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Community-oriented policing (COP) is arguably the most popular and most misunderstood policing philosophy. Definitional ambiguity contributes to this problem, hampering theoretical development, creative new strategies of implementation, and evidence-based policy. DiMaggio and Powell's seminal piece on institutional isomorphism provides a framework for understanding the organizational vagueness of COP, including the processes of homogenization of priorities and structures across police organizations. We propose several new dimensions of COP, developed using police mission statements from a nationally representative sample of law enforcement agencies (N = 2,826). These emergent dimensions (Shallow Community-Oriented Policing, Responsivity, Legitimacy, Constitutionality, and Inclusivity) provide new avenues of theoretical consideration of the COP construct. Exploring these novel elements may strengthen existing community-oriented strategies and encourage creative policy suggestions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Video recordings of police-citizen interactions are becoming increasingly commonplace and accessible to the public. The ability of these recordings to expose multiple individuals to a single encounter makes them ideal for use in criminological research, though little is known regarding the content validity of these videos. Given how open to interpretation these recordings are, it is necessary to ensure the validity of video content. To address this issue, we suggest and demonstrate a multi-stage approach for validating this content. Using this approach, and an expert panel of police officers, this paper seeks to examines a basic methodological challenge of analyzing video-recorded behavior. This paper examines the concordance of perceptions across officers and video content using a multi-stage validation procedure: directed closed-ended questions, subjective ratings, and qualitative responses. Directed closed-ended questions and subjective response ratings indicated higher agreement among respondents in their video assessments, and were in accordance with initial researcher video categorizations. Open-ended response options resulted in less agreement about the content of recordings. Focusing on the content validity of video recordings is the first step for their better integration into criminological research. Our findings highlight the utility of one method of ascertaining this validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anecdotal evidence suggests that recent video-recorded police–citizen encounters have undermined police legitimacy and fueled civil unrest across the United States. Drawing from the process-based model of policing, social cognitive theory, and past research on media effects, we assess the influence of viewing cell phone videos of police–citizen encounters on perceptions of law enforcement. Using quasi-experimental methods and video footage of an actual police–citizen encounter captured on cell phones, the effects of viewing these videos are assessed using a series of repeated measure ANOVAs. Results indicate that viewing cell phone videos of police–citizen encounters significantly impacts perceptions of law enforcement, though little evidence of differing effects based on point-of-view, number of video exposures, or ordering of video exposures was found. The process-based model of policing should consider further incorporating the contributions of technology to provide a more holistic account of the factors influencing perceptions of police. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexual assault is a traumatizing event linked to numerous mental health consequences. Although extant research has thoroughly examined the collateral consequences experienced by females, limited literature exists regarding how sexual violence comparatively affects males and females. Using data from the National Violence Against Women Survey (1995–1996) and a strain theoretical framework, the current study addresses this research gap to understand the effects of sexual assault and sex on depression. Results indicate that victims of sexual assault have higher depression scores than persons who have not been sexually assaulted in their lifetime. Moreover, we found no sex effect for sexual assault on depression. The methodology used eliminated a bias typically associated with regression analyses, caused from statistical inference after improper model selection. Policy implications and directions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Only a handful of studies have sought to explore the robustness of the relationship between procedural justice, police legitimacy, and willingness to cooperate with police among adults who have recently been arrested. The findings from those studies have raised questions about the durability of the framework for offenders, as well as whether there may be variation in perceptions of police across offender types. The current study explores these issues using data from interviews with a large, criminally diverse sample of recently booked arrestees in Maricopa County, AZ, from 2010 to 2012 (N = 2,262). Findings indicate that procedural justice is strongly associated with views of police legitimacy, and perceptions of police legitimacy do not vary by offender type. Procedural justice and legitimacy perceptions are powerful predictors of willingness to cooperate with the police. Results provide strong support for the extension of the normative, process-based framework to the arrestee population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predicated on the notions of rehabilitation and protection, the American juvenile justice system is intended to aid adolescents in reforming their delinquent behavior. This assistance often manifests itself in the form of leniency and rehabilitative care. Such reformative assistance, however, is not always applied equally across race/ethnicity and ages. Using a focal concerns framework, this study examines data from one southwestern city in the USA to test the independent and moderating effects of age among various race/ethnicity and age combinations. The results not only provide insight into the existence of an age-related sliding scale of culpability (i.e., a ‘youth discount’), but also the extent to which age mitigates, or negates, the effect of race/ethnicity at four decision-making stages in the juvenile justice system. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although many states have adopted sentencing guidelines, questions remain about whether guidelines achieve one of their primary goals—reducing disparities that arise from such extralegal factors as race and ethnicity. To date, research has not taken a cross-state approach to testing for racial or ethnic disparity in sentences imposed in guideline and nonguideline states or to examining whether less disparity exists in states with voluntary or presumptive guidelines. To address this research gap and inform sentencing scholarship, data from the State Court Processing Statistics program are used to determine whether offenders’ race or ethnicity affects incarceration and sentence length decisions in jurisdictions with different types of sentencing systems. Implications of the findings for theory, research, and policy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people have achieved increased acceptance and access to social institutions in recent years, they have continued to be confronted with persistent homophobic attitudes, including from U.S. law enforcement personnel. Police culture often fosters these beliefs, and consequently results in the under-policing of LGBT citizens when victimized, but over-policing in places of leisure. This relationship is exacerbated when considering the intersectional effect of gender and sexual orientation, undoubtedly impacting legitimacy perceptions due to perceived (and actual) procedural injustice. Using original data collected at an LGBT festival in Arizona ( N = 428), the current study examines the relationship between procedural justice and perceptions of police legitimacy among a historically marginalized population. Implications for theory and policy are discussed, with special attention given to contextualizing the findings within the current legitimacy crisis faced by American law enforcement.