Police Arrest Research Articles

IQ and Delinquency

The purpose of this study is to examine the degree to which police arrest is influenced by an offenders’ level of verbal intelligence. Concomitantly, we examine whether the level of concentrated disadvantage of the neighborhood where the offender resides moderates the effect of verbal intelligence on arrest. To accomplish this, we employed the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to examine the extent to which persistent delinquent youths’ self-reported arrests are significantly related to their verbal IQ scores. Furthermore, we also analyzed the interaction of verbal IQ scores and neighborhood disadvantage net of an array of theoretically relevant control variables.

Short-Term Predictive Validity of the Static-99 and Static-99-R for Indigenous and Nonindigenous Australian Sexual Offenders

Actuarial risk assessment (Static-99 and Static-99-R) scores were obtained for 399 Australian adult sexual offenders who were subsequently released from prison and followed up with searches of police arrest records (mean follow-up period = 29 months; range = 15-53 months). Indigenous offenders (n = 67; 16.8%) scored significantly higher on both the Static-99 (M = 4.04 vs. 2.89, p < .001) and Static-99-R (M = 3.72 vs. 2.22, p < .001), were more than twice as likely to be arrested for sexual offenses (9.0% vs. 4.1%, ns), and were significantly more likely to be arrested for nonsexual violent (28.4% vs. 1.9%, p < .001), any violent (including sexual; 37% vs. 5.9%, p < .001), and any offenses (58.2% vs. 21.6%, p < .001). For the combined groups, predictive accuracy of both instruments was comparable to results reported elsewhere. Predictive accuracy of the Static-99 was similar for indigenous and nonindigenous offenders. The Static-99-R was only marginally predictive of any violent recidivism (AUC = .65, 95% CI = [.52, .79]), and did not predict sexual (AUC = .61, 95% CI = [.45, .77]) or nonsexual violent recidivism (AUC = .65, 95% CI = [.48, .78]), for indigenous offenders. Higher risk scores, indigenous race, and unsupervised release all contributed unique variance to any violent recidivism. Results suggest that the Static-99 may be appropriate for assessing Australian indigenous sexual offenders, but more research is needed to test the validity of the Static-99-R for this population. We conclude that practitioners should consider the potential effects of racial differences and postrelease factors, as well as static risk factors, in their assessments.

Unprotected sex with their clients among low-paying female sex workers in southwest China

China has been experiencing a rapid increase in the HIV epidemic for decades. Commercial sex plays a critical role in heterosexual transmission of HIV. Limited studies suggested that low-paying female sex workers (FSWs) faced a higher risk of HIV infection. Low-paying FSWs are women who usually encounter their clients on the street or small establishments in rural or less-developed areas, or who charge low fees for each sexual service. A total of 720 low-paying FSWs from 130 commercial sex venues/locations in southwest China were included in the data analysis. Multivariate regression models were employed to examine the associations of unprotected sex with a number of exploratory variables among the study sample. About 33.9 and 61.5% of low-paying FSWs reported unprotected sex with clients in the last sex act and in the last month, respectively. After controlling for confounders, women's HIV knowledge, risk perception, experience of police arrest, and venue types were significantly associated with unprotected sex among low-paying FSWs. Low-paying FSWs are at an alarmingly high risk of HIV infection. HIV prevention programs are urgently needed to address risk factors posit in both individual and contextual levels among this most-at-risk population in order to curb the HIV epidemic in China.

Late-Onset Offending

This research focuses on a detailed exploration of late-onset offending. Using the National Youth Survey, this work seeks to answer three questions. First, is late-onset offending a real phenomenon? Second, if late onset does exist, is the evidence for it conditioned by how we define crime and delinquency? Finally, is late-onset offending an artifact of measurement methodology? Most literature evidencing late onset relies on official police contact and arrest data. Propensity or control theories in general posit that late onset should not exist. Propensity, namely self-control, should be instilled early in life and if absent, results in early initiation into crime and delinquency. Research in developmental psychology seems to support this notion. The findings from this study indicate that late-onset offending is almost nonexistent when self-reported measures are used leading one to conclude that contemporary evidence for late-onset is heavily conditioned by how we measure crime and delinquency. A comprehensive discussion includes future directions for research, and implications for theory development and methodology.

