UM  > Faculty of Social Sciences
Residential Collegefalse
Status已發表Published
Policing juvenile delinquency in China: Exploring the influence of officer-related individual and organizational factors on discretionary police decision-making
Yin, X.; Zhao, R.
2024-03-01
Source PublicationChildren and Youth Services Review
ISSN0190-7409
Volume158Pages:107459
Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to explore police officers’ decision-making patterns for punishing, educating, and providing assistance to minors who have committed property, violent, or illegal drug use offenses. It further examines the impact of both officers’ individual characteristics and perceived organizational support on police reactions to the respective offenses. Methods: Survey data were collected from 454 police officers at 18 police stations in a southwestern Chinese city. Police officers were provided with scenario-based vignettes that elicited their responses to the described offenses. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions were conducted to examine officer-related individual and organizational factors that influenced police decisions to punish, educate, and provide assistance to juvenile offenders involved in property, violent, and illegal drug use offenses. Results: The descriptive findings suggest that police officers may consider all three types of actions (i.e., punishing, educating, and assisting delinquent youth) in addressing juvenile delinquency (JD), with some variations in the actions taken in response to different types of offenses. The findings of the OLS regression analyses generally confirmed that both individual and organizational factors influenced police discretion on JD, but the effects varied according to police response and offense types. Specifically, punitive police attitudes toward delinquent youth and knowledge of relevant laws were robust predictors of officers’ intentions to punish juvenile offenders, and officers’ perceived community service roles and supervisor support were primarily correlated with their preferences for the use of education or assistance measures in addressing delinquency. Organizational training, however, did not show any significant effect on police inclinations in handling JD, regardless of decision or offense types. Unexpected findings are discussed in the “Discussion and Conclusion” section. Conclusions: The study contributes to extant literature on police–juvenile encounters by examining the under-investigated individual and organizational correlates of police decision-making in the Chinese context. The findings highlight the importance of supervisory support and organizational training in managing individual officers’ discretionary power.

KeywordChina Individual Characteristics Juvenile Delinquency Organizational Support Police Discretion
DOI10.1016/j.childyouth.2024.107459
URLView the original
Indexed BySSCI
Language英語English
WOS Research AreaFamily Studies ; Social Work
WOS SubjectFamily Studies ; Social Work
WOS IDWOS:001171503700001
PublisherPERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD, THE BOULEVARD, LANGFORD LANE, KIDLINGTON, OXFORD OX5 1GB, ENGLAND
Scopus ID2-s2.0-85183745539
Fulltext Access
Citation statistics
Document TypeJournal article
CollectionFaculty of Social Sciences
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY
Corresponding AuthorZhao, R.
AffiliationUniv Macau, Fac Social Sci, Ave da Univ, Taipa, Macau, Peoples R China
First Author AffilicationUniversity of Macau
Corresponding Author AffilicationUniversity of Macau
Recommended Citation
GB/T 7714
Yin, X.,Zhao, R.. Policing juvenile delinquency in China: Exploring the influence of officer-related individual and organizational factors on discretionary police decision-making[J]. Children and Youth Services Review, 2024, 158, 107459.
APA Yin, X.., & Zhao, R. (2024). Policing juvenile delinquency in China: Exploring the influence of officer-related individual and organizational factors on discretionary police decision-making. Children and Youth Services Review, 158, 107459.
MLA Yin, X.,et al."Policing juvenile delinquency in China: Exploring the influence of officer-related individual and organizational factors on discretionary police decision-making".Children and Youth Services Review 158(2024):107459.
Files in This Item:
There are no files associated with this item.
Related Services
Recommend this item
Bookmark
Usage statistics
Export to Endnote
Google Scholar
Similar articles in Google Scholar
[Yin, X.]'s Articles
[Zhao, R.]'s Articles
Baidu academic
Similar articles in Baidu academic
[Yin, X.]'s Articles
[Zhao, R.]'s Articles
Bing Scholar
Similar articles in Bing Scholar
[Yin, X.]'s Articles
[Zhao, R.]'s Articles
Terms of Use
No data!
Social Bookmark/Share
All comments (0)
No comment.
 

Items in the repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.