‘Police’

Police Enforcement Intensity & DUI

Various articles have been written exploring the associations between increased police activities and a reduction in DUI related crashes and fatalities. A review by James Fell and colleagues attempted to quantitatively measure increased policing efforts and determine if there was a relationship or reduction in DUI’s and DUI’s resulting in crash or jury; number of checkpoints, special DUI/DWI patrols, and arrests are all variables that were considered in the analysis. Various other law enforcement strategies were considered: specific deterrence, general deterrence, highly visible traffic enforcement, enforcement presence, and overall traffic enforcement. Specific deterrence refers to the annual number of DUI arrests per capita within the jurisdiction. General deterrence examined the frequency and duration of field sobriety checkpoints. Highly visible traffic enforcement looked at the annual number of traffic stops per capita. Enforcement presence is defined in the study as the number of sworn police officers per capita. Overall traffic enforcement was focused on the annual number of other traffic citations, examples include: warnings, seatbelt violations, speeding tickets and other moving violations. Each of these variables was compared together and individually to the rates of DUI. The 2007… Read More

Risk Factors for Criminal Behavior | Poverty

Criminal Behavior Risk Factors: Early Warning Signs Childhood Risk Factors Antisocial behaviors in adults can be traced back to their origins in their childhood. Looking back at the childhood years of criminals, and especially career criminals, for the most part there will be warning signs indicating they may be heading in the wrong direction. There are many theories as to what the risk factors for criminal behavior are in the field of psychological criminology, which is the science of behavior and mental processes of those individuals who commit crimes; many of them agree that the roots of adult criminal offenders can be traced back to their early and late childhood years. Throughout each stage of an individual’s developmental pathway, there will be various risk factors that may contribute to the development of a criminal mindset. What Are Some Examples of Childhood Risk Factors? Everyone may be exposed to certain risk factors throughout their life; most experts in the field believe that the more risk factors someone experiences throughout their developmental years (early/middle childhood, teen), the higher the chance that they will participate in criminal or antisocial behavior in… Read More

Confessions: Police Interrogation

Confessions: Police interrogation A confession is probably the most damaging kind of evidence that you can give to the police, and will surely be presented in court in front of a jury. It is almost as bad as blowing into the Breathalyzer when you know you’ve had more than two drinks.  The way in which a confession is obtained is important in determining whether or not it is legitimate, and if it should even be allowed into evidence in court. With the goal of getting a confession, police are tempted to use whatever tricks they have up their sleeves, whether it be through intimidation or manipulation, etc. These tactics taught in police training often times do work in getting true confessions, but along with those comes the price of many more false confessions. A good example of this is the well known case of the “Central Park Jogger” in 1989; five individuals falsely confessed to rape but were later exonerated in 2002 when the real rapist admitted to the crime. They recently received a $40 million settlement from New York City for their improper conviction and time served. What… Read More