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Situational and Attitudinal Explanations of Police Behavior: A Theoretical Reappraisal and Empirical Assessment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Robert E. Worden
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Abstract

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This paper reappraises the value of situational and attitudinal variables as parts of a theory of police behavior. That situational factors affect officers' decisions to make arrests is well supported by empirical evidence; that officers' behavior is shaped by their attitudes and values is a common assumption even though it is supported only by weak empirical evidence. This analysis indicates that the theoretical utility of situational variables is limited for the most part to the arrest decision: Situational factors have modest effects on officers' choices among informal actions. Furthermore, the analysis shows that attitudinal variables fail to account for more than a very small part of the variation in behavior. A theoretical perspective on police behavior as administrative decisionmaking is consistent with these findings, and might redirect future research along more fruitful lines.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , 1989 , pp. 667 - 711
Copyright
Copyright © 1989 The Law and Society Association

Footnotes

The author wishes to thank Alissa Pollitz Worden, Gordon P. Whitaker, Stephen Mastrofski, Shari S. Diamond, and the Law & Society Review's anonymous referees for their comments and suggestions, and to absolve them of responsibility for any errors that remain.

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