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The image of the police in society
The image of the police in society
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Juvenile Attitudes Toward the Police Force
Young people and the police have, for many years, experienced a tense and confrontational relationship (Borgquist & Johnson et al., 1995). This has led to a great wealth of literature based upon the notion of police-youth interaction. Much of this literature has tended to focus upon juvenile criminality and the reasons why young people commit such seemingly high levels of crime. Whilst the relationship between young people and the police force has been widely theorised and explained, there is very little literature on juvenile attiudes towards the police. Research that concerns societies attitudes towards the police force tends to focus upon the views and opinions of adults (Hurst and Frank, 2000). In this first section of my literature review I am going to focus upon work that allows us to gain a deeper understanding of why young people are so important when looking at crime. This section will allow us to comprehend the ways in which, literature suggests, young people view the police. This knowledge will provide a basis for my research in which I look more specifically at youth attitudes towards PCSO’s.
Adolescence is a key period in life for attitude formation. In this episode of development individuals are seen to challenge many forms of authority. We see this occurring with parents, teachers and anyone that has authoritative power over these young people. One form of authoritative power that adolescents may encounter is the police. The research of Clark and Wenninger (1964) found that the attitudes young people have towards the law are the same as the attitudes toward schools and other such institutions. This was referred to as an, ‘anti-authority syndrome’ (p. 448). This means th...
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...iew of the police. Hurst and Frank (2000) found that this is not the case. They argued that individuals who had fallen victim to crime were more likely to have negative attitudes toward the police than those who had no interaction at all. This suggests that any form of interaction with the police force is likely to have a negative effect on the attitudes of young people. It is suggested that adults, however, would have more positive views of the police after dealing with them due to crime victimisation (Leiber et al., 1998). The difference here is arguably due to the way the police treat young people (Ti and Wood et al., 2013). Many officers see the behaviour of young people to be more troublesome than that of adults and therefore there is a need to crack down more harshly on juvenile criminality than that of their adult counterparts (Brown and Novak et al., 2009).
The Bureau of Justice conducted a police-public contact survey. Eith and Durose (2011) state that 9 out of 10 residents who were sixteen years old or older advise that they believed that the officer’s that they had contact with, acted fairly and did not abuse their authority.
People have, not too long ago, realized that youth and adults are very diverse and should not be treated the same. They gave no time for children to develop the “meins reis”, therefore, they were not given the opportunity to learn. People were not aware that the brain of the youth were not fully developed and were not given the chance of change. They thought that once guilty you shall remain guilty. For that reason they were considered adults, when in reality, adult criminals will only continue to infatuate their mind with evil. The new Youth Criminal Justice Act focuses on change and reintegration with society. We have learned that the youth have not fully developed and do not have the full ability to comprehend such judgements.
Police are sometimes stereotyped to be rugged, single minded enforcers who are insensitive to families in their most vulnerable state (Cross, Finkelhor, Ormrod, 2005). This would be an ideal approach to implement; however there seem to be difficult relationships between the two systems as they both hold different values and beliefs.
Youth crime is a growing epidemic that affects most teenagers at one point in their life. There is no question in society to whether or not youths are committing crimes. It has been shown that since 1986 to 1998 violent crime committed by youth jumped approximately 120% (CITE). The most controversial debate in Canadian history would have to be about the Young Offenders Act (YOA). In 1982, Parliament passed the Young Offenders Act (YOA). Effective since 1984, the Young Offenders Act replaced the most recent version of the Juvenile Delinquents Act (JDA). The Young Offenders Act’s purpose was to shift from a social welfare approach to making youth take responsibility for their actions. It also addressed concerns that the paternalistic treatment of children under the JDA did not conform to Canadian human rights legislation (Mapleleaf). It remained a heated debate until the new legislation passed the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Some thought a complete overhaul was needed, others thought minor changes would suffice, and still others felt that the Young Offenders Act was best left alone.
Fine, Michelle, et al. "“Anything Can Happen With Police Around”: Urban Youth Evaluate Strategies Of Surveillance In Public Places." Journal Of Social Issues 59.1 (2003): 141-158. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Jan. 2016.
On Tuesday, September 23rd, I had the opportunity to do a ride along with the Takoma Park police department. My ride along was quite interesting. I rode with Officer Carl, a twenty-six-year-old officer who has been with the police department for six months. During the ride along we engaged in so many conversations concerning his work routine, and some the important things to be aware of as a police officer. Officer Carl and I were about the same age group so I felt much comfortable talking to him. Before I went for the ride along I had a different perspective about police work, I thought police work was much amusing and entertaining, but after the ride along with Officer Carl, I have realized that there is much more to police work and it often
In a modern age where the media retains a strong influence on the general population, many youths across the globe are feeling the effects of being misrepresented by media. The characteristics often forwarded by media frequently links youths with that of criminals and gangs. Similarly, depictions of teenagers being ignorant and haughty is now a widespread stereotype. These inaccurate depictions, which are sometimes taken for granted, are causing detrimental damages to the lives of youths and their futures as members of society. Despite the media’s likelihood to portray modern youths negatively, evidence suggests the opposite; that modern youths are in fact responsible,
However, some police have different views towards community programs that youth are being referred to through extrajudicial programs. Some police have raised concerns on the youth being referred to community programs, with assumptions of the event proceeding without a charge. In addition, this approach would not trigger any consequences for their misconduct (Reid et al., 2015). It is clear that some police are expecting youth persons to deal with the consequences since they have chosen to take part of negative actions.
