Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology最新文献

Research examining organizational justice’s effects on correctional staff shows that it has significant effects on various outcomes, such as job stress, job burnout, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and life satisfaction; however, little research examines how workplace variables influence perceptions of organizational justice. Procedural and distributive justices are the two major forms of organizational justice. The current study examined the effects of instrumental communication, quality of supervision, and job autonomy on the procedural and distributive justice views of 120 staff from a correctional institution located in southeast Nigeria. Ordinary least squares regression analysis of survey data revealed that instrumental communication and quality supervision had positive effects on procedural justice views and that all three workplace variables had positive effects on distributive justice. The results suggest that if correctional administrators can increase levels of instrumental communication, improve supervision, and increase job autonomy, then organizational justice views among staff will improve.

Past research has found that police officers who experience traumatic events on duty are more vulnerable to the development of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and depression symptoms than the general population (Chopko, Am. J. Psychother. 64(1):55–72 2010; Lewis-Schroeder et al. 2018). Police officers also experience traumatic events that are not duty-related, which may have an influence on subsequent PTSD and depressive symptoms, but there is a lack of research into this possibility. This study used a cross-sectional survey of 241 police officers based in Alaska to understand the association of exposure to duty-related and personally experienced trauma and reported PTSD and depressive symptoms. Results indicated that the rate across the entire sample of probable PTSD was 5.4% and the rate of depression was 10.4%. This research found no significant relationship between exposure to duty-related traumatic events and PTSD symptoms. However, there was a significant relationship between the combination of duty-related and personally experienced traumatic events and PTSD symptoms. It is possible that duty-related traumatic experiences alone are not associated with PTSD symptoms because of effective police officer training and desensitization to trauma experienced on duty but more research is needed about this potential explanation. This study points to the need to better understand and address personally experienced trauma among police officers rather than focusing solely on duty-related traumatic experiences.

The purpose of the case study is to demonstrate how social media and police (law enforcement) may work together in a thoughtful, ethical, and humanitarian way. By fusing human intelligence with intelligent systems, the case study contends, extraordinary accomplishments can be achieved. Additionally, it underlines the importance of the public-private partnership (PPP) model, in which the joint efforts of two parties; Uttar Pradesh Police (UPP) India and Facebook, representing the public and private sectors, respectively produced incredible results. Phenomenal achievements were made possible by this relationship, and numerous suicide attempts were averted. The case study reviewed cases between March 2022 and February 2024 and found that 321 precious lives were saved due to this partnership. The case study demonstrates how Facebook’s algorithm works to spot any posts that contain language that suggests self-harm or suicide and to issue a warning in the hopes of protecting a precious life. The UP Police’s social media unit gets notified of such posts, thanks to Facebook’s random forest learning algorithms, which then take action to save a priceless life. The case sheds some insight on the privacy concerns of Facebook account holders, the use of sophisticated technology by the police authorities, and its ethical implications as well. It provides some insight into the relevance of management principles to public services.

Language reflecting moral disengagement has been shown to influence juries in mock juror studies; however, little to no research has examined this in actual murder cases. Prosecutors play an influential role in capital murder cases during both the guilt phase and sentencing phase of the trial. If a defendant is found guilty, jurors must then decide the appropriate sentence, which can be difficult when the penalties include death versus life without parole. Self-report and mock trial studies suggest that jurors may engage in moral disengagement methods (e.g., moral justification, dehumanizing language) that allow them to distance themselves from the decision. Capital murder trial transcripts were analyzed to investigate the influence of moral disengagement variables on sentencing (“death” versus “life without the possibility of parole”). Results indicate that arguments for future dangerousness were positively correlated with death penalty verdicts, although other types of moral disengagement language strategies were not. An additional linguistic strategy was included, which investigated language that might garner empathy for the victim. This was also positively correlated with a death penalty verdict. This analysis of capital murder trial transcripts reveals differences in influential moral displacement strategies than mock juror studies suggest.

We examined how a victim’s length of delayed reporting (2 months, 10 years, 20 years) and reason for delayed reporting (lack of evidence, fear of retaliation, not wanting family to know) influenced mock-jurors’ decision-making. Mock-jurors (N = 709) read a trial transcript of an alleged sexual assault involving a female victim and a male defendant. Jurors were asked to render a dichotomous verdict and rate how truthful they perceived both the victim’s and defendant’s testimony. Among many findings, results identified that mock-jurors were significantly more likely to render a guilty verdict and rate the defendant’s testimony less truthful when the victim delayed reporting by 2 months compared to when she delayed reporting by 10 or 20 years. Further, mock-jurors were significantly more likely to render a guilty verdict and rate the victim’s testimony more truthful when the victim delayed reporting due to concerns about her family finding out compared to when she delayed reporting due to lack of evidence. Moreover, the current study also examined whether jurors’ individual rape myths would influence their perception of the victim’s speed of reporting (immediate reporting vs. delayed reporting). Results identified that individual rape myths moderated the effect of speed of reporting on jurors’ decision-making. Jurors endorsing many rape myths rated the victim’s testimony significantly more truthful when she reported immediately compared to when she delayed reporting; for jurors endorsing few rape myths, speed of reporting did not influence perceptions of the truthfulness of the victim’s testimony.

