Identify and discuss the three major sources of those standards. Is one source more important than the others?

Module 5

CRJ 307: Police, Society, and Community Service

 

Essays:

 

1. Police deviance is said to be behavior that does not conform to the standards of norms or expectations. Identify and discuss the three major sources of those standards. Is one source more important than the others?
2. Worden identified five ways in which police officers are different from one another. List and discuss those five ways.
3. Contrast socialization theory and pre-dispositional theory.

 

Module 5

 

Chapter 8 Summary

 

Chapter 8 looks at police behavior. Police behavior may be described from a universalistic perspective or a particularistic perspective. The universalistic perspective examines the ways in which police are similar. The particularistic perspective examines the way in which police differ from each other.

 

The universalistic perspective approaches police behavior from three perspectives. The sociological perspective emphasizes the social context in which the police are hired and trained. The psychological perspective examines the nature of the police personality. The organizational perspective is concerned with the formal and informal factors of the department.

 

Particularistic perspectives examine the different policing styles discovered through research. Worden (1989) suggests that there are five ways in which police differ from one another. Police are different in their view of human nature, role orientation, and attitudes toward legal and departmental restrictions. Worden also found that the beliefs and behavior of the police are influenced by their clientele. The final difference involves the relationship between management and peer group support.

 

Socialization theory maintains that it is the work experience and the peers that determine police behavior. The formal socialization takes place during training the new officer. The informal socialization takes places as the new officer interacts with experienced fellow officers.

 

Pre-dispositional theory states that the values and characteristics the officer had before employment are brought with him or her to the job. Research indicates that police have different values from the rest of society. Racial and ethnic differences, education, and police socialization does little to changes pre-dispositional values.

 

There have been numerous studies conducted looking at police behavior. This chapter recognizes that these studies are just as important today as they were decades ago. Westley’s Violence and the Police (1970) discussed in-group solidarity among the police and the code of silence found to exist in policing. Skolnick’s Justice Without Trial (1966) examined the danger in police work. Skolnick termed the person the police officer thinks is potentially dangerous the symbolic assailant.