Larry J. Siegel

Decision games applied to police decision making -an exploratory study of information usage-

Abstract An analysis of police decision making is presented using the decision board technique developed by Leslie Wilkins. This method assumes that decision making can be measured by observing a subjects response to stimuli presented in the form of pieces of information. A board was created and employed with fifty municipal police officers. Findings suggest that police demonstrate individualized preferences for varying amounts and kinds of information. The nature of the offense was considered most frequently. The attitude of the offender was also an important determinant of the decision outcome; and the offenders attitude then influenced the amount and type of information subsequently used.

Behavioral and Familial Correlates of Episodic Heroin Abuse among Suburban Adolescents

Behavioral and familial correlates of predominantly White, suburban heroin abusers were investigated to determine whether such abuse was self-contained experimentation or suggestive of generalized personality disorders and impaired family relationships. Twenty of 296 male high school students recruited from 10 middle-class suburban schools had engaged in episodic heroin abuse. Of 29 antisocial behaviors other than heroin abuse assessed, heroin abusers engaged in 16 significantly more frequently. Heroin abusers found their fathers to be significantly less nice, honest, strong, and kind than did nonabusers, according to semantic differential technique. They found themselves to be significantly less strong than did nonabusers, suggesting failure to model themselves after adequately coping fathers. Heroin abusers also found their mothers to be significantly less fair, honest, and valuable than did nonabusers. It was concluded that episodic heroin abuse among suburban adolescents is suggestive both of generalized antisocial behavior and of impaired family relationships.

Rejection by the Social Order and Delinquent Orientation

It has been argued that once adolescents are labelled as delinquent, they are systematically rejected by the social order. Thus they should develop antagonism towards the criminal justice system, increased tolerance for proscribed activities, and short-sighted hedonism. These assertions were formulated as null hypotheses, and a comparison of the attitudes of delinquents and non-delinquents, through semantic differential technique, resulted in failure to accept the null hypotheses. Thus, the existence of the predicted attitudes were verified empirically, but it was pointed out that their origins must be confirmed through longitudinal research.