Amanda Graham

What impacted their likelihood of ever considering the career?
- nature of the job
- #physical/force elements of the job
- perceptions of #procedural justice
- personal characteristics

For agencies, this highlights the importance of transparency about the realities of policing in #recruitment

#TLDR:
Attractive elements:
- opportunity to #help others
- #benefits
- job #security
- pay/salary
- early retirement

Unattractive elements:
- having to use physical #force
- difficult #work-life balance
- physical requirements of the job
- public scrutiny
- carrying a #firearm

Motivations and likelihood of the public to consider a career in policing Purpose. US law enforcement is currently facing a workforce shortage. As agencies seek to recruit officers, research on the contemporary elements that may draw or deter members of the public to police...

🚨Fresh Pub🚨
What motivates people to become #police officers? And what increases/decreases the likelihood of ever considering the career? tinyurl.com/43avsbmv

We use a national sample of Americans to help identify the un/attractive elements of #policing during this #recruitment crisis

Perceptions of procedural justice temper both fear of police and avoidance of police, suggesting a possible avenue to remedy this problem.

Our study challenges the legal assumptions about avoidance of police; rather, avoidance may be an automatic defensive reaction resulting from a fear of police.

And, this fear of police holds serious implications for the underreporting of crime and, more broadly, social control in communities.

However, these racial differences in avoidance (voluntary AND involuntary) are a function of prior mistreatment and fearing police.

In short, Black Americans engage in more avoidance of voluntary and involuntary contact with the police because they tend to be more afraid of the police.

Along with Justin Pickett and Frank Cullen, we find that Black Americans report avoiding voluntary AND involuntary contact with the police more than White Americans

🚨Fresh Preprint!🚨 osf.io/preprints/so...

What can be made of people avoiding contact with the #police?

Is it #fear of the police? Is it past #mistreatment? Are there #racial differences?

Our study explores why people avoid #voluntary and #involuntary police contacts with a national sample.

Redemption was a dynamic factor associated with signaling reformation by completing #rehabilitation, receiving a positive recommendation from the warden, and receiving support from the victim/their family.

Universal Second Look for sentencing may be a viable strategy to reduce mass incarceration

Public support for second look sentencing: Is there a Shawshank redemption effect? Research Summary Washington, DC has implemented second look sentencing. After serving a minimum of 15 years in prison, those convicted of a serious offense committed while under the age of 25 years ...

Building on prior work about the Second Look Act (doi.org/10.1111/1745...), we examine whether there is support for a universal second look.

We find the majority of Americans support a universal policy, with only 1 in 5 opposing it.

@sentencingproject.bsky.social

Public support for universal second look sentencing, a research note Based on a 2023 national YouGov survey (N = 800), we explored public support for universal second look sentencing—the view that all incarcerated individuals, not just those who committed their crimes....

Are you the same person you were 15 or even 20 years ago?

Probably no.

But, does the public support giving all people who have served 15-20 years incarcerated a Second Look at their sentence, regardless of what age they were when they committed their crime?

doi.org/10.1111/1745...

The Hidden Measurement Crisis in Criminology Cambridge Core - Research Methods In Sociology and Criminology - The Hidden Measurement Crisis in Criminology

Also, this is available for FREE download for the next two weeks here: www.cambridge.org/core/element...

More broadly, this endeavor provides a template for engaging in Criminometrics--psychometrics in the context of criminology and criminal justice

As a field, we can do better, and we should do better.

"As such, we now open the gates for criminologists to engage in criminometrics"

Compared to other scales used to measure procedural justice, the Graham et al. scale performs better.

But, to be clear, we are not arguing that this is "the" scale to be used. There may be better scales. And, they should be constructed. Still, this scale can serve as a benchmark to measure against

Graham et al. (2025) scale for procedural justice in policing. "The police in my community ..." Are usually courteous Are usually hones Would treat you with respect if you had contact with them for any reason Respect your basic rights Usually treat people with respect Take people's needs into consideration Give people opportunities to explain their situation Try to be fair Make decisions about what to do in fair ways Can be trusted

We present the Graham et al. (2025) scale for procedural justice (to be used in the context of policing as a global measure of perceived procedural justice)

How varied is the measure of procedural justice? Let me count the ways:

In 176 manuscripts, 769 unique items were used to measure procedural justice

Using a series of surveys, theory, classical test theory, and item response theory methods, we narrow this to a 10-item measure

Our #Element describes the heterogeneity of measurement accepted in our field, which obscures and limits our accumulation of evidence about crime and #criminology

But a critique without action is a complaint

We provide a case study in how we might address this crisis using #ProceduralJustice

The Hidden Measurement Crisis in Criminology Cambridge Core - Research Methods In Sociology and Criminology - The Hidden Measurement Crisis in Criminology

Criminology faces a hidden crisis: measurement.