Despite advances in forensic sciences, there is a significant increase in the number of cases that remain unsolved—cold cases. Cold case investigations present numerous unique challenges above and beyond those of typical (i.e., timely) investigations. In cold cases, witness memory is likely to be weakened substantially due to the historical nature of the incident (e.g., the victim of historical sexual abuse) and subject to interference from different sources (e.g., conversations with others and previous interviews). Despite the numerous and challenging barriers present within cold case investigations, researchers have not systematically explored the barriers faced by cold case investigators or the best ways of obtaining detailed and accurate information from witnesses and victims of cold cases. Solving cold cases can prevent perpetrators from committing further crimes, help bring peace to the loved ones of deceased victims, and communicate to living victims that they are not forgotten. Our goal is to generate interest in a program of rigorous experimental and applied work in this neglected field. We also aim to provide preliminary resources and practical considerations for cold case investigators based on current best practices.

Abstract

For police officers, a high level of physical fitness is a prerequisite to meet both the training demands during education and the job demands of police service successfully. Before police officers enter the service, they have to pass a selection procedure and to complete a course of study or training. The present study has two aims. First, we describe the physical fitness of police applicants based on basic physical abilities in the context of the personnel selection procedure (research question 1, normative data). Second, we investigate the relationship of police applicants’ physical fitness based on basic physical abilities in the context of personnel selection and subsequent levels of physical performance on a complex physical task in police training (research question 2, predictive validity). Based on two samples of N = 2082 police applicants and N = 424 police trainees in education, two main findings emerge. First, we provide normative data on the physical ability levels of police officer applicants derived from personnel selection procedure. Second, we report empirical evidence on the relationship between basic physical ability levels in the selection procedure and subsequent physical performance levels in a complex physical task during police training. Based on our data, performance-based thresholds for personnel selection procedures can be defined to minimize the risks of injury or failure associated with personnel selection and police training. Finally, evidence-based recommendations for police training, implications for further research, and limitations are discussed.

Abstract

We apply the continuum of moral harms as described by Litz and King (J Trauma Stress 32:341–349, 2019), ranging from moral distress to moral injury, to understand the impacts of correctional officer (CO) interpretations of prison, recognizing how experiencing prison work informs their personal views. In the current study, we analyze data from 93 COs with a maximum of 2 years of work experience, to understand how, reflecting on their occupational experience, they perceive the purpose of place of their work—the federal penitentiary. Findings reveal prison as a space that they believe should be rehabilitative but which is often adamantly perceived as not rehabilitative. Accordingly, these contradictory circumstances reveal most officers encounter workplace experiences that may be consistent with current conceptualizations of moral frustration, distress, or injury. Thus, we demonstrate how prison work can produce moral challenges for COs. We recommend further study into the conceptualizations of moral harm in prison work more broadly and how to inform proactive strategies to address sources of these deleterious experiences.

Shift work is increasingly recognized for its adverse long-term health impacts, yet its association with psychological well-being remains ambiguously understood. This study hypothesizes that variations in work activities between shift and non-shift workers may influence psychological outcomes. Existing literature, primarily rooted in industrial contexts, often neglects police service-specific factors, which are essential given the unavoidable nature of night and rotating shifts within this profession. A cross-sectional survey was implemented at the Aachen police headquarters to investigate the relationship between work hours, job characteristics, and psychological well-being among police officers. Drawing from the job demand-control-support model, this research examined time overload, activity scope, and social climate, alongside daily task completion ability, work time autonomy, and emotional stress related to police-specific activities. Out of 1239 solicited participants, a 65% response rate was achieved. The results showed that officers on rotating shifts (with and without night shifts) reported better mental well-being compared to those on standard day shifts. Shift work was associated with reduced working time autonomy, lesser time overload, and an increased likelihood of completing work tasks daily. However, no significant relationship was found between shift work and other job characteristics when these were controlled for, suggesting no direct effect of shift work on psychological well-being. The findings suggest that job characteristics associated with different working time models uniquely influence psychological well-being in the police service. This underscores the importance of integrating job characteristics into shift work planning to enhance officers’ health. Identifying these influencing factors offers potential for significant improvements in work-design measures within the police service.

Law enforcement personnel work in environments in which exposure to stressors can lead to increased risk for mental health conditions such as depression. Symptoms of these conditions often include sleep disturbance. However, officers are also more likely to experience sleep disturbance because of occupational demands such as shift work, which further increases the risk for depression. There is a lack of research focused on the relationships between sleep quality, mental health, and the role that adaptive coping styles may have in mitigating adverse outcomes in these domains among law enforcement personnel. Therefore, we examined the extent to which insomnia was associated with depression among law enforcement personnel and the degree to which resilience moderates this association after accounting for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD, also prevalent in this population and also associated with insomnia) symptom severity as well as age, gender, and racial and ethnic identity. Participants were 246 law enforcement personnel (Mage = 44.20, SD = 11.75; 76% identified as male) from a large urban agency. Results indicated that insomnia significantly relates to depression beyond levels of PTSD symptomatology. In addition, we found that resilience significantly moderates, or attenuates, the association between insomnia and depressive symptom severity. Our findings highlight the potential value of mental health and wellness programs emphasizing the development of resilience among law enforcement personnel.