptive intensity that invokes the image of a hectic situation that calls for police action. Secondly, it is the officer who decides when to wear a camera and when to start and stop recording. This leaves the potential to not record any misconduct. Thirdly, access to the recorded images, whilst in theory open to police and citizens alike, is in practice exclusively for the police. Within the current regulatory framework, bodycams are thus not neutral reporters of interactions between civilians and the police. We will end our contribution to this Dialogue section with suggestions for the improvement of those rules and reflect on the question of whether bodycams can ever be objective referees.

Correlates of Intimate Partner Homicide in the Rural United States: Findings From a National Sample of Rural Counties, 2009–2016

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 353-376
Author(s):  
Millan A. AbiNader
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Multilevel Models ◽  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
The United States ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Community Level ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Intimate Partner Homicide ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Rural Counties

Intimate partner homicide (IPH) in the U.S. rural context has increased in recent years while other types of homicide have decreased. This suggests that some rural structural characteristics make IPH more likely in rural communities than other forms of homicide. This study used multilevel models to examine individual- and community-level characteristics’ association with IPH in rural counties between 2009 and 2016 in the United States. Overall, individual-level correlates were more strongly associated with IPH than community-level correlates, although increased economic need was associated with IPH in one of the models. Implications for individual-level intervention, policy, and future research are discussed.

Volunteer Police: What Predicts Confidence in Training?

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (7) ◽  
pp. 1010-1022
Author(s):  
Adam Dobrin ◽  
Ross Wolf ◽  
Ian K. Pepper ◽  
Seth W. Fallik
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Part Time ◽  
The Impact

Volunteer police are used in both the United States and the Unite Kingdom to expand the services provided by full-time police personnel. The models of volunteer policing that have developed in the United States and the United Kingdom are based on the same concept, but differ in their level of operational preparedness and training. The utilization and confidence of these volunteer police in performing the functions of the police has been understudied. This current study builds on previous studies to develop a broader understanding of the confidence in training of part-time volunteer police officers by using a convenience sampling of three U.K. Northern Police Forces and three U.S. Florida Sheriff’s Offices. Results show the impact of individual-level variables on confidence in training preparation, with time since initial training having the largest impact. Later formal professional training appears to have little to no impact on confidence. Limitations and policy implications are discussed.

scholarly journals Perspectives of Canadian and American Cat Owners on Provision of Uncontrolled Outdoor Access for Owned Domestic Cats

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah M. L. Tan ◽  
Sarah Jajou ◽  
Anastasia C. Stellato ◽  
Lee Niel
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Random Effect ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Attitudes And Practices

While uncontrolled outdoor access can increase opportunities for cat physical and mental stimulation, it can also increase risks of injury and illness, and result in predation of wild birds and small animals. In Canada and the United States, it is often recommended to keep cats indoors, but many owners still provide some level of outdoor access. The objectives of this study were to use a cross-sectional survey to explore the attitudes and practices of cat owners in Canada and the United States toward outdoor access and to identify factors that influence the provision of uncontrolled outdoor access. A convenience sample of cat owners (N = 7,838) were recruited to complete an online survey, and a mixed logistic regression model was used to examine associations between cat and owner-related factors, and uncontrolled outdoor access for cats, with province/state included as a random effect. In total, 57% of owners kept their cats indoors, and 43% provided some form of outdoor access, with 21% of total owners providing uncontrolled outdoor access. Provision of uncontrolled outdoor access was associated with factors related to cat characteristics (e.g., sex, breed, presence of health, and behavioral issues), the home environment (e.g., living with other pets, types of enrichment provided), owner perspectives on outdoor access (e.g., level of agreement with potential benefits and consequence of outdoor access), and owner demographics (e.g., gender, education, area of residence). For cats with uncontrolled outdoor access, few owners reported their cats having a collar or a microchip, suggesting a need to increase education about precautionary measures to protect the welfare of outdoor cats. Results reveal how owners are caring for their cats in terms of providing outdoor access and generate hypotheses for future research to examine the influence of the owner-pet bond and educational programs on owner practices around providing outdoor access.

Where Have the Respondents Gone? Perhaps We Ate Them All

2019 ◽  
Vol 83 (S1) ◽  
pp. 280-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J Leeper
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Survey Research ◽  
Response Rates ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Common Pool Resource ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Common Pool ◽  
Almost All

Abstract Rising rates of nonresponse are one of the most-debated issues in contemporary survey research. While early survey research regularly achieved response rates close to 100 percent, contemporary telephone interviewing methods in the United States regularly obtain response rates below 10 percent, due to a mix of noncontact and refusals. Existing research has examined a number of factors that explain variation in response rates, yet almost all such work considers survey response as an isolated, independent event. This note aims to stimulate debate by suggesting that a paradigm shift in theorizing nonresponse is needed. I diagnose the problem of nonresponse not only as an individual-level, survey-specific phenomenon, but as something larger and more collective: namely, as a common pool resource (CPR) problem. Because researchers acting independently might each seek to maximize their response rate and achieve intended sample sizes, the common pool resource of human respondents can be prone to overextraction. In addition to thinking about “benefit-cost” explanations for why respondents might respond to a specific survey, considering responses as a shared resource focuses attention on cross-level theory on how the survey field might collectively govern responses from human populations. Rather than testing CPR theory directly, I instead describe why thinking of nonresponse as a CPR problem may be useful, use the United States as a case study to demonstrate the possible scale of response extraction, and leverage findings from CPR studies to suggest directions for future research into nonresponse.

Proportion of Individuals With Past-Year Suicidal Ideation Who Attempted Suicide Over the Past 10 Years in the United States, and the Influence of Age and Sex

Crisis ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Shannon Lange ◽  
Courtney Bagge ◽  
Charlotte Probst ◽  
Jürgen Rehm
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Suicidal Ideation ◽  
Random Effects ◽  
Attempted Suicide ◽  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
The United States ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Past ◽  
Meta Analyses ◽  
Age Category

Abstract. Background: In recent years, the rate of death by suicide has been increasing disproportionately among females and young adults in the United States. Presumably this trend has been mirrored by the proportion of individuals with suicidal ideation who attempted suicide. Aim: We aimed to investigate whether the proportion of individuals in the United States with suicidal ideation who attempted suicide differed by age and/or sex, and whether this proportion has increased over time. Method: Individual-level data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 2008–2017, were used to estimate the year-, age category-, and sex-specific proportion of individuals with past-year suicidal ideation who attempted suicide. We then determined whether this proportion differed by age category, sex, and across years using random-effects meta-regression. Overall, age category- and sex-specific proportions across survey years were estimated using random-effects meta-analyses. Results: Although the proportion was found to be significantly higher among females and those aged 18–25 years, it had not significantly increased over the past 10 years. Limitations: Data were self-reported and restricted to past-year suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. Conclusion: The increase in the death by suicide rate in the United States over the past 10 years was not mirrored by the proportion of individuals with past-year suicidal ideation who attempted suicide during this period.

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