RT Article
T1 A meta-analysis of suspect demographic characteristics and American police officer search decisions
JF Criminology, criminal justice, law & society
VO 19
IS 2
SP 1
OP 23
A1 Bolger, P. Colin
A1 Lytle, Daniel J.
LA English
YR 2018
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1580473903
AB The last summary of the research on police search decisions was completed by the National Research Council in 2004, and the present study uses the meta-analytic method to update the previous summaries of research on police search behavior. In doing so, two objectives are attempted: 1) identify which suspect characteristics impact decisions to search citizens and 2) assess the impact of methodological characteristics on research results. Of the suspect characteristics that have been analyzed, suspect race and gender appear to have the greatest impact on search decisions. However, it also appears that the methodological characteristics of research studies have a strong influence on findings. The findings of this analysis point to a primary concern for future research on search decision-making. Analyses of search behavior must standardize operationalization of the dependent variable before research in this area can be adequately synthesized.
K1 Police
K1 Meta-analysis
K1 Decision-making
K1 Search