Citation

Sherman LW. J. Res. Crime Delinq. 1980; 17(1): 69-100.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1980, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/002242788001700106

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper is a first attempt to organize and codify the findings of quantitative research on four aspects of police behavior: detection, arrest, service, and violence. A framework of five explanatory approaches is used to organize the findings: individual characteristics of police officers; situational, organizational, and community characteristics; and legal variables. The findings generally show weak relationships between a wide range of the hypothesized causes and police behavior, the implica tions of which for building a substantive theory of policing are briefly considered.