POLICE DISPOSITION DECISIONS

FOR

APPREHENDED JUVENILES

by

William D. Miller, Jr.

A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Marquette University, in

Partial Fulfillment of the Re­quirements for the Degree

of Master of Arts

Milwaukee, Wisconsin May , 1981

PREFACE

Police departments have long been "diverting" the

majority of delinquents whom they encounter. They have

been lectured, ignored, threatened, or possibly even

punished, but they have not been referred on to juvenile

court for treatment except as a last resort. Within the

last twenty years, t he police process of diverting delin­

quents from juvenile court intervention has received

widespread attention.

11

Police diversion means the decision process by which

police officers who have identified youthful misconduct seek

to resolve such incidents without recourse to juvenile court

intervention. This thesis will focus upon factors which may

be involved in the decision process of police officers to

either handle a juvenile at the police station level or

refer the juvenile to court.

Time and effort has been donated by eighty-four

police officers who completed questionnaires for this study.

Their cooperation was greatly appreciated. Special thanks

must also be extended to my advisors, Drs. David Buckholdt

and Gale Miller, and Mr. William Brugger. Dr. Miller has

guided this study from its inception. To him I extend my

grateful appreciation.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE

LIST OF TABLES

Chapter I. A HISTORY OF POLICE DIVERSION

II.

III.

IV.

Informal Practices . . . . . Current Diversion Practices Criticisms of Police Diversion Support for Diversion

THE RESEARCH PROBLEM . . . . . . .

Labeling and the Police . . . . . . . . Richard Sundeen and Community Attachment . James Q. Wilson and Department

Characteristics . . . . . . William Ker Muir and Officer

Characteristics . . Independent Variables Dependent Variables . . . .

FINDINGS . . . . . . . .

Questionnaire . . . . . Frequency Distributions Contingency Tables Summation

CONCLUSION .

APPENDIX

BIBLIOGRAPHY

iii

11

iv

1

1 5 8 9

i)

i) 14

16

18 21 2)

24

24 27 34 40

4)

46

49

LIST OF TABLES

Frequency Tables

1 2 3 4 5 5 7 8 9

10 11 12

Education . Degree Juvenile Training Specialization . . Father's Occupation Age ....... . Years Police Experience Residence . . . . . . . . . . . . Residential Burglary by 12 Year Old . Bicycle Theft by 14 Year Old Possess1on of Marijuana ..... . Carrying Concealed Weapon . .

Contingency Tables

13

14

Crosstabulat1on of Resident1al Burglary by Specialization ........ .

Crosstabulation of Residential Burglary by Age

15 Crosstabulation of Residential Burglary

16

17

18

19

20

by Years Police Experience . . Crosstabulation of Bicycle Theft

by Age of Officer . . . . . . . Crosstabulation of Bicycle Theft

by Years Police Experience . Crosstabulat1on of Carrying a Concealed Weapon

by Education . . . . . . Crosstabulation of Carrying a Concealed Weapon

by Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Crosstabulation of Carrying a Concealed Weapon

by Years Police Experience

iv

28 29 29 29 30 30 30 · 31 31 32 32 32

34

35

35

36

37

38

39

40

1

CHAPTER I

A HISTORY OF POLICE DIVERSION

Informal Practices

Beginning in the 19JOs, police departments began to

become involved in prevention and social treatment of delin-

quency; This trend was precipitated in part by a recogni-

tion of the erosion of the informal family and the

inadequacy of community procedures for dealing with juvenile

problems, Casework treatment and social investigations

were undertaken by some police agencies, Big Brother pro-

grams were organized and police athletic leagues sponsored

recreational activities in high crime areas,

The juvenile court, both in its rhetoric and

frequently in its pract ic e , had been a center for the appli-

cation of a rehabilitative philosophy, Prior to the early

1900s, prisons had fa iled to segr egate juven iles and adults,

Local jails herded toge ther males and females, young and

old, and the innoc ent with the guilty , Reported ly, judges

and juries concerned with the destructive impact of penal

fac ilities upon juven iles found ways to a void · imprisonment

Edwin M, Lemert, "Instead of Court: Diversion in Juven ile Justi ee ," in Back on the s treet, ed, Robert M, Carter and Ma lcolm W, Klein ( Engl ewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc" 1976 ), p, 140,

2

or to find a youth not guilty,2 A search began for alterna­

tives to court and prison for children, Projects were tar­

geted primarily at caring for children away from their homes,

Early projects included houses of refuge, which generally

housed children picked up for a broad spectrum of activities,

ranging from abandonment by their parents to serious of-

fenses, Houses of ref~g e were replaced in the late 1800s by

the more successful childrens 9 aid societies, Such societies

were the forerunners of the child protective divisions of

today's public welfare departments,J The reach of the

juvenile court at this time was wide and the judge was all-

powerful, The juvenile court's theoretical un~erpinning

was parens patriae, a mutation from the English chancery

court designed to protect the property interest or, at times,

determine the guardianship needs of children,4 Parens

patriae, or the "parent of the nation," fitted well with the

spirit of the juvenile court, It was consistent with the

court's broad jurisdictional mantle and its fervor to pro-

tect and redirect children, Emphasis was not placed upon

due process requirements as outlined in the Fourteenth Amend-

ment because such requirements were legalistic in concept

and, therefore, restrictive in treatment alternatives,

2Anthony Platt, The Child Savers (Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 196 9 ), p, 202,

J H, Ted Rubin , Juv en ile Justice: Policy. Practice. and law (Santa Monica, CA: Good year Publishing Co" 1979), · p, J5,

4 Ibid , p, J6,

.'

However , be tween 1966 and 1 975, the Supreme Court

advanced several decisi ons r e l evant to the rights of juve-

nile court proceedings . stress was placed on the rein-

forcement of concern with the civil rights of juvenile

suspects and t he denial of the past efficacy of the

treatment-oriented appr oach of juvenile courts. All of

the a gencies included in the juvenile justice process,

from the polic e to the juveni le court, were served notic e

that rules of evidence and due process were important con-

siderations for juvenile suspects, just as they were for

adult suspects.

Police officers felt the effects of changes in

juvenile, as well as criminal, justice in the 1960s. As

J

police officers became more responsible for more complex and

technical skills in enforcing the law, the desire for

professional s tanding increased. Neiderhoffer offers

several reasons for the d evelopment of police professional-

ism, including the complexity of contemporary urban society

coupled wi th technolog ical advances. 5 Neiderhoffer also

suggests that professionalism appeals to the "thinking"

policeman. Investi~a tions into graft and corruption

threaten the stability of the system. Professionalism can

be a major force in winning for the police the privileg e of

self-policing? However, Klein observes that police

5Ar thur Niederhoffer, Behind the Shield I The Police in Urban Society (Garden city, NY: Doubleday a nd Co., Inc., 1969), P. 17.

