Current Search:  Use-of Force (x)

View All Items

  • CSV Spreadsheet
(1 - 3 of 3)
Attitudinal Trends in Support for Police Use of Force Before and After Ferguson
Title
Attitudinal Trends in Support for Police Use of Force Before and After Ferguson.
Creator
Dennison, TaShanda, Donley, Amy, Reckdenwald, Amy, Gay, David, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Since the 2014 death of an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown by a white Fergusonpolice officer, there has been a string of similar incidents that have occurred in a relatively shortperiod of time. These high profile incidents of police officers using questionable amounts offorce have shaken public trust in law enforcement. Studies have shown that public confidence inlaw enforcement often erodes drastically following heavily publicized, controversial mediareports of police misconduct (Tuch...
Show moreSince the 2014 death of an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown by a white Fergusonpolice officer, there has been a string of similar incidents that have occurred in a relatively shortperiod of time. These high profile incidents of police officers using questionable amounts offorce have shaken public trust in law enforcement. Studies have shown that public confidence inlaw enforcement often erodes drastically following heavily publicized, controversial mediareports of police misconduct (Tuch and Weitzer 1997; Weitzer 2002). The current levels ofpublic outrage in response to allegations of police brutality have surpassed the levels of outragethat followed similar, highly publicized incidents in previous decades (Lawrence 2000; Weitzer2015). Scholar suggest that recent events, may have a longer-term impact than those in previousdecades (Lawrence 2000; Weitzer 2002). This study seeks to extend the current literature oncitizens' interpretations of police violence and how, if at all it is impacted by highly-publicizedincident of police misconduct. Specifically, the current research uses a national sample tocompare citizens' endorsement of police use of force before and after the 2014 death of MichaelBrown. Overall, the results from a series of logistic regression analyses found that publicattitudes toward police use of force are multifaceted and are shaped by a variety of individualand contextual level variables. Race/ethnicity was determined to be the strongest predictor ofcitizens' endorsement for police violence. It was also revealed that attitudinal support variesdepending on the situational-context surrounding police/citizen interactions.
Show less
Date Issued
2018
Identifier
CFE0006992, ucf:51616
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006992
EXAMINING THE EFFECT OF ORGANIZATIONAL POLICY CHANGEON TASER UTILIZATIONS
Title
EXAMINING THE EFFECT OF ORGANIZATIONAL POLICY CHANGEON TASER UTILIZATIONS.
Creator
Miller, Michael, Holmes, Stephen, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of organizational policy changes within the Use-of-Force Continuum on taser usage and officer's perceptions of taser effectiveness. Tasers have been used by police since the 1970s and their use is increasing as the technology has improved. Data reveals that tasers are beneficial for controlling non-compliant suspects while preventing serious injuries and rarely has their use resulted in death. Much of the public controversy surrounding...
Show moreThe purpose of this study is to examine the effect of organizational policy changes within the Use-of-Force Continuum on taser usage and officer's perceptions of taser effectiveness. Tasers have been used by police since the 1970s and their use is increasing as the technology has improved. Data reveals that tasers are beneficial for controlling non-compliant suspects while preventing serious injuries and rarely has their use resulted in death. Much of the public controversy surrounding tasers centers on when and how often officers deploy them. Use of force data from 890 police citizen encounters during a two-year period was analyzed to examine how changes in organizational policy have affected taser deployments and how policy changes have affected taser use. The study's findings support that after the policy change, the frequency of taser use by officers decreased, while the levels of suspect resistance encountered by officers increased. The frequency and severity of suspect injuries did not change and the numbers of officers injured in use-of-force encounters also did not change. Survey response data from officers were compared to archival data, which revealed that while officers perceive an increased risk of harm to themselves as a result of the organizational policy change that was not supported in the findings. Officers did not perceive an increased risk of harm to suspects which was supported in the archival data findings. Officers also expressed a belief that the organizational change that placed the taser at a higher level on the Use-of-Force Continuum is appropriate for most use-of-force encounters. This study concludes with future directions and trends for taser use in law enforcement.
Show less
Date Issued
2008
Identifier
CFE0002150, ucf:47501
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002150
Uncovering The Sub-Text: Presidents' Emotional Expressions and Major Uses of Force
Title
Uncovering The Sub-Text: Presidents' Emotional Expressions and Major Uses of Force.
Creator
Assaf, Elias, Houghton, David, Kim, Myunghee, Dolan, Thomas, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
The global context of decision making continues to adapt in response to international threats. Political psychologists have therefore considered decision making processes regarding major uses of force a key area of interest. Although presidential personality has been widely studied as a mitigating factor in the decision making patterns leading to uses of force, traditional theories have not accounted for the emotions of individuals as they affect political actions and are used to frame public...
Show moreThe global context of decision making continues to adapt in response to international threats. Political psychologists have therefore considered decision making processes regarding major uses of force a key area of interest. Although presidential personality has been widely studied as a mitigating factor in the decision making patterns leading to uses of force, traditional theories have not accounted for the emotions of individuals as they affect political actions and are used to frame public perception of the use of force. This thesis therefore measures expressed emotion and cognitive expressions in the form of expressed aggression, passivity, blame, praise, certainty, realism, and optimism as a means of predicting subsequent major uses of force. Since aggression and blame are precipitated by anger and perceived vulnerability, they are theorized to foreshadow increased uses of force (Gardner and Moore 2008). Conversely, passivity and praise are indicative of empathy and joy respectively, and are not expected to precede aggressive behavior conducted to maintain emotional regulation (Roberton, Daffer, and Bucks 2012). Additionally, the three cognitive variables of interest expand on existing literature on beliefs and decision making expounded by such authors as Walker (2010), Winter (2003) and Hermann (2003). DICTION 6.0 is used to analyze all text data of presidential news conferences, candidate debates, and State of the Union speeches given between 1945 and 2000 stored by The American Presidency Project (Hart and Carroll 2012). Howell and Pevehouse's (2005) quantitative assessment of quarterly U.S. uses of force between 1945 and 2000 is employed as a means of quantifying instances of major uses of force. Results show systematic differences among the traits expressed by presidents, with most expressions staying consistent across spontaneous speech contexts. Additionally, State of the Union speeches consistently yielded the highest scores across the expressed traits measured; supporting the theory that prepared speech is used to emotionally frame situations and setup emotional interpretations of events to present to the public. Time sensitive regression analyses indicate that expressed aggression within the context of State of the Union Addresses is the only significant predictor of major uses of force by the administration. That being said, other studies may use the comparative findings presented herein to further establish a robust model of personality that accounts for individual dispositions toward emotional expression as a means of framing the emotional interpretation of events by audiences.
Show less
Date Issued
2014
Identifier
CFE0005300, ucf:50513
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005300