Severity of injury and the decision to arrest in cases of intimate partner violence

From a victim's physical health perspective, at the centre of any case of intimate partner violence (IPV) is the degree of trauma imparted on that victim by the offender. Yet, the implementations of state-level 'Mandatory Arrest' and 'Preferred Arrest' laws encourage arrests decisions in cases of IPV typically without regard to the level of trauma severity found in each case. And, despite these well-meaning implementations and the gravity of their consequences, the importance of evaluating trauma severity in victims of IPV remains largely overlooked. The goal of this study was to correlate police arrest decisions in cases of IPV to a trauma severity score generated from established clinical protocols in the treatment of trauma. A Trauma Severity Quantification Table (TSQT) was created in order to quantify the major factors of an incident of IPV: anatomical location of attack, method of attack, facilitating weapon/object and resulting trauma. A total of 256 cases of IPV reported to six police departments in Idaho, a state with a discretionary arrest law in domestic violence cases, in the calendar year 2000 were processed using the TSQT. A statistically significant difference was found between arrests (mean 17.96, standard deviation [SD] 5.90) versus no arrest (mean 16.13, SD 5.67) outcomes (P = 0.03). It is suggested that trauma severity is a factor in police arrest decisions in a discretionary state sample, but that more attention needs to be brought to this method of analysis and its implications for future arrest decisions.

Ethnic heterogeneity in the activity and structure of a Black street gang

Despite acknowledgment of ‘hybrid’ street gangs in the literature, there is little systematic research into ethnic heterogeneity within gangs. This research aims at moving beyond the broad categorization of the Black street gang. For this purpose, we examine an all-Black London-based gang in detail, using fieldwork and police arrest data, and investigate the role of ethnic heterogeneity for the workings of the gang. Our findings suggest that ethnic heterogeneity within this gang is crucial for its criminal operation. Although there is no evidence for ethnicity-related specialization of crime, the structural co-offending pattern of the gang’s activities is dominated by ethnicity. Ethnicity matters for who offends with whom.

The Delinquent Girl , and: Between Good and Ghetto: African-American Girls and Inner-City Violence , and: Beyond Bad Girls: Gender, Violence, and Hype (review)

Reviewed by: The Delinquent Girl, and: Between Good and Ghetto: African-American Girls and Inner-City Violence, and: Beyond Bad Girls: Gender, Violence, and Hype Alison Fyfe (bio) The Delinquent Girl edited by Margaret Zahn. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2009, 344 pp., $56.50 hardcover, $31.95 paper, $56.50 electronic. Between Good and Ghetto: African-American Girls and Inner-City Violence by Nikki Jones. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2010, 228 pp., $22.95 paper. Beyond Bad Girls: Gender, Violence, and Hype by Meda Chesney-Lind and Katherine Irwin. New York: Routledge, 2008, 236 pp., $36.95 paper. The authors of the three books I review here critically examine the realities of girls' delinquency. Margaret Zahn's edited volume, The Delinquent Girl, is a compilation of eleven book chapters explaining girls' delinquency from multiple and intersecting perspectives. Nikki Jones's Between Good and Ghetto: African-American Girls and Inner-City Violence is a long overdue in-depth analysis of African American girls' experiences with violence and aggression in inner-city ghettos. Meda Chesney-Lind and Katherine Irwin's Beyond Bad Girls: Gender, Violence and Hype compares the realities of girls' aggression to popular media hype around the "mean girl" folk devil. The broadest investigation of girls' delinquency is found in Zahn's edited volume. The chapters were written by eighteen members of the Girls Study Group, a multidisciplinary group of academics and practitioners who study girls' delinquency and recommend prevention and intervention programs. This book explores various factors explaining girls' delinquency, discusses policy implications, and provides avenues for future study. Chapters 1 (Robert Agnew) and 2 (Jody Miller and Christopher Mullins) begin the book with an examination of how mainstream and feminist theories of crime explain aspects of girls' delinquency. In chapter 3, Darrell Steffensmeier and Jennifer Shwartz compare trends in girls' and boys' delinquency and argue that the alleged increase in girls' delinquency may, in fact, be a result of stronger social controls on girls, rather than a rise in their delinquency. Chapter 4 (Diana Fishbein, Shari Miller, Donna Marie Winn, and Gayle Dakof) examines biopsychological factors of crime to show how psychological and biosocial factors (for example, stress, early puberty, and ADHD) differentially affect girls' and boys' delinquency. [End Page 197] The next six chapters, respectively, explore how familial (Candace Kuttschnitt and Peggy Giordano), peer (Peggy Giordano), school (Allison Ann Payne, Denise Gottfredson, and Candace Kruttschnitt), gender differences and neighborhoods (Margaret Zahn and Angela Browne), larger and intersecting contexts (Merry Morash and Meda Chesney-Lind), and gang relationships (Jody Miller) can affect girls' delinquency. Together, they indicate that girls' delinquency, in addition to having biopsychological causes, is influenced by the environment in which they live and grow. Thus girls' delinquency is the result of a complex network of various internal and external factors affecting girls on a day-to-day basis. Finally, the author of chapter 7 (Barry Feld) outlines and compares longitudinal U.S. American trends in girls' delinquency, arrest rates, and sentencing trends to those of boys. For instance, although girls' arrest rates for simple assault are increasing while boys' are decreasing, Feld posits that this difference in rates reflects a change in police arrest practices, rather than a rise in girls' criminal behavior. Police tend to target girls more than boys for minor acts of violence and aggression (that is, simple assaults) that are uncharacteristic of traditional definitions of femininity and girlhood. Such gender differences in arrest rates also reflect boys' tendency to use weapons, which elevates their charges from simple assault to assault with a weapon. Another significant point Feld presents is that, contrary to popular belief, youth delinquency and crime, particularly that of girls, is decreasing rather than increasing. This finding is consistent with other current research on youth delinquency, such as Mike Males's (2010), who found that girls today are much happier, more successful, less aggressive, and experience fewer arrests and criminal charges, with the exception of simple assaults, than they have historically. This has policy implications, since current youth-crime policy is designed under the assumption that youth crime and delinquency are rising. Overall, the authors of The Delinquent Girl explore how gender, race, and class differences...

