Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Jul 18, 2022
In recent years, research on policing, police legitimacy, and police decision-making has increase... more In recent years, research on policing, police legitimacy, and police decision-making has increased dramatically in part due to several high-profile police use of force and deadly shooting incidents in the United States. This line of studies largely focuses on individual-level factors such as police procedural justice during interactions with citizens from the perspective of the public. However, a growing body of studies suggests that police authority and legitimacy is not only formed by citizens’ evaluations and perceptions derived from police behaviors during the interactions. It is also shaped by factors from both individual-level and structural-level external sources of police organizations, such as citizens’ animus toward the police and crime rates of the jurisdiction. More importantly, research suggests that police culture and organizational-level factors, such as organizational justice and feeling recognition from others in an organization, play large roles in shaping officers’ self-legitimacy. The sense of low self-legitimacy derived from the above sources can lead officers to make racially biased decisions to reinforce their legitimate status with the public. Officers’ decision-making as well as their perceptions of self-legitimacy, by interacting each other, can play crucial roles in police negative behaviors toward citizens, such as use of deadly force, especially toward racial minorities. Some organizations have implemented changes such as implicit bias and procedural justice trainings, or body-worn camera requirements, but changes must be made at the overall organizational level to reduce racially biased police decision-making.
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Civilian oversight of police is a tool commonly used in cities across the United States to hold p... more Civilian oversight of police is a tool commonly used in cities across the United States to hold police accountable for misconduct. Law enforcement agencies have a history of violence, brutality, and misconduct, specifically toward marginalized populations. Thus, oversight of police by civilians can be traced to the early 20th century, but models for implementing oversight have evolved over time. Literature on civilian oversight identifies three contemporary oversight models: investigative agencies, review boards, and auditor/monitor agencies. These models play different roles in providing oversight of police, including independently investigating civilian complaints, reviewing internal investigations of complaints, developing recommendations for police executives, and overseeing department practices and patterns. However, oversight agencies and boards often lack any legal power to enforce their recommendations, making them virtually ineffective. The lack of power held by oversight a...
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice
The evidence-based approach uses scientific evidence to influence decision-making. Evidence-based... more The evidence-based approach uses scientific evidence to influence decision-making. Evidence-based practices (EBPs) are practices, programs, or interventions found to be effective through scientific evaluation. Community supervision as a field is shifting toward an increased use of EBPs when working with clients. Implementing EBPs is no simple task, and supervision departments must navigate a host of potential barriers in order to be successful. Taking a macro-level approach, supervision organizations are open systems capable of self-maintenance through reaction to their environment. Considering the connection between society and criminal justice approaches, understanding the changes in supervision is best done through a sociohistorical approach. Throughout the history of the United States, there have been philosophic shifts between rehabilitative and punishment approaches to crime control. Community supervision was developed as a rehabilitative institution popular in part due to its...
In the United States, nearly 13 million adults are incarcerated in prisons and jails annually wit... more In the United States, nearly 13 million adults are incarcerated in prisons and jails annually with significant negative public health consequences. Incarcerated individuals have disproportionate rates of behavioral health disorders (BHDs); untreated BHD symptoms bring people into incarceration settings and are associated with re‐arrest after release. Although lack of treatment motivation is often used to explain these outcomes, individuals may have limited knowledge about BHDs and their symptoms, when and why treatment is warranted, and how to access treatment during custody and in the community. We propose a new construct called behavioral health literacy to facilitate linkage between individuals with BHDs and appropriate treatment options. In this paper, we define behavioral health literacy, review extant literature, describe why behavioral health literacy is needed, and explore how behavioral health literacy interventions may be developed to expand knowledge and guide policy and ...
