Consent Decrees

Alpert, Geoffrey P.; McLean, Kyle; Wolfe, Scott E.

doi:10.1177/1098611117709591

Cited by 17 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…However, there is reason to believe that increasing transparency and accountability can be a powerful tool in decreasing disparities. For example, the U.S. Department of Justice requires law enforcement agencies under consent decrees to submit to intensive monitoring from an external entity, and this oversight and accountability process leads to short-term improvements in police–community relations, reductions in officer uses of force, and racial disparities in stop and frisk (Alpert et al, 2017; MacDonald & Braga, 2019). But perhaps the best evidence comes from studies of disparities in traffic enforcement, which have received a great deal of attention and study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A test for implicit bias in discretionary criminal justice decisions.

Saunders¹,

Midgette²

2023

Law and Human Behavior

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Objective: Our goal was to develop a framework to test for implicit racial bias in discretionary decisions made by community supervision agents in conditions with increasing information ambiguity. Hypotheses: We reasoned that as in-person contact decreases, community supervision officers' specific knowledge of clients would be replaced by heuristics that lead to racially disproportionate outcomes in higher discretion events. Officers' implicit biases would lead to disproportionately higher technical violation rates among Black community corrections' clients when they have less personal contact, but we expected no analogous increase in nondiscretionary decisions. Method: Using data from Black and White clients entering probation and postrelease supervision in North Carolina from 2012 through 2016, we estimated the difference in racial disparities in discretionary versus nondiscretionary decisions across five levels of supervision. We evaluated the robustness of our main fixed-effects model using an alternative regression discontinuity design. Results: Racial disparities in discretionary decisions grew as supervision intensity decreased, and the bias was larger for women than men. There was no similar pattern of increased disparity for nondiscretionary decisions. Conclusions: Criminal justice system actors have a great deal of discretion, particularly in how they deal with less serious criminal behavior. Although decentralized decisions are foundational to the function of the criminal justice system, they provide an opportunity for implicit bias to seep in. Shortcuts and mental heuristics are more influential when the decision-maker's mental resources are already strained-for instance, if someone is tired, distracted, or overworked. Therefore, limiting discretion and increasing oversight and accountability may reduce the impact of implicit bias on criminal justice system outcomes. Public Significance StatementOne way to identify implicit bias in criminal justice system outcomes is to examine racial and ethnic disparities between high and low discretionary decisions. We found that implicit bias generates larger disparities when system actors are making decisions about clients they do not interact with on a frequent basis. Limiting discretion and increasing oversight and accountability are two promising strategies for reducing the impact of implicit bias.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A test for implicit bias in discretionary criminal justice decisions.

Saunders¹,

Midgette²

2023

Law and Human Behavior

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“…More recently federal interventions into policing have included federal consent decrees to address patterns and practices of unconstitutional policing (Alpert et al, 2017;Powell et al, 2017). While research continues on the effectiveness of consent decrees in reforming policing, early results suggest that they do create important change in the short term (Chanin, 2014;Chanin, 2015;Alpert et al, 2017;Powell et al, 2017). This is likely related to our foundational suggestion that police reform involve external oversight.…”

Section: Federal Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Federal interventions into police reform were reviewed earlier in this article, but notably include the presidential commissions on policing that have generated a lot of ideas, but largely failed to produce meaningful change. More recently federal interventions into policing have included federal consent decrees to address patterns and practices of unconstitutional policing (Alpert et al, 2017;Powell et al, 2017). While research continues on the effectiveness of consent decrees in reforming policing, early results suggest that they do create important change in the short term (Chanin, 2014;Chanin, 2015;Alpert et al, 2017;Powell et al, 2017).…”

Section: Federal Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The consent decree process requires the appointment of a consent decree monitor who ensures that the troubled police department implement the recommendations agreed upon by all parties of the consent decree. This is further reinforced by early evidence that when the consent decree ends and the monitor no longer has authority, there is a good chance that departments revert back to bad habits of unconstitutional policing (Walker, 2012;Alpert et al, 2017).…”

Section: Federal Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The more things change, the more they stay the same: the Queensland Police Service as a model for sustainable policing reform

Alpert

McLean

2021

International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justi

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Police departments are consistently challenged to serve their communities by reducing misconduct and being held accountable. In the United States, policing reform is best described as déjà vu or Groundhog Day, with high-profile groups organising every few years to list the same recommendations for improving the police. Additionally, reform suggestions are too often countered by the comment, "we have always done it this way." By stark contrast, through the Fitzgerald Inquiry and the work of scholars such as David Bayley, the Queensland Police Service stands as a model for creating sustainable change in policing. In this paper, we compare the experiences of the Queensland Police Service with attempts at reform in the United States to suggest a path forward for reforming policing in the US.

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“…§ 14141, and the focus of those agreements is to "address institutional failures that cause systemic police misconduct." Research on the impact of consent decrees is limited, but studies indicate that they can produce positive organizational change in the short term (Alpert et al, 2017;Chanin, 2015;Davis et al, 2005) and may reduce problematic police behavior (Powell et al, 2017).…”

Section: Correlates Of Police Misconductmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organizational correlates of police deviance

Huff

White

Decker

2018

PIJPSM

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Purpose Many examinations of police misconduct involve case study methodologies applied to a single agency, or a handful of agencies. Consequently, there is little evidence regarding the types of misconduct across agencies, or the impact of department-level characteristics on the nature and prevalence of officer deviance. The purpose of this paper is to address this research gap using statewide data of over 1,500 charges of police misconduct filed with the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board (AZPOST) from 2000 to 2011. Design/methodology/approach This study examines variation in the prevalence and forms of misconduct across 100+ agencies based on agency type and size. Difference scores were calculated for every agency in the state to determine whether an agency’s level of misconduct was proportionate to the number of officers employed by that agency. AZPOST data were supplemented with Law Enforcement Management and Statistics data to identify organizational correlates of misconduct in agencies generating disproportionately low and high levels of misconduct. Findings Results identify variation in officer misconduct across different types of agencies. Tribal agencies generally experience higher rates of domestic violence and drug/alcohol-related incidents. Smaller agencies have more misconduct allegations involving supervisors. Organizational characteristics including pre-hiring screening, accountability mechanisms and community relationships are associated with lower levels of agency misconduct. Originality/value The use of AZPOST data enables a statewide examination of misconduct while accounting for organizational context. This study identifies organizational features that might serve to protect agencies against disproportionate rates of officer misbehavior.

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Consent Decrees

Cited by 17 publications

References 5 publications

A test for implicit bias in discretionary criminal justice decisions.

A test for implicit bias in discretionary criminal justice decisions.

The more things change, the more they stay the same: the Queensland Police Service as a model for sustainable policing reform

Organizational correlates of police deviance

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