6 Ibid, P. 18.

4

professionalism becomes synonymous with restricted concepts

of the police role. In t he case of juvenile work, re-

stricted concepts by t he police cause them to separate them-

selves from those community c omponents feeding juveniles

int o t he police and absorbing them back, through c ommuni ty

a genci es , in the di ver sion process. The result of pro-

fessionalism i s the insertion of more juven ile s into the

juven ile ju s t ice system . 7

Finally, gover nment sponsored educa tion and train-

ing , closely associat ed with the drive toward professional-

ism, may have contributed to more formalized practices of

handling juveniles. In Hay of 1965 , the Ga llup Poll

reported that, for the first time , crime was viewed by

Americans as t he most i mpor tant problem facing the Na tion. 8

In response to the c oncern for crime, President Lyndon

Johnson created the "Pres i dent ' s Commission on Law Enforc e -

ment and t he Administration of Ju s tic e ." A report issued by

the Commission dealt extensively with improvement of police

services. 9 Police performance was not dependent only on

t echnology and s er v ic es , but also on upgrading the quality

7r1alcolm w. Kl e in, " Issues in Polic e Diversion of Juvenile Offender s ," in Back on the street , ed. Robert M. Carter and Ma l colm H. Klein ( imglewood Cliffs , NJ : Prentice-Hall, Inc ., 1976 ), P. 85 .

8James O. Finckenauer , "from Law and Order to Domestic Tranquility ," Crime and Delinguency 24 (January 1978) :19.

9The President ' s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Jus tic e , The Cha llenge of Crime in a Free 30ciety. \;fashing ton: U. S. Governmen t Printing Office, 1967.

of pollee personnel by improving educational standards,10

The Offlce of L9.w Enforcement Assistance, later to become

the L9.w Enforcement Assistance Administration (L,E,A,A,)

was created, As a result of federal funding policies for

pollce education, a ne'l'T academic discipline, Criminal

Justice, arose,

5

Police pOI'ler and discretion could be properly

guided with education, However, education appeared to make

police officers so conscious of the need for impartiality

and fairness that they chose to remain well within the

role of the judicial function and refer all juvenile dis-

position decisions to the juvenile court, L9.Fave explains

this turn of events by stating l

, , , the substantive criminal law implies an absolute mandate, There is an assumption that the rule of law or principle of legality demands that wherever or whenever a transgression of the , , , criminal law occurs, impartiality demands that the transgressor be arrested regardless of circumstance,ll

Education appeared to influence officers by narrowing the

limits in which discretion could be exercised and empl~-

sizing legalistic behavior,

Current Diver si on Pract ic es

In 1970, the number of juvenile delinquency cases

handled by juvenile courts r eac hed an a ll-time high of

l ° L9.rry T, Ho over , Police Educational Character­lstjcs and Curricula (Washington : U,S, Government Printing Offic e , 1975), p, 2. .

11Wayne R, L9.Fave, "Polic e Discretion," in Crime and Justice in Soc i et~ , ed, Richard Quinney (Boston: tittle, Brown and Company, 19 9), p , 111,

·'

. ,

6

1,052,000. This fi gure represented only a part of t he total

number of youths involved in the juvenil e justice system.

It was conservatively estimated that almost 4,000,000

youth had a police contact in 1970 and that 2,000,000 of

those contacts resulted in arrest, half of which were

referred to juvenile cour ts. 12

Funding provided by the Law Enforcement Assistance

Administration assi sted police a gencies throughout the

Nation with the resources needed for the development of

police specialist s , including juvenile specialists. The

police juvenile specialist, or juvenile officer, had a

direct mandat e to de vote his or her energies full time to

young people. J uvenil es were taken more seriously than

ever before. 13 The police juvenile officer was expected

to actively participate in the juvenile justice system, the

stated goal of which was to act "in the best interest of

the child." Investigation of ca ses was consistent with the

traditional law enforcement f unction; but the responsibility

to meet the "appropriate needs" of the child was new and

received by police officers with uncertainty. The juvenile

officer, for example, was oft en cast in the role of a social

worker in a searc h for appropriat e juvenil e referral alterna-

tives.

12Robert J. Gemignanai, "Youth Services Systems," in Back on the Street, ed. Robert M. Carter and Malcolm W. Klein (Englewood Cliffs, NJ : Prentice-Hall, Inc" 1976), P. 56,

13James Q. It/ ilson, Varieties of Police Be havior, The t1anagement of Law and Order in Eight Communi ties (New York: Athenum, 1973), P. 72.

In 1970, a strategy was developed by the Youth

Development Delinque ncy Preve n tion Administration for the

prevention of delinquency. The strategy called for t he

Nationwide establishment of youth services systems which

would divert youth from the juvenile justice system. ~his

process would be accomplished through t he use of community-

based programs designed to meet the needs of all youths,

regardless of their individual problems. 14 Youth Service

Bureaus were de veloped around the Country with the assis-

tance of f unds larg ely emanating from the L.E.A. A" aug-

mented by state , local, and private monies.

Tw o relat ed deve lopments were the police-school

liaison prog ram and the polic e social worke r. The police-

school liaison offic e r was a police officer trained as a

juvenile speciali st a nd assig ned to a school. The police-

school lia i son offic e r was to provide couns e ling and re-

ferral services for the student s and inform students,

teachers, and school officials of the objectives of the

police department. The police social worker was usually a

professionally trained social worker who was employed

directly by the police a g ency. The police social worker

usually was most concerned with juvenile referral from

police officers, although othe r problems, such as domestic

disputes or problems of the elde rly, might be dealt with.

Polic e agencies had begun to move away from the

sponsorship of prog rams such as police athletic leagues

14Gemignanai, "Youth Services Systems," in Back on the Street, P. 55.

7

8

and boys' clubs to the sponsorship of programs which catered

more directly to delinquents and pre-delinquents. Prevention

and social tr eatment of delinquents had progressed to the

realization that delinquency was a complex, multi-causal

problem requiring highly trained and specialized resources

for its abatement.

Criticisms of Police Diversion

Police diversion i s problematic from several per-

spectives. While due process in the courts may at times be

imperfect, more serious deprivation of constitutional

rights can take place in a divers ion setting in which a

juvenile is not represented by an attorney and no judge

seeks to insure that proc edures meet legal standards.

Similarly, a juvenile could e lect to participate in a

diversion program just to avoid the fri ghtful process of

juvenile court. Indeed. the whole diversion spectrum is

susceptible to the abuses of the "coercive choice,"

Some are conc erned that if diversion becomes

widespread, attention to the need for fundamental reform

of the juvenile justice system will be weakened, To

di'Tert status offenders, such a s runaways and truants,

will diminish conc ern that juvenile court jurisdiction over

these youths is wrong and should be abolished,15

Finally, it is pointed out that diversion theory

is opposed to deterrent theory, which hold s that modest

15paul Ne j elski, "Div ersion: The Promise and the Danger," Cr im e and De linquency (October 1976) :409,

. '

· ,

handling of juvenile offenders will encourage more illegal

juvenile offenses, Since punishment is neither certain

nor severe, delinquent-prone youths will not be motivated

to curb their violations,16

Support for Diversion

Despite criticism and cautious note s associated

with police diversion , t here is a sound rationale for its

use, In 1967, the President's Commission on Law Enforce-

ment and the Administration of Justice advocated diversion,

making specific referenc e to the dangers of stigmatization

and contamination inhe r en t in the labeling and mass pro-

ducing of juveniles, The stigma of being labeled a delin-

quent could be minimized by div erting certain categories of

juvenile offenders out of the court system, Similarly,

advocates of differential association theory, which assumed

that crime was learned in social interaction, thought that

diversion would keep nondelinquents from being exposed to

hard-core delinquents, Thus, there would be less chance

for nondelinquents to adopt delinquent attitudes,

Edwin Sc hur argued that judicious nonintervention

and radical nonin t erventi on in the lives of youth would

assist in maintaining respect for the legal system, A

noninterventionist strategy calls for mechanisms to divert

juveniles a way from the c ourt s , The strategy stresses the

narrowing of the range of acti vities for which an adoles-

16Richard J, Lundman, "Will Diversion Reduce Recidivism?" Crime and Delinquency 2 (October 1976) 14)6,

9

.'

