Deterrence theory underpins numerous anti-corruption interventions. Yet, empirical evidence on its application to corruption remains limited. Existing studies rely mainly on laboratory experiments and focus on certainty and severity of punishment, leaving the role of celerity unexplored. This study addresses these gaps by examining the three elements of deterrence-certainty, severity, and celerity-using data from 25 European Union countries across five time periods (2013-2024), while controlling for a range of social, political, and economic factors, most notably trust. Mixed-effects analyses show that higher certainty of punishment is associated with lower corruption levels, but this relationship depends critically on celerity. When punishment is slow, certainty has no discernible association with corruption; when punishment is timely, this association is substantial. We found no evidence that laboratory-based severity effects extend to real-world corruption contexts. These findings indicate that effective deterrence strategies could prioritize measures that increase the perceived likelihood of punishment while simultaneously ensuring timely punishment. They also highlight the need for renewed theoretical and empirical attention to celerity as a conditional mechanism in deterrence processes.

Objectives: Research literature rarely examines the differences in attitude toward the police among minority group members living in ethnically homogenous localities as opposed to heterogeneous ones. The present study examined differences in police legitimacy and willingness to help it prevent crime among members of a minority group by comparing those living in homogeneous localities with those living in heterogeneous ones, as well as with the majority group. Methods: The present study is based on data collected during a telephone survey on public attitudes toward the police conducted among a random and representative sample of 1,000 Israelis. Results: A series of multivariate linear regression analyses showed that Arab minority respondents living in heterogeneous localities exhibit the lowest levels of police legitimacy and willingness to help it prevent crime compared to both Arabs living in homogeneous localities and Jews. These findings remain significant when controlling for procedural justice and participants' socioeconomic characteristics. Conclusions: Living in a heterogeneous locality uniquely affects the attitudes of minority group members toward the police. Police effectiveness and procedural justice do not explain differences between minority members living in homogeneous versus heterogeneous communities in their obligation to obey and assist the police in crime prevention.

The study examines the effectiveness of community courts in reducing recidivism, aiming to address methodological limitations of previous research. Using a quasi-experimental design with propensity score matching, the research compared 686 program participants (393 completers and 293 noncompleters) referred to community courts with a matched group of 1,797 individuals adjudicated in mainstream magistrate courts for similar offenses. Recidivism was measured using reconviction data at 1, 3, and 5 years following case completion or release from incarceration. Research findings suggest that although participants in the community courts program exhibited fewer reconvictions compared with those adjudicated in mainstream courts, no significant differences were identified between the treatment and control groups. However, upon separating between those who successfully completed the community court program and those who failed to complete it among the treatment group, program completers had significantly lower recidivism rates compared with the matched comparison group.

Studies document independent effects of prenatal air pollution exposure and social environmental factors, including neighborhood safety, on childhood asthma development with documented sex-specific effects. Further research examining these factors jointly is needed. We examined associations between prenatal residence-level daily fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure and child asthma, considering effect modification by a validated Neighborhood Sentiment and Safety Index (NSSI) and child sex. Participants were mothers and full-term (> 37 weeks gestation) singleton-born children from two Boston-area pregnancy cohorts. The Asthma Coalition on Community, Environment and Social Stress (ACCESS) project enrolled 955 pregnant women between August 2002 and July 2009.The Programming of Intergenerational Stress Mechanisms (PRISM) study recruited 390 pregnant women from March 2011 to December 2013. Bayesian distributed lag interaction models (BDLIMs) were implemented to estimate associations between child asthma incidence and daily average maternal PM2.5 exposure across gestation. Effect modification by NSSI and child sex was examined using a BDLIM comparing models with and without effect modification. Women were primarily minorities (29% black, 47% Hispanic) reporting less than a high school education (54%). Children were followed 15.1 ± 3 years; 204 (17%) developed asthma. In the overall sample (n = 1,178), increased PM2.5 exposure between 21 and 27 weeks gestation was associated with increased odds of asthma in children born to women in the high NSSI group (NSSI ≥ 75th percentile representing safer neighborhoods). Both boys and girls were at higher risk of asthma when considering joint effects. These data add to a growing literature highlighting the need to consider both chemical toxins and psychosocial factors operating in communities to better elucidate which factors are driving respiratory health effects. A singular focus on changes to mitigate air pollution may not have high impact on improving respiratory health, particularly in historically under-resourced areas where effects may be more highly driven by social determinants.

