Deck 6: Police Discretion and Behavior

Question 1

All of these may influence a police officer not to arrest someone except which one?

A) thinking that the prosecutor will reject the case
B) believing that a judge would hand down a lenient sentence
C) respecting the contributions of courts, judges, and prosecutors
D) assuming that there might not be enough room in the local jail

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The universalistic perspective focuses on

A) an officerʹs innate skills.
B) an officerʹs family life.
C) the influence of peers and coworkers.
D) an officerʹs character.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Heterogeneous neighborhoods are those with

A) a range of socioeconomic statuses.
B) a widely varying crime rate.
C) ethnic or racial diversity.
D) a high rate of resident turnover.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

A set of facts and circumstances that would induce a reasonably intelligent and prudent person to believe that another person has committed a specific crime is

A) known as probable cause.
B) proper legal justification for making an arrest.
C) often easier to find for a serious offense.
D) all of the above

Question 5

It is likely that the universalistic perspective is tied to

A) the traditional, organizational factors that have pervaded most police agencies.
B) the fact that most police officers have been white males.
C) the initial rise of law enforcement in the United States in the ʺWild West.ʺ
D) the influence of political factors on law enforcement agencies.

Question 6

Predictable beats and schedules can get boring. Research has found that rotating officers into different beats, units, or shifts results in

A) decreased boredom and more engagement.
B) increased distance between officers and the community.
C) heightened interest among citizens in the police presence.
D) better development of the sixth sense.

Question 7

Under what conditions would it be useful for an officer to apply the broken windows theory in decision making?

A) in any neighborhood in which shoplifting is a major problem
B) in any neighborhood with a majority of low socioeconomic status residents
C) in any neighborhood with a high crime rate
D) in any neighborhood with signs of physical and social disorder

Question 8

Seniority within law enforcement agencies limits discretionary decisions for all of these reasons except which one?

A) High level administrators spend little time on the street.
B) Administratorsʹ financial decisions are limited by budget constraints.
C) Hiring decisions are limited by rules, union pressures, and influential politicians.
D) Older officers as a group are less apt to rely on discretion.

Question 9

Officers who patrol smaller areas, especially in small towns, tend to

A) adopt more of a service orientation.
B) be less adept at handling a range of situations.
C) be slow to develop ʺpeople skills.ʺ
D) be less prone to make arrests for drunk driving.

Question 10

That police discretion is not as simple in practice as Kellingʹs two -part definition is underscored by

A) the identification of 770 possible action combinations in response to a traffic stop.
B) communities each having their own set of problems and priorities.
C) the wide variance in how serious different crimes are.
D) all of the above

Question 11

What is the first part of the police discretion decision, according to George Kelling?

A) how to intervene
B) whether to intervene
C) reviewing community priorities
D) ascertaining problem context

Question 12

Instances of police discretion usually come to the publicʹs attention when

A) a large amount of money is saved.
B) a potentially deadly situation is well handled.
C) something goes wrong, e.g., abuse or corruption.
D) there arenʹt many convictions.

Question 13

Which of these would someone with a particularistic perspective believe?

A) Assignment of officers should be based on their personality traits.
B) The differences among police officers exist but should be downplayed.
C) There is no one personality or set of traits that all police officers share.
D) The rules controlling police work limit officersʹ expression of personality.

Question 14

Police officers are considered policy makers because

A) the sum of their discretionary decisions adds up to policy.
B) police administrators are often elected to state legislatures.
C) legislators note citation records in revising criminal statutes.
D) police are among the biggest lobbying groups in the U.S.

Question 15

All of these are attitudinal dimensions identified by Robert Worden as explaining differences among individual police officers except which one?

A) views on selective enforcement
B) role orientation
C) perceptions of legal restrictions
D) perceptions of authority

Question 16

Interactions between new hires and both their colleagues and seasoned officers is responsible for

A) formal socialization.
B) informal socialization.
C) development of predispositions.
D) entrenching particularistic traits.

Question 17

What is the name for the sense of obligation and protectiveness that officers who routinely patrol the same area feel for it?

A) community justice
B) gratuity
C) participatory management
D) the territorial imperative

Question 18

The particularistic perspective focuses on all of the following except which one?

A) an officerʹs values
B) an officerʹs training
C) an officerʹs role orientation
D) an officerʹs preferred style(s) of policing

Question 19

Police officersʹ attitudes toward the courts

A) are almost entirely favorable.
B) are almost entirely unfavorable.
C) run from very favorable to very unfavorable.
D) can almost all be characterized as apathetic.

Question 20

If research demonstrated that policing draws a particular personality type, it would provide evidence of the power of

A) socialization.
B) predisposition.
C) collaboration.
D) sensitivity.

Question 21

Socialization of police officers is both formal and informal.

Question 22

The presence or absence of peers has no effect on police decision making.

