Policing “uncontrollable banshees”: factors influencing arrest decision making
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that influence police officers’ decision making when dealing with young women considered violent.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews were carried out with frontline police officers in Scotland on their experiences of responding to incidents where young women displayed violence.
Findings
The police officers clearly distinguished encounters with women using violence from those with young men, portraying young women as irrational, unpredictable and uncontrollable. The research found that while gender alone was not a determining factor for arrest, police officers did stereotype young women according to gender norms and these norms could have a bearing on decision making. The findings show that police officers prefer to respond to situations with male perpetrators due to their own difficulties effectively communicating with young women, who are often under the influence of alcohol.
Research limitations/implications
The research indicates that police officers, regardless of their gender, have difficulties handling violent incidents that involve young women. This provides scope for further analysis of police training to ascertain whether sufficient guidance is provided to fully equip police officers when faced with aggressive young women. This study focused on police officers’ own views and experiences but future research could consider a more ethnographic approach to observe police decision making in practice to determine whether the stereotypes portrayed were a true reflection of their experiences.
Originality/value
This is one of only a very few studies that has explored the relation between gender and arrest decision making. It enhances the understanding of how young women come to be arrested and indicates how police officers are currently ill equipped to effectively respond to young women considered violent.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (PTA-031-2006-00247) as part of a 1+3 ESRC studentship.
The author would like to thank Professor Colin Webster, Dr Tom Cockcroft and the reviewers for their comments on this paper.
Citation
Young, S. (2015), "Policing “uncontrollable banshees”: factors influencing arrest decision making", Safer Communities, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 183-192. https://doi.org/10.1108/SC-05-2015-0017
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited