Police Organizational Factors, the Racial Composition of the Police, and the Probability of Arrest

• NCJ Number: 209069
• Journal: Justice Quarterly Volume: 22 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2005 Pages: 30-57
• Author(s): David Eitle; Lisa Stolzenberg; Stewart J. D'Alessio
• Date Published: March 2005
• Length: 28 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the role of the racial composition of the police and its relationship to race-specific arrest rates and the relationship between arrest probabilities for African-American and White offenders and police organizational factors.

Abstract

This study revisited the relationship between race and the probability of arrest and examined the simultaneous influences of race in terms of individual, organizational, and environmental characteristics. Using data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS), and the 2000 decennial Census, the study predicted arrest probabilities for offenders involved in 19,099 aggravated assaults and 100,859 simple assaults across 105 small cities. Five race-specific predictors were considered: (1) the race of the offender; (2) whether the assault was an inter- or intraracial crime; (3) the racial composition of the police agency of the relevant jurisdiction; (4) the degree of racial segregation in the city; and (5) the racial composition of the city where the crime took place. Finding highlights include: (1) the relative risk of arrest for both simple and aggravated assaults was greater for White versus African-American offenders; (2) police departments with relatively larger African-American police forces were more likely to arrest both African-American and White suspects for simple assault than police departments with few African-American police officers; (3) the racial composition of the police force did not moderate the association between offender race and the probability of arrest for aggravated assaults; but (4) the racial composition of the police force moderated the association between offender race and the probability of arrest for simple assaults; (5) the probability of arrest for both types of assault was lowest in cities found in the South; (6) formalization was associated with higher arrest risks for both types of assault; and (7) civilianization was associated with higher arrest risks for simple assault. Additional findings were observed regarding the relationship between police organizational factors and the average risk of arrest. References