The Impact of Police Attitudes Towards Offenders on Law-Enforcement Assisted Diversion Decisions

2020 ◽  
pp. 109861112096071
Author(s):  
Lonnie Schaible ◽  
Lauren Gant ◽  
Stephanie Ames

Diversion is a prevalent alternative to traditional criminal justice processing, especially at the pre-trial stage. More recently, pre-arrest diversion has been implemented to avert the consequences of arrest, pre-trial proceedings, and future incarceration. Pre-booking diversion programs rely on the willingness of officers to use their discretionary authority to divert low-level offenders to community-based treatment programs in lieu of arrest, raising considerations about how law enforcement view offenders. Using data collected from a survey distributed during a Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) training session for officers in one jurisdiction in the Rocky Mountain West (N = 118), the current study examines the impact of officer attitudes toward offenders on their decision to divert individuals. Findings indicate that officers who hold an optimistic view toward offender rehabilitation are more likely to divert offenders. Results and their significance for practical implementation of law enforcement pre-arrest diversion efforts are discussed.

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 158-167
Author(s):  
Nikolay V. Karepanov

The subject. The subject of the study is the relationship between the methodology of the theory of forensic science and law enforcement issues. The nature of the forensic science and the paradigms of theory are subject to significant changes today. Philosophical and scientific postulates revealed differences in post-non-classical science. The author substantiates the need for the evolution of some essential criteria of scientific knowledge in forensic science. The article deals with the concepts of private forensic theories and the structure of the general theory of forensics. It shows the impact of scientific research on the needs of practice, the ambiguous nature of the preparation of practical recommendations, the complex path from basic forensic research to the integration of investigative methods in investigative practice. The purpose of the article is to confirm or disprove the hypothesis that changing the general forensic paradigms should lead to changes in the method of detecting and using traces of crimes in criminal proceedings. The methodology of the research includes analysis, synthesis, deduction as well as private scientific methods of forensics, in particular, the doctrine of traces. The main results of the research. Any scientific research, especially in the field of forensics, is aimed at solving practical problems if they are unsolvable by existing methods and recommendations. Sometimes the problem, especially at the initial stage of its study, is difficult to be identified clearly. First of all, you need to prove that it exists, then define it in general, and only then look for approaches, methods of scientific research of its causes and essence, and concentrate on finding a solution. In forensic science, this is expressed in the identification of inefficiency in solving the problems of investigating crimes using existing scientific recommendations. One of the essential elements of private forensic theories is their practical implementation. Practical orientation in forensics implies the availability of knowledge that is potentially suitable for the development of practical recommendations on methods, techniques for detecting traces of crime and related events, means of collecting evidence, the possibilities of using the extracted and processed information for the purposes of criminal proceedings. The relevance of the results is determined by the significance of the scientifically proven tasks, questions and problems. For investigative practice, it is not the status of theoretical recommendations that is important, but their qualitative content. Conclusions. Relevance in practice does not always determine the scientific significance of theoretical research in forensic science. The fundamental nature of scientific knowledge and overcoming outdated paradigms require time and at a certain stage may not be in demand in practice. However, changes in scientific views are strategically necessary for law enforcement and should be reflected in recommendations for forensic practitioners.


2016 ◽  
Vol 63 (10) ◽  
pp. 1224-1249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brent R. Klein ◽  
Jeff Gruenewald ◽  
Brent L. Smith

Terrorism prevention has become the top priority among law enforcement and homeland security officials. To date, however, little empirical research has been conducted that directly compares the characteristics of successful terrorist attacks to failed and foiled terrorism incidents. To address this limitation in prior research, the current study examines the impact of opportunity, group structure, and temporally patterned precursor activities on far-right terrorism outcomes in the United States using data from the American Terrorism Study (ATS). Our findings partially support expectations that attractive and vulnerable targets, loners, conventional weaponry, and relatively fewer precursor activities are significantly associated with successful incidents.


