Technological advancements have surfaced as one of the most notable developments in global policing. Although studies have examined the impact of technology on many aspects of policing, the potential risks associated with technology utilization has received little research attention. Analyzing survey data from over 1,944 police officers in China, this study examines the relationships among perceived risks of using technologies, occupational stress, and turnover intentions. It also explores whether officers' gender moderates the connection between work stress and turnover intent and the linkage between perceived technological risks and turnover intention. We found perceived technological risk is directly linked to higher turnover intention. Officers with higher perceived technological risks also experienced more severe occupational stress, leading to a stronger turnover intent. Gender was found to moderate the relationship between occupational stress and turnover intention, with a stronger association observed among policemen than policewomen. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.

This research note examines the methodological opportunities and challenges of using AI-edited video vignettes in online factorial experiments. Drawing on a randomized experimental study that used a web-based video vignette survey to test the causal effects of police officer race and behavior on public perceptions and cooperation, we highlight lessons learned and considerations for future research using similar designs. The experimental (parent) study employed factorial video vignettes embedded in a Qualtrics survey, with randomization features, and recruited participants via the Connect platform. Key methodological elements, including video production, randomization, sampling, and ethical safeguards, are reviewed alongside implementation challenges in this research note. This study achieved high completion rates and low bounce rates, with a demographically diverse sample. Participants rated the survey positively across user experience, clarity, and fairness of compensation. Methodological strengths included mainly the innovative use of AI-modified videos for experimental stimuli, quota sampling, and quality control. Challenges were primarily technical, as current AI tools remain limited in their ability to convincingly alter officer race in video. Though AI-based racial modifications in video remain challenging, factorial video vignette designs in online experiments offer significant promise for causal inference.

The COVID-19 pandemic heightened occupational stress for police officers across jurisdictions. Drawing on survey data from officers in mainland China and Taiwan, this study examines how supervisory status and perceived organizational support shaped pandemic-related stress in two culturally similar but otherwise distinct societies. Data collected in 2020–2021 from 600 officers in a major mainland Chinese city and 516 officers in a major Taiwanese municipality show that mainland Chinese officers reported higher overall stress alongside stronger perceptions of organizational support, which mitigated pandemic-related strain. Supervisory status was not independently associated with increased stress in mainland China but was linked to significantly higher stress in Taiwan, where organizational support was perceived as weaker. The findings suggest that during crisis conditions, the emergency governance structure plays an important role in shaping the protective capacity of organizational support and the stress burden associated with supervisory roles among police officers.

Police officers operate in one of the most demanding and high-stress professions. Frequent exposure to critical incidents, coupled with a general reluctance to seek mental health support, contributes to elevated rates of adverse psychological outcomes among police officers. While prior research has examined the impact of critical incident exposure, less is known about how specific types of exposure relate to occupational burnout, and how mental health help-seeking attitudes may influence occupational burnout. This study addresses the knowledge gaps by analyzing survey data from 734 police officers in Taiwan. Results from ordinary least squares regression indicate that exposure to personal threats and secondary trauma significantly predicts higher levels of occupational burnout. In contrast, more positive attitudes toward mental health help-seeking are associated with lower burnout levels. These findings highlight the need for mental health interventions tailored to officers' exposure profiles and underscore the importance of fostering a supportive organizational culture that normalizes and encourages help-seeking behavior.

Police agencies are increasingly adopting AI-enabled tools, yet public willingness to cooperate when AI is used remains under-researched. Integrating procedural justice theory with technology acceptance and trust-inautomation perspectives, this study empirically tests an innovative Socio-Technical Legitimacy Model for Cooperation with AI-Enabled Policing to explore the mechanisms through which individuals are more willing to cooperate with police under AI integration. Using a quota-balanced U.S. adult sample (N = 1967) and structural equation modeling, we examine whether public police evaluation and AI literacy influence their AI-specific cooperation directly and indirectly through three mediators: institutional AI trust (trust that police will use AI responsibly), perceived AI objectivity (belief that AI tools are more objective than humans), and perceived AI risk (concerns about privacy, bias, and errors). Results indicate that institutional AI trust and perceived AI objectivity are the strongest correlates of AI-specific cooperation, while perceived AI risk is associated with lower cooperation. Police evaluation relates to AI-specific cooperation primarily through higher institutional trust and objectivity beliefs and lower perceived risk. AI literacy also shows an indirect association through trust and objectivity beliefs but not through perceived risk. Overall, the findings suggest that public cooperation under AIenabled policing hinges on credible governance and perceived decision quality.