In juvenile probation, noncompliance with probation conditions is a common occurrence. To deal wi... more In juvenile probation, noncompliance with probation conditions is a common occurrence. To deal with this, juvenile probation officers (JPOs) may use different strategies, such as sanctions and incentives. This study uses survey and focus group data from 19 JPOs to evaluate their perceptions of the effectiveness of sanctions and incentives in reducing youth noncompliance, specifically in the form of substance use. Results show that there are two distinct groups of JPOs: those who believe sanctions are an effective deterrent strategy and those who do not. Perceptually and demographically these two groups contain significant differences. Notably, both groups have similar views of social incentives, but JPOs who believe sanctions are ineffective are significantly more likely to have positive views of tangible incentives. This study has implications for how the field of juvenile probation can target JPO perceptions to move toward incentive-based strategies rather than sanction-based stra...
Morale is an important feature of organizational work life; however, few studies in criminal just... more Morale is an important feature of organizational work life; however, few studies in criminal justice settings consider measuring morale in organizational surveys, nor how morale might link to other employee characteristics, like personal attitudes. The current study surveys 180 workers in a youth and family court setting to examine the relationship between morale and organizational- and individual-level factors. Survey results reveal positive feelings of morale overall; however, interaction effects suggest that type of staff and attitudes toward punishment impact morale, providing evidence that morale is a context dependent construct. By reconsidering dimensions of morale and situating it within a joint custodial and community supervision agency context, we contribute to the growing literature on organizational behavior in the youth justice setting.
Probation is a common sanction for youth substance users, and as such, juvenile probation officer... more Probation is a common sanction for youth substance users, and as such, juvenile probation officers (JPOs) shoulder much of the burden for treatment and rehabilitation. To improve youth outcomes and alleviate some of the burden, JPOs may seek parental involvement in the probation and substance use desistance processes. Using focus group data, we analyzed JPO perceptions of the role parents play in contingency management (CM)—an incentive system designed to produce and reward decreased substance use—and whether they perceived any value in CM. We found that most JPOs perceived parental involvement as critical to the success of both substance use treatment and CM for youth. Our findings also suggest JPOs found parental involvement in CM valuable given that CM was employed on nonstudy clients and future clients. This has implications for the practicality and sustainability of CM as a youth probation intervention.
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Jul 18, 2022
In recent years, research on policing, police legitimacy, and police decision-making has increase... more In recent years, research on policing, police legitimacy, and police decision-making has increased dramatically in part due to several high-profile police use of force and deadly shooting incidents in the United States. This line of studies largely focuses on individual-level factors such as police procedural justice during interactions with citizens from the perspective of the public. However, a growing body of studies suggests that police authority and legitimacy is not only formed by citizens’ evaluations and perceptions derived from police behaviors during the interactions. It is also shaped by factors from both individual-level and structural-level external sources of police organizations, such as citizens’ animus toward the police and crime rates of the jurisdiction. More importantly, research suggests that police culture and organizational-level factors, such as organizational justice and feeling recognition from others in an organization, play large roles in shaping officers’ self-legitimacy. The sense of low self-legitimacy derived from the above sources can lead officers to make racially biased decisions to reinforce their legitimate status with the public. Officers’ decision-making as well as their perceptions of self-legitimacy, by interacting each other, can play crucial roles in police negative behaviors toward citizens, such as use of deadly force, especially toward racial minorities. Some organizations have implemented changes such as implicit bias and procedural justice trainings, or body-worn camera requirements, but changes must be made at the overall organizational level to reduce racially biased police decision-making.
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Civilian oversight of police is a tool commonly used in cities across the United States to hold p... more Civilian oversight of police is a tool commonly used in cities across the United States to hold police accountable for misconduct. Law enforcement agencies have a history of violence, brutality, and misconduct, specifically toward marginalized populations. Thus, oversight of police by civilians can be traced to the early 20th century, but models for implementing oversight have evolved over time. Literature on civilian oversight identifies three contemporary oversight models: investigative agencies, review boards, and auditor/monitor agencies. These models play different roles in providing oversight of police, including independently investigating civilian complaints, reviewing internal investigations of complaints, developing recommendations for police executives, and overseeing department practices and patterns. However, oversight agencies and boards often lack any legal power to enforce their recommendations, making them virtually ineffective. The lack of power held by oversight a...
