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Victim and Offense Characteristics: Impact on Police Investigative Decision‐Making
Author(s) -
BYNUM TIM S.,
CORDNER GARY W.,
GREENE JACK R.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
criminology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.467
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1745-9125
pISSN - 0011-1384
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-9125.1982.tb00463.x
Subject(s) - complaint , officer , affect (linguistics) , plaintiff , visibility , psychology , court decision , criminology , social psychology , political science , law , physics , communication , optics
Research on police decision‐making has traditionally focused on the street‐level police officer's decision to arrest. This decision has often been characterized as one having low visibility and is thus highly discretionary. Although the on‐scene arrest is dramatic and fits the popular conception of policing, a great deal of police work involves follow‐up investigations of citizen complaints. While decisions about the level of investigative effort to be applied to a particular complaint are also of low visibility and are highly discretionary, they have been the object of little research. Though it might be expected that these investigative decisions would be determined almost exclusively by the level of evidence available, previous research suggests that the personal characteristics of the victim or complainant also affect these decisions. Findings from this study indicate that victim characteristics differentially affect the investigative decision in various types of criminal complaints. Discussion focuses on the need in future research to consider extra‐legal characteristics of victims and suggests an approach for such analyses.