Robin S. Engel

Examining the influence of drivers' characteristics during traffic stops with police: Results from a national survey

The factors that influence officer decision making after a traffic stop is initiated are examined using the Police-Public Contact Survey data collected in 1999. This investigation of police behavior is framed with an understanding of the organizational roots of racial profiling tactics and policies. The findings show that young black and Hispanic males are at increased risk for citations, searches, arrests, and uses of force after other extralegal and legal characteristics are controlled. Additional analyses show that minority drivers are not, however, more likely to be carrying contraband than are white drivers. The implications for policy and future research are discussed.

Conceptualizing criminal justice theory

In an attempt to advance the development and generalization of criminal justice theory as a whole, we propose a framework for classifying specific criminal justice theories. We then present an interpretive history of the academic field of criminal justice to demonstrate how the field can be organized within that framework. We conclude by describing some lessons about theory learned in the field of criminology and applying these lessons to the field of criminal justice.

Supervisory styles of patrol sergeants and lieutenants

Abstract Scholars across academic disciplines have advanced theories identifying leadership styles. While these theoretical approaches have been used in a variety of settings, few police scholars have adapted these frameworks for a comprehensive study of patrol supervision. The present study uses these frameworks to identify underlying attitudinal constructs of supervisory styles from data collected for the Project on Policing Neighborhoods (POPN), a systematic observational study of patrol officers and first-line supervisors in two metropolitan police departments. Through factor analyses, four distinct supervisory styles (traditional, innovative, supportive, and active) are identified and thoroughly described. Supervisors are classified as having one of these four primary styles of supervision and the distribution of these supervisory styles is examined along with differences in supervisor behavior. Implications for policy and research are explored.

COMPARING BENCHMARK METHODOLOGIES FOR POLICE-CITIZEN CONTACTS: TRAFFIC STOP DATA COLLECTION FOR THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE

The political and social pressure for police departments to collect race-based traffic and pedestrian contact information has led to the accumulation of abundant sources of police-citizen contact data. Many of the current data collection efforts, however, do not include accurate benchmarks for data comparisons. The strengths and limitations of the six most prominent benchmark measures used in current studies of police citizen contacts—census data, observations of roadway usage, official accident data, assessments of traffic violating behavior, citizen surveys, and internal departmental comparisons—are described. Focusing on the Project on Police-Citizen Contacts, a large-scale data collection effort of traffic stops for the Pennsylvania State Police, four different benchmarks for statewide comparisons are described. The continued improvement of data collection efforts at the local and state levels through the use of multiple benchmark measures is discussed.

Disentangling the influence of suspects' demeanor and mental disorder on arrest

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand the factors that influence officer behavior when encountering suspects of crime who are perceived to have a mental disorder.Design/methodology/approach – This paper utilizes data collected from systematic social observations of street officers during 617 encounters with suspects, including 49 that were perceived to have a mental disorder. Multivariate models are estimated to determine the relative influence mental disorder has on officer decision making.Findings – The paper finds mentally disordered suspects are more likely to demonstrate disrespectful or hostile behavior. The paper also finds that disrespect and hostility increases the likelihood of arrests. However, results also demonstrate that despite behavioral differences, persons with mental disorders are significantly less likely to be arrested by officers. Results support the contention that officers view mental status as a mitigating factor during encounters, and further calls in to question t...

Reducing Gang Violence Using Focused Deterrence: Evaluating the Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV)

Research indicates that focused deterrence interventions are associated with violence reductions, although levels of success vary across sites. It is unknown if these strategies can produce sustained reductions over time, and if the variation in success is due to differences in program activities and dosages. This study provides a detailed description and evaluation of the Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV), a focused deterrence violence reduction strategy implemented in Cincinnati, Ohio. CIRV’s organizational structure and enhanced social services were designed to address sustainability issues that threaten to undermine long-term success. Results from our pooled time series regression models indicate that two violent outcomes—group/gang-member involved homicides and violent firearm incidents—declined significantly following implementation. These declines were observed in both 24- and 42-month post-intervention periods, but not in comparison outcomes. Additional analyses, however, reveal that provision of social services was not responsible for the significant and sustained decline.

