NCJ Number
228992
Journal
Journal of Experimental Criminology Volume: 5 Issue: 4 Dated: December 2009 Pages: 399-428
Date Published
December 2009
Length
30 pages
Annotation
This study explored the circumstances under which police decide between arrest and issuing a penalty notice for disorder (PND) when dealing with offenders exhibiting lower level disorderly behavior.
Abstract
The analysis showed that, while police decisionmaking was influenced significantly by a variety of expected factors, not all of the initial hypotheses were supported. At the same time, additional analyzes uncovered significant interactions, most notably between offender intoxication and abusive behavior. Examination of how various factors, such as intoxication, come together to influence an officer's choice to issue a penalty notice for disorder (PND) or make an arrest will assess both the utility of this new, innovative response to disorder and provide important insight into how officers render decisions. Several hypotheses were tested using a mixed methods approach to assess what affected officers' on-the-street choice either to arrest or to issue a penalty notice for disorder (PND) in response to disorderly behavior. Tables, appendixes, and references