Dale Willits

Police organisation and deadly force: an examination of variation across large and small cities

The use of deadly force is the most extreme form of coercive behaviour available to police officers. In this study, we examine organisational and structural predictors of police use of deadly force for large and small cities in the USA. Using data from the Supplementary Homicide Reports, the 2000 American Census and Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics Survey, we use regression models to evaluate the relationship between deadly force incidents and organisational variables. Results indicate that organisational characteristics are more salient for large cities than small ones. Our findings also highlight the importance of studying small city departments.

Schools, Neighborhood Risk Factors, and Crime:

Prior research has identified a link between schools (particularly high schools) and neighborhood crime rates. However, it remains unclear whether the relationship between schools and crime is a reflection of other criminogenic dynamics at the neighborhood level or whether schools influence neighborhood crime patterns independently of other established structural predictors. We address this question by investigating the relationship between schools and serious crime at the block group level while controlling for the potentially criminogenic effects of neighborhood instability and structural disadvantage. We find that, net of other structural correlates, neighborhoods with high schools and middle schools experience more violent, property, and narcotics crimes than those without middle or high schools. Conversely, neighborhoods with elementary schools exhibit less property crime than those not containing elementary schools. These results, which are consistent with prior research and with explanations derived from the routine activities and social disorganization perspectives, suggest some strategies for police deployment and community involvement to control crime.

Situational predictors of violent intentions: Results from a factorial survey

Abstract Though many sociological and criminological theories of violence provide a role for both situational and individual-level factors, research largely focuses on individual-level characteristics. The current research, drawing on the psychological and sociological aggression literatures, utilizes a factorial survey approach to identify important situational risk factors. Multi-level regression results indicate that provocation, aggressive cues, and the presence of an audience are all statistically significant risk factors. Moreover, these factors maintain their importance even after statistically controlling for well-known individual-level characteristics. These results highlight the importance of situational factors and serve as a call for more situationally oriented research and theory on violence.

Income Inequality and Homicide in the United States Consistency Across Different Income Inequality Measures and Disaggregated Homicide Types

Choices of inequality measure and homicide type may account for mixed findings on the income inequality–homicide link. We aim to acquaint criminologists with several income inequality measures beyond the familiar Gini index and apply the different measures to general and specific homicide rates, noting the practical effect of these choices on results. The income inequality measures differ in their fidelity to relative deprivation ideas, but still correlated highly with each other in data from 208 large U.S. cities. Multivariate analysis also found that all measures of income inequality had significant and positive associations with both overall and specific homicide rates.

Schools and Drug Markets: Examining the Relationship between Schools and Neighborhood Drug Crime.

Research on drug markets indicates that they are not randomly distributed. Instead they are concentrated around specific types of places. Theoretical and empirical literature implicates routine activities and social disorganization processes in this distribution. In the current study, we examine whether, consistent with these theories, drug markets are particularly likely to form near schools. This research contributes to our understanding of adolescent drug use patterns by assessing some of the place and neighborhood-level mechanisms that help explain how schools facilitate access to illicit drugs. Using data from Albuquerque, New Mexico, we find that neighborhoods with middle schools and high schools experience more drug crime than neighborhoods without middle or high schools. Moreover, the relationship between school presence and drug crime is strongest during the hours directly before, during, and after school. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.