2002 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard E. Adams ◽  
William M. Rohe ◽  
Thomas A. Arcury

The limited amount of research on the impact of community-oriented policing (COP) on officer attitudes toward their jobs has been conducted in large cities. In the present study, we analyze survey data from 285 nonsupervisory officers in six small to midsize law enforcement agencies to examine how COP training and COP officer designation is associated with attitudes toward COP principles, support for COP, and job satisfaction. Results indicate that community police officers spend more time engaged in COP-related activities, are more supportive of COP methods and goals, more supportive of organizational changes necessary to implement COP, and more satisfied with their jobs when compared to traditional officers. In addition, officers who perceived their department as having a participatory management style were more positive about community policing and more satisfied with their jobs. Surprisingly, a large majority of traditional officers also supported COP goals and the transition to COP in their departments.


Author(s):  
Scott W. Phillips ◽  
Dae-Young Kim ◽  
Joseph Gramaglia

PurposeThe past five years have seen a growth in studies of police body-worn cameras (BWCs). A large share of the research focused on individual officer attitudes toward these new law enforcement tools. The scholarship, however, focused almost exclusively on their positive and negative perceptions of body cameras or correlations between those attitudes and general officer characteristics. This study examined whether the influence of negative or “concerning” policing attitudes toward body cameras is mediated by other variables, such as officer outlooks toward law enforcement, officers' perceptions of citizen cooperation or their opinions of the public.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was distributed to a convenience sample of police offices from two Northeastern police agencies.FindingsFindings indicate that the relationship between experience and concerning perceptions of body cameras is mediated by distrust in citizens and perceived civilian cooperation. Further, an office's outlooks regarding aggressive law enforcement tactics do not have a direct effect on concerning perceptions of body cameras, nor do they serve as a mediator between years of experience and concerning perceptions of body cameras.Originality/valueFindings uncover the nuance and complexity of studying and understanding police officer outlooks and perceptions of BWCs. Future experimental designs should include general outlook measures.


Author(s):  
Brynne D. Ovalle ◽  
Rahul Chakraborty

This article has two purposes: (a) to examine the relationship between intercultural power relations and the widespread practice of accent discrimination and (b) to underscore the ramifications of accent discrimination both for the individual and for global society as a whole. First, authors review social theory regarding language and group identity construction, and then go on to integrate more current studies linking accent bias to sociocultural variables. Authors discuss three examples of intercultural accent discrimination in order to illustrate how this link manifests itself in the broader context of international relations (i.e., how accent discrimination is generated in situations of unequal power) and, using a review of current research, assess the consequences of accent discrimination for the individual. Finally, the article highlights the impact that linguistic discrimination is having on linguistic diversity globally, partially using data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and partially by offering a potential context for interpreting the emergence of practices that seek to reduce or modify speaker accents.


2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maykel Verkuyten ◽  
Kumar Yogeeswaran

Abstract. Multiculturalism has been criticized and rejected by an increasing number of politicians, and social psychological research has shown that it can lead to outgroup stereotyping, essentialist thinking, and negative attitudes. Interculturalism has been proposed as an alternative diversity ideology, but there is almost no systematic empirical evidence about the impact of interculturalism on the acceptance of migrants and minority groups. Using data from a survey experiment conducted in the Netherlands, we examined the situational effect of promoting interculturalism on acceptance. The results show that for liberals, but not for conservatives, interculturalism leads to more positive attitudes toward immigrant-origin groups and increased willingness to engage in contact, relative to multiculturalism.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 445-460
Author(s):  
Mohd Imran Khan ◽  
Valatheeswaran C.

The inflow of international remittances to Kerala has been increasing over the last three decades. It has increased the income of recipient households and enabled them to spend more on human capital investment. Using data from the Kerala Migration Survey-2010, this study analyses the impact of remittance receipts on the households’ healthcare expenditure and access to private healthcare in Kerala. This study employs an instrumental variable approach to account for the endogeneity of remittances receipts. The empirical results show that remittance income has a positive and significant impact on households’ healthcare expenditure and access to private healthcare services. After disaggregating the sample into different heterogeneous groups, this study found that remittances have a greater effect on lower-income households and Other Backward Class (OBC) households but not Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) households, which remain excluded from reaping the benefit of international migration and remittances.


