Richard J. Lundman

Police Control of Juveniles: A Replication

In 1970, Donald Black and Albert J. Reiss, Jr. presented a series of eight propositions which they suggested provided the beginning of an empirical por trait of the policing of juveniles. The present study replicates their research, based upon comparative data separated by four years and many miles. Exten sive support for their earlier conclusions is reported, but a number of sub- propositions, clarifications, and extensions are also advanced. Several of the theoretical and empirical implications of these findings are then considered.

Factors Affecting Homicide Clearances: Multivariate Analysis Of A More Complete Conceptual Framework:

Scholarly study of the factors affecting homicide clearances is at the same point as scholarly study of police patrol officers more than 50 years ago. In particular, major organizing frameworks provide fundamentally contradictory images, and only a handful of multivariate studies exist. The present research partially remedies these problems by advancing a more complete conceptual framework and then by using that framework to guide multivariate analysis of the factors affecting the clearance of 802 homicides in Columbus, Ohio, between 1984 and 1992. Consistent with the more complete conceptual framework, there is strong support for the argument that the visibility of homicide and the singular importance of homicide clearances cause homicide detectives to work aggressively to clear all homicides irrespective of where they occur or the characteristics of homicide victims. Also consistent with the framework, the authors find no support for previous arguments that detective experience and workload affect homicide clearances.

The Newsworthiness and Selection Bias in News About Murder: Comparative and Relative Effects of Novelty and Race and Gender Typifications on Newspaper Coverage of Homicide

Previous research suggests that journalists assess the newsworthiness of homicide occurrences using the relative frequency of particular types of murders and how well specific murder occurrences mesh with stereotypical race and gender typifications. However, previous research also is marked by four important limits, including the failure to systematically examine intersections of race and gender. The present research remedies these problems and clarifies existing understandings of selection bias in news about murder in two important respects. Newsworthiness as represented by novelty is an incomplete explanation of selection bias. Instead, news about murder is the product of journalistic assessments of newsworthiness firmly grounded in long-standing race and gender typifications.

Routine Police Arrest Practices: A Commonweal Perspective

Employing a commonweal conception of police organizations, the central aim of the present study was to determine the extent to which routine police arrest practices suggest police abuse of the societal delegated privilege to exercise non-negotiable coercive force. Public drunkenness encounters occurring in a large midwestern city were analyzed; and it was found that significantly higher rates of arrest were associated with offense conspicuousness, offender powerlessness, and offender disrespect. The major conclusion drawn is that the police abuse this societal delegated privilege. The implications of this conclusion for the commonweal conception of the police are discussed.

Demeanor and Arrest: Additional Evidence from Previously Unpublished Data:

Across more than four decades of previous research, social scientists have reported that demeanor and other extralegal factors shape police actions such as arrest. Recently, however, Klinger has asserted that all previous research is suspect because it failed to control for crime and failed to limit demeanor to legally permissible words and displays of hostility. The present research further probes this issue using previously unpublished data. The key findings are several. Demeanor matters when it is limited to legally permissible words and displays of hostility and when crime is partially controlled, although the effects of demeanor vary with how it is represented. Other extralegal variables, especially race and class, also matter. This analysis therefore provides little reason for questioning the agreement reached over four decades that demeanor and other extralegal variables shape police actions.

Will Diversion Reduce Recidivism

This paper describes diversion from the juvenile justice system, among the newest of the strategies adopted to prevent and control delinquent behavior; specifies the sociological origins of diversion programs, with special attention to the symbolic interactionist tradition, labeling theory, and labeling research; and considers certain problems and implications of diversion programs. The essential conclusion drawn is that diversion will probably not reduce recidivism or correct existing abuses.

One-Wave Perceptual Deterrence Research: Some Grounds for the Renewed Examination of Cross-Sectional Methods

Across the past ten years serious questions have been raised about the validity of cross-sectional (“one-wave”) perceptual deterrence research. Panel (“two-wave”) designs have therefore become the preferred method of conducting perceptual deterrence research. The present article provides grounds for the renewed examination of cross-sectional designs. It begins by probing criticism of one-wave designs. Attention is then directed to problems posed by two-wave designs. Established next are two of the circumstances that enhance the validity of one-wave data. Following discussion that includes specification of an agenda for future research, the basic conclusion drawn is that exclusive reliance on panel designs is premature.

Delinquency Prevention: Recommendations for Future Projects

A review of forty past or continuing attempts at the prevention of juvenile delinquency leads to the nearly inescapable conclusion that none of these projects has successfully prevented delinquency. After briefly examining the results of previous projects, the authors discuss a series of nine recom mendations for future projects. These recommendations include separa tion of implementation and evaluation, enrichment or abandonment of the individual treatment approach, diversification of evaluative measures, and greater sensitivity to the rights of the juvenile subjects involved in future projects.

City police and drunk driving: Baseline data

Public attitudes, social movement organizations, and criminal justice laws regarding drunk driving have undergone significant changes in recent years. These changes raise important questions about police, who act as gatekeepers for the rest of the criminal justice system. Very little, however, is known about what police did in the years when drunk driving was viewed as a less serious social problem or about what police do now. I attempt to answer the first of these questions using data collected in the early 1970s, an important, largely unexamined period in the history of city police and drunk driving. The data provide a baseline for contemporary research. City police did not give contacts with drunk drivers a high priority, preferred to avoid these encounters, and made arrests on the basis of both legal and extralegal factors; extralegal factors were more important than legal factors. I examine the implications of the baseline data for contemporary policing.

Officer Race and Citizen-Reported Traffic Ticket Decisions by Police in 1999 and 2002

Does officer race affect the frequency with which citizens report receiving a ticket for a traffic law violation? According to citizens, is the effect of officer race on traffic tickets the same in 1999 and 2002 despite the increased attention given what has come to be called driving while Black? The present research answers these questions using citizen reports of their traffic stop encounters with police in 1999 and 2002. Net of important control variables, citizens report changes in the ways officer race affects traffic ticket decisions, most notably when viewed through the lens of intersections of officer race and driver race and ethnicity. Specifically, citizens report that Black police officers are less likely to ticket Black traffic law violators in 2002 than in 1999. In important contrast, White police officers are more likely to ticket all drivers of color in both 1999 and 2002.