Police corruption, misconduct, and brutality in the United States have been issues since the creation of watch system in the United States (Grant& Terry, 2012). New policy and training is now in place and the corruption, misconduct, and brutality has gone down since the beginning of policing. This is a huge issue that impacts all police organizations in the United States. The extent of police corruption, misconduct, and brutality is hard to track in the United States. A lot of these crimes go unreported, tossed aside, or the officer responsible gets little or no punishment. This is huge issue in the United States criminal justice system.
Police corruption is a difficult issue cities have to deal with and one of the oldest problems in the police force. Corruption can be defined as the mistreatment of public power for personal benefit or private and the use of excessive force either emotional or physical. In this essay I will explain in detail federal indictments of Los Angeles Country Sheriff officers use of mistreatment of jail inmates and visitors. Another topic I will explain is the transfer of Los Angeles Country Sheriff hired officers with questionable background. Finally I will end by analyzing the hiring of new Sheriff deputies under the “Friends of the Sheriff” program. There are several ways police departments could take to reduce police corruption. The three areas I think should change are the training officers further in how to diminish abuse, improving personal character of officers, and incentives program.
Racism is the belief that all members of a race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race. Racism has always been an effect in America against blacks and it still is. Police brutality has been a big effect on African Americans. Police brutality is the use of excessive and unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians. Police brutality can include officers using excessive physical force and the use of a weapon against a civilian.
In England, conforming to the Civitas’s Crime report Youth Crime in England and Wales (2010) the youngest age that someone can be prosecuted is as young as ten years old. It is also mentioned that trailing, patrolling and applying penalties on young offenders costs almost four billion pounds annually. The numbers of first time offences committed by a young person has decrease over the years; according to the Youth Justice Statistics (2014) youth crime is down by 63% since 2002. In regards to the offences themselves, nearly every offence category has decreased in reoccurrence with exception to drug offences declares Civitas’s Youth Crime in England and Wales (2010). The same report states that theft and handling remains the highest volume category taking up 21% of all youth crime. It is shortly followed by violence against a person, 19.5%, and criminal damage, 11.9%. It can be concluded from both aforementioned reports that crime in the UK is decreasing. Contrariwise to this, youth reoffending rates are soaring concludes Civitas’s Youth Crime in England and Wales (2010).
To prevent this type crime re-occurring government should look at creating a positive relationship between youths and police. As it aims to prevent from crimes occurring as it creates awareness and is seen as a form of support network that teaches leadership, discipline and respect (Cunneen 2001). These type of programs prevent youths from committing a crime or being in criminal activities as they know the
Police psychology is broadly defined as the application of psychological principles and methods to law enforcement. With the popularity of television shows like Criminal Minds and Law & Order: SVU, the job of a police psychologist has become more well known and even popular. As seen on these shows, a police psychologist can be helpful in profiling a criminal, but they also provide many other services to the members of a police department. Although the development of this field has a long history, police psychology as a separate entity is still relatively recent and growing. This intimate relationship between psychology and law enforcement can be traced back to almost a century ago.[1] It first developed out of a need for a variety of psychological services in the law enforcement field, including screening applicants and counseling during grief and stress situations. In the time that it has been around, it has proved to be a valuable resource for the law enforcement profession.
When today's youth commit crimes it is often the taxpayers that have to pay for it. In many cases, when the crimes include damage to property, theft of personal belongings or merchandise the public are required to pay for the damages through taxes and raised prices in stores. When it comes to theft, the public would be required to pay more money in the long run for a product that is often stolen due to the rate of loss on it. When it comes to property damage we, the owners, are responsible for replacing what has been damaged and paying to replace or repair the item from our own pockets, or to place claims using house or automobile insurance, causing our premiums to rise. Youth crime rates seem to have been increasing over the past couple of years. Most crimes these days are committed by youths who are often under the influence of drugs and alcohol, who have an impaired sense of perception. Police Chief Julian Fantino of the Toronto Police Service says, "Youth crime rates have been rising in recent years even though other violent crime rates have been decreasing," (www.cbc.ca). With youth crime on the rise we the public are forced to pay increasingly for their mistakes.