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The Organizational Context of Legal Control
Author(s) -
SMITH DOUGLAS A.
Publication year - 1984
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.1745-9125.1984.tb00286.x
Subject(s) - discretion , bureaucracy , context (archaeology) , control (management) , economic justice , variation (astronomy) , political science , public relations , psychology , social psychology , business , law , management , economics , politics , paleontology , physics , astrophysics , biology
This article examines interorganizational variation in determinants of police arrest decisions. Drawing on Wilson, we identify four types of police agencies by cross‐classifying levels of bureaucratization with professionalism. Evidence from the analysis indicates that factors influencing arrest decisions are conditional on the organizational contexts in which such decisions occur. In different types of police agencies, officers respond to similar situations differently. Hence, “global” decision‐making models are we incomplete than incorrect. We argue that consideration of the contexts within which discretion is exercised is necessary for advancing our understanding of decision‐making in justice system agencies.