Citation

Foley T, Terrill W. Vict. Offender 2008; 3(2-3): 192-216.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/15564880801938334

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Research has shown that the nature of interactions with police can impact victim recovery from trauma, satisfaction with police, and cooperation within the criminal justice system. However, evaluations of police effectiveness often view crime prevention as the "bottom line" for successful policing while overlooking the socioemotive factors that are actually important to victims. Drawing on the attributional and blaming literature for conceptual guidance, the present research examines 1,865 police-victim encounters from a large-scale observational study in an attempt to better understand the relationship between victim characteristics and police comforting behavior. The findings indicate that a number of factors affect the likelihood of whether comfort will be offered by police officers to victims. More specifically, female and middle- to upper-class victims were more likely to be comforted by police officers, as were those exhibiting signs of injury or depression. However, those encounters involving officers with a college degree or more years of work experience were less likely to involve comforting behavior. The implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed. This article is based on data from the Project on Policing Neighborhoods, supported by Grant No. 95-IJ-CX-0071 by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Language: en