10

cent can be brought to the att ention of the court.17

Finally, divers i on programs can reduce the am6unt

of time that law enforcement agenc i es must spend reacting

to minor offenses and frees all members of the juvenile

justice system to concentrate on more serious offenses.

Thus, juvenile courts can assume the posture of a court of

law that deals with serious criminal matters.

The decision as to whether or not to divert a

juvenile from official handling is a crucial one for any

police officer, especially since the action will have an im~

pact upon both the juven ile and the juvenile justice system.

Timely intervention by the police, coupled wi t h an accurat e

disposition decision by the police offic er, is emphasized

by Lemert:

. timely intervention into the careers of marginal or near-delinquents may l end the extra measure of he lp or authority needed to forestall further deviance, This argument rests on two assumptions: 1) that the police discriminate accurately between serious deviance and trivial deviance that can be i gnored; and 2) that deviance defined as marginal police problems is not transitional, will not disappear by itself, agd will not be solved by other means if l eft alone,l

Lemert's concern for accurate dispos itional decisions by

police officers involves a discussion of police discretion.

Police discretion in making juvenile intervention decisions

has been the focal point of many studies . Among those

17Edw in M. Schur , Radical Non-intervention (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc" 1973), P. 130. .

18Lemert, "Instead of Court :" in Back on the street, P. 143.

11

author s who have s tud i ed juven ile intervent ion d eci s ions by

police officers are James Q. Wilson , Hichard Sunde en, and

William Ker Muir. Wi lson stud i ed the manner in which juve -

ni le dis po s iti on decis i ons are ma de by police offic er s and

sugges t ed in an early work tha t the police department

or i ented to a professiona l ethos may be mor e strict in ad -

her ence to juvenil e court ref erra l gu idelines in c ompar ison

to a fra t ernal department, whi c h may make more d ispos ition

decisions on the street a nd in the s tation. 19 Wilson furt her

explored t his suggest ion in a later work by examining styles

of policing a nd t heir possible effects on juvenile disposi-

tion deci s ions. I n this study, Wilson sugges ted that ad-

ministrativ e guidelines and pres s ure from superior officers

influenc ed offic er d iscretion more than any other factors

in the handling of juveniles. 20 Richard Sundeen found that

training a nd local friendships of police officers wer e fac-

tors which may be c orre lated with polic e disposition deci-

sions , although they could not explain s uch decisions

entirely.21 William Ker Mu ir hypothesized that appropriate

juvenil e interv ention decisions by the police were correlat ed

1 9James Q. Hilson, "The Police and t he De linquen t in Two Cities," in Controlling De linquents , ed. Stanton Wheeler (New York: John Wil ey and Son s , Inc., 1 966 ).

20Wil son , Varietie s of Police Behavior:.

21Richard Sundeen , " Police Professionalization and Community At t a chmen t and t he Diversion of Juvenile Off enders," in Back on the Street , ed . Robe rt N. Carter and Malcolm W. · Klein ( Eng l ewood Cliffs, NJ : Pr entice-Hall, Inc ., 1976).

I >-

with experience as a police officer and higher education,22

In sum, decisions made by a police officer to divert

a child from further involvp.ment in the juven ile just ice

sys tem are important decisions which affect the future of

the child and the community, Factors affecting a police

officer' s decis ions to divert a child should be studied

more thoroughly, The next chapter will addre ss these fac-

tors,

22William Ker Muir, Jr" Police: streetcorner Politicians (Chicag o: The Univers ity of Chicago Press, 1977 ),

12

1J

CHAPTEn II

THE flESEARCH PR OBLEM

Labelin6 and the Police

A currently popular approach to the probl em of

delinquency is expr e s sed in a t rend of thoug ht most c om monly

referred to as the "18.be ling perspectiv e , " Bas ic to t h is

pe rspecti ve i s t he a ssumpt i on tha t it is not the juv en ile

a lone , but al so the a g ents of soc i a l con t r ol, who are

part ially responsible for the problems of de linque ncy , As

the d e linquent encounters each of the various soc ial c on trol

a gencies , decisions are made t hat i nfl uence the d ire c t ion

that his " c are er" v.T il l take , During th e encounte r wi th

each a g ency , the juvenile i s s t i gma ti zed , or "labe led," a s

moral l y i nferior and i s sub jected t o ", , a f orm of de -

~radation which transforms i dentiti e s and status for the

v.Tor s e ... 2J As the de linquent l abe l is i n ternalized by a

j uven il e , chanc es of r e formation are r educed , If t he j uv e ­

nil e progres ses beyond the polic e leve l to j uvenile court,

the likelihood of inter na li z i ng a de linquent l abe l i n ­

c reases . Indeed , i t mi g ht be hypothes i zed t hat as a juv e ­

nil e progr esses throug h each s t ep of the juvenile justic e

2 J Lemert, "Ins t ead of Court :" in Bac k on t he 3tr ee t, P. 1J J .

14

system, the relativ e effec ti ve ness of a div ersion decision

will decrease.

In rec ogniti on of t he im portant role that the police

officer has in making juvenile diversion decisions, many

studies have concentrated on factors which may influence a

police officer's disposition decision of a juvenile whom he

had encountered. Of particular note are those of James Q.

Wilson, Richard Sundeen,and William Ker Muir. These

studies are important because they point to differing fac-

tors influencing police-juvenile relations.

Richard Sundeen and Community Attachment

Richard Sundeen hypothesizes that the level of

professionalization of a po lice agency, defined as commit-

ment to police work, is associated with legalism, " ... the

detached and universalistic treatment of juveniles.,,24

Sund e en indicates that a prof e ssional police agency would be

more likely to be unbiased, impersonal, and procedurally

correct and more inclined to refer juveniles uniformly to

juvenile court. On the other hand, if a police agency is

characteriz ed by hig h community attachment, juveniles will

be dealt with on a mor e individualistic basis and will not

be referred to juvenile court nearly as often as those

handled by the legalistic or professional police agency.

Community attachm ent i s characterized by strong ties of the

24Sundeen, " Polic e Professionalization," in Back on the street, p. 571.

. '

15

police officer with the community and a consequent interest

in the youths of the community. Emphasis on formal rules

are not as impor tant as the necess ity to take a personal

interest i n the juvenile and poss ibly "give him a break."

Sundeen studied forty -three police department juve-

nile bureaus and details in Los Angeles County, largely

with the use of a questionnaire given to juvenile personnel.

Several items were used in the questionnaire to operation-

alize Sundeen 's two independent variables, professionaliza-

tion and community attachment. Professionalization

indicators included the following: (1) amount of police

professional organization activities of juvenile officers;

(2) participation in training programs in j uven ile matters;

(3) an estimati on of social friends who are police officers;

(4) the lev e l of formal educat ion of juvenile officers;

and (5) readership of police journals. The community

attachment indicators included: (1) the a mount of community

organization involvement; (2) local residence j (3) the

number of community events partic i pated in by juvenil e

officers; (4) an estimate of social friends who are local

people; and (5) knowledge of and estimate of use of local

referral sources for youth .2 5

Sundeen summarizes his findings by stating:

The findings . . . lead to the conclusion that police characteristics alone (professionalization and community attachment) do not explain police diversion to juveniles. One possible avenue of inquiry would be

25 Ibld, p . 577.

. '

to examine the combined effect~60f police, offender, and community characteristics.