Objectives: While many studies have examined the impact of parental incarceration on children's delinquency, these have yielded mixed results. Currently, it remains unclear whether parental incarceration has positive, negative, or null effects on their children's future delinquency. The current study aims to clarify these mixed findings by examining the role of attachment in the relationship between parental incarceration and children's delinquency. Specifically, we examine whether this relationship is conditioned on attachment between the parent and child pre-incarceration. Methods: Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, this quasi-experimental study employed propensity score matching to compare children of incarcerated fathers with a matched comparison group whose parents were never incarcerated (n = 318). Results: The impact of paternal incarceration on children's involvement in property crimes, drug-related offenses, and violent behavior was found to differ significantly according to the level of pre-incarceration attachment. However, the specific effect of attachment within each group (paternal incarceration vs. no parental incarceration) could not be determined. Conclusions: Our findings complement longstanding theories and underscore the importance of considering preincarceration parent-child relationships when evaluating the impact of parental incarceration on delinquent behavior. These insights point to the need for tailored interventions that address specific family dynamics to better support children of incarcerated parents.

Core normative value theory asserts that perceptions of the legitimacy of law enforcement authorities are not just a product of these agencies' conduct and performance, but are also based on deeply embedded ideological worldviews. This study further tests the theory, exploring the diverse relationships between values and legitimacy in multicultural societies. We use Israel's highly divided society as a case study. Our data were derived from a survey among a representative sample of more than 1,600 Israelis from seven social groups-mainstream Jews, ultra-Orthodox Jews, Jewish residents of the occupied territories, immigrants from the former Soviet Union, Druze, Muslims, and Arab Christians. The results point to significant differences in levels of the core normative values and legitimacy across the seven groups, and differences between the groups in associations between the values and legitimacy, controlling for socio-demographic variables. The findings support the main premises of the theory.

The social resistance framework offers an explanation for high-risk and criminal behaviors among non-dominant minority groups. The study explores the generalizability of the framework to minority groups which are marginalized for different reasons, such as immigration, and deep historical national conflicts, and across several criminal behaviors, by surveying a representative sample of more than 1,000 participants from Israel's majority population and four minority groups-Muslims, Jews of Ethiopian origin, immigrants from the former Soviet Union, and ultra-Orthodox Jews. Negative binomial regressions show that social resistance is positively associated with criminal behaviors, controlling for exposure, demographic characteristics, and previous explanations. Additionally, both levels of social resistance and its association with criminal behaviors vary between the different non-dominant minority groups. The study supports the premises of the framework, showing that social resistance plays a role in criminal behaviors among minority groups which are marginalized for different historical reasons.

Scholars have proposed several underlying mechanisms to explain the relationship between economic inequality and crime. However, these mechanisms have not been empirically tested. This study empirically tests the causal paths offered by three salient mechanisms through which economic inequality may affect crime: negative emotions, social distance, and social resistance. We applied a randomized controlled trial with an experimental-causal-chain design in two studies. In Study 1 we manipulated economic inequality and examined its effect on both the mediating variables and crime, operationalized as cheating behavior. In Study 2 we manipulated the mediating variable found to be associated with economic inequality in Study 1 (social resistance), and examined its effect on cheating. Our findings support the social resistance mechanism, while there is no evidence supporting the negative emotions (operationalized here as anger) and social distance mechanisms. These findings suggest that economic inequality breeds crime by producing perceptions of discrimination and alienation, leading individuals to actively express their dissatisfaction through crime.

AbstractEmergencies, such as natural disasters, wars and terrorist attacks, are known to have important effects on police–community relations and, specifically, on public attitudes toward the police. At the same time, little is known about what happens to public sentiments over time in prolonged emergencies. Similarly, it is unclear if different types of attitudes follow a similar trajectory or if they “behave” differently. The present study examines general and pandemic-specific attitudes toward the police over the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel, using data from a community panel survey (n = 535) carried out in its first three peaks. We found a statistically significant deterioration in all types of attitudes in the first six months of the study, followed by stabilization in general attitudes. Interestingly, some emergency-specific attitudes followed a different path and demonstrated consistent deterioration throughout the study period. These findings contribute to our theoretical understanding of police–community relations in emergencies and bear practical implications for policing emergencies.