Author(s):  
Guoliang Yang ◽  
Zhihua Wang ◽  
Weijiong Wu

Little is known about the relationship between social comparison orientation and mental health, especially in the psychological capital context. We proposed a theoretical model to examine the impact of ability- and opinion-based social comparison orientation on mental health using data from 304 undergraduates. We also examined the mediating effect of the four psychological capital components of hope, self-efficacy, resilience, and optimism in the relationship between social comparison orientation and mental health. Results show that an ability (vs. opinion) social comparison orientation was negatively (vs. positively) related to the psychological capital components. Further, the resilience and optimism components of psychological capital fully mediated the social comparison orientation–mental health relationship. Our findings indicate that psychological capital should be considered in the promotion of mental health, and that the two social comparison orientation types have opposite effects on psychological capital.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (13) ◽  
Author(s):  
Inês Laplanche Coelho ◽  
Mafalda Sousa-Uva ◽  
Nuno Pina ◽  
Sara Marques ◽  
Carlos Matias-Dias ◽  
...  

Introduction: Previous studies have found an increase in the incidence rate of depression between 2007 – 2013 in Portugal, with a positive correlation with the unemployment rate, namely, in men. So, it was hypothesized that this increase is related with the situation of economic crisis. This study aimed to investigate if the correlation between unemployment rates and the incidence of depression is maintained in the post-crisis period of economic recovery in Portugal (2016 – 2018).Material and Methods: An ecological study was carried out, using data from the General Practitioners Sentinel Network concerning depression incidence (first episodes and relapses) and data from the National Statistics Institute on unemployment rates in the Portuguese population. The correlation coefficient was estimated using linear regression and the results were disaggregated by sex.Results: Between 2016 and 2018, there was a consistent decrease in the incidence of depression in both sexes. During the 1995 – 2018 period, a positive correlation was observed between unemployment and depression, with a coefficient of 0.833 (p = 0.005) in males and of 0.742 (p = 0.022) in females.Discussion: The reduction in the incidence of depression in both sexes observed between 2016 – 2018 corroborates a positive correlation between unemployment and depression in the Portuguese population, previously observed between 2007 – 2013.Conclusion: This study highlights the need to monitor the occurrence of mental illness in the Portuguese population, especially in moments of greatest social vulnerability in order to establish preventive measures, as a way to mitigate the impact of future economic crises.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Y. Franco ◽  
Angela E. Lee-Winn ◽  
Sara Brandspigel ◽  
Musheng L. Alishahi ◽  
Ashley Brooks-Russell

Abstract Background Syringe services programs provide sterile injection supplies and a range of health services (e.g., HIV and HEP-C testing, overdose prevention education, provision of naloxone) to a hard-to-reach population, including people who use drugs, aiming to prevent the transmission of infectious diseases. Methods We performed a qualitative needs assessment of existing syringe services programs in the state of Colorado in 2018–2019 to describe—their activities, needs, and barriers. Using a phenomenological approach, we performed semi-structured interviews with key program staff of syringe services programs (n = 11). All interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed, and validated. A data-driven iterative approach was used by researchers to develop a coding scheme to organize the data into major themes found across interviews. Memos were written to synthesize main themes. Results Nearly all the syringe program staff discussed their relationships with law enforcement at length. All syringe program staff viewed having a positive relationship with law enforcement as critical to the success of their program. Main factors that influence the quality of relationships between syringe services programs and law enforcement included: (1) alignment in agency culture, (2) support from law enforcement leadership, (3) police officers’ participation and compliance with the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program, which provides intensive case management for low-level drug offenders, and (4) implementation of the “Needle-Stick Prevention Law” and Drug Paraphernalia Law Exemption. All syringe program staff expressed a strong desire to have positive relationships with law enforcement and described how a collaborative working relationship was critical to the success of their programs. Conclusions Our findings reveal effective strategies to foster relationships between syringe services programs and law enforcement as well as key barriers to address. The need exists for both syringe services programs and law enforcement to devote time and resources to build a strong, positive partnership. Having such positive relationships with law enforcement has positive implications for syringe services program clients, including law enforcement being less likely to ticket persons for having used syringes, and encourage people who use drugs to seek services from syringe services programs, which can then lead them to other resources, such as housing, wound care, and substance use treatment programs.


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