The present study examined whether variations in social ecological conditions in New York City police precincts and divisions have predicted patterns of police misconduct from 1975 to 1996. The study included misconduct cases involving bribery, extortion, excessive force, and other abuses of police authority, as well as certain administrative rule violations. Using a longitudinal framework, the analyses found that dimensions of structural disadvantage and population mobilitydrawn from the social disorganization literature-as well as changes in Latino population-drawn from the racial conflict perspectiveexplained changes in police misconduct over time. Further, most of the variations occurred within, as opposed to between, precincts and divisions over time, strengthening the case for a longitudinal examination.

No abstract

KEYWORDS: police legitimacy, procedural justice, urban violenceThis study examined whether indicators of compromised police legitimacy explained variations in violent crime within New York City police precincts from 1975 to 1996. Integrating models of urban cultural attenuation and procedural justice, the study hypothesized that variations in patterns of police misconduct and over/under policing (the indicators of police legitimacy) would predict variations in violent crime rates of communities characterized by concentrated structural disadvantage. Using a panel design and controlling for the relevant ecology of crime factors and spatial autocorrelation, the study found that in communities characterized by high disadvantage, incidents of police misconduct predicted variations in violent crime; in communities characterized by extreme disadvantage, both indicators of compromised police legitimacy (misconduct and over policing) predicted variations in violent crime. The study found no significant relationships between the indicators of police legitimacy and violent crime in communities of low

No abstract

Overview Biological Materials ScienceHydroxyapatite (HA)-reinforced polymer biocomposites offer a robust system to engineer synthetic bone substitutes with tailored mechanical, biological, and surgical functions. The basic design rationale has been to reinforce a tough, biocompatible polymer matrix with a bioactive HA filler. A large number of studies have investigated modifications to the biocomposite structure and composition, aimed at improving the mechanical properties, often through modified or novel processing methods. In this article, the effects of the polymer composition and molecular orientation; the HA/polymer interface; and the HA-reinforcement content, morphology, preferred orientation, and size are reviewed with respect to mechanical properties, drawing frequent comparisons between various HA-reinforced polymer composites and bone tissue.