Michael D. Reisig

Experience, quality of life, and neighborhood context: A hierarchical analysis of satisfaction with police

We test three different conceptual models—“experience with police,” “quality of life,” and “neighborhood context”—for directional accuracy and ability to explain satisfaction with the police. We also investigate whether these models help to explain the common finding that African-Americans are more dissatisfied with the police than are Caucasians. To do so, we use hierarchical linear modeling to simultaneously regress our outcome measure on clusters of citizen- and neighborhood-level variables. The analysis was conducted using recently collected information from the Project on Policing Neighborhoods (POPN). The data file consisted of survey responses from 5,361 citizens residing in 58 neighborhoods located in Indianapolis, Indiana and St. Petersburg, Florida. At the citizen level, the psychologically based “quality of life” model accounts for the greatest proportion of explained variance and provides the greatest directional accuracy. Also, residents of neighborhoods characterized by concentrated disadvantage express significantly less satisfaction with the police. In addition, neighborhood context reduces the negative effect of African-American status on satisfaction with police when a sparse citizen-level specification is used; racial variation in satisfaction with police persists, however, when citizen-level hierarchical models are specified more fully.

Neighborhood Context and Police Use of Force

Explanations of police coercion have been traditionally embedded within sociological, psychological, and organizational theoretical frameworks. Largely absent from the research are examinations exploring the role of neighborhood context on police use-of-force practices. Using data collected as part of a systematic social observation study of police in Indianapolis, Indiana, and St. Petersburg, Florida, this research examines the influence of neighborhood context on the level of force police exercise during police-suspect encounters using hierarchical linear modeling techniques. The authors found police officers are significantly more likely to use higher levels of force when suspects are encountered in disadvantaged neighborhoods and those with higher homicide rates, net of situational factors (e.g., suspect resistance) and officer-based determinants (e.g., age, education, and training). Also found is that the effect of the suspects race is mediated by neighborhood context. The results reaffirm Smiths 1986 conclusion that police officers “act differently in different neighborhood contexts.”

The Construct Validity and Refinement of Process-Based Policing Measures

Prior tests of Tylers process-based model of policing have left basic measurement questions unanswered. With a sample of 432 adults from a nationwide telephone survey conducted in spring 2005, factor-analytic procedures were used to develop more valid scales and to test process-based model hypotheses. Regression analyses confirmed that procedural justice judgments affect police legitimacy, which in turn influence both cooperation with police and compliance with the law. When legitimacy was disaggregated, trust in the police predicted both of the outcomes of interest. Obligation to obey, however, was not significantly associated with either compliance or cooperation. Finally, distributive fairness appeared to be as salient as legitimacy in facilitating participant cooperation.

Assessing Recidivism Risk Across Female Pathways to Crime

Actuarial tools, such as the Level of Supervision Inventory—Revised (LSI‐R), are regularly used to classify offenders as “high,” “medium,” and “low” recidivism risks. Its supporters argue the theory upon which the LSI‐R rests (i.e., social learning theory) accounts for criminal behavior among men and women. In short, the LSI‐R is gender‐neutral. Feminist criminologists question the LSI‐R’s validity for female offender populations, especially women under community supervision. Guided by Daly’s (1992, 1994) pathways to crime framework, we use a sample of women under community supervision in Minnesota and Oregon to evaluate the LSI‐R’s performance across offender subgroups. The results show that the LSI‐R misclassifies a significant portion of socially and economically marginalized women with gendered offending contexts. Predictive accuracy was observed for women who did not follow gendered pathways into criminality, whose offending context was similar to males, and who occupied a relatively advantaged social location.

