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Summary of Rand's Research on Police Performance, Community Characteristics, and Case Attrition

NCJ Number
125373
Journal
Journal of Police Science and Administration Volume: 17 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1990) Pages: 219-226
Author(s)
J Petersilia; A Abrahamse; J Q Wilson
Date Published
1990
Length
8 pages
Annotation
Across the United States, less than half of all felony arrests result in convictions.
Abstract
Many arrestees whose cases are dropped soon return to crime and are rearrested, only to slip through the system again. This pattern creates an impression of "revolving door" justice that not only undermines public confidence, but may also undercut the deterrent effect of "swift and certain punishment." Although attrition, or failure of an arrest to come to trial, may occur anywhere in the process of arrest, filing, and prosecution, most of the onus has fallen on police handling of the cases. Attrition rates are regularly used as a measure of police performance, and much research seems to support the conclusion that the current high rate of attrition is a result of police failure to provide adequate evidence. The current research began with three assumptions: (1) case attrition necessarily implies that the police are "not doing a good job;" (2) factors that influence attrition can be identified by comparing the policies and practices of police departments that have significantly different case-attrition rates; and (3) reforms that improve policies and practices will result in higher conviction rates. While the analysis did reveal variation among police departments, it largely failed to reveal strong relationships between the major variables and the primary case attrition measure. The authors concluded that the prevailing assumptions about attrition rates should be seriously reexamined. Statistics reflecting case-attrition patterns are not a valid basis for comparative evaluation of police departments. They may not even be valid performance indicators for individual police departments. 1 appendix. (Author abstract modified)