Purpose: The past decades have witnessed growing concerns regarding the interaction between judicial officials and parties to the proceedings in China. Despite these observed dynamics, limited research has documented judicial personnel's perceptions of courtroom injustice towards parties to the proceedings. Similarly, little is known about court-supporting staff's occupational attitudes and behaviour. This study addresses these knowledge gaps by exploring how courtroom personnel's key background characteristics and perceived internal and external work environments relate to their occupational outlooks. Methods: Using survey data collected from 485 judges and 258 judge assistants in a coastal province in China, ordinary least squares (OLS) regression was employed to examine the relationships between court personnel's gender, professional role, institutional justice, and user and media influences, and their perceptions regarding courtroom injustice. Results: Regression analyses reveal gender differences among judicial personnel, with females reporting lower levels of courtroom injustice than males. Compared to judge assistants, judges tend to report lower levels of courtroom injustice. In addition, the perception of supervisor justice is negatively associated with perceived courtroom injustice, whereas pressure from parties to the proceedings is positively linked to higher levels of perceived courtroom injustice. Conclusions: Gender disparities in courtroom injustice indicate a need for fairer environments. Reforms should include targeted training, stricter discipline, procedural transparency, and professional development to reduce bias and enhance judicial professionalism, supporting China's judicial reforms for greater transparency and public trust.

In recent years, body-worn cameras (BWCs) have garnered significant attention in both practical and academic circles. However, few studies have focused on the relationship between police officers' attitudes toward BWCs and their psychological well-being. Based on the Job Demands-Resources theory and survey data from China, this study investigates the connections between officers' attitudes toward BWCs and their stress and occupational burnout. Officers' views of BWCs are conceptualized across three dimensions: supportive attitudes, negative attitudes, and perceived organizational support for footage distribution. Structural equation modeling results indicate that negative attitudes are positively related to both stress and burnout, while perceived organizational support is negatively correlated with stress and burnout. Contrary to our expectations, supportive attitudes are positively associated with burnout. Finally, stress mediates the effects of officers' negative attitudes and perceived organizational support on burnout.

This study examines the effects of organizational support on officers' attitudes toward the use of force and the protection of suspects' rights both directly and indirectly through psychological factors of self-legitimacy and moral disengagement. Based on data from a survey of 498 officers conducted in the autumn of 2022, this study reveals that organizational support has a positive total relationship with both support for force and respect suspects' rights. While its effect on respect suspects' rights is mostly direct, its influence on support for force is chiefly indirect, through increasing both self-legitimacy and moral disengagement.

While a substantial and growing body of literature on cyberbullying has been conducted worldwide, few studies have examined the extent and mechanism by which situational contexts interact with victim characteristics to precipitate bystander involvement in cyberbullying perpetration, including cyberbullying triggered by moral outrage. Drawing on survey data from Chinese college students, this study explores the direct connections between variables representing social bonds, low self-control, and general strain and general and outrage cyberbullying and their indirect relationships through moral disengagement. This study shows that low self-control and general strain events have significant direct positive associations with the occurrence of cyberbullying. Social control exerts a significant direct linkage to general cyberbullying but does not have a direct relationship with outrage cyberbullying. Moral disengagement is a key psychological mechanism behind cyberbullying behavior, significantly mediating the associations between social control and low self-control and general and outrage cyberbullying. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.

Purpose The main purpose of this study is to investigate whether perceived psychological preparedness, organizational support and environmental challenges are linked to attitudes toward procedural injustice and turnover intention among Chinese sworn and civilian police officers. Design/methodology/approach This study employed survey data collected from 1,358 police officers in a northern Chinese city. Regression analysis was conducted to assess the connections between police officers’ perceptions of psychological preparedness, organizational support and environmental challenges and their attitudes toward procedural injustice and turnover intention. Findings Our findings reveal that, net of all controls, civilian police officers exhibit similar perceptions of procedural injustice to sworn officers, yet significantly greater intentions to quit their job than sworn officers. The study also uncovers that perceptions of self-legitimacy, supervisor justice, self-media distortion and public support are associated with procedural injustice, while perceptions of self-legitimacy, occupational stress, supervisor justice, organizational support, self-media distortion and public support are linked to turnover intention for both or one of the groups. Research limitations/implications Data collection for this study took place during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Unfortunately, this study was unable to account for the potential influence of the pandemic on officers’ occupational attitudes, particularly regarding job satisfaction and stress, although we have no strong reasons to believe that the relationships between the predictors and officers’ views of procedural injustice and turnover intentions could change fundamentally during the pandemic. Originality/value Despite the substantial size and critical role of civilian or auxiliary police officers in Chinese law enforcement, existing literature predominantly emphasizes sworn officers, leaving a notable void in understanding the differences in occupational attitudes between these two groups. This study bridges this gap by empirically investigating perceptions of procedural injustice and turnover intention among Chinese sworn and civilian police officers.

