Matching Items (3)
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- All Subjects: Use of Force
- Creators: Wallace, Danielle
- Creators: Garcia-Johnson, Anastacia Maria
Description
Highly publicized cases involving citizen fatalities due to police use of force raise questions about perceptions of danger. Arrest-related deaths due to weapons, accidental injuries, and natural causes remain high year after year. Communities are greatly affected, and mistrust with the police continues to increase when these situations happen. There seem to be inaccurate perceptions that may stem from implicit associations, stereotypes, and social learning. These psychological concepts may provide theoretical explanations of how decisions are made when police officers are faced with danger. Some elements of this decision-making process may include suspect characteristics, officer experience, and police sub-culture. In this review, race/ethnicity and socio-economic status are examined as factors that contribute to police use of force. Disparities in use of force data often involve young, Black males living in low-income neighborhoods. The stereotype that this group is more dangerous than others stems from underlying prejudices and previous situations where Black people are targeted more in certain areas. Training, education, and community outreach programs can assist in mending relations between police and affected communities. Acknowledging these inaccurate perceptions, making the adjustments to police training and community relations, and being open to exploration in future research of other minority groups will assist in eliminating prejudices and creating better connections between law enforcement and the community.
ContributorsGarcia-Johnson, Anastacia Maria (Author) / Szeli, Eva (Thesis director) / Pizarro, Jesenia (Committee member) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor, Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Body-worn cameras and early intervention systems have become best practices for police departments. A wide body of empirical work has examined body-worn cameras, and there is a growing focus on early intervention systems. However, little research has examined how these mechanisms of accountability influence officer behavior when employed together. Further, little attention has explored whether the effects of body-worn cameras and early intervention systems are stable by officer gender and race, important and largely untested assumptions of each program. To address these gaps, the current study uses longitudinal, administrative data from the Phoenix Police Department to examine patrol officer misconduct between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2020. Generalized estimating equation models predict seven alleged and sustained misconduct outcomes, including police crime, use of force, harassment/conduct unbecoming, obstruction of justice, neglect of duty, traffic-related, and an overall measure of misconduct. The findings revealed that body-worn camera implementation and activation and early intervention system implementation and referrals individually and in combination were associated with very few substantive changes in officer misconduct. Increases in body-worn camera activation were associated with reductions in sustained police crime (i.e., felonies and misdemeanors), while officers who received an early intervention system referral were more likely to be alleged of police crime in the future. These findings were stable by officer gender and race. Further, past work demonstrates that implementing accountability programs can lead officers to less self-initiated engagement with the public. The current study reaffirmed that body-worn cameras and early intervention systems have unintended effects on officers’ proactive behaviors with unique changes in arrests, citations, and self-initiated incidents across accountability program measures. Given the importance of addressing officer misconduct to build and maintain community trust, the rapid expansion of body-worn cameras and early intervention systems across the United States, and the cost of these systems, it is vital that police departments consider the accountability programs they implement and whether and how these programs influence officer behavior. The current study provides insight into this process in one police agency and offers policy implications and directions for future research.
ContributorsFreemon, Kayla (Author) / Katz, Charles (Thesis advisor) / Wallace, Danielle (Committee member) / Huebner, Beth (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
Prior ethnographic research has found some relatively consistent factors that influence an officer’s use of force (e.g., organizational and suspect and officer characteristics). However, very little research has explored the effect department size in and of itself may have on force displayed during a police/citizen encounter. This study used data from the 2010 – 2013 Arizona Arrestee Reporting Information Network (AARIN) to examine the relationship between departmental size and officer use of force. Participants in this data collection cycle were limited to adult male and female arrestees (N = 2,273). AARIN personnel conducted confidential interviews and used a Police-Contact Addendum to document the type of forced employed by police during their current arrest. This study sought to answer the following research question: does the likelihood of an officer employing use of force increase (or decrease) in relation to department size the officer is nested in? The results indicate that citizens who are arrested by officers from a larger agency are more likely to report experiencing use of force during their arrest when compared to those arrested by officers from small and medium sized agencies.
ContributorsGalvin-White, Christine Marie (Author) / Wallace, Danielle (Thesis advisor) / White, Michael D. (Committee member) / Fradella, Hank F. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017