Neighborhood drug markets: A risk environment for bacterial sexually transmitted infections among urban youth

We hypothesized that neighborhoods with drug markets, as compared to those without, have a greater concentration of infected sex partners, i.e. core transmitters, and that in these areas, there is an increased risk environment for STIs. This study determined if neighborhood drug markets were associated with a high-risk sex partnership and, separately, with a current bacterial STI (chlamydia and/or gonorrhea) after controlling for individual demographic and sexual risk factors among a household sample of young people in Baltimore City, MD. Analyses also tested whether links were independent of neighborhood socioeconomic status. Data for this study were collected from a household study, systematic social observations and police arrest, public health STI surveillance and U.S. census data. Nonlinear multilevel models showed that living in neighborhoods with household survey-reported drug markets increased the likelihood of having a high-risk sex partnership after controlling for individual-level demographic factors and illicit drug use and neighborhood socioeconomic status. Further, living in neighborhoods with survey-reported drug markets increased the likelihood of having a current bacterial STI after controlling for individual-level demographic and sexual risk factors and neighborhood socioeconomic status. The results suggest that local conditions in neighborhoods with drug markets may play an important role in setting-up risk environments for high-risk sex partnerships and bacterial STIs. Patterns observed appeared dependent on the type of drug market indicator used. Future studies should explore how conditions in areas with local drug markets may alter sexual networks structures and whether specific types of drug markets are particularly important in determining STI risk.

HIV prevalence and risk behaviours among injecting drug users in six indonesian cities implications for future HIV prevention programs

BackgroundThe HIV prevalence among injecting drug users (IDUs) in Indonesia reached 50% in 2005. While drug use remains illegal in Indonesia, a needle and syringe program (NSP) was implemented in 2006.MethodsIn 2007, an integrated behavioural and biological surveillance survey was conducted among IDUs in six cities. IDUs were selected via time-location sampling and respondent-driven sampling. A questionnaire was administered face-to-face. IDUs from four cities were tested for HIV, syphilis, gonorrhoea and chlamydia. Factors associated with HIV were assessed using generalized estimating equations. Risk for sexual transmission of HIV was assessed among HIV-positive IDUs.ResultsAmong 1,404 IDUs, 70% were daily injectors and 31% reported sharing needles in the past week. Most (76%) IDUs received injecting equipment from NSP in the prior week; 26% always carried a needle and those who didn’t, feared police arrest. STI prevalence was low (8%). HIV prevalence was 52%; 27% among IDUs injecting less than 1 year, 35% among those injecting for 1–3 years compared to 61% in long term injectors (p < 0.001). IDUs injecting for less than 3 years were more likely to have used clean needles in the past week compared to long term injectors (p < 0.001). HIV-positive status was associated with duration of injecting, ever been imprisoned and injecting in public parks. Among HIV-infected IDUs, consistent condom use last week with steady, casual and commercial sex partners was reported by 13%, 24% and 32%, respectively.ConclusionsAlthough NSP uptake has possibly reduced HIV transmission among injectors with shorter injection history, the prevalence of HIV among IDUs in Indonesia remains unacceptably high. Condom use is insufficient, which advocates for strengthening prevention of sexual transmission alongside harm reduction programs.