Question 23

Some police officers see due process provisions as interfering with their mission.

Question 24

In general, young people tend to be treated more informally by police, probably because of their youth.

Question 25

Researchers have not determined the influence of an officerʹs education on his or her decision making.

Question 26

Publicizing incidents of police abuse and corruption leads people to call for .

Question 27

Officers who see crime control as their primary role are more likely to end a dispute with force or an arrest than with an attempt to settle it verbally with mediation.

Question 28

Selling advertising space on police cruisers is an example of a chiefʹs exercise of discretion.

Question 29

The hierarchical, quasi-military structure of most police departments requires a certain pattern of behavior from employees, most notably following the chain of .

Question 30

Police are required to prevent all crimes.

Question 31

Traditional police training has encouraged female recruits to maintain a feminine stance.

Question 32

Almost all police officers have total respect for the law, department policy, and court rulings that limit their behavior.

Question 33

Arrests are more likely as the relationship between the victim and the offenders becomes more distant.

Question 34

Targeting low-level offenses and quality-of-life problems to try to prevent more serious crimes from occurring later is known as window policing.

Question 35

Women are less likely to be arrested than men are.

Question 36

In minority-dominated neighborhoods, residents are more likely to find it appropriate to call the police.

Question 37

A police officer who issues a citation for every infraction, no matter how minor, is following the of the
law.

Question 38

Police officers who believe in selective enforcement of the law are more likely to use informal methods to deal with disputes.

Question 39

Officer discretion in situations such as pursuit driving is limited for the purpose of preserving public safety and minimizing injuries to third parties.

Question 40

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional for a police officer to arrest someone for a traffic violation.

Question 41

An officerʹs beat is an example of an factor that predicts police decision making.

Question 42

Officers who make more arrests to secure a promotion or in order to gain more income from the overtime that will come from the paperwork are driven by .

Question 43

For each possible result of police discretion listed in the left -hand column, choose whether it is a pro or con, using each
choice as many times as you need to.
Column 1: Police discretion is needed for efficiency in the criminal justice system.
Column 2: pro

Question 44

For each possible result of police discretion listed in the left -hand column, choose whether it is a pro or con, using each
choice as many times as you need to.
Column 1: Police discretion boosts autonomy.
Column 2: pro

Question 45

An officerʹs individual conception of what constitutes proper and good police work is known as role .

Question 46

How is the argument about whether predisposition or socialization has the greatest effect on police behavior
similar to and different from the argument about whether nature or nurture is responsible for people
developing criminal behaviors?

Question 47

Identify as many situations as you can in which following the letter of the law would either cause a problem or
result in a less ʺvaluableʺ result than following the spirit of the law.

Question 48

For each possible result of police discretion listed in the left -hand column, choose whether it is a pro or con, using each
choice as many times as you need to.
Column 1: Police discretion may contribute to abuse.
Column 2: con

Question 49

If every traffic violation resulted in an arrest, what would be the consequences?

Question 50

For each possible result of police discretion listed in the left -hand column, choose whether it is a pro or con, using each
choice as many times as you need to.
Column 1: Police discretion may bring about the potential for corruption.
Column 2: con

Question 51

For each possible result of police discretion listed in the left -hand column, choose whether it is a pro or con, using each
choice as many times as you need to.
Column 1: Police discretion increases the risk of needless death or injury.
Column 2: con

Question 52

For each possible result of police discretion listed in the left -hand column, choose whether it is a pro or con, using each
choice as many times as you need to.
Column 1: Police discretion opens the door for possible litigation.
Column 2: con

Question 53

Which factor(s) do you think has/have the greatest influence on predicting police decision making?

Question 54

For each possible result of police discretion listed in the left -hand column, choose whether it is a pro or con, using each
choice as many times as you need to.
Column 1: Police discretion may lead to citizen complaints of unequal treatment.
Column 2: con

Question 55

For each possible result of police discretion listed in the left -hand column, choose whether it is a pro or con, using each
choice as many times as you need to.
Column 1: Police discretion encourages job satisfaction.
Column 2: pro

Question 56

For each possible result of police discretion listed in the left -hand column, choose whether it is a pro or con, using each
choice as many times as you need to.
Column 1: Police discretion contributes to realistic goals.
Column 2: pro

Question 57

Whether an encounter between a police officer and a citizen is public or private is a factor affecting behavior.

Question 58

The academy and field training periods are when new police officers receive socialization.

Question 59

Describe the different policing styles identified by James Wilson and how they relate to police discretion?

Question 60

For each possible result of police discretion listed in the left -hand column, choose whether it is a pro or con, using each
choice as many times as you need to.
Column 1: Police discretion fosters humanitarian principles.
Column 2: pro

Question 61

Devise a research study to distinguish whether racial profiling is misguided stereotyping or good policing.