The purpose of this article is to evaluate how the intersection of race, class, and gender within law enforcement influences the utilization of public safety strategies grounded in the broken windows policing philosophy. Drawing from Acker’s inequality regime framework, we hypothesize that greater workplace inequalities produce institutionalized systems of social processes that increase the likelihood that organizations will implement aggressive enforcement of order maintenance offenses as a strategy for sustaining public safety. Using data collected from 1,218 U.S. police departments, the results suggest that stronger inequality regimes are associated with higher arrest rates for disorder offenses, marijuana possession, and liquor law violations. Further, the results suggest that stronger inequality regimes are related to higher arrest rates for Black community members. As many law enforcement agencies across the nation face a legitimacy crisis, prompted by concerns about how police interact with people of color, the results from this study suggest that increasing representation and reducing inequality in law enforcement should result in agencies becoming less reliant on large-scale arrest-driven order maintenance strategies by including more diverse perspectives in the decision-making process and developing alternative models for maintaining public safety.
AckerJ. (1990). Hierarchies, jobs, bodies: A theory of gendered organizations. Gender & Society, 4, 139–158.
2.
AckerJ. (2006). Inequality regimes gender, class, and race in organizations. Gender & Society, 20, 441–464.
3.
AlexanderM. (2012). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. New York, NY: The New Press.
4.
BerkelC.McBride MurryV.HurtT. R.ChenY.BrodyG. H.SimonsR. L., …GibbonsF. X. (2009). It takes a village: Protecting rural African American youth in the context of racism. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 38, 175–188.
5.
BlalockH. M. (1967). Toward a theory of minority-group relations. New York, NY: John Wiley.
6.
BragaA. A.WelshB. C.SchnellC. (2015). Can policing disorder reduce crime? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 52, 567–588.
7.
BrownR. A.FrankJ. (2006). Race and officer decision making: Examining differences in arrest outcomes between black and white officers. Justice Quarterly, 23, 96–126.
8.
BrunsonR. K. (2007). Police don’t like black people: African‐American young men’s accumulated police experiences. Criminology & Public Policy, 6, 71–101.
9.
BrunsonR. K.GauJ. M. (2015). Officer race versus macro-level context a test of competing hypotheses about black citizens’ experiences with and perceptions of black police officers. Crime & Delinquency, 61, 213–242.
10.
BrunsonR. K.MillerJ. (2006). Gender, race, and urban policing the experience of African American youths. Gender & Society, 20, 531–552.
11.
CharlesM.GruskyD. B. (2004). Occupational ghettos: The worldwide segregation of women and men (Vol. 200). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
12.
Chesney-LindM.MauerM. (Eds.). (2003). Invisible punishment: The collateral consequences of mass imprisonment. New York, NY: New Press.
13.
ChanJ. (1996). Changing police culture. British Journal of Criminology, 36, 109–113.
14.
ClearT. R.KarpD. R. (1999). The community justice ideal: Preventing crime and achieving justice. New York, NY: Westview Press.
15.
DaviesC. (1996). The sociology of professions and the profession of gender. Sociology, 30, 661–678.
16.
DuroseM. R.LanganP. A. (2007). Contacts between the police and the public, 2005. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.
17.
EchambadiR.HessJ. D. (2007). Mean-centering does not alleviate collinearity problems in moderated multiple regression models. Marketing Science, 26, 438–445.
18.
FaganJ.DaviesG. (2000). Street stops and broken windows: Terry, race and disorder in New York City. Fordham Urban Law Journal, 28, 457–504.
19.
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2004). Uniform crime reporting handbook. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.
20.
FyfeJ. (1981). Who shoots? A look at officer race and policing shooting. Journal of Police Science and Administration, 9, 367–382.
21.
GarciaV. (2003). Difference in the police department: Women, policing, and doing gender. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 19, 330–344.
22.
GarlandD. (Ed.). (2001). Mass imprisonment: Social causes and consequences. London, England: Sage.
23.
GauJ. M.PrattT. C. (2010). Revisiting broken windows theory: Examining the sources of the discriminant validity of perceived disorder and crime. Journal of Criminal Justice, 38, 758–766.
24.
GellerA.FaganJ.TylerT.LinkB. G. (2014). Aggressive policing and the mental health of young urban men. American Journal of Public Health, 104, 2321–2327.
25.
HaarrR. (1997). Patterns of interaction in a police patrol bureau: Race and gender barriers to integration. Justice Quarterly, 14, 53–85.
26.
HarcourtB. E. (2009). Illusion of order: The false promise of broken windows policing. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
27.
HarcourtB. E.LudwigJ. (2006). Broken windows: New evidence from New York City and a five-city social experiment. The University of Chicago Law Review, 73, 271–320.
28.
HassellK. D.ArchboldC. A.StichmanA. J. (2011). Comparing the workplace experiences of male and female police officers: Examining workplace problems, stress, job satisfaction and consideration of career change. International Journal of Police Science & Management, 13, 37–53.