James Q. Wilson and Department Characteristics

16

James Q . Wilson , in an article entitled, "The Police

and the Delinquent .in 'l'wo Cities ," is c oncerned with the

question of whether or not the level of profes sionalization

of the police officer makes any difference i n the handling

of juvenile offender s . Hils on compares "We s tern City," a

highly professional police department, with " Eas tern City,"

a fraternal depar t ment . Wilson defines a professional de-

partment as one" . g overned by va lues der ived from

general rules wh ich bind all member s of the organization and

whose relevance is independent of circumstances of time,

place, or personality. ,,27 Wilson defines the fraternal de-

partment as one rely ing more on particularistic jUdgements.

Wilson found that Western City's attitudes tended to be

less moralistic, l es s certain of causal factors, and more

therapeutic. Eastern City's officers were more likely to

be concerne d with pun itive rather than therapeutic measures .

Wilson found that there were other important differences

between the two departments, He found that Western City was

centraliz ed with e l aborat e rec or ds , muc h paperwork, and an

emphasis on spec i a liza t ion . Eastern City was decentralized

with very little accountability for the juven ile officer

26 Ibid, p . 579.

2 7Hi ls on , " Two Cit i es ," in Controlling Delinquents, P. 11

, 17

because little emphasis was placed upon paperwork and record ­

keeping. 28

Wilson 's findings are inconclusive in offering

clear answers as to wh ich aspects of the professional police

force contribute more than others to adapting police prac-

tice to the problem of delinquency , Thus, he states:

Further research might show that younger officers are more zealous than the older (that is, more likely to act on the basis of or~anizational r ole rather than personal judg ement). 9

Such research would be i mpor tant if a ge of the police

officer was to be considered as a factor in police diver-

sion decisions.

Wilson lat e r expl ores the police-juvenile relation­

ship as it exists in three different styles of policing,JO

The "watchman " style i s characterized by iVilson as being

concerned primarily with orde r maintenance, Very little

j uven ile law enforcement takes place, The watchman style

policeman judges the seriousness of infract ions not by

what the law says, but by immediate and personal conse-

quences which may differ depending on the standards of the

relevant group , The "legalistic" style is characterized by

a formal and ins ti tut ional r elat ionsh ip between officer and

juven ile, The of f ic er who characterizes the legalistic

style relies heavily upon professional s ervices rather than

28 I b id , P. 1 5 .

29 . I b id, P. 29.

JOWilson, Vari et i es of Pol ice Be havior .

18

his own form of discipline. The "service" style is charac­

terized by attention to juvenile behavior and treatment of

juveniles at the police and community l evel . J1

Wi lson s tate s t hat the polic e administrator, through

the establishment of juvenile case gu idelines and the crea­

tion of specializ e d r e sourc e s, s uch as juvenile offic ers ,

can i n fluence the d i scret ion utilized by officers in hand­

ling juVeniles. J2 Wilson als o f ound that pressure from

superior officers may be e ven mor e important than speciali­

zation in influencing of f icers' d iscretion. JJ

William Ker Muir and Officer Characteristics

1tl1lliam l'luir examined the development of the good

policeman by studying tw enty - e i g ht policemen of an Am erican

city in the early 1 9 70 s . Muir e q ua tes t he power wi elded by

police off ic ers with th e coercive powe r of politicians.

Muir found t hat police officers l earn h ow to proper l y use

power and bec ome prof ess iona l policemen i n much the same

manner that a politi c ian becomes a profe ss ional politician.

1'1u ir uses Max v/eber ' s model of a "ma ture man" to

d eve lo p the pr ofes s ional or g ood poli c eman . We ber ' s mode l

dealt with t h e " profess i on8. 1 po litician," who possessed tHO

c h8.racter istics whi ch , i n c omb inat i on , r ed uc ed the po s s i b il­

i t y of corruption : rl' he fir s t c harac t e r istic was passion ,

defined by Heber a s " . a capa c ity to in tegr ate coercion

J1 n .l id , p . 175.

J2 Ibid , P . 88 .

JJlbid , P . 98 .

19

into morals. ,,34 Passion ga ve t he professional politician

the ability to stand f irm on is sue s which affected th e

g eneral welfare of society, even if such a stand included

the use of threats and violenc e . The second characteristic,

perspective, 1-laS defined by Hebe r as " ... intellectual

objectivity. ,,35 Pass i on alone was not enough, and should

be tempered by an understanding of human suffering and

human dignity. Muir accepts Weber 's assert ions and applies

them to the professional policeman who, like Weber's pro-

fessional politician, fe lt morally reconciled to using

coercive means and, at t he same time, reflected empathet-

ically upon the condition of human suffering . Mu ir refer s

to such a view by the professional policeman as a tragic

perspective. On the other hand, Mu ir describes the non-

professional polic eman , or bad policeman, as having a

cynic perspective. A cynic perspective is characterized

by a lack of understanding of human suffering and living

by the minimum which one can g et by.

Muir explains the " g ood" policeman further by

stating:

A policeman b ecomes a g ood policeman to the extent that he develops two virtues. Intellectually, he has to grasp the nature of human suffering . Morally, he has to resolve th e contradictions of ac h ieving just ends with coercive means. A patrolman who develops this trag ic sense and moral e qua nimity tends to grow

34Mu ir, Polic e : s treetcorner Politic ians, p. 33.

35 Ibid , P . 50.

in the job, increasing 6n confidence, skill, sensi­bility, a nd awareness,J

· 20

When a g ood policeman is involved in the "juvenile

caper," as referred to by Muir, the juvenil e is seen as

being irrational to the e xtent that he remains f earle ss

and blind to the consequences that an arrest by a police

officer can have for h im, The good polic eman does not shy

away from irrational behav i or nor does he meet it with

brute forc e , The go od, or professional, policeman uses

coercion with great subt l ety , in dealing with a juven ile who

se eming l y ha s no fear, The g ood policeman has become com-

fortable with the use of coercion to keep juveniles out of

trouble, When the juvenile does g et into tr ouble, the

good policeman i s more like l y to use a certain amount of

f ear, combined with understanding, in get ting the juvenile

back on the stra i ght and narrO\o[, I gnoring th e juvenile or

making a juvenile court referral would not be a f requent

course of action for the good policeman,

Muir offers four propositions for the abatement of

corruption in police officers, T1,'I' o of thos e propositions

will be considered further as independent variables which

may influence dispositions by police offic e rs, The first

stresse s the im portance of h i~h er education in conveying

historical, social, and moral perspectives of human tragedy,

The greater the amount of education, particularly in the

liberal arts, the less likely it is t hat a c yn ic perspective

J 6 Ibid , p , 4,

.'

'21

will develop, rha second proposition s tresses experience,

or the amount of time spent by an individual in associating

wi th those who are e xper ienced in the proper use of power

before the individual assumes the responsibilities of

power.J?

Independent Var iables

Th is r esearch is designed to test the hypotheses

presented by Sundeen, Wil son , and Muir as they relate to

police disposition decisions of juveniles.

Sundeen hypothesizes that the more professional a

police a g ency, the g r eat er the li ke lihood that juveniles

would uniformly be referred to juv en ile court. Profes­

sionalism lev e l variables include the following: spe­

cialized juvenile training , level of education, and socio­

economic backg round as measured by parents' professions.