AbstractA sense of obligation to obey the police is an important predictor of public cooperation and compliance with the law. Minorities tend to feel less obligated to obey the police than the majority. Previous work based on the social resistance framework shows that the experiences that shape the lives and attitudes of minorities may encourage them to actively engage in a variety of everyday resistance acts against the majority group, which may include high-risk and delinquent behaviours. The present study tests this framework for the first time concerning the self-perceived obligation to obey the police while also considering different minority groups who experience varying levels of marginalization. We use a representative sample of about 1,100 Israelis from four minority groups – Muslims, immigrants from the former Soviet Union, ultra-Orthodox Jews and Jews of Ethiopian origin – along with the Jewish majority group. The results show that Muslims feel the least obligation to obey the police, followed by Jews of Ethiopian origin. Social resistance was negatively related to the self-perceived obligation to obey the police among Muslims and ultra-Orthodox Jews while controlling for demographic characteristics and previous theoretical explanations, namely procedural justice, self-help and anger.

Purpose Previous research has shown that terror attacks affect a variety of outcomes. However, one outcome that has remained relatively neglected is crime. In the current study we examine the immediate effect of terrorism on crime, and discuss several behavioral mechanisms that might explain this effect. Design/methodology/approach We use data from 190 Israeli localities over 12 years (1999–2011). Applying a fixed-effects Poisson regression model, we assess the effect of terror attacks on recorded crimes of three types – property, domestic violence, and fraud – on the days following the attack. We also examine whether the effect is conditioned on geographical proximity to the attack. Findings We find the occurrence of terror attacks has a significant and negative effect on recorded cases of the three crime types. This effect grows stronger as geographical proximity to the attack increases. Originality/value Our results suggest that terrorism has an immediate negative effect on crime. This effect might be explained by changes in the behavior of police officers, offenders, and citizens.

AbstractGlobal views of the police (often termed “legitimacy”, “trust”, “satisfaction” or “support”) are frequently regarded as the product of micro-level, police-related consideration: beliefs about what the police are doing and how they are doing it. Studies taking a sociological or political perspective have revealed that views unrelated to policing, such as satisfaction with the government, may also be important predictors of global views of the police. However, police-related and non-police-related considerations are frequently not considered together as antecedents of macro-level views of the police. This study aims to illuminate the respective roles of police-related versus non-police-related considerations in shaping citizens’ diffused support for the police while utilizing the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from a panel survey carried out during the first and third peaks of the pandemic in Israel reveal that the only factor which had a direct effect on the drop in diffused support for the police was the public’s assessment of the government’s (not the police’s) performance in handling the pandemic. We conclude by calling for more sophisticated measurement and interpretation of public approval of the police and its antecedents.

This article presents a tailored research tool developed to explore and test the recent theory of deeply embedded core normative values, which asserts that beliefs about the legitimacy of law-enforcement authorities derive in part from profound cultural orientations through which individuals act in and interpret the world. The model is based on a typology of four core normative value systems, namely religious–traditional, liberal, republican–communitarian, and ethno-national, which are associated in different ways with legitimacy. We first conducted in-depth interviews with 45 participants to develop the research tool (questionnaire), then performed a large-scale representative survey among 1,617 Israeli respondents. The findings support the main premises of the model. They show that liberal, republican–communitarian, and religious–traditional values have significant associations with two measures of legitimacy (trust and obligation to obey the police), and that these associations generally hold beyond perceptions of police conduct and performance.

Over the years empirical evidence has shown that traffic enforcement reduces traffic violations, crashes, and casualties. However, less attention has been paid to enforcement coverage across different populations and driver characteristics. The current study develops and explores a method for estimating police enforcement coverage, by comparing the share of drivers across several characteristics who received tickets from automatic speed and red-light cameras - as an objective estimate of offenses committed - to the share of drivers who received tickets through manual police enforcement. Using data from all speeding and red-light tickets issued to Israelis over a period of one and a half years, we found under-enforcement by police officers for female drivers, two-wheeled vehicle drivers (for speeding), and drivers with previous tickets. We found over-enforcement for younger drivers, truck drivers, and two-wheeled vehicle drivers (for red-light offenses). The findings suggest that the method developed in the research is able to identify groups of drivers who are over- or under-enforced. Police authorities can use this information to create evidence-based enforcement policies.

Studies on the criminal justice process up to the point of conviction show that defendants who belong to racially marginalized groups suffer a greater risk of being wrongfully convicted. However, little attention has been paid to the period after conviction. Applying multilevel analysis to data from the National Registry of Exonerations in the United States, we compare the length of the exoneration process for members of racially marginalized minority groups who are shown to have been wrongfully convicted compared with their counterparts from the white majority group. Our results indicate that exonerees from racially marginalized groups serve more time out of their sentence compared to those who are white. Further analysis shows that these differences exist only with respect to exonerees in Republican-controlled states. These findings suggest that not only are racially marginalized minorities wrongfully convicted at higher rates, as found in previous studies, but also that they suffer longer periods of unjustified punishment.