Imported leprosy in Italy

Leprosy is far from being eliminated with more than 200,000 new cases detected (NCD)/year. Retrospective analysis between 2003 and 2009 to compare the New Case Detected Rate (NCDR) observed in Italy in the immigrant population with the NCDR of the same population in their country of origin to verify if the cases observed are those expected or not. Leprosy statistics were retrieved from the Italian leprosy register and from official WHO data. The NCD in Italy were lower than expected, from 2003 when the expected number of NCD was 40.5 between the legally resident immigrants, but only one case was diagnosed (98% of lower from the expected), to 2009 when four NCD were diagnosed and 41 were expected (90% lower from expected). This study points out a discrepancy between the observed and the expected cases of leprosy in Italy. Specifically, the number of NCD was less than expected for each studied year. Of course our data do not represent a validation, but only an indication of the leprosy diagnosis in Italy. Difficulty in accessing the health systems, fear of segregation, ignorance and illegal immigrant status with consequent fear of police arrest are possible explaining factors. The critical issue anyhow is the medical expertise. The role of the dermatologist is fundamental. For these reasons, there is still a need for wide spread leprosy teaching programmes. Although with few limitations, this study represents a first approach to validate the accuracy in leprosy diagnosis in Italy.

“This Area Has Been Declared a Prostitution Free Zone”: Discursive Formations of Space, the State, and Trans “Sex Worker” Bodies

The mayorally instituted and police-enforced Prostitution Free Zones in Washington, DC, serve as a tool of nation-state disciplinarity, wherein many transgender women of color, viewed as ideologically suspect, are profiled as “sex workers,” facing police harassment and arrest. This article explores here how this process is not merely about sex work but rather about discourses that are evoked in the displacement of the always-already displaced—racial, sexed, and gendered “others” through interviews with activists and trans community members, as well as District of Columbia government publications.

Heroin purchasing is income and price sensitive.

Semi-structured interviews were used to assess behavioral economic drug demand in heroin dependent research volunteers. Findings on drug price, competing purchases, and past 30-day income and consumption, established in a previous study, are replicated. We extended these findings by having participants indicate whether hypothetical environmental changes would alter heroin purchasing. Participants (n = 109) reported they would significantly (p < .005) decrease heroin daily purchasing amounts (DPA) from past 30-day levels (M = $60/day) if: (a) they encountered a 33% decrease in income (DPA = $34), (b) family/friends no longer paid their living expenses (DPA = $32), or (c) they faced four-fold greater likelihood of police arrest at their purchasing location (DPA = $42). Participants in higher income quartiles (who purchase more heroin) show greater DPA reductions (but would still buy more heroin) than those in lower income quartiles. For participants receiving government aid (n = 31), heroin purchasing would decrease if those subsidies were eliminated (DPA = $28). Compared to participants whose urine tested negative for cocaine (n = 31), cocaine-positive subjects (n = 32) reported more efficient heroin purchasing, that is, they live closer to their primary dealer; are more likely to have heroin delivered or walk to obtain it (and less likely to ride the bus), thus reducing purchasing time (52 vs. 31 min, respectively); and purchase more heroin per episode. These simulation results have treatment and policy implications: Daily heroin users' purchasing repertoire is very cost-effective, more so for those also using cocaine, and only potent environmental changes (income reductions or increased legal sanctions) may impact this behavior.

Explaining the IPV Arrest Decision: Incident, Agency, and Community Factors

Over the last half century in the United States, we have seen the criminal system become increasingly aggressive in its response to violence against intimate partners. Although policies have been implemented to encourage arrest, police continue to maintain discretion over whether or whom to arrest in cases of intimate partner violence (IPV). Using data from three national data sets, we examined the contributions of incident, agency, and community factors on the police arrest decisions, independently considering atypical cases of women arrested and dual arrest. The findings from this study reveal that incident factors account for the majority of the variance in arrest for single arrest cases, more so than factors associated with the particular police agency or the community in which the alleged crime occurred. The frequency of dual arrest is affected more by community factors. The findings from this study can be used to guide police training and local policies as well as to inform legislation designed to prevent variance in arrest based on sociodemographic and other extralegal factors.

