Robert T. Sigler’s research while affiliated with University of Alabama and other places

We examined police officer attitudes toward community policing over a 19‐month period. Patrol officers’ and investigators’ attitudes toward community policing are less favorable toward community policing concepts, programming, decentralization of substations, and the community policing unit than senior command and, in some cases, sergeants. Both patrol and investigators indicate strained relationships with supervisors and are more supportive of a decentralized organizational structure than are sergeants and senior command. We ask if discretionary power and increased participatory management among all officers can be favorably viewed by management and if dissention can be tolerated and incorporated into a dialog for change.

Data were collected from three studies over an eight–year period, which produced a sample of 868 female college students at a southern university. The three data sets were combined to permit an assessment of the extent to which reported victimization occurred among students before coming to the university rather than during their college experience, and to examine the nature of force in intimate relationships among maturing adolescents. About half of the subjects reported that their last victimization occurred while in high school, thus they were younger and less mature at the time of their victimizations. The researchers note that these two factors raise concern as adolescent girls may not be prepared to adequately define or protect themselves from inappropriate use of force in dating relationships, as the literature reports that both the development of sexuality and a redefinition of the use of force in childhood play are occurring at this point in their development, increasing the potential for victimization.

A longitudinal cross sectional ten-year study was conducted measuring public attitudes toward the definition and criminalization of elder abuse. The study found that the public endorsed a fairly broad definition of elder abuse and that this definition of elder abuse was fairly stable over time. Subjects also strongly endorsed the creation of misdemeanor and felony statutes and strongly endorsed the use of prison to punish elder abusers. The subjects also believed that the criminalization of elder abuse would be effective in reducing elder abuse.

This article examines the reasons that women and men give in explaining why women willingly agree to sexual intimacy when they would rather not be intimate at that time. Data collected from a sample of students on a southern campus included a set of scales which measured the beliefs about why women consent to unwanted sexual intercourse held by men and women. The findings indicated that most sexual intercourse was consensual and mutually desired. Perceived reasons for consent to unwanted sex by women varied for men and women, as did the ranking of relative importance of the reasons. Some support was found for the contention that compliance might be a function of gender socialization.

Members of minority groups, particularly minority groups that are race based, report less confidence in law enforcement across a number of dimensions. These people believe that the police act in a discriminatory manner. The current emphasis on community policing, among other things, should improve community attitudes toward the police. The data reported here suggest that the reverse is true for one southern city. In that city, minority subjects are less willing to report acts of violence that they believe to be wrong to the police.

This study was designed to evaluate the use of police officers to supervise juvenile offenders sentenced to a curfew check program. Data were collected using records research, questionnaires, and interviews. The data provided some support for the contention that a program using police officers to supervise juvenile offenders does reduce criminal behavior, and that parents and officers have positive views of the program.

This study was designed to evaluate the use of police officers to supervise juvenile offenders sentenced to a curfew check program. Data were collected using records research, questionnaires, and interviews. The data provided some support for the contention that a program using police officers to supervise juvenile offenders does reduce criminal behavior, and that parents and officers have positive views of the program.

Members of minority groups, particularly minority groups that are race based, report less confidence in law enforcement across a number of dimensions. These people believe that the police act in a discriminatory manner. The current emphasis on community policing, among other things, should improve community attitudes toward the police. The data reported here suggest that the reverse is true for one southern city. In that city, minority subjects are less willing to report acts of violence that they believe to be wrong to the police.

Forfeiture of assets has become an important tool in drug interdiction. Forfeiture provides substantial funds to law enforcement agencies and can produce goal displacement. A survey was conducted of all members of three task forces dedicated to drug interdiction in the Miami, Florida area regarding the goals and the value of asset forfeiture. While all subjects endorsed the goals relating to the punishment of drug dealers as most important, federal officers not assigned to joint task forces valued economic benefits to the agency less than federal agents assigned to joint task forces who, in turn, valued economic benefits less than non-federal task force agents.

This paper presents the results of two research projects designed to evaluate the extent and nature of the use of the World Wide Web by criminal justice agencies. Discussion focuses on the extent and nature of Web use by type of agency, who links to whom, and the use of the Web to disseminate information from a news-making criminology perspective.