Sundeen also hypothesizes that the more a police agency is

characteriz ed by communi ty attachment, the l ess likely it

will be to r efe r juven ile s to juvenile court. Community

attachment level variables include the f o llowing : residence

i n area of employm ent, soc ialization in area of employment ,

and participation in c ommunity organization s .

Wilson su~gests that future research should address

the a ~e of the police officer . Wilson hypothes ize s that

youn~er officers are more i nc li ned. to act on the ba s is of

or~anizationa l role rat he r than personal judg ement. Offi~

cer' s a ge wi ll be considered. to test this hypothesis.

J?Ibid. , P . 2 81.

22

\ol il son d iscusses thr8e d i fferf,nt style s of po lic ins : \v'lt.ch ­

man, legal i stic , anrl service ; and he hypo th e siz es t ha t each

of the t hr~ e wi ll hand l e j uven ile s dIfferent ly. ~he sty l e

of policing , accor d i ng to Wi l son , i s depend en t upon the

establi shment of juveni l e case g uidelines and the creation

of spec i a liz ed resourc es , whi ch can be inf l uent ial in an

officer ' s dispos i tion d ec ision . Juvenile case gu i de lines

and spec ialized res ources level var ia b l e s will inc l ude the

fol lo1V i nR; variabl es : pr 8sence of vl ri ttAn j uven il e policy,

inc lud ing book ing procedures fo r juvenile s , a nd type of

specia lized tra i n i ng . Wil son furthe r hypothes ize s t ha t

pressure from super i or officers i s pos s ibly of even

gr ea ter importance in influencing officer discretion. In

order to te st th i s hypothesis , recogn ition by patrol off i­

c er s , s upe r v isors, and the chief will be utilized as

var iables . This i s bas ed on the assumption that pre ssure

to perform a j ob is rewarded with r ecogn iti on f or the

acc omplishment of the j ob .

t1u ir hypo t hesizes that t he hig her the education ,

the l ess one is i nclined to a cyn i c perspect i ve and, there ­

fore , t he 18ss likely t o e i t her i gnore a j uve nil e or r e fer

t h8 ju veni l e to court . ~his hypothes i s will be tested

wit h the followin g var i ab l es : h i g hest l eve l of education

attained , area of specialization , and t ype of deg re e .

Mu ir fur ther hypoth8s iz es t hat the greater the amount o f

exposure to thos e who are mor e experi e nced in the prope r

use of power, the more one will be able to properly use

power. Thos e who are morc exper i enced i n the us e of powe r,

. '

such as more e xper i enced police officers , contribute to an

off icer' s understanding of why peopl e act the way they do,

Without such understanding, the officer's judgement, or

ability to predict, is impaired, This hypothesis will be

tested with the use of the independent variable, "years

experience as a polic e officer,"

Dependent Level Var i abl e s

Three de pendent l evel variables will be us ed to

2)

test hypotheses suggested by Wilson, Sundeen , a nd Ker Mu i r ,

The variables are: (1) war n and rel ea sej (2) conferenc e

with parentj and ()) j uveni le cour t , Wa rn and release

will serve as an indicator of unimportance or ignorance of

a juvenile' s v iola tion as perce iv ed by t he police officer,

Conference with parent will indica te the police officer

has demonstrated willingness to intervene and treat a

juvenile for a violation rather than rely upon juvenile

c ourt intervention for such treatment, Finally, juvenile

court will serv e as an indicator of the seriousness of a

juvenile's v iolation and the point at which the police

off icer no longer feels comfortable in treat ing the juvenil e ,

The finding s of the study ar e pre sented in

Chapter III,

CHAPTER III

PROCEDURE AND FINDINGS

Sam ple

Data were gathe r ed on e i ghty - four pol ice offi ce r s

ut ilizing the ques ti onnaire i n Appendix A. The data

c oll e cti on per i od of th i s s t udy extended from February

t hr ough October of 1 980 . The que s t i onnaire s we r e made

available to a ll patrol of fi ce r s a t f i ve d iff e r ent polic e

departments i n the JVl i hrau k e e me tr o politan area. Question­

nair e s VI e r e a l so made ava ilabl e to all patrol ,officers wh o

attend e d an annual j uven il e justice retrain ing confere nc e

24

in the state of ~lisc on sin . The ques t ionnaire VIas not g iven

to a ny offic e r a bove the ran k of pa trolman. The reason for

this is that it is the offic e r on the stree t, the patrolman,

VIho makes the initial juv enile intervention decision. Com­

pletion of the qu esti onna i re was vol untary a nd s pecific

directions wer e g i ven t o a l l par t ici pants not to id entify

themselv e s in a ny manner on the q ue stionnair e . Parti c ipants

VIe r e a s k ed t o c ompl e t e t he questi onnair e i'l' i th i n a ten­

minute period.

Que stionnaire

Professionalism was operationalized with the use of

five questions. Ques ti on one ask ed participants to check

.'

their highest level of education : high school, one to two

years of college , thre e to four years of college , or over

four years of college. Quest i on two asked of ficers to

write i n the area of spec i alization of their studies if

they d i d attend college , ~UI; s tion th r ee asked off i cers to

check the type of de gree wh ic h they obtained if they had

attended col l ege , Pour choices were offered for type of

degree : A, A. , B. A , I B. S" M.A. /M . s ., and none obtained .

Ques tion f our as ked off i c e rs if they had rece i ved special­

iz ed training in youth or delinquency problems and was

ansNer ed by checkinp; either " Yes" or " No ," Quest ion five

asked officers to list any s pec ialized training which they

had r ece ived ,

25

Question s i x aske d officers to li s t the occupations

of their parents during the officer's childhood , Quest i o n

seven asked off ic ers t o wr i t A thei r a ge in a blank pr o­

v i ded . F inally, question eig ht asked for the number of years

experience as a l aw enforcement officer and provided a blank

in which the proper numbe r of years could be written,

QUf;stions twe l ve throug h fourteen operationaliz ed

commun i ty attachment var i abl es . Ques ti on twelve asked the

officer if he li v ed in the city . town, or vil lage in wh ich

he worked, and was r esponded to by check i ng e ither "Yes" or

" No," Question thirteen asked for the percen tae;e . of people

whom the officer socialized with who li ved in the ci t y , town ,

or v illa g e in wh i ch the offic er worked , 'rhe question was

r es pond ed to by checking one of the following alternatives:

· ,

0-20 percent, 21-40 percent , 41 - 60 percent, or 61-1 00 per­

cent. Finally, ques tion fourteen asked for a list of

organ izations to which the officer b e long ed in the city,

tm'ln, or villag e in which he worked. The officer could

also check whether he wa s act i ve or not active in each

organization that he listed.

26

Questions nine, ten , e l even, and fifteen opera­

tionaliz ed style of policing as suggested by Wilson. Ques­

tion nine asl{ed for the name of the de partment in whic h the

officer worked. Quest ion ten asked if the of ficer's de ­

partment had a writt e n policy or proc edure to be follow ed

when a juvenile was apprehended. Three responses could be

checked: "Yes," "No," and " Unknown." Question eleven

asked for the manner in wh ich decisions were made by the

officer to fi ngerprint or photograph a juvenile . Three

alternatives were g i ven to check for a r esponse: "Written

policy," "Your discretion," and "Discre t ion of your shift

sergeant or supervisor. II Question fifteen asked the offi-

cer to check a box which best described the recog nition

that he received from either patrol officers, the chief, or

serg eants/supervi sors for perform ing a mtmber of listed tasks.

