Street-Level Justice: Situational Determinants of Police Arrest Decisions

Smith, D.; Visher, Christy A.

doi:10.2307/800422

Cited by 272 publications

(215 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…In fact, law enforcement agencies have gone as far as to formalize this way of thinking into what is known as "profiles." Thus, if the police are generally suspicious of a particular racial or ethnic group, they are probably more likely to investigate, stop, and/or arrest members of that group Reiss, 1967, 1970;Hepburn, 1978;Smith and Visher, 1981).…”

Section: Police and Minoritiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Police use of excessive force: Does the race of the suspect influence citizens' perceptions?

Rome

Son

Davis³

1995

Soc Just Res

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Section: Police and Minoritiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Police use of excessive force: Does the race of the suspect influence citizens' perceptions?

Rome

Son

Davis³

1995

Soc Just Res

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“…0748-4518/97/1200-0391 $09.50/0 9 1996 Plenum Publishing Corporation majority of the numerous observational studies of the police published since Black's essay appeared measure police action as whether they took citizens into custody (e.g., Smith, 1984Smith, , 1986Klein, 1983, 1984;Smith and Visher, 1981;Visher, 1983;Worden and Politz, 1984). Moreover, only one of the few alternatives to the arrest/no-arrest dichotomy that researchers have used (all detailed in text below) 2 is a quantitative measure, and careful consideration of this measure indicates that it is, in some respects, wanting.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying law in police-citizen encounters

Klinger

1994

J Quant Criminol

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The way researchers have traditionally measured police action limits their capacity to test legal theories and shed light onto the determinants of law at the initial stage of the criminal justice process. This paper describes extant police action measures and their limitations, offers a new measure that taps variation in the amount of law police officers use in encounters with citizens, presents the results of an analysis that utilizes the new measure, and discusses the implications of this new measure for legal research.

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“…Whilst there are several factors shown to influence arrest decisions such as demeanor , hostility towards the police (Klinger, 1994;Smith and Visher, 1981), seriousness of offence (Ho, 2003) and ethnicity (Smith et al, 1984), little is known about the role of the offenders' gender in police decision making. There is evidence that shows traditional patriarchal attitudes are still exercised within policing and towards female police officers (see Coffey et al, 1992;Heidensohn, 1992;Holdaway and Parker, 1998;Martin, 1996;Westmarland, 2001); however what remains unclear is whether these attitudes affect women who offend.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Policing “uncontrollable banshees”: factors influencing arrest decision making

Young

2015

Safer Communities

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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that influence police officers’ decision making when dealing with young women considered violent. Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured interviews were carried out with frontline police officers in Scotland on their experiences of responding to incidents where young women displayed violence. Findings – The police officers clearly distinguished encounters with women using violence from those with young men, portraying young women as irrational, unpredictable and uncontrollable. The research found that while gender alone was not a determining factor for arrest, police officers did stereotype young women according to gender norms and these norms could have a bearing on decision making. The findings show that police officers prefer to respond to situations with male perpetrators due to their own difficulties effectively communicating with young women, who are often under the influence of alcohol. Research limitations/implications – The research indicates that police officers, regardless of their gender, have difficulties handling violent incidents that involve young women. This provides scope for further analysis of police training to ascertain whether sufficient guidance is provided to fully equip police officers when faced with aggressive young women. This study focused on police officers’ own views and experiences but future research could consider a more ethnographic approach to observe police decision making in practice to determine whether the stereotypes portrayed were a true reflection of their experiences. Originality/value – This is one of only a very few studies that has explored the relation between gender and arrest decision making. It enhances the understanding of how young women come to be arrested and indicates how police officers are currently ill equipped to effectively respond to young women considered violent.

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Street-Level Justice: Situational Determinants of Police Arrest Decisions

Cited by 272 publications

References 29 publications

Police use of excessive force: Does the race of the suspect influence citizens' perceptions?

Police use of excessive force: Does the race of the suspect influence citizens' perceptions?

Quantifying law in police-citizen encounters

Policing “uncontrollable banshees”: factors influencing arrest decision making

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