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The work of scholars who study police deviance has yet to result in the development of a substantive theory with which to frame their collective efforts. Recently, Tittle advanced a general theory of deviance that may help to fill this gap. The central premise of Tittle’s control balance theory is that the amount of control to which one is subject relative to the amount of control one can exercise (the control ratio) affects both the probability of deviance as well as the specific form of deviance. Examines the utility of control balance as a new theoretical orientation in police deviance research. Presents a framework for conceptualizing control balance within the special context of police deviance and, using data collected specifically for the purpose of operationalizing the control ratio, provides an empirical test. The data are drawn from a survey administered to 499 Philadelphia police officers. Scenario methodology was used to investigate the effects of officer control ratios on the probability of reporting a fellow officer who covers up an incident in which another officer was discovered driving while intoxicated (off duty), and second physically abuses a suspect in custody. Consistent with predictions derived from Tittle’s theory, results indicated that officers with control deficits are more likely to report fellow officers who engage in the behaviors portrayed in the scenarios. Future research directions are discussed.

This chapter considers and highlights a different approach to dealing with the white-collar and/or corporate offender that departs from the more commonly used punitive approach utilized by the American criminal justice system. Currently, terms of incarceration for individual offenders and the use of hefty fines and strict regulations against organizational defendants are commonly used draconian punishments. Therefore, this article is designed to remind readers of another viable approach to dealing with white-collar and/or corporate crime, one which utilizes a compliance or cooperative strategy of social control; that is the use of a system of restorative justice.

There has been limited analysis on the intersections of race, gender, inequality (e.g. education, income), and procedural/distributive justice and the perceived prevalence of racially biased policing. Using data from a sample of New York City residents who were asked to judge the New York City Police Department on measures related to racially biased policing and to procedural/distributive justice, this paper builds a perception of discrimination composite tied to perceived personal experience with officer bias and to beliefs regarding the perceived prevalence and justification for such behavior.

First, the bivariate relation between race and the perception of discrimination composite is examined. Then, logistic regression is employed to explain the composite with the complement of demographic and attitudinal variables. Finally, split sample analyses are conducted to examine demographic and attitudinal variables separately for blacks and non‐blacks.

Blacks were three times more likely than non‐blacks to perceive that racially biased policing was widespread, unjustified, and personally experienced, and this finding held after controlling for demographic and attitudinal variables. It suggests that the “black effect” operates independently of income and education, raising questions about the claim that race has made way for class in key aspects of social life.

By focusing on issues of power and control, the police define their interactions with members of the public in very specific ways, and such power orientations may lead to increased conflict. The present study suggests that a disproportionate subset of NYC residents perceive general and specific discriminatory action related to racially biased policing and procedural injustice.

Klockars et al. use scenario methodology to measure perceived seriousness, level of discipline warranted, and willingness to report fellow officers engaged in various negative behaviors. These data are used to characterize the occupational culture of integrity in a given agency, relative to other agencies. What remains unclear is whether these agency-level findings mask important meso- and micro-level variation in the data (i.e. at the precinct/district and officer levels) that may contribute to a more complete understanding of an agency’s culture of integrity. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This study replicates and extends Klockars et al.’s work using data from a survey administered to 499 Philadelphia police officers, with the goal of both validating their methodological approach and exploring the need for multi-level theory in the study of police integrity. In addition to comparing the results from Philadelphia to those obtained by Klockars et al., the authors test for differences across officer demographics, and explore variance in the willingness to report various behaviors at both the officer- and district-levels.

Results indicate that bivariate relationships between officer-level demographics and willingness to report fellow officers are negated when controlling for theoretically relevant attitudinal variables such as cynicism and, consistent with Klockars et al., perceived seriousness of the underlying behavior. In addition, there is significant district-level variation in the average willingness to report fellow officers, and this variation can be explained by both organizational and environmental variables. On balance, the findings provide support for a multi-level approach to the study of police integrity.

While the Klockars et al. approach addresses macro-level variation in police integrity, this study contributes important findings at the meso- and micro-levels.

Relying on a moral development theoretical framework, the purpose of this paper is to argue that the perceived seriousness of a particular behavior is a reflection of one’s broader attitudes toward ethical behaviors. Attitudes toward ethical behavior should provide both an elaborated explanation for the relationship between the perceived seriousness of a behavior and the likelihood of reporting a fellow officer for that behavior, as well as an alternative approach to the measurement and assessment of police integrity outcomes.

Using data from a sample of 499 Philadelphia police officers, the current study uses a modified fifteen item ethics scale first developed by Hyams (1990) and used by others, in order to examine its relation to integrity outcomes. The paper provides a full descriptive and measurement analysis of the scale and then explores its utility in understanding integrity outcomes through a variety of hypothetical scenarios.

While the perceived seriousness of a behavior is strongly predictive of the likelihood of reporting a fellow officer who engages in that behavior, the findings suggest that seriousness may be a proxy for attitudes toward ethical behaviors.