Science is built on rigorous measurement. Yet, our field accepts various unsystematically derived measures of constructs, so long as they have high alphas and strong factor loadings

We call for a new subfield: #Criminometrics
doi.org/10.1017/9781...

Abstract of article titled "The partisanship of mayors has no detectable effect on police spending, police employment, crime, or arrests"

Are Democratic leaders making cities more dangerous than Republicans? Trump + others have repeatedly made claims like this. New paper in Science Advances w/ @chriswarshaw.bsky.social, Dan Jones & Matt Harvey shows that, in short, the answer is no.

Tabby cat dressed up for Christmas with a bow

Police K-9 line-of-duty deaths and heatstroke 2000–2023 As with their human counterparts, police K-9s face dangers, including death, while in service. However, police K-9 research is significantly lacking, limiting possible preventive interventions. As ...

And a huge thank you to Police Practice and Research and Editor-in-chief @drlaurahuey.bsky.social for making this #openaccess!

doi.org/10.1080/1561...

#Academicsky #policing #police #K9 #criminology #crimsky

#Criminology and #policing scholars, we need more research in this area to reduce #K9 #deaths

Do handler characteristics or training play a role?

Do department policies prevent these deaths?

Is it something about an agency?

Much more original data collection needed

Logistic regression analysis (N = 292) of heat stroke deaths (relative to other causes), depicting increased odds of police K9 deaths in summer months. Age, gender, breed, southern climate region are not significant.

Regression analysis finds increased odds of heatstroke deaths (relative to other causes) in #summer months.

Age, Breed, Climate region were not significant.

#K9Officers, have you reviewed your #K9 #policies and #procedures to prevent these kinds of deaths in summer 2025?

Now is the time!

Bar chart presenting the leading circumstances of K9 heatstroke deaths, with being left unattended and mechanical failures as the top two leadings causes, comprising more than 70% of cases

Of these #K9 #heatstroke deaths, 70.6% of circumstances were either being left unattended (often in a vehicle) or mechanical failures within a vehicle (e.g., sensors, a/c units, alarms).

These findings suggest that at least some may deaths may be preventable

What factors are associated?

Bar chart depicting the frequency of cases of death of K9s (2000-2023), with top three causes being gunfire, heatstroke, and being struck by a vehicle

Leading causes of these #K9 deaths were #gunfire #heatstroke and being #struck by a vehicle.

Moore et al (2001) argue that heatstroke (in military dogs) is a "potentially preventable" death.

In #police #K9s, are these preventable?

Line chart depicting the Frequency of K9 Deaths (2000-2023), with rapid increases post-2010, peaking in 2017. Superimposed bar chart shows similar trend for heatstroke deaths

In our Rapid Communication, we use line-of-duty deaths reported to #ODMP to explore #K9 officer deaths between 2000-2023, focusing on the possibly preventable cause of #heatstroke

Overall deaths peaked in 2017, with heatstroke following a similar pattern

Police K-9 line-of-duty deaths and heatstroke 2000–2023 As with their human counterparts, police K-9s face dangers, including death, while in service. However, police K-9 research is significantly lacking, limiting possible preventive interventions. As ...

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What are the leading cause of #line-of-duty #deaths of police #K9s (2000-2023)?
- gunfire
- heatstroke
- vehicle strike

Can we prevent any #heatstroke deaths?

Our analysis says yes!

70.6% were from being left unattended and mechanical failures in cruisers
doi.org/10.1080/1561...

#criminology #crimsky

Coefficient plot depicting findings

These warrior/guardian perceptions also influence perceptions of outcome fairness.

Therefore, even if officers shift their mentality, they will likely face an uphill battle to be viewed as guardians, especially when formal outcomes are sometimes necessary.

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Warrior or guardian? Public perceptions of law enforcement during traffic encounters and domestic disputes Abstract. While police reform efforts have pushed for the adoption of a guardian mindset over that of a warrior, the public’s perception of these orientati

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What makes the public think #police officers are #warriors or #guardians?

Using two experimental vignettes, these views largely stem from encounter outcomes. More formal outcomes lead to increased odds of officers being viewed as warriors.

doi.org/10.1093/poli...
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