Abstract
There is a gap in the literature regarding police officers’ attitudes about vice, specifically prostitution. Scholars should study this topic because police are interacting with drug dealers and drug users, prostitutes and Johns, and gamblers and bookies regularlyon a day to day basis. Additionally, how police perceive prostitution is likely to influence how they enforce laws prohibiting it. This paper presents survey items measuring police officers’ attitudes about prostitution related offenses and examines the relationships between officers’ attitudes towards prostitution and their personal as well as professional characteristics. Responding officers displayed fairly serious and punitive attitudes toward prostitution offenses. Respondents believed that prostitution was a serious problem in their city and that it leads to more serious crimes. Demographic characteristics of officers such as age, gender, political ideology, and education had more influence on prostitution attitudes than police characteristics such as experience with the vice/narcotics unit. Policy implications derived from the findings are discussed.
Highlights
The criminal law expresses societal values and provides boundaries of acceptable behavior (Walker, 2008)
The purpose of this paper is to extend and refine the initial study by Wilson et al (1985) but focuses on police officers’ attitudes about prostitution related offenses
Research Questions (Q1) What factors influence officers’ perceptions of prostitution offense seriousness? (Q2) What factors influence their punitive attitudes toward prostitution offenses? (Q3) Is there a relationship between their perceptions of prostitution offense seriousness and their punitive attitudes toward prostitution offenses? (Q4) What factors moderate that relationship? (Q5) How has being a police officer changed officers’ views of prostitution?
Summary
The criminal law expresses societal values and provides boundaries of acceptable behavior (Walker, 2008). Acts such as murder, rape, robbery, assault, and theft of or damage to property are perceived to negatively affect society and are worthy of prohibition and sanctions. Property and violent crimes are met with sanctions because they involve both an offender and a victim. In these cases, someone is being subjected to unwanted and harmful force (i.e., violence) or fraud (i.e., theft) at the hands of an offender
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