Routine Online Activity and Internet Fraud Targeting: Extending the Generality of Routine Activity Theory

Routine activity theory predicts that changes in legitimate opportunity structures (e.g., technology) can increase the convergence of motivated offenders and suitable targets in the absence of capable guardianship. The Internet has fundamentally changed consumer practices and has simultaneously expanded opportunities for cyber-fraudsters to target online consumers. The authors draw on routine activity theory and consumer behavior research to understand how personal characteristics and online routines increase people’s exposure to motivated offenders. Using a representative sample of 922 adults from a statewide survey in Florida, the results of the regression models are consistent with prior research in that sociodemographic characteristics shape routine online activity (e.g., spending time online and making online purchases). Furthermore, indicators of routine online activity fully mediate the effect of sociodemographic characteristics on the likelihood of being targeted for fraud online. These findings support the routine activity perspective and provide a theoretically informed direction for situational crime prevention in a largely unexplored consumer context.

Citizen perceptions of community policing: are attitudes toward police important?

This study assessed citizen attitudes toward police performance and their perceptions of policing strategy in a small, northwestern town. At the neighbourhood‐level, significant differences in attitudes toward police performance (i.e. officer demeanour and citizen‐police relations) were revealed; however, variations in perceptions of community policing initiatives (i.e. collaborative police‐community partnerships) were not observed. At the individual‐level, results showed that attitudes toward police performance were not significant determinants of citizen perceptions of community policing. This evidence suggested that citizens were receptive to the idea of co‐production of order, and specifically of partnerships between residents and the police to address neighbourhood crime‐related issues. As such, these findings call into question the long standing assumption that positive attitudes toward police are a necessary precursor to the establishment of meaningful, co‐operative ties between citizens and the police.

Public evaluations of police performance: an analysis across three levels of policing

Research focussing on US citizen attitudes of police has concentrated on city policing agencies, neglecting varying attitudes toward county and state police. Attempts to fill this void by testing the effects of individual and contextual variables on citizen evaluations and police performance across city, county and state levels using data collected from a state in the western USA. Finds differences in evaluations depending on age, gender, initiation of contact and previous experience. Discusses the implications of these results and suggests topics for further research.

Low Self-Control and Fraud Offending, Victimization, and Their Overlap

Extant research demonstrates that offending and victim populations overlap to some degree, suggesting that a common underlying factor partially explains both outcomes. The current study tests whether low self-control explains the overlap in fraud offending and victimization exposure. Using cross-sectional survey data from a sample of undergraduate students (N = 305), the results from the regression models show that low self-control is associated with fraud offending. The findings also show that individuals with lower levels of self-control report that they are more likely to behave in ways that elevate their exposure to fraud victimization. Finally, in the fraud offending—victimization exposure multivariate models, the partial regression coefficient for low self-control is positive and statistically significant. In short, the findings demonstrate that the overlap between fraud offending and victimization exposure is partially explained by low self-control.

The Effects of Expectancy Disconfirmation on Outcome Satisfaction in Police-Citizen Encounters

This study tests the expectancy disconfirmation model using survey data from citizens who recently had police encounters. We find support for the expectancy disconfirmation model’s primary hypothesis that increased disparity between expectations of police performance and actual service inversely affects citizen satisfaction with the way the police handle encounters. This finding persists for both voluntary (e.g. breaking and entering victims) and involuntary (e.g. traffic citations) police encounters. Our results also suggest that the scope of the expectancy disconfirmation model is limited. For example, the disparity between expectations and actual service is not correlated with citizen satisfaction with the police in general. Overall, the results show that the expectancy disconfirmation model is useful in that it provides conceptual guidance in an area of research that has been relatively void of theory, and can also help identify needed changes in police practices.

Procedural justice, legitimacy, and prisoner misconduct

Abstract Using structured interview data and official records from an incarcerated sample of adult males housed in a Slovene prison, this study tests hypotheses derived from the process-based model of regulation (Tyler, in M. Tonry (Ed.), Crime and justice, pp. 283–357, 2003). The findings show that inmates who evaluate prison officers’ use of authority as procedurally just are less likely to report engaging in misconduct and are charged with violating fewer institutional rules. The observed association between procedural justice and legitimacy is indistinguishable from zero. Although legitimacy is inversely related to both prisoner misconduct measures, the associations are relatively weak. Overall, these findings partially support Tylers social–psychological framework, and also provide empirical justification for fair and respectful offender management.