Demonstration Project

Grade: 81/105 (The paper focuses on the past research (i.e., how many articles have been reviewed and what they said) instead of on the actual findings from the readings. The findings are discussed predominantly in one sentence or not at all.)
Demonstration Project
Annotated Bibliography
William Bechtel
University of Cincinnati
September 15, 2015
Alpert, G., MacDonald, J., and Dunham, R. (2005). Police suspicion and discretionary decision
making during citizen stops. Criminology, 43: 407-434. 5/5
Alpert, McDonald, and Dunhum (2005) established that empirical studies that examine the social process affecting how the police form suspicions are limited. However, the authors believed that the social process affecting how police officers form suspicions is important to the justice system. It is because the social process determines whether an individual will be arrested, which forms the basis for the entire justice system. It is the reason why the authors conducted a study to examine the situational, demographic, and racial variables and how police suspicion. Consequently, the authors collected data from an observational study in Savannah, Georgia. The results of the study indicate that the minority status influences how the police form suspicions about their suspects. The study also revealed that the police could form suspicions because of an individual’s minority status, but the police did not try to stop the suspects from committing crimes based on their suspicions.
Black, D. (1971). The social organization of arrest. Stanford Law Review, 23: 1087–111. 3/5 (General findings are missing.)
Black (1971) wanted to examine the social conditions that influence a police officer’s decision to make or not make an arrest. As a result, the author examined variables such as the legal gravity of the alleged crime, the suspect's race, the proof present in the field setting, the accuser's choice of police action, the social association between the suspect and plaintiff; the suspect's magnitude of respect toward the police; and how the police decide to handle an incident. Critical to the discussion is the fact that the author used a 1966 data, which was collected from an observational study in Washington D.C., Chicago, and Boston. Consequently, the author analyzed data from the observational study and provided descriptive statistics on all the variables mentioned above. Further, it is vital to highlight that Black (1971) results indicate that a suspect’s race, association with the plaintiff, respect, proof, and gravity of the alleged crime affected how police officers form their suspicions. Ultimately, the author suggests topics such as arrest and political power as possible topics for further studies.
Engel, R., and Calnon, J. (2004). Examining the influence of drivers’ characteristics during
traffic stops with police: Results from a national survey. Justice Quarterly, 21: 49–90. 4/5
The authors acknowledge that scholars concur that racial profiling affects how police officers make their decisions on whether to arrest suspects. It is because the authors cite that racial profiling could be traced back to the war on drugs. It is notable to highlight that Engel and Calnon (2004) conducted a thorough literature survey on the subject, because that author’s cite numerous publications on the subject. Clearly, the subject of racial profiling is attracting attention from scholars in the criminal justice industry. It is the reason why the authors conducted a study to identify factors influencing police officers’ decision after a traffic stop. It is crucial to note that the authors used the Police-Public Contact Survey data that was collected in 1999. The results indicated that Hispanic males and young blacks had higher chances of experiencing searches, citations, use of force, and arrests during traffic stops. For instance, the results indicate that 77.85 of black drivers, 59.2% of white drivers, and 61.0% of Hispanic drivers believed polices searches were not legitimate. As a result, Engel and Calnon (2004) propose that the police force address problems that make Hispanics and young blacks criminals.
Klinger, D.A. (1994). Demeanor or crime? Why hostile citizens are more likely to be arrested.
Criminology, 32: 475–94. 4/5
Klinger (1994) established that hostility towards the police increases the chances that a suspect would be arrested. Critical to the publication is the fact that the author established the fact mentioned above after conducting a thorough literature review on the topic in question. For instance, the author acknowledges that a minimum of 17 publications examined how police officers behave when they encounter hostile suspects. As a result, the author also examined the same subjects, which is supported by the title of the publication above. It is crucial to note that the author used data collected from an observational study in Dade County, Florida. It is notable that the author was able to establish that hostile suspects who are independent of any crimes are more likely to be arrested than actual criminals who remain calm in police encounters. However, the author also established that the number of suspects who exhibit police demeanor (22%) was lower than results obtained in a study conducted by Black (1980). Ultimately, the author suggested two topics for further studies based on the limitations experienced by the author.