A Critique of the “Outcome Test” in Racial Profiling Research

In racial profiling research, four different research perspectives—legalistic, criminological, economic, and normative—have emerged. The analytical techniques of two of these perspectives, the legalistic and criminological, have been thoroughly detailed in prior research. More recently, the economic perspective has presented an alternative analytical strategy (i.e., the outcome test), to determine racial and ethnic discrimination by police. When applied to police searches, the outcome test is a statistical comparison of search success rates across racial and ethnic groups. The outcome test, however, is based on a number of underlying assumptions regarding police and citizen behaviors that do not coincide with what is known about decision‐making during police–citizen encounters. These underlying assumptions are described and the conclusions based on the use of the outcome test are critiqued. The implications for the use of the outcome test and other analytical techniques for the future of racial profiling research are discussed.

Police–academic partnerships: ending the dialogue of the deaf, the Cincinnati experience

Have researchers overcome the damaging legacy of what Bradley and Nixon (2009) termed the ‘critical police research’ tradition? There is little doubt that Van Maanen’s description of police perceptions about students and researchers was likely accurate 30 years ago. Yet, do police still view academics as unpredictable ‘assholes’ that are ‘out-to-get-them’? What, if anything, has changed in the last 30 years? Bradley and Nixon (2009) document that during the last 30 years, two police research traditions – critical and policy – have dominated the academic landscape. They describe MacDonald’s account (1987) of A Dialogue of the Deaf as a ‘mutual misunderstanding that negatively impacts police–academic relationships.’ They skillfully describe the source of this misunderstanding but suggest that great progress has been made, and that the ‘dialogue of the deaf’ is ending in Australia through ‘intimate and continuous partnership[s] between police and the university system’ (Bradley & Nixon, 2009, p. 424). Their argument is persuasive, but many in the policing and academic fields have seen these ‘partnerships’ before and few have had any lasting impact. Is this third police research tradition proposed by Bradley and Nixon really any different than the short-term teaming up of police and academics that we have routinely seen throughout the past 20 years? We argue that police– academic partnerships as described by Bradley and Nixon can be different, and that such promising partnerships are developing between American police agencies and universities as well as abroad. If carefully cultivated and nurtured, these relationships may well be the third police research tradition that is essential for enhancing police practices. In support of Bradley and Nixon’s propositions, we document why police administrators should strongly consider the work generated by the academic community. We also consider why academics need to better listen to and understand police. Thereafter, we document the obstacles that continue to threaten the establishment and long-term development

The Impact of Drivers’ Race, Gender, and Age During Traffic Stops Assessing Interaction Terms and the Social Conditioning Model

Recent research has demonstrated that minority drivers receive disparate traffic stop outcomes compared with similarly situated White drivers. This research, however, is often not grounded within a theoretical framework and fails to examine specific combinations of driver demographics. This study addresses those shortcomings by examining research questions based on the social conditioning model and investigating the relationship between specific combinations of drivers’ race/ethnicity, gender, and age, and traffic stop outcomes. Using alternative measures of stop outcomes and robust official traffic stop data collected from a state law enforcement agency, the results demonstrate that warnings and citations, but not arrests, are differentially issued to young, Black male drivers. The findings also confirm the influence of legal factors on police decision making during traffic stops. Research and policy implications are discussed.

Revisiting the Use of Propensity Score Matching to Understand the Relationship between Gang Membership and Violent Victimization: A Cautionary Note

Previous research has consistently reported that gang members are more likely to experience violent victimization compared to non‐gang members. Recently, however, a study challenged this conventional wisdom using the Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) data. Employing propensity score matching (PSM), this study reported no significant differences in violent victimization between gang and non‐gang members. Upon closer examination of the GREAT data and the PSM process used in this study, we note several theoretical, methodological, and statistical concerns. We reanalyze the GREAT data using both negative binomial regression and PSM. We find that self‐reported gang members were significantly more likely to report subsequent violent victimization compared to non‐gang members. Although contrary to this previous study, our findings are consistent with the bulk of previous empirical research and widely held beliefs about the relationship between gang membership and violent victimization.