Institute of Criminology

Normal Science and Middle-Range Theory in Criminology: Assessing the Contested Notion of Offending Specialization

This review traces the evolution of the specialization concept in criminology and assesses its value for theory, research, and policy. Although empirical research has generally shown that most offenders exhibit versatility rather than long-term specialization, we argue that speci...

Examining the offending population targeted by a local fugitive unit

Purpose This study seeks to understand what type of offender is targeted when the police make concerted efforts to bring fugitives to justice. Design/methodology/approach In this study, we consider the offending population targeted by a standalone fugitive unit in a local police...

May we tighten the screws? An experiment on public acceptance of pressure during police interrogations

Abstract Purpose Many countries have vague limits on how much pressure police may use during interrogations. This leaves room for tactics that increase the risk of false confessions, such as lying about the evidence. Public opinion seems to oppose ‘friendly questioning’, which ma...

What Should Brazilian Officers Be Trained For? A Mixed-Methods Study

This study is the initial step toward a contextual training approach for police force. It addresses the question “Which specific use of force situations should officers be trained for in Brazil?”. To date, the literature has offered little discussion of the contexts in which poli...

Applying an adaptationist framework to personality science: jealousy as a mechanistic basis of Emotionality

Over the past half century, the field of personality psychology has developed several descriptive taxonomies, but progress toward a genuinely explanatory framework for between- and within-person variation in psychology and behavior has been elusive. We argue that this is largely...

To fly and protect: contextualizing the work of police helicopter units via observational methods

Purpose Helicopter units operate within many large police agencies in North America. Little research, however, has studied the practices of police helicopter units. As part of the present research, I empirically explore the operational realities of helicopter units using observat...

Cumulative Disadvantage of Judicial Harshness: The Effect of Previous Harsh Sentences at Sentencing

Sentencing disparities are often conceptualized as a static problem in which one judge imposes a harsher sentence than another would impose in the same or a similar case. However, less is known about the impact of sentencing disparities on subsequent sentencing decisions. We argu...

Why do we trust the police? Testing performance theory, normative alignment and political ideology

Purpose This study examines trust in police in the South Korean context. We test whether effective policing, alignment of police-community norms or political ideologies impact our trust in police. Design/methodology/approach The study utilizes convenience sampling of South Korean...

Hiring and screening practices in a sample of US law enforcement agencies

Purpose Hiring and screening processes shape who enters law enforcement, yet little is known about how agencies prioritize these requirements and publicly communicate them on their websites. As a result, it remains unclear how candidate suitability is defined in practice and how...

The policy construction of illegal markets: Exploring variation, success, failure, and unintended consequences

Illegal markets, broadly defined to include markets where only specific transactions are illegal, are the consequence of policy, either a prohibition or highly restrictive regulation. They are generated by a variety of concerns, some moral, some pragmatic. They are often tied to...

The ethical reflections of DNA computing researchers and Bernard Stiegler’s philosophy of technology

DNA computing is an interdisciplinary field working at the intersection of computer science, molecular biology and material sciences to develop novel nanobiotechnologies. In this article, I draw on interview data to critically examine the ethical reflections of sixteen researcher...