The use of videoconferencing (VC) technology in legal hearings has been expanding recently. However, the effects of using VC in court hearings on different elements of procedural justice have not yet been widely investigated. Systematic observations conducted in 370 extension-of-detention hearings were used to compare the court settings and dimensions of procedural justice between hearings where the detainee was present in person vs. through VC. Multivariate regression analysis indicates that the voice, respect, and neutrality elements of procedural justice are significantly lower in VC hearings than in-person hearings, controlling for various variables. The findings suggest that legal bodies should consider measures to improve the quality of procedural justice during VC hearings, thereby improving satisfaction and acceptance of courts' decisions.

There is compelling evidence that economic inequality is positively correlated with crime. The current study offers a new explanation for this positive correlation, based on the social resistance framework. We posit that economic inequality alienates individuals from the institutions and values of society, and this, in turn, leads them to resist these institutions and values by, among other things, engaging in criminal behavior. We tested this model on two distinct types of crime, using survey data provided by participants from Israel. Applying structural equation modeling, we find support for the proposed mechanism: economic inequality is associated with social resistance, which in turn is associated with crime. The findings serve as preliminary evidence that economic inequality creates fertile ground for crime because it encourages individuals to resist the core values and central institutions of society.

Background The communities we live in are central to our health. Neighborhood disadvantage is associated with worse physical and mental health and even early mortality, while resident sense of safety and positive neighborhood sentiment has been repeatedly linked to better physical and mental health outcomes. Therefore, understanding where negative neighborhood sentiment and safety are salient concerns can help inform public health interventions and as a result, improve health outcomes. To date, fear of crime and neighborhood sentiment data or indices have largely been based on the administration of time consuming and costly standardized surveys. Objective The current study aims to develop a Neighborhood Sentiment and Safety Index (NSSI) at the census tract level, building on publicly available data repositories, including the US Census and ACS surveys, Data Axle, and ESRI repositories. Methods The NSSI was created using Principal Component Analysis. Mineigen and minimum loading values were 1 and 0.3, respectively. Throughout the step-wise PCA process, variables were excluded if their loading value was below 0.3 or if variables loaded into multiple components. Results The novel index was validated against standardized survey items from a longitudinal cohort study in the Northeastern United States characterizing experiences of (1) Neighborhood Characteristics with a Pearson correlation of −0.34 ( p < 0.001) and, (2) Neighborhood Behavior Impact with a Pearson correlation of −0.33 ( p < 0.001). It also accurately predicted the Share Care Community Well Being Index (Spearman correlation = 0.46) and the neighborhood deprivation index (NDI) (Spearman correlation = −0.75). Significance Our NSSI can serve as a predictor of neighborhood experience where data is either unavailable or too resource consuming to practically implement in planned studies. Impact statement To date, fear of crime and neighborhood sentiment data or indices have largely been based on the administration of time consuming and costly standardized surveys. The current study aims to develop a Neighborhood Sentiment and Safety Index (NSSI) at the census tract level, building on publicly available data repositories, including the US Census and ACS surveys, Data Axle, and ESRI repositories. The NSSI was validated against four separate measures and can serve as a predictor of neighborhood experience where data is either unavailable or too resource consuming to practically implement in planned studies.

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the reality of police agencies worldwide. Since January 2020, police were required to enforce a long, constantly changing, often controversial list of emergency regulations, while striving to keep themselves and the citizens they interact with safe. Following an early examination of the short-term effects of the pandemic on the attitudes of majority communities in Israel toward the police (Perry and Jonathan-Zamir, 2020), in this study, we examine if and how attitudes changed as the pandemic progressed. We returned to the same sample, and supplemented the initial survey carried out during the first peak of the pandemic in Israel (April 2020) with an additional wave during the third peak (December 2020). Our two-wave panel study reveals that following initial strong support for the police, public sentiments dropped. This trend was evidenced both in evaluations of pandemic-policing and in more general views of the police. Based on these findings, we conclude that in contrast to the short-term, a long-term transition into crisis-policing may bear significant costs in terms of citizens’ support and willingness to comply with the police and the law, precisely at a time when voluntary compliance is most needed.