Suchergebnisse

While the emphasis in this article is on physical force by police officers, the perspective adopted is one of a transaction affected by police characteristics, citizen charac teristics, and their interactions in a given setting. The violent police-citizen encounter, moreover, is considered a develop mental process in which successive decisions and behaviors by either police officer or citizen, or both, make the violent outcome more or less likely. The emphasis upon mutual con tributions in the encounter carries policy implications that have not always been carefully considered in the past.

While the emphasis is on physical force by police officers, the perspective adopted is one of a transaction affected by police characteristics, citizen characteristics, & their interactions in a given setting. The violent police-citizen encounter, moreover, is considered a developmental process in which successive decisions & behaviors by either police officer or citizen, or both, make the violent outcome more or less likely. The emphasis on mutual contributions in the encounter carries policy implications that have not always been carefully considered in the past. HA.

Analyzed are police responses to hypothetical dilemmas about the use of deadly force. One approach to legal decision making involved in this dilemma comes from Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral judgment ("Cognitive-Development Approach to Moral Education," Readings in Moral Education, Scharf, Peter [Ed], Minneapolis: Winston Press, 1977). Kohlberg's theory posits six stages of moral development, a pattern holding true for all societies. This development approach has implications for legal decision making; it suggests that some officers may not have reached a reasoning level necessary for moral actions in a complex dilemma. Calif police officers (N = 24) were asked to participate in a simulated "shooting dilemma"; association between moral state & decision was apparent. Responses after a subsequent training session showed greater application of moral sense to police dilemmas even though changes according to Kohlberg's stages were not significant. 2 Tables. Modified Author Summary.