Characteristics That Impact Use of Force in Suspect and Officer Interactions

Title

Characteristics That Impact Use of Force in Suspect and Officer Interactions

Authors

Presenter(s)

Hope Walsh, Nathan Haitz

Comments

Presentation: 2:20-2:40 p.m., Humanities 109

Files

Description

With the rise of Black Lives Matter and the urge for police reform, policing in society has become possibly the most controversial issue in modern American politics. While efforts have been made to reform, the varying sociological issues regarding this issue and its outcomes have not yet been fully understood. Given these circumstances, measuring and analyzing police-citizen interactions and outcomes are vital tools in discovering possible solutions to this issue. The study presented uses information on police-citizen interactions in Phoenix, Arizona and includes key factors that may result in a more or less aggressive response from police officers. The information used in this study from this dataset specifically analyzes the prominence of location in police-citizen interactions with other contributing factors. Prior research has concluded that the people most affected by police use of force are typically minorities, specifically black individuals. However, using the Phoenix Use of Force dataset, police response in this instance was measured against an ordinal outcome through a correlational study. Although the main factor being measured emphasized location, other factors such as age, race, sex, influence, criminal activity, hazards, weapons, and injuries were included as secondary factors. Certain variables within the dataset were re-coded to present themselves as dichotomous or to simplify their meaning into a more ordered structure. These secondary variables were integrated with the primary independent variable forming a regression model for further analysis.

Publication Date

4-19-2023

Project Designation

Capstone Project

Primary Advisor

Mark Morgan

Primary Advisor's Department

Criminal Justice and Security Studies

Keywords

Stander Symposium, College of Arts and Sciences

Institutional Learning Goals

Practical Wisdom; Diversity; Community

Characteristics That Impact Use of Force in Suspect and Officer Interactions

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