29.
HerbertS. (2001). Policing the contemporary city: Fixing broken windows or shoring up neo-liberalism?Theoretical Criminology, 5, 445–466.
30.
HowellB. (2009). Broken lives from broken windows: The hidden costs of aggressive order-maintenance policing. New York University Review of Law & Social Change, 33, 271–329.
31.
Institute for the Study of Labor and Economic Crisis. (1982). The iron fist and the velvet glove: An analysis of the U.S. police. San Francisco, CA: Crime and Social Justice Associates.
32.
KellingG. L.SousaW. H. (2001). Do police matter? An analysis of the impact of New York City’s police reforms. New York: CCI Center for Civic Innovation at the Manhattan Institute.
33.
KochelT. R.WilsonD. B.MastrofskiS. D. (2011). Effect of suspect’s race on officers’ arrest decisions. Criminology, 49, 473–512.
34.
KvandeE.RasmussenB. (1994). Men in male-dominated organizations and their encounter with women intruders. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 10, 163–173.
LangworthyR. H. (2002). LEMAS: A comparative organizational research platform. Justice Research and Policy, 4, 21–38.
37.
LockwoodD.ProhaskaA. (2015). Police officer gender and attitudes toward intimate partner violence: How policy can eliminate stereotypes. International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences, 10, 77–90.
38.
LonswayK. A.ArchambaultJ. (2012). The “justice gap” for sexual assault cases future directions for research and reform. Violence Against Women, 18, 145–168.
39.
MaguireE. R. (1997). Structural change in large municipal police organizations during the community policing era. Justice Quarterly, 14, 547–576.
40.
MartinS. E. (1994). “Outsider within” the station house: The impact of race and gender on Black women police. Social Problems, 41, 383–400.
41.
MartinS. E.JurikN. C. (2006). Doing justice, doing gender: Women in legal and criminal justice occupations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
42.
MatusiakM. C.CampbellB. A.KingW. R. (2014). The legacy of LEMAS: Effects on police scholarship of a federally administered, multi-wave establishment survey. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 37, 630–648.
43.
MearesT. L. (2002). Praying for community policing. California Law Review, 90, 1593–1634.
44.
MearesT. (2015). Broken windows, neighborhoods, and the legitimacy of law enforcement or why I fell in and out of love with Zimbardo. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 54, 609–625.
45.
MeierK. J.Nicholson‐CrottyJ. (2006). Gender, representative bureaucracy, and law enforcement: The case of sexual assault. Public Administration Review, 66, 850–860.
46.
Minnesota Population Center. (n.d.). National historical geographic information system: Version 2.0. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota2011. Retrieved fromhttp://www.nhgis.org
47.
NovakK. J.BrownR. A.FrankJ. (2011). Women on patrol: An analysis of differences in officer arrest behavior. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 34, 566–587.
48.
OberfieldZ. W. (2014). Becoming bureaucrats socialization at the front lines of government service. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
49.
PadavicI.ReskiB. F. (2002). Women and men at work (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks CA: Pine Forge Press.
50.
PatersonC. (2011). Adding value? A review of the international literature on the role of higher education in police training and education. Police Practice and Research, 12, 286–297.
51.
PoteyevaM.SunI. Y. (2009). Gender differences in police officers’ attitudes: Assessing current empirical evidence. Journal of Criminal Justice, 37, 512–522.
52.
President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. (2015). Final Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.
53.
Rabe-HempC. E. (2008). Female officers and the ethic of care: Does officer gender impact police behaviors?Journal of Criminal Justice, 36, 426–434.
54.
Rabe-HempC.Humiston-SearsG. (2015). A Survey of maternity policies and pregnancy accommodations in the United States. Police Practice and Research. Police Practice and Research, 16, 239–253.
55.
ReavesB. A. (2015). Local police departments, 2013: Personnel, policies, and practices. NCJ 248677. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved fromhttps://www.bjs.gov/
56.
ReissA. J.Jr. (1971). The police and the public. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
57.
ReskinB. (2003). Motives and mechanisms in modeling inequality. American Sociological Review, 68, 1–21.
58.
RiccucciN. M.Van RyzinG. G.LavenaC. F. (2014). Representative bureaucracy in policing: Does it increase perceived legitimacy?Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 24, 537–551.
59.
RidgewayC. L. (1997). Interaction and the conservation of gender inequality: Considering employment. American Sociological Review, 62, 218–235.
60.
RosenbaumD. P.LurigioA. J. (1994). An inside look at community policing reform: Definitions, organizational changes, and evaluation findings. Crime & Delinquency, 40, 299–314.
61.
RosenbaumD. P.SchuckA. M.CostelloS. K.HawkinsD. F.RingM. K. (2005). Attitudes toward the police: The effects of direct and vicarious experience. Police Quarterly, 8, 343–365.
62.
RosenfeldR.FornangoR.RengifoA. F. (2007). The impact of order‐maintenance policing on New York City homicide and robbery rates: 1988‐2001. Criminology, 45, 355–384.