Lum, C. (2011). The influence of places on police decision pathways: From call for service to
arrest. Justice Quarterly, 28: 631-665. 4/5
Lum (2011) argues that the number of publications that examine the police decisions when arresting criminals focus on variables such as age, the incident, race, and gender. In short, the author acknowledges the fact that the number of publications examining how the place of crime influences police discretion. It is the reason why the author conducted a study to identify whether the place of crime influences police discretion. It is imperative to note that the study uses primary data because information was collected from a west Coast Metropolitan City from the United States of America. Analysis of the data led to a conclusion that places with increased proportions of wealthy or African Americans affect police officers’ discretion. Specifically, the author reveals that areas with wealthy people have fewer cases of police discretion while places with Black people have higher cases of police discretion. Critical to the discussion is the fact that author mentions that the conclusion holds even after controlling for variables such as the level of violence.
Lundman, R.J. (1996). Demeanor and arrest: Additional evidence from previously unpublished
data. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 33: 306–23. 3/5 (General findings are missing.)
Like previous authors who have studied police discretion, Lundman (1996) acknowledges that extra-legal factors and police demeanor affect police decisions. However, the author also acknowledges that previous studies had analytic flaws by citing a publication from Klinger (1994). For instance, the article reveals that previous studies do not control for criminal conduct, which is important when conducting analyses. It is the reason why Lundman (1996) conducted a study on police demeanor and arrest in accordance to arguments from Klinger (1994). Critical to the discussion is the fact that the publication used data from the Midwest City drunk driving encounters to reach a conclusion. Specifically, the publication concludes that race and social class affect how the police make decisions. For instance, the author argues that most of the police in the location under study were overtly racists. The study also reveals that social class affects the police decision of making arrests in a curious way. In short, the author argues that even after adhering to critics from Klinger (1994), the study still complemented evidence from previous studies.
Mastrofski, S.D., Ritti, R.R., and Hoffmaster, D. (1987). Organizational determinants of police
discretion: The case of drinking and driving. Journal of Criminal Justice, 15: 387-402. 4/5
Mastrofski, Ritti, and Hoffmaster (1987) are among the few authors who have acknowledged that constrained rational and rational models influence the formal structures and policies within the police department. It is the reason why the authors examined the relevance of the models mentioned above to explain police officers’ decisions when making arrests in a drink-driving situation. The study was conducted using raw data, because the authors issued seventy-one questionnaires to police officers. The result of the study indicate that small departments made arrests to demonstrate their value while larger departments made little arrests because they were preoccupied with bigger responsibilities. Specifically, the results indicate that smaller police departments had more resources at their disposal, which allowed them to pursue minor cases. However, the same small departments also indicated interests of expanding their departments, which they believed would boost their morale. As a result, the authors acknowledge that their study opposed finding from previous publications that advocate the expansion of smaller police departments. It is notable however, that the author cite limitations associated with studying large police departments for improvements in future studies.
Mastrofski, S.D., Worden, R.E., and Snipes, J. (1995).Law enforcement in a time of community
policing. Criminology, 33: 539–63. 5/5
This article argues that community policing brings about the expectation that police will become more selective when arresting people and the decisions to arrest will be more influenced by extralegal considerations than the legal ones. In Richmond, Virginia, data on four hundred and fifty-one non-traffic officer-suspect encounters was acquired from observations, where the police were implementing community policing. The decision to arrest or not to arrest was regressed on various variables representing extralegal and legal characteristics of the situation. The legal variables showed stronger effects compared to the extralegal ones. However, this depended on the attitude of an officer towards community policing. Those who support community policing were more selective when making arrests when compared to the other lot. However, those supporting community policing are like their counterparts in the degree of influence put forth by extralegal factors. Several dif...