Date of Submission
11-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Criminal Justice (Ph.D.)
Department
Criminal Justice
Advisor
Paul Bleakley, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Maria Tcherni-Buzzeo, Ph.D.
Committee Member
John DeCarlo, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Sandra Miller, Ph.D.
LC Subject Headings
Law enforcement, Police corruption, Police ethics, Police discretion, Self-control
Abstract
There are conflicting perspectives among researchers and practitioners regarding the primary issues facing American police in the present context. Some argue that police are caught up in a subversive professional culture filled with corruption, brutality, and racism (Stamper, 2016; Winston & BondGraham, 2023). Others assert that the police are being targeted by the public with unwarranted criticisms, including the treatment of different social and racial groups by law enforcement (Heley, 2020; MacDonald, 2016). Despite these opposing views, a consensus exists in the literature that, when police officers engage in corrupt acts, public trust and confidence in the integrity of the police system are eroded.
Weisburd and Greenspan (2000) determined that one in six police officers supported the code of silence, which meant that they were more likely to conceal their peers' misdeeds and often chose not to turn their peers in when misconduct was observed. Other researchers have found that law enforcement officers in the United States were arrested at a rate of 1.7 per 100,000 inhabitants countrywide (Stinson et al., 2016). Through an analysis of news articles and other media accounts of law enforcement misconduct, Stinson (2024) documented evidence of illicit drug-related activities by over 950 individuals and criminal sex-related offenses by more than 120 across all 50 states from 2005 to 2019.
Although police involvement in drug- and sex-related crimes has been somewhat explored in the literature (Jorgensen, 2018a, 2018b; Stinson et al., 2013, 2014a, 2014b), there remain important questions that need to be answered. Research on why police officers violate the law is also limited, especially from a criminological perspective (Boateng et al., 2023; Julián & Bonavia, 2020). To fill this knowledge gap, this study examines whether self-control theory provides an explanation for police corruption activities related to drugs and sex, as well as the code of silence and noble cause corruption. Achieving this objective requires determining whether the level of low self-control has an effect on perceiving drug- and sex-related acts or willingness to break the code of silence and justification to use the noble cause corruption.
The current study utilized an anonymous online self-report scenario-based survey to gather data from police officers for quantitative analysis. Data were collected from more than 250 police officers in the northeastern region of the United States. The findings revealed that low self-control predicted officers' perceptions of drug- and sex-related corruption activities, as well as beliefs in the code of silence and justification of the noble cause corruption, at both the bivariate and multivariate levels. In addition, demographic variables, such as age, race, rank, educational attainment, lack of religious commitment, and police service, were found to be statistically significant and associated with attitudes and presumed behavioral outcomes at the bivariate level, although their significance and the direction of the established relationships varied across the outcome variables. However, the predictive effects on relationships of some demographics were attenuated when additional variables were included in regression models. The discussion, limitations, implications, and future research directions were also discussed.
Recommended Citation
Alyahya, Jehad, "Who Guards the Guardians? A Quantitative Analysis to Examine Police Corruption in the United States" (2024). Doctoral Works at the University of New Haven. 63.
https://digitalcommons.newhaven.edu/dissertations/63