Situational, Officer-based, and Environmental Explanations of Citizen Resistance

• In Event: NIJ Project on Police Use of Force Polices and Outcomes: Getting Bang for the Buck

Abstract

Citizen resistance of the police is often found to be a substantial predictor of important officer behaviors such as use of force and arrest. Despite the importance of resistance as a predictor of police behaviors and outcomes of police-citizen encounters, research effectively examining variation in intensity of citizen resistance as an outcome measure is limited. Previous studies have offered situational, officer-based, and environmental explanations for why citizen resistance may manifest at a specific intensity, but empirical inquiry examining patterns of resistance using contemporary data are rare. Even rarer are inquiries that are able to evaluate these predictors concurrently. Drawing upon a dataset collected as part of a multi-agency use of force study, the current inquiry seeks to evaluate the salience of situational, officer-based, and environmental predictors of citizen resistance.

Authors

• Micahel Z. Rossler, Illinois State University

• William Terrill, Arizona State University