While Klockars et al.’s approach to the measurement of police integrity has been an important contribution to integrity research, other measures of police integrity such as attitudes toward ethical behavior are also useful as they move us conceptually from assessing attitudes toward ethical behavior to their antecedents – the strength of underlying value premises shaping subsequent attitudes.

Police supervisor decision making with regard to disciplinary action has received scant empirical study in general, and has yet to be examined across gender. In this paper, we use official departmental disciplinary data from the Philadelphia Police Department for the period 1991‐1998 to study the extent to which gender parity exists in the formal disciplinary system. Three questions are investigated: (1) Is there an observable gender disproportionality in the police discipline punishment rates? (2) Is any observed gender disproportionality attributable to gender discrimination in the police disciplinary process or some earlier decision stage? (3) If any observed disproportionality is not attributable to the police disciplinary process, does the aggregate finding mask variation within offense categories? Three findings emanate from our effort. First, the results suggest that there is a minimal observed gender disproportionality. Second, with roughly 100 per cent of the observed gender disproportionality attributable to differential involvement in charging, it appears that the observed disparity can not be attached to the police disciplinary process. Third, the aggregate analysis masks offense‐specific variation in the percentage disproportionality unexplained by differential involvement in charging. Implications for police disciplinary practices and directions for future research are addressed.

Public attitudes are considered influential in the successful reintegration of offenders into society after release, however research into attitudes towards offenders with intellectual disability (ID) has received little attention. The purpose of this study is firstly to see if people hold differing attitudes towards the reintegration of offenders with ID compared to those without ID and secondly, to investigate whether this difference in attitude is because of differing implicit theories of intelligence (TOI). The effects of familiarity with ID were also measured.

In total, 200 participants read crime vignettes depicting crimes committed by offenders with and without ID and completed Dweck’s “TOI” scale.

Participants were found to have greater entity views of intelligence towards ID yet displayed more positive attitudes towards their reintegration than offenders without ID. The influence of demographics was mixed. It would appear attitudes towards offenders with ID are not as negative as initially thought.

Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of desistance and community integration.

While some care must be taken when interpreting the results, this study demonstrates positive results regarding the reintegration of offenders with ID. Attitudes may be changing for the better towards those with disabilities, which is positive in terms of the government and National Health Service (NHS) objectives to reintegrate people with ID successfully back into the community. Although limited in number, it is noted that community forensic mental health teams have been effective in managing offender risk and providing good quality care (Dinani,et al.,2010; Benton and Roy, 2008). They can provide more person-centred and specialist treatments options and have links with other community services, probation and the police (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2014).

Community care is thought to lead to more timely treatments with more accessible support teams and services that those with ID would struggle to access in prison (Bradley, 2009). It can also lead to greater well-being and support as individuals are in a less restrictive environment and are closer to their social networks, acting as a protective factor against further reoffending (Benton & Roy, 2008; Bradley, 2009). Furthermore, it has been indicated significant financial savings would be achieved for the criminal justice system by reducing inpatient care and increasing community services and sentences, in addition to reducing the demand on prison spaces (Bradley, 2009; Benton & Roy, 2008).

To date, very few studies have used TOI to examine attitudes towards offenders, with none examining attitudes towards offenders with ID.

Increasing minority representation in law enforcement has long been viewed as a primary means to improve police-citizen relations. The recommendation to diversify police departments was endorsed by the Kerner Commission and, most recently, the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. While these recommendations make intuitive sense, little scholarly attention has examined whether greater levels of minority representation translate into positive police-community relations. The purpose of this paper is to use the representative bureaucracy and minority threat frameworks to assess the impact of the racial/ethnic composition of both police departments and municipalities on disparities in traffic stops.

A series of ordinary least squares regression analyses are tested using a sample of more than 150 local police agencies from Illinois and Missouri.

Higher levels of departmental representativeness are not associated with fewer racial/ethnic disparities in stops. Instead, the racial/ethnic composition of municipalities is more predictive of racial patterns of traffic stops.

This study provides one of the few investigations of representative bureaucracy in law enforcement using individual departments as the unit of analysis. It examines Hispanic as well as black disparities in traffic stops, employing a more representative sample of different size agencies.

The study explores experiences of African immigrants in their self-employment journey. South Africa has been receiving many African immigrants seeking for socio-economic survival. This presents a gap to understand the self-employment journey of such immigrants post-settlement.

A qualitative inquiry is used with semi-structured interviews using a sample of African immigrants based in South Africa. Narrative enquiry was utilised in trying to understand the African immigrant self-employment journey.

The findings show strategies used by African immigrant entrepreneurs in their self-employment journey. These include immigrant relying on established relationships to respond to contextual challenges. Further, immigrant entrepreneurs turned to borrowing from family, including personal savings and using fronts as a capital generation strategy.

Based on the findings strategies are suggested as a useful precursor in advancing understanding of the African immigrant self-employment journey. This becomes useful especially considering ideals for assisting post-settlement of migrants.