The tasks i nc l uded apprehend i ng a juvenil e burglar, enforcing

mini-bike 113.1'18, inv8st i gating runawa y s , a nd counseling a

juvenile at the station . The officer could che ck either

high recogn iti on , moderate rec03nition , or low recognition.

for ea c h task and for each of t he thre e ranks of off icers

mentioned.

27

The dependent variable, disposition decision, was

operationalized with the use of question sixteen. The offi-

cer was asked to check one of three possible dispositions

for a list of several offenses. The officer was told that

each was a "first time" offense and that dispositions were

to be made based on the officer's estimation. Offense

categories included the following:

1. Sixteen-year-old runaway girl; 2. Residential burglary committed by a twelve-year-old; J. $500 damage to an auto by a thirteen-year-old; 4. Battery to a peace officer; 5. Sixteen-year-old runaway boy; 6. Armed robbery by a fifteen-year-old boy; 7. Residential burglary by a sixteen-year-old boy; 8. Bicycle theft by a fourteen-year-old; 9. Possession of marijuana;

10. Carrying a concealed weapon (switchblade knife); 11. Damage to a mailbox by a fifteen-year-old; and 12. Curfew violation by a fifteen-year-old.

Each offense category could be responded to by checking one

of three dispositions: warn and release, conference with

parent, or juvenile court.

Frequency Distributions

Frequency distributions were formulated for all of

the variables in the questionnaire. The results indicated

that the following independent variables contained frequen-

cies somewhat evenly spread over categories, rather than

concentrated in one category, and, therefore, warranted

further study: (1) Education, (2) Type of Degree I (J) Spe-

cialized Training; (4) Type of Training; (5) Father's Occu­

pation; (6) Age; (7) Years Police Experience; (8) Residence;

and (9) Socialization. Although there was variance in

• ~

28

Department frequencies , it was not considered further be-

cause of the voluntary selection process for completion of

the questionnaire, Because of the voluntary completion of

the questionnaire, it could not be accepted with any de-

gre e of certainty that a small number of responses would be

indicati ve of a d e pa r t ment's st y l e of poli c ing ,

Tables 1 thr oug h 8 s how fr e qu encies for the above-

me n tioned variable i ndicat or s , Ta b l e 5 , Pather's Occupation ,

was measured with the use of t h e " Warner, Me eker , Eells'

Revised Scal e fo r Rat ing Occupati on ," The s cale rating s

indicate d in Table 5 refer to lev e ls of professional stand­

ing rath er t han inc om e level,J 8 Mot her's Occupation was

not considered f urt her b ecause many of th e returned ques -

tionnaires contained the oc c upa tion of "housewi f e" which

did not s e rve as a valid socioe c onomic indicator,

TABLE 1

EDUCAT ION

~ Frequency Percentage

Hi g h School 17 20

Colleg e : 1-2 y rs, ' 2 8 JJ J -4 yrs, 26 J 1 5 plu s yrs, .u 12

Total , 84 10 0

J 8Delbert C, Miller, Hand book of Re s earch Design and Social Mea s urem ent ( New York: Da v id McKay Company, Inc" 1977), p p, 2 J9-2 4 1,

. '

29

TABLE 2

DEGREE

~ E~~~u~n~y Percentage

A.A . .. 28 33 B.A./B. S . 16 19 M.A ./M.S . 1 1 None 39 46

Total _ 84 100

TABLE 3

JUVENILE TRAINING

Frequency Percentage

Yes . No

Total

.. 32 52

84

TABLE 4

SPECIALIZATION

~ Frequency

Delinquency 25 Crime Prev ention 1 College 7 None 11 Total 84

38 62

100

Percentage

30 1 8

61

100 =

. . 30

TABLE 5

FATHER ' S OCCUPAT ION

Scale Rating Fr eguenc ;z: Perc entaEie

1 (Hi gh Profession) 2 2 2 (Modera te Profession ) 27 32 3 (Low Profession ) n §2

Tota l . . 84 100

TABLE 6

AGE

Years Fr eguenc ;z: Perc enta Eie

20 - 25 . 17 20 26-30 . 22 26 31 - 35 . 22 26 36- 40 . 11 13 i-n Plus 12 14

Total . 84 100

TABLE 7

YEARS POLICE EXPER I ENCE

Years Fr eguenc;z: Percent a ge

0- 2 . 10 12 3- 5 . . 20 24 6-1 0 24 29 11-1 5 . 23 27 16 Pl us ....1 8

Total . 84 100 -

Location

In Area of Employ. Outside Area of Employ.

Total .

TABLE 8

RESIDENCE

Frequency

43 41

84

Percentage

51 49

100

Tables 9 through 12 show frequencies for the de-

pendent level variables. As in the previous t ables, the

only variables used for further testing were those which

contained frequenci es somewhat evenly spread over cate-

gories rather than concentrated in one category.

TABLE 9

RESIDENTIAL BURGLARY BY 12 YR. OLD

Alternative

Warn and Release Conf. with Parent Juvenile Court

Total

Frequency

o 33 2l 84

Percentage

o 39 61

100 =

31

Al terna t i ve

Warn and Release Conf, with Parent Juvenile Court

Total

TABLE 10

BICYCLE THEFT BY 14 YR, OLD

Frequency

3 49 E 84

TABLE 11

POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA

Alternative

Vlarn and Release Conf, with Parent Juvenile Court

Total

Frequency

5 52 27

84

TABLE 12

CARRYING CONCEALED WEAPON

Alternative

Warn and Release , Conf, with Parent Juvenile Court

Total

Frequency

2 32 50

84

Percentage

4 58 ~

100

Percentage

6 62 E

100

Percentage

2 38 60

100 =

32

. . JJ

After examination of the frequency distribution of

the dependent and independ ent variable indicators, con-

tingency table analysis was utilized to investigate sets of

relationships among these variables. All of the dependent

level variables examined were nominal level data, The

statistic, asymmetric lambda, was chosen to measure the

assoc iation between dependent and indepe ndent variables,

Asymmetric lambda is a proportional reduction in error

measurement which measure s the percentage of improvement in

ability to predict the value of the dependent variable once

the value of the independent variable is known. J9 Cont in-

gency tables and the asymmetric lambda statistic for each

table follow those r e lationsh ips which showed a predictive

value above the five percent level of significance. Both

contingency tables and frequency distributions were com-

puted with the use of the Marquette University Xerox Sigma

Nine Computer.

39Herman J. Loether and Donald G, McTavish, De scriptive and Inf e r ent ial Statistics: An

Bos ton: Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 197

. '

contingency Tables

TABLE 13

CROSSTABULATION OF RESIDENTIAL BURGLARY BY SPECIALIZATION*

Disposition

Parent Juvenile Court

Specialization

Del. %

56 (14) 44 (11)

None %

29 (15) 71 (36)

Asymmetric Lambda = ,12

* Crime Prevention and Colleg e speciali­zation categ ories were deleted, as was the Warn and Release Disposition cate­gory, Their respective frequencies were so small that no significance could be attached and no conclusions drawn from them,

Table 13 indicates that knowledge of the type of

specialization increases the a b ility to predict the dis-

position outcome of twelve year olds apprehended for

residential burg lary by twelve percent, The table indi­

cates further that office rs with delinquency speciali-

zation were not as likely to refer a tw e lv e year old to

juvenile court for a r e sidential burg lary as were those

officers with no specialization,

34

TABLE 14

CROSSTABULATION OF RESIDENTIAL BURGLARY BY AGE OF OFFICER*

Ase ~

20-2.2 26-20 21-25 26- 40

DlsEosltlon

Parent 2 L~ (L~ ) 41 (9) J 6 ( 8 ) 64 (7)

Juvenile Court 76 (1 J ) 59 (1 3) 64 (lh) 36 (4)

35

41 Plus

42 ( 5 )

58 (7)

Asymme tric Lambda = .0 9

*The Warn and Rel eas e d i spos iti on categ ory was deleted be ­cause of small, i ns i gnificant fr e qu e ncies .