Assessing the Impact of the 1996 Thai Prostitution Law: A Study of Police Arrest Data

The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the impact of the Thai Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act of 1996 in ten geographical regions of the country. This paper also addresses law enforcement approaches in controlling prostitution. Data for prostitution arrests from 1995 to 1998 were obtained from official police sources (Statistics of Reported Crimes of Thailand). ARIMA intervention analysis was employed; revealing the arrest rates of prostitutes between pre- and post-enactment of the present Prostitution Act did not differ statistically within the regions except for Region 8 (Phuket). The paper reaches two general conclusions: (1) the 1996 Thai prostitution law did not significantly reduce the arrest rate for prostitution across the country; and (2) further consideration must be given to the idea of decriminalizing prostitution, which might allow for licensure, improving health and living conditions as well as potentially limiting exploitation and impact crimes associated with the prostitution industry.

Can Additional Resources Lead to Higher Levels of Productivity (Arrests) in Police Agencies?

While most police chiefs might be willing to make such a claim that there is a positive relationship between COPS grants and police arrests, empirical research on this topic is very limited. Following from an earlier study by Zhao, Scheider, and Thurman (2003), this research makes several contributions to the current literature. First, it includes additional years of data from police agencies receiving federal funding to examine the effects of additional resources on arrests. Second, making use of the two waves of census data (1990 and 2000) allowed time-varying analysis of the relationship between police arrests and demographics. Finally, a hierarchical statistical method for longitudinal analysis (HMLM) was used in the analysis of police arrest data from 5,871 cities during 1993 and 2000 when the involvement of federal government for promoting community policing or quality of life policing was unprecedented. Our primary findings suggest a positive relationship between COPS hiring grants and all four types of police arrests during the period of study though COPS funding usually accounted for only a small percentage of the total budget in a police department (GAO, 2005). More specifically, the hiring grant, the largest part of the COPS funding project, had consistently significant impact on police arrests after controlling for the socioeconomic variables and crimes. In addition, the hiring grant was significant predictor of all four categories of arrests, indicating that additional manpower did have a direct casual relationship with number of police arrests.

Reversing the historical tide of iatrogenic harm: A therapeutic jurisprudence analysis of increases in arrests of domestic batterers and rapists

Therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) proposes that the law is a social force that can heal or cause harm to parties in a legal action. Historically, women victims of intimate partner rape and domestic violence could not seek justice in the legal system because police, like other actors in the justice system, treated these offenses as private matters or fabrications. In domestic violence and intimate rape cases, TJ is concerned with the needs of the victims, and how the law and police play a role in increasing their well-being. In this article, we use a TJ approach to the study of police responsiveness to victims of these offenses by investigating arrests of the offenders pursuant to law reforms that encourage or mandate arrest. Given that in these offenses, victims have the lowest reporting rates of any violent crime, the victim decision to call the police represents an expectation that the mere physical presence of a police officer may redefine the nature of the violence from a private conflict to a societal wrong that will not be tolerated. Police partnership with and treatment of the victim with respect and dignity can change the dynamics of the violence, terminate the violence, and set the criminal justice process in motion by arresting the offender in most cases. Police arrest, and subsequent prosecution and conviction, sends a message to offenders that society does not tolerate their violence, and allows the victim to begin to heal. Yet, past research indicates that police are less likely to arrest intimates than acquaintances and strangers in misdemeanor and aggravated assault, rape, and sexual assault cases. Using the National Incidence Reporting System (NIBRS) for the year 2000, we examine police arrests of intimate partner rape and domestic violence in jurisdictions with mandatory and presumptive arrest policies compared to police arrests in full discretion jurisdictions. We also ascertain whether arrest rates are higher for strangers and acquaintances than for intimates in misdemeanor and aggravated assault, kidnapping, and rape and sexual assault. Third, we determine whether police arrests of intimate partner rape is more likely if there is evidence of violence, injury to the victim, and use of a weapon. Our multivariate findings suggest that both the rape and the domestic violence reform movements have reversed the tide of historical negative treatment of female victims of these offenses. Logistic regression analysis indicates that police agencies in mandatory and preferred arrest jurisdictions increase the odds of arrest for domestic violence incidents and violations of orders of protection, compared to police agencies in jurisdictions with permissive/discretionary arrest policies. In addition, intimate violence increases the odds of arrest by 98%; forcible rape accompanied by simple assault or kidnapping increases the odds of arrest by 467 and 222%, respectively whereas forcible fondling accompanied by simple assault increases the odds of arrest by 293%. We discuss the implications of our findings for future law reform as well as TJ.

