Police use-of-force policies should be replaced by those based more closely on legal principles

In the United States, many police forces determine how much force to use when dealing with suspects through a continuum which ranks different levels of force based on resistance. In new research which examines more than 700 use of force incidents in one city, Scott M. Mourtgos, Ian T. Adams and Samuel R. Baty find that there is very little difference in how police use less-lethal force, despite this apparent ranking. They argue that rather than using continuums to determine the level of force to use, US police forces should base their use of force on legal principles

Mandatory Sexual Assault Kit Testing Policies and Arrest Trends: A Natural Experiment

The present study employs a quasi-experimental design to evaluate the effects of a mandatory sexual assault kit (SAK) testing policy on rape arrests in a large western US jurisdiction. We use a Bayesian structural time-series model and monthly data on arrests for rape from 2010 through 2019. In the post-implementation period, we observed a downward trend in the arrest rate for rape. Based on the results, the most conservative interpretation of our findings is that the policy implementation did not affect rape arrest rates. While mandatory SAK testing policies are often advocated for based on the belief that they will increase arrest rates for sexual assault (among other proposed benefits), we add to growing empirical evidence that policy interventions beyond mandatory SAK testing are needed to increase arrest rates for sexual assault. Jurisdictions that currently use mandatory SAK testing policies are encouraged to assess stakeholders’ experiences to proactively address resource allocation, consider other policies that may increase accountability for sexual assault offenders, and utilize victim service providers to support other measures of success with victims in instances where no arrest is made