Table 14 i nd ica te s that ,knowledge of the a ge of the

pollce offlc e r increases t he ability to pr edic t the d i spos i-

tlon outcome of twelve year olds apprehended for residential

burg lary by nine percent. The table indicates further that

offi cers in the 20-25 a g e cat egory are much more inclined

that those in any other categ ory to r e f e r these juvenl1es to

court.

TABLE 15

CROSSTABULATION OF RES IDENT IAL BURGLARY BY YEARS POLICE EXPERIENCE*

DlsEosltlon 0-2

Juven il e Court 80 ( 8 )

Years EXEerience %

2:2 60 (12)

6-10

62 (1 5)

11-15 16 Plus

61(14 ) 2 9 (2 ) Asymmetric Lambda = , 09

*The Par en t and Wa r n and Re l ease dispositions were deleted be­cause the frequencies were so small that no conclusions could be drawn from them.

36

Table 15 indicates that knowledge of the number of

years experience as a police officer increases the ability

to predict the disposition outcome for twelve - year-old resi-

dential burglary offenders by nine percent. The table also

i ndicates t hat officers who are most likely to refer t we l ve -

year-old juveniles to court for residential burglary are

those who are least experienc ed ; specifically, in the 0-2

year category.

DisEosltlon

Parent

Juvenile Court

TABLE 16

CROSSTABULATION OF BICYCLE THEFT BY AGE OF OFFIC ER*

Age of Officer %

20-2 5 26-30 31-35 36-40

29 (5) 68 (15) 64 (14) 73 (8 )

65 (11) 27 (6 ) 32 (7 ) 27 ( J )

41 Plus

58 (7)

42 (5)

Asymmetr ic Lambda = .17

*The Warn and Release disposition was eliminated. The frequencies were small and inconclusive.

Table 16 indicates that knowledg e of the age of the

police officer increase s the ab ility to predict the dis-

position outcome of fourteen-yea r-old juv eniles apprehended

for bicycle theft by seventeen percent. The conting ency

table further indica tes that those officers in the 20-25

year - old category are the mos t likely to refer fourte en-

year-old juveniles for bicycl e theft .

TABLE 17

CROSSTABULATION OF BICYCLE THEFT BY YEARS POLICE EXPERIENCE*

Years Police Experience %

37

0-2 2=2 6-10 11-15 16 Plus

Disposition

Parent

Juvenile Court

30 (3) 70 (l L~)

70 (7) 25 ( 5 )

50 (12) 61 (14) 86 (6)

42 (10) 39 (9) 14 (1)

Asymmetric Lambda = .11

* The Warn and Release disposition was eliminated. The frequencies were smal l and inconclusiv e .

Table 17 indicate s that knowledge of the number of

years experience as a police officer increa ses the ability

to predict the disposition outcome of fourteen-year-old

juveniles apprehended for bicyc le theft by eleven percent.

The contingency table indicates that tho se officers with the

least amount of experience ar e the most like ly to refer

fourt e en-year-old j uveni les to court for bicycle theft.

. '

TABLE 18

CROSSTABULATION OF CARRYING A CONCEALED WEAPON BY EDUCAT ION*

Disposition

Parent

Juvenile Court

H. S.

59 (1 0 )

41 (7)

Education %

1-2

18 (5)

79 (22)

3-4

38 (10)

58 (15)

5 Plus

54 (7)

46 (6)

As ymmetric Lambda = .1 2

*The ~'Ja rn and fle l easf; dlspos i tion ",a s elimina ted due to small , inconcl u sive frequenci e s .

Table 18 indicates that knowledg e of the extent of

formal education of the poiice officer increases the

ability to predict the disposition outcome of juv en iles

apprehended for carrying a conc ealed weapon b~ twelve

percent. The contingency table shows very little direc-

tion. It does appear from the table, however, that

those with high school education and those with five or

more years of colleg e are less inclined to refer a juve-

nile to court for carrying a concealed weapon than are

those with one to four years of colleg e edu cation.

38

TABLE 19

CROSSTABULATION OF CARRYING A CONCEALED WEAPON BY AGE*

Disposition

Parent

Juvenile Court

20-25

12 (2 )

82 (14)

Age % 26-30

1}5 (10)

55 (12)

31-35

J2 (7)

64 (14)

36-40

64 (7)

36 (4)

Asymmetric Lambda = ,0 9

* Both the Warn and Release disposition and the "41 Plus" Age categ ory column we r e eliminated due to small, in­conclusive frequencie s ,

Table 19 indicates that knowledge of a police

officer's a g e increas es the ability to predict a dis-

position outcome for a juvenile apprehended for carrying

a concealed weapon by nine percent, The contingency table

indicates that those officers in the 20-25 age category

are the most likely to r efer a juvenile to court for

carrying a concealed weapon,

J9

~

· ,

TABLE 20

CROSSTABULATION OF CARRYING A CONCEALED WEAPON BY YEARS POLICE EXPERIENCE*

Experience a~ a Police Officer %

40

20-25 26-Jo J1-J5 J6-40 41 Plus

Disposition

Parent

Juvenile Court

12 (2 ) 45 (10)

82 (14) 5,5 (12)

J2 (7) 64 (7) 50 (6)

64 (14) 36 (4) 50 (6)

Asymmetric Lambda - .0 9

*The Warn and Relea se dispos ition was eliminated due to small, inconclus ive fr e quenc i es .

Tabl e 20 indicates that knowledge of the number of

years experience as a police officer increases the ability

to predict a disposition decision for a juvenile appre-

hended for carrying a concealed weapon by nine percent.

Th~ table shows that those office~with the l eas t amount

of experience are the most li ke l y to refer a juvenile to

court for carry ing a conceal e d weapon .

Summation

The str ongest corr e lation be t ween a d ependent and

inrl e pendent variahle was that b e t ween Oi cyc l e Theft and

Of f ic er ' s Age ( See Tabl e 16) , with an asymmetr ic lambda

statistic of .17. Off ic er' s Ab e ,ms a l so of fairly strong

pred icti ve value in its c ros s t abu l at ion wi th fies idential

Bur g lary Crabl e 14 ) and Carrying a Concea l ed \~capon

(Table 19), with an asymmetric lambda statistic of ,09 in

both cases,

41

Years Experi e nc e as a Police Officer was signifi­

cantly correlated with Residential Burglary, Bicycle Theft,

and Carryin~ a Conc ea l ed Weapon, with asymmetric lambda

statistics of ,0 9 , .11, and ,0 9 , res pectively (See Tables 15,

17, and 20). These l eve l s of predic tive ability are also

considerably higher than the .05 acc e ptabl e level of sign i­

ficance and can, therefore , be considered fairly strong in

their predictive value .