In recent years, more and more Chinese judges have resigned from courts, making the judicial profession less attractive. Many reasons shape judges' turnover intention, with organizational justice being one of the potentially important yet overlooked contributing factors. Based on survey data collected from 458 judges in a northern Chinese province, this study tests a theoretical framework linking supervisor, peer, and litigant justice directly to judges' intention to resign and indirectly through occupational stress and satisfaction. Structural equation modeling (SEM) results indicate that supervisor and litigant justice are directly related to lower turnover intention, but peer justice is connected to higher turnover intention among Chinese judges. The association between supervisor justice and judges' turnover intention is also mediated by occupational stress and job satisfaction, while the relationships between peer and litigant justice and judges' turnover intention are mainly mediated by job satisfaction. In addition, seasoned and female judges have lower turnover intention.

Immigrant perspectives on the criminal justice system have garnered significant scholarly interest in recent years. Yet, the trust levels of different generations of immigrants in American courts remain inadequately explored. Utilising data from the General Social Survey 2018, this study compares the levels of trust in American courts and confidence in the United States (U.S.) Supreme Court among first-, second-, and third-generation immigrants with those of the native-born group. The analysis considers several control variables, such as institutional confidence, general trust, attitudes towards penalties, and demographics. Findings reveal that first-generation immigrants exhibit greater trust in American courts than native-born individuals. Meanwhile, second-generation immigrants display lower confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court compared to their third-generation immigrant and native-born counterparts. All control variables influenced trust in American courts. Confidence in Congress and television, trust in people, age, and educational attainment impacted confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court. Finally, holding immigrant generations constant, Blacks expressed lower trust in American courts and less confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court than Whites, Hispanics, and Asians, and Asians demonstrated lower confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court relative to Whites and Hispanics.

Cyberbullying has surfaced as a worldwide concern in recent decades. As the largest online community globally, China has experienced a spike in cyberbullying across social groups and functions. Using survey data collected from roughly 1,600 students from two universities, this study assesses students’ intervention behaviours toward cyberbullying. We assess the connections between students’ social bonds and the perceived severity of cyberbullying and their intention to stop, do nothing, or even support when witnessing cyberbullying. We found that individuals with stronger social bonds are more willing to ask perpetrators to stop bullying. The positive link between social control and intervention is stronger among those who reported a higher sense of powerlessness. In addition, respondents who have stronger social bonds and who consider cyberbullying as more serious have lower tendencies to keep neutral. The negative connection between social bonds and doing nothing is stronger among students with higher senses of powerlessness. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.

PurposeThe main purpose of this study is to examine the perceived self-media distortion's direct and indirect effects on police job stress through behavioral adjustments.Design/methodology/approachUsing survey data collected from 1,900 police officers in a northern Chinese province, we tested a moderated mediation model featuring the moderating effect of perceived self-legitimacy on the relationships between perceived self-media distortion and stress.FindingsWe found that perceived self-media distortion is directly and indirectly connected to officers' stress via adjusting behaviors. In addition, the positive relationship between perceived distortion and adjustment is weaker among officers with greater perception of self-legitimacy, whereas the positive association between adjustment and stress is stronger among those with higher levels of perceived self-legitimacy.Research limitations/implicationsOur study relied on a convenience sample of officers from a single Chinese province. We also lacked official data on police officers in the two cities examined within the province and were unable to accurately assess the representativeness of our sample. More officer-centered stress relief initiatives focusing on reducing media-induced stress should be developed and implemented. Officers should be encouraged to practice self-care activities, curate their social media feeds and practice mindfulness while consuming media and managing their exposure to potentially stressful content.Originality/valueThis study extends recent research on the impact of negative publicity on the police by further assessing officers' experiences with behavioral adjustments and psychological stress simultaneously. It also expands the research on officer psychological readiness by investigating whether self-legitimacy (e.g. self-recognition of their entitlement to the legal authority) can moderate the associations between media distortion, behavioral adjustments and job stress.

