Journal of Quantitative Criminology
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Published By Springer-Verlag

1573-7799, 0748-4518

Author(s):  
Cohen R. Simpson ◽  
David S. Kirk

Abstract Objectives Understanding if police malfeasance might be “contagious” is vital to identifying efficacious paths to police reform. Accordingly, we investigate whether an officer’s propensity to engage in misconduct is associated with her direct, routine interaction with colleagues who have themselves engaged in misbehavior in the past. Methods Recognizing the importance of analyzing the actual social networks spanning a police force, we use data on collaborative responses to 1,165,136 “911” calls for service by 3475 Dallas Police Department (DPD) officers across 2013 and 2014 to construct daily networks of front-line interaction. And we relate these cooperative networks to reported and formally sanctioned misconduct on the part of the DPD officers during the same time period using repeated-events survival models. Results Estimates indicate that the risk of a DPD officer engaging in misconduct is not associated with the disciplined misbehavior of her ad hoc, on-the-scene partners. Rather, a greater risk of misconduct is associated with past misbehavior, officer-specific proneness, the neighborhood context of patrol, and, in some cases, officer race, while departmental tenure is a mitigating factor. Conclusions Our observational findings—based on data from one large police department in the United States—ultimately suggest that actor-based and ecological explanations of police deviance should not be summarily dismissed in favor of accounts emphasizing negative socialization, where our study design also raises the possibility that results are partly driven by unobserved trait-based variation in the situations that officers find themselves in. All in all, interventions focused on individual officers, including the termination of deviant police, may be fruitful for curtailing police misconduct—where early interventions focused on new offenders may be key to avoiding the escalation of deviance.


Author(s):  
Irina Jugl ◽  
Doris Bender ◽  
Friedrich Lösel

Abstract Objectives Sports programs are widely implemented as measures of crime prevention. In contrast to their popularity, there is little systematic knowledge about their effectiveness. This systematic review and meta-analysis have been carried out to fill this gap. In a systematic review, we gathered data on evaluated prevention programs specifically designed to prevent crime and delinquency. We then conducted a meta-analytic integration with studies using at least roughly equivalent control groups for the program evaluation. Method To retrieve relevant literature, we conducted a comprehensive international literature search until June 2021 drawing on scientific databases. We also applied snow-balling searches and contacted practitioners in the field. Studies were eligible if they evaluated sports programs designed to prevent delinquency on primary, secondary, and/or tertiary level. We focused on crime-related outcomes and potentially underlying psycho-social factors. We made no restrictions regarding characteristics of the participants or other aspects such as duration of the program. Results 24 studies were eligible for our systematic review, from which only thirteen were included into our meta-analytic integration. We found a moderate effect of participation in sports programs on crime-related outcomes (d = 0.36, p < .001). Participants showed a significant decrease in outcomes such as aggressiveness or anti-social behavior. We also analyzed psychological outcomes such as self-esteem or mental well-being, which also significantly improved when participating in sports programs (d = 0.87, p < ..05). Conclusions Sports programs seem to be an effective measure of crime prevention. However, future research needs more sound evaluation designs and moderator analyses to better understand the functioning and improve the implementation of sports programs.


Author(s):  
John Thacker ◽  
Maggie Elliott Martin ◽  
Yvonne Cristy ◽  
Deirdre Rabideau ◽  
Michael Shively ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Anne Sofie Tegner Anker

Abstract Objectives This study estimates the causal effect of paternal incarceration on children’s educational outcomes measured at the end of compulsory schooling (9th grade) in Denmark. Methods I use Danish administrative data and rely on a sentencing reform in 2000, which expanded the use of non-custodial alternatives to incarceration for traffic offenders, for plausibly exogenous variation in the risk of experiencing paternal incarceration. Results The results show that paternal incarceration does not affect academic achievement (grade point average), but that it does reduce the number of grades obtained, and–most importantly–roughly doubles the risk of not even completing compulsory school and getting a 9th grade certificate. These findings are driven mainly by boys for whom paternal incarceration appear to be particularly consequential. Conclusions The findings presented in this study highlight the presence of unintended and collateral consequences of penal policies–even in the context of a relatively mild penal regime. Effects are, however, estimated for a subgroup of Danish children experiencing paternal incarceration, and how results translate to other subgroups and beyond the Danish context is open for speculation.


Author(s):  
Rafael Prieto Curiel

Abstract Objectives Examine and visualise the temporal concentration of different crime types and detect if their intensity varies through distinct moments of the week. Methods The “heartbeat of the crime signal” is constructed by overlapping the weekly time they were suffered. This study is based on more than 220,000 crimes reported to the Mexico City Police Department between January 2016 and March 2020 to capture the day and time of crimes and detect moments of the week in which the intensity exceeds the average frequency. A new metric for the temporal concentration of crime is constructed for different types of crime and regions of the city based on the corresponding heartbeats. Results The temporal concentration of crime is a stable signature of different types of crime. The intensity of robberies and theft is more homogeneous from Monday to Sunday, but robberies of a bank user are highly concentrated in a week, meaning that few hours of the week capture most of the burning moments. The concentration is not homogeneously distributed in the city, with some regions experiencing a much higher temporal concentration of crime. Conclusions Crime is highly concentrated when observed in its weekly patterns, but different types of crime and regions exhibit substantially distinct concentration levels. The temporal trace indicates specific moments for the burning times of different types of crime, which is a critical element of a policing strategy.


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