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice
The evidence-based approach uses scientific evidence to influence decision-making. Evidence-based... more The evidence-based approach uses scientific evidence to influence decision-making. Evidence-based practices (EBPs) are practices, programs, or interventions found to be effective through scientific evaluation. Community supervision as a field is shifting toward an increased use of EBPs when working with clients. Implementing EBPs is no simple task, and supervision departments must navigate a host of potential barriers in order to be successful. Taking a macro-level approach, supervision organizations are open systems capable of self-maintenance through reaction to their environment. Considering the connection between society and criminal justice approaches, understanding the changes in supervision is best done through a sociohistorical approach. Throughout the history of the United States, there have been philosophic shifts between rehabilitative and punishment approaches to crime control. Community supervision was developed as a rehabilitative institution popular in part due to its...
In the United States, nearly 13 million adults are incarcerated in prisons and jails annually wit... more In the United States, nearly 13 million adults are incarcerated in prisons and jails annually with significant negative public health consequences. Incarcerated individuals have disproportionate rates of behavioral health disorders (BHDs); untreated BHD symptoms bring people into incarceration settings and are associated with re‐arrest after release. Although lack of treatment motivation is often used to explain these outcomes, individuals may have limited knowledge about BHDs and their symptoms, when and why treatment is warranted, and how to access treatment during custody and in the community. We propose a new construct called behavioral health literacy to facilitate linkage between individuals with BHDs and appropriate treatment options. In this paper, we define behavioral health literacy, review extant literature, describe why behavioral health literacy is needed, and explore how behavioral health literacy interventions may be developed to expand knowledge and guide policy and ...
In juvenile probation, noncompliance with probation conditions is a common occurrence. To deal wi... more In juvenile probation, noncompliance with probation conditions is a common occurrence. To deal with this, juvenile probation officers (JPOs) may use different strategies, such as sanctions and incentives. This study uses survey and focus group data from 19 JPOs to evaluate their perceptions of the effectiveness of sanctions and incentives in reducing youth noncompliance, specifically in the form of substance use. Results show that there are two distinct groups of JPOs: those who believe sanctions are an effective deterrent strategy and those who do not. Perceptually and demographically these two groups contain significant differences. Notably, both groups have similar views of social incentives, but JPOs who believe sanctions are ineffective are significantly more likely to have positive views of tangible incentives. This study has implications for how the field of juvenile probation can target JPO perceptions to move toward incentive-based strategies rather than sanction-based stra...
Morale is an important feature of organizational work life; however, few studies in criminal just... more Morale is an important feature of organizational work life; however, few studies in criminal justice settings consider measuring morale in organizational surveys, nor how morale might link to other employee characteristics, like personal attitudes. The current study surveys 180 workers in a youth and family court setting to examine the relationship between morale and organizational- and individual-level factors. Survey results reveal positive feelings of morale overall; however, interaction effects suggest that type of staff and attitudes toward punishment impact morale, providing evidence that morale is a context dependent construct. By reconsidering dimensions of morale and situating it within a joint custodial and community supervision agency context, we contribute to the growing literature on organizational behavior in the youth justice setting.
Probation is a common sanction for youth substance users, and as such, juvenile probation officer... more Probation is a common sanction for youth substance users, and as such, juvenile probation officers (JPOs) shoulder much of the burden for treatment and rehabilitation. To improve youth outcomes and alleviate some of the burden, JPOs may seek parental involvement in the probation and substance use desistance processes. Using focus group data, we analyzed JPO perceptions of the role parents play in contingency management (CM)—an incentive system designed to produce and reward decreased substance use—and whether they perceived any value in CM. We found that most JPOs perceived parental involvement as critical to the success of both substance use treatment and CM for youth. Our findings also suggest JPOs found parental involvement in CM valuable given that CM was employed on nonstudy clients and future clients. This has implications for the practicality and sustainability of CM as a youth probation intervention.
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Papers by Danielle Rudes