63.
SampsonR. J.RaudenbushS. W.EarlsF. (1997). Neighborhoods and violent crime: A multilevel study of collective efficacy. Science, 277, 918–924.
64.
SchuckA. M. (2014). Gender differences in policing: Testing hypotheses from the performance and disruption perspectives. Feminist Criminology, 9, 160–185.
SchulzeC. (2010). Family leave and law enforcement: A survey of parents in U.S. police departments. Critical Criminology, 19, 137–153.
67.
ShelleyT.MorabitoM. S.Tobin-GurleyJ. (2011). Gendered institutions and gender roles: Understanding the experiences of women in policing. Criminal Justice Studies, 24, 351–367.
68.
SklanskyD. A. (2006). Not your father’s police department: Making sense of the new demographics of law enforcement. The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 96, 1209–1243.
69.
SkoganW.FrydlK. (Eds.). (2004). Fairness and effectiveness in policing: The evidence. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
70.
SilvestriM. (2007). “Doing” police leadership: Enter the “New Smart Macho.” Policing & Society, 17, 38–58.
71.
SorensonO. (2003). Interdependence and adaptability: organizational learning and the long–term effect of integration. Management Science, 49, 446–463.
72.
SpohnC.TellisK. (2012). The criminal justice system’s response to sexual violence. Violence Against Women, 18, 169–192.
73.
StewartD.M. (2006). College educational standards. Huntsville, TX: Texas Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics Program.
74.
StewartE. A.BaumerE. P.BrunsonR. K.SimonsR. L. (2009). Neighborhood racial context and perceptions of police‐based racial discrimination among black youth. Criminology, 47, 847–887.
75.
StuartF. (2016). Becoming ‘copwise’: Policing, culture, and the collateral consequences of street-level criminalization. Law & Society Review, 50, 279–313.
76.
SunI. Y.PayneB. K. (2004). Racial differences in resolving conflicts: A comparison between Black and White police officers. Crime & Delinquency, 50, 516–541.
77.
TabachnickB. G.FidellL. S. (2007). Using multivariate statistics (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
78.
TheobaldN. A.Haider-MarkelD. P. (2009). Race, bureaucracy, and symbolic representation: Interactions between citizens and police. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 19, 409–426.
79.
TravisJ.WaulM. (Eds.). (2003). Prisoners once removed: The impact of incarceration and reentry on children, families, and communities. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute.
80.
TrojanowiczR. C.BucquerouxB. (1998). Community policing: How to get started. New York, NY: Routledge.
81.
TuchS. A.WeitzerR. (1997). Trends: Racial differences in attitudes toward the police. The Public Opinion Quarterly, 61, 642–663.
82.
U. S. Department of Justice. (2015a). Federal bureau of investigation. Uniform crime reporting program data: Arrests by age, sex, and race, summarized yearly, 2013. ICPSR36116-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2015-04-30. Retrieved fromhttp://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR36116.v1
83.
U. S. Department of Justice. (2015b). Federal bureau of investigation. Uniform crime reporting program data: Offenses known and clearances by arrest, 2013. ICPSR36122-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2015-04-24. Retrieved fromhttp://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR36122.v1
84.
U. S. Department of Justice. (2015c). Office of justice programs. Bureau of justice statistics. Law enforcement management and administrative statistics (LEMAS), 2013. 2015a. ICPSR36164-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2015-07-06. Retrieved fromhttp://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR36164.v1
85.
WalfieldS. M. (2016). When a cleared rape is not cleared a multilevel study of arrest and exceptional clearance. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 31, 1767–1792.
86.
WhartonA. S. (2009). The sociology of gender: An introduction to theory and research. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.
87.
WoodR. L.DavisM.RouseA. (2004). Diving into quicksand: Program implementation and police subcultures. In Skogan (Ed.), Community policing: Can it work? (pp. 136–162). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
88.
WordenA. (1993). Attitudes of women and men in policing: Testing conventional and contemporary wisdom. Criminology, 31, 203–242.
89.
WeisburdD.GreenspanR.HamiltonE.WilliamsH.BryantK. (2000). Police attitudes toward abuse of authority: Findings from a National Study. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.
90.
WeitzerR. (1999). Citizens’ perceptions of police misconduct: Race and neighborhood context. Justice Quarterly, 16, 819–846.
91.
WeitzerR. (2015). American policing under fire: Misconduct and reform. Society, 52, 475–480.
92.
WeitzerR. (2016). American policing under fire: Misconduct and reform. Society, 52(5), 475–480.
93.
WilsonJ. Q.KellingG. L. (1982). Broken windows. Atlantic Monthly, 249, 29–38.
94.
ZhaoJ. S.LaiY. L.RenL.LawtonB. (2015). The impact of race/ethnicity and quality-of-life policing on public attitudes toward racially biased policing and traffic stops. Crime & Delinquency, 61, 350–374.