Spec ializa ti on was significantly correlated with

Res idential Burg lary, with an asymmetric lambda statistic

of ,12 (See Table 13), Education was significantly corre­

lated with Carrying a Conc ealed Weapon, with an asymmetric

lambda statistic of ,12, also ( See Table 1 8 ), Althoug h

both of these independ e nt var iable s are fairly strong in

predictive value, caution s hould be exercised in viewing

these results because ne ithe r reached the ,05 level of

significance when crosstabulated with t he other two de­

pendent variables a l ready mentioned ,

Because of the poss i ble pr ed ict ive va l u e of Age ,

Years Experi enc e , Educa tion, and Spe cia lizat i on , each of

these variables was t ested further fo r poss ible e laboration

of the original r e lationship with t he se l ected dependent

variabl es , Age was crosstabulated with each of the

selected dependent variables whi le controlling for the

effec ts of Yea r s Exper i ence. Years Experi ence was then

42

crosstabulated with the selected dependent variables while

controlling for the effects of Ag e. 'The same procedure was

utilized with Education and Spe cialization.

The introduction of control variable s was not

successful. The smaller number of frequencies in each cell

pr oduced results which were often contradictory and could

not be considered with any deg ree of certainty .

43

CHAPTER I V

CONCLUSION

This study has been concerned with f ac tors which

mi g ht affect a police officer's discretion in making juve­

nile dispositi on dec isions. The study provides findings

which add valuable insigh t into the manner in which police

discretion is used in making juvenile disposition decisions.

Richard Sundeen hypothesized that the level of pro­

fessionalization of a police a g ency is associated with

legalism, or an inclination to be detached and refer juve­

niles uniformly to juvenile court. Sundeen included juve­

nile training prog rams and the level of formal education

as indicators of professionalization. The findings of this

study indicate that in the case of specialization in delin­

quency, those with specialization are less likely to refer

a juvenile to court than are those with no specialization

(See p. 34, Ta bl e 13). I n t he case of education, there wa s

little direction in the contingency table. It was not con­

firme~ that those wit h more ed ucation ar e more likely to

refer juveniles to juvenile court (See P. 38 , Table 18).

The study does reaffirm Sundeen's conclusion that profession­

alization and community attachment do not explain diversion

of juveniles.

. . 44

In 1973 , J a me s Q. Vl ilson sup;ge sted that officer dis­

cretion can be influenced by a police administration throug h

the establishment of j u ve nile ca se g uideline s and the assign­

ment of juv enile of f ic e r s . Wils on further suggested that

pressure fr om su peri or o f f icers may be e ven more i mportant

t han specia lization i n i n f l uencing offic e rs ' discretion .

Th is s t udy wa s unabl e t o t ~s t t he pos sible influence of

pressure f rom police a d ministrators, Qu es tionnaires r e ­

cei v e d f rom of f ic ers indica ted a universally low rating for

recognition from the chi e f, s erg eant, or fellow officer s

for variou s j uven il e enfor cement activiti es , Consequ en tly,

pressure f r om any e leme n t vIi thi n t he police d epartment ap­

peared to be low, if recog nition of performance can be

equa ted wi th pressure to perform ,

In an earlier study by Wilson , publ ished in 196 7. he

sugg e sted that fut ur e r e search mi g ht show that young er offi­

cers act more on the basis of organization role than per­

sonal judgement, That s u ggestion was elaborated upon by

William Ker Muir in 1977, a s was disc ussed in Chapter II.

Muir also stres s e d t h e val ue o f h i g her educati on in temper­

ing police e xpe rience s o tha t a trag ic perspective mi g ht pro-

perly mature , Education did appear to be a predictor of po-

lice officer di s cre ti on, as d i d specialization , as was dis­

cussed in the beg inn ing of t h is chapter, However the two

varia bles which appeared to be the best predictors of police

d i sposition d e ci s ions for juveniles were a g e and leng th of

experience as a police of f ic e r , Both a g e and police ex-

45 perience Here significantly predictive in three of the four

dependent variable cases considered for correlation analysis.

These factors were stressed by Muir as being of importance

in the development of the tragic perspective in a police

officer. Muir found the tragic perspective to be charac-

teristic of the good, or professional, policeman.

Th e findings of this study should be viewed with cau-

tion. Th~ sample size was small, with eighty-four completed

questionnaires, and was confined to police departments in

predominantly middle class , suburban communi ties. However,

if the results survive further testing, they will provide

valuable insig hts into the selection and training of police

officers.

If delinqu e ncy cau$ation and prevention are to be

seriously examinRd, the police role cannot be taken lightly.

Indeed, the police function as the "ga tekeeper" of the juve-

nile justice system is deserving of great attention. The

police officer poss esses great power over the future course

of events for a juvenile who is suspected of illegal be-

havior. As I>luir sta te s in his introductory remarks to "The

.Problem of Coerc i ve Power ":

Policemen are instances of powerful persons. In observing the behavior and development of policemen, the reader witnesses at a more abstract level the effects of coercive power over the human personality.40

The study has provided finding s which assist in understand-

ing a policeman's us e of coercive power in dealing with

juveniles in the disposition pr ocess.

40 Muir , Police: s tr e etcorner Politicians, p. 1.

46

APPENDIX A

POLICE QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Please check your highest level of education.

High School College: 1-2 yrs. , 3-4 yrs. , over 4 yrs.

2. If you attended college, what was your area of special­ization?

3. Check the degree that you obtained.

A.A. B.A./B.S. M.A. 1M. S. None Obtained

4. Do you have specialized training in youth or delinquency problems?

Yes No

5. List your specialized training, if any.

6. Describe what your parents' usual occupations were during your childhood.

Father:

Mother:

7. What is your age? yrs.

8. How long have you been a law enforcement officer? yrs.

9. What department do you work for?

· ,

47

10. Does your department have a written policy or procedure to be followed when a juvenile is apprehended?

Yes No Unknown

11. You fingerprint and photograph a juvenile according to: (Check whichever occurs most often)

Written policy Your discretion Discretion of your shift sergeant or supervisor

12. Do you live in the city, town, or village in which you work?

Yes No

13. Approximately what percentage of people whom you socialize with live in the city, town, or village in which you work?

0-20% 41-60%

21-40% 61-100%

14. Please list the organizations to which you belong in the city, town, or village in which you work. (An organization means some active and organized group, such as a club, political, or religious organization.)

Name of Organization Active Not Active

J

48

15, Check the box which best describes the recognition that patrol officers, shift sergeants/supervisors, or your chief give you for the following actions:

H = High Recognition M = Moderate Recognition L = Low Rec ognition

Patrol Sergeant/ Officers Chief Superv isor

H. M, ~ H M L i I • ,

H M L I I I I appr ehend juvenil e burglar

apprehend j uvenile of liq, law violation

iii i

spend 1 hr, on domestic prob , enforce min i-bike law s talk to kids on stree t appr ehend juvenile shoplifter

I I I I invest, runaway complaint enforce b i cyc l e laws informal counseling @ station formal talk to group

16, Based on your experience as a police officer, please check the best disposition, in your estimation, for the following offenses,

Warn Conference and with

Release Parent I I

Juvenile Court

a. 16-yr, runaway girl

b, Res ident ial burg, (12 yr,)

c, $500 damage to auto (13 yr , old)

d . Battery co peace offic er

e. 16-yr, runaway boy

f , Armed robbery (15 yr,)

g , Residential burg , . (16 yr. old)

h . Bicyc l e thef t (1 4 yr, )

i. Poss e ss ion of mar ijuana

j , C , C , VI . (switchblade )

k , Damage to mailbox (15 yr , old )

1. Curf ew violation (15 yr , old)

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