NCJ Number
85562
Editor(s)
C D Shearing
Date Published
1981
Length
213 pages
Annotation
Canadian researchers explore police abuses that are motivated by the goal of furthering law enforcement objectives. This approach to studying police deviance extends beyond the traditional focus on corruption to encompass the influence of extra-legal factors on decisionmaking.
Abstract
The concept of structural deviance postulates that deviance occurs to achieve legitimate organizational goals. Canadian public debate has centered on this issue for the past decade. In these studies, researchers investigating Royal Canadian Mounted Police operations analyze the influence of extra-legal and quasi-legal factors on pretrial detention decisions, noting that factors considered legitimate at the bail decision stage (i.e., unemployment) may have illegitimate consequences at conviction and sentencing. The police subculture, an important determinant of organizational police deviance, also links police activity to structures of dominance within the larger society. Thus, contradictions often arise between police norms and official rules. An analysis of how police officers target certain groups as problem populations suggests that senior administrators often tacitly support deviance by rank-and-file officers. This implies a relationship between formal normative structures and deviance. An examination of 'political policing' reveals how institutional and legal mechanisms are used to redefine and deny the existence of police deviance. Difficulties involved in controlling organizational deviance, declaring police wrongdoing illegal, and rectifying it through the criminal justice process are explained. A final article outlines the evolution of Canada's political-legal framework for governing police, with attention to police boards and commissions. Tables, charts, footnotes, and chapter references are included. For individual articles, see NCJ-85563-69.