The widespread implementation of digital technologies, such as big data, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing, has profoundly transformed policing in China. Several Chinese cities have recently launched humanoid robots performing patrol duty. However, little is known about frontline officers’ attitudes toward police robots and the potential organizational and individual correlates of such attitudes. Using survey data from 1194 Chinese police officers, this study examines the relationships between AI literacy, organizational justice, and occupational wellbeing and officers’ attitudes toward two types of humanoid police robots: a “service robot” focused on public relations and community policing and a “crime-fighting robot” engaged in surveillance, intelligence gathering, predictive policing, and criminal investigations. Chinese police officers show a stronger preference for the crime-fighting robot over the service robot. Regression results show that controlling for background characteristics, officers with greater AI knowledge, more AI training, stronger perceptions of organizational support for the use of AI, and higher self-legitimacy are more supportive of police robots. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.

OBJECTIVE:Although many studies have examined Black Americans', often in comparison with Whites' and other minorities', perceptions of the police, few studies have focused on the experiences and perspectives of street-identified Black women and men. The main objective of this study is to assess street-identified Black populations' attitudes toward the police. HYPOTHESES:Respectful police perceptions are positively linked to trust in the police (TIP), which is then positively associated with support for greater police power and negatively connected to unwillingness to engage the police. Fearful police perceptions are negatively associated with TIP, which is then positively associated with support for greater police power and negatively related to unwillingness to engage the police. METHOD:The participatory action research (Street Participatory Action Research) approach was used to collect survey data from street-identified Black women and men in Wilmington, Delaware. Data analysis focused on whether perceived respectful and fearful policing are linked directly to support for empowerment and disengagement with the police and indirectly through perceived TIP. RESULTS:We found that fearful police perceptions are directly associated with street-identified Black men and women's willingness to engage the police, whereas respectful police perceptions are indirectly connected to support for police empowerment and disengagement with the police through TIP. We also found that Black women exhibit lower TIP but express greater willingness to engage the police compared to their men counterparts. CONCLUSIONS:This study links street-identified Black people's fear of the police directly to their disengagement with the police. Police departments should prioritize policies and programs aimed at reducing fear of the police and rebuilding trustworthy relationships with Black communities. Police departments, particularly those serving jurisdictions with large racial/ethnic minority populations, should continue to diversify their forces, which may reduce public fear of the police. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Based on an early 2020s survey of 3,500 police officers from nine countries, this paper explores perceived community and police adherence to the COVID-19 regulations. We propose that both public and police perceived adherence with the COVID-19 rules are related not only to individual-level factors (e.g., gender, concern for own health) but also to country-level factors (e.g., quality of governance, protection of citizens' rights). Our findings reveal that individual-level factors, such as the concerns for personal and family health, were strong and consistent predictors of perceived community and police adherence. While misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with the perceived community adherence, it was not related to the perceived police adherence. Moreover, country-level factors, such as the stringency of COVID-19 rules and regulations and the protection of citizens' rights, were also significantly related to both perceived community and police adherence.

While a spike in victimization against Asian Americans has been noticed during the pandemic, the intersectionality of key sociodemographic traits among Asian American victims has received limited research attention, especially when comparing before and during the pandemic patterns. This study explores the role of intersecting identities, including gender, age, and immigrant status, in violent and non-violent crime victimization among Asian Americans. We used data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (2017–2023) and employed negative binomial regression with a three-way interaction. We found that, before the pandemic, non-violent incidents were more likely to occur in private locations but less likely to occur at night, involving stranger offenders, or farther from home. During the pandemic, while private locations and distance from home continued to shape the rate of non-violent incident as during pre-pandemic, having a college degree decreased the rate of non-violent victimization. For violent victimization, none of the incident and individual characteristics were significant predictors before the pandemic, whereas nighttime and being female, immigrant, and elderly increased the rate of violent incident victimization. Interaction terms are ineffective in predicting pre-pandemic victimization, but are associated with violent victimization, with female immigrants, elderly female, and elderly immigrants generally less inclined to be violently victimized than their male immigrant, younger female, and younger immigrant counterparts, yet elderly female immigrants are more likely to be violently victimized than their younger female immigrant counterparts. Future research directions and policy implications are discussed. Our findings highlight the need for targeted policies to protect Asian American subgroups at higher risk of violent victimization during the pandemic. Strengthening law enforcement efforts, enhancing public safety initiatives, and implementing culturally tailored support programs can help mitigate these risks and improve protections for vulnerable populations.