Reactive Versus Proactive Attitudes Toward Domestic Violence

Although there has been a growing research interest in examining factors associated with police arrest decisions and victims’ perceptions of the police in handling domestic violence, very few studies have empirically assessed female and male officers’ attitudes toward domestic violence. Using survey data collected from 272 male and female officers from two metropolitan police departments in Taiwan, this research compared male and female police officers’ reactive and proactive attitudes toward handling domestic violence incidents. The findings indicated that male officers were more likely than female officers to support minimum police involvement and to tolerate domestic violence. With regard to proactive attitudes, there was no significant gender difference in officers’ endorsement of proarrest policy and the importance of domestic violence in police work. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.

Assessing the impact of a high-intensity partnership between the police and drug treatment service in addressing the offending of problematic drug users

While there is a considerable evidence base showing links between drug use and offending and clear evidence of the impact of treatment engagement on drug-related offending, there is a much smaller UK evidence base on ‘what works’ in treatment and criminal justice partnerships, particularly in the UK. The current study used police arrest data to measure changes in offending behaviour in 116 drug-using offenders who had tested positive for opiates or cocaine in custody suites on at least three occasions in the previous year. Participants were assigned to either an intensive form of ‘quasi-coercive’ treatment (the High Crime Causing Users, HCCU) or to treatment as usual from the community Drug Interventions Programme team. The study compares changes in offending in a high-rate offending group with a standard treatment intervention. The assessment of the effectiveness of the intervention was based on arrest rates in the 12 months before and after engagement with the programme, supplemented by data collected from treatment case notes. Data analysis showed a significant reduction in offending in those engaged in the HCCU, who had higher pre-entry offending, but no change in offending for those accessing treatment as usual. There was some indication that greater retention in treatment was linked to better outcomes, and that medical sessions were associated with greater reductions in crime. The results provide some support for intensive partnership working between criminal justice drug services and the police, and suggest that intensive community work with high-rate drug-using offenders can be effective.

Policing and risk of overdose mortality in urban neighborhoods

Background Accidental drug overdose is a major cause of mortality among drug users. Fears of police arrest may deter witnesses of drug overdose from calling for medical help and may be a determinant of drug overdose mortality. To our knowledge, no studies have empirically assessed the relation between levels of policing and drug overdose mortality. We hypothesized that levels of police activity, congruent with fears of police arrest, are positively associated with drug overdose mortality. Methods We assembled cross-sectional time-series data for 74 New York City (NYC) police precincts over the period 1990–1999 using data collected from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of NYC, the NYC Police Department, and the US Census Bureau. Misdemeanor arrest rate—reflecting police activity—was our primary independent variable of interest, and overdose rate our primary dependent variable of interest. Results The mean overdose rate per 100,000 among police precincts in NYC between 1990 and 1999 was 10.8 (standard deviation = 10.0). In a Bayesian hierarchical model that included random spatial and temporal effects and a space-time interaction, the misdemeanor arrest rate per 1000 was associated with higher overdose mortality (posterior median = 0.003, 95% credible interval = 0.001, 0.005) after adjustment for overall drug use in the precinct and demographic characteristics. Conclusions Levels of police activity in a precinct are associated with accidental drug overdose mortality. Future research should examine aspects of police–community interactions that contribute to higher overdose mortality.

Explaining Gender Differences in Police Arresting and Charging Behavior in Cases of Spousal Violence

Family violence is a major social problem that police forces have begun to deal with seriously over the last two decades. Most research and policy on this subject has focused on police action in response to violence against women. This is a study of police arrest and charging behavior in spousal violence cases that include both genders and so allows the analysis of police response to violence against men as well as women. Factors affecting the likelihood of an arrest or charge in spousal violence cases are analyzed using a two-year sample of spousal violence police cases (N = 2,935) from a medium-sized Canadian city. The explanatory variables include marital status, intoxication, degree of injury to the man or woman, use of a weapon and a whether the event was a repeat call to the same address. Results indicate differential effects of intoxication, use of a weapon, and injury by gender on both arresting and charging.