Citizen Complaints as an Accountability Mechanism: Uncovering Patterns Using Topic Modeling

IF 2.2 1区社会学 Q1 CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY

Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Pub Date : 2022-05-16 DOI:10.1177/00224278221101119

Francisco Olivos, Patricio Saavedra, Lucía Dammert

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

Objectives Citizen complaints are considered by policing researchers as an indicator of police misconduct, and a proxy of police-community relations. Nevertheless, US and EU-based studies tend to focus on sustained complaints as reported by official agencies and officer-based correlates. Using the case of Carabineros, the Chilean militarized police force, this study examines (a) latent topics contained in a large set of complaints against the police on a digital platform, and (b) the change of those topics across time and (c) by complainants’ educational level. Methods We use novel computational natural language processing techniques to identify latent themes across the corpus of complaints (N = 1,623), hosted on an online forum from 2013 to 2020. Results Our findings show eight latent themes across the corpus. Among others, these themes were related to police effectiveness, police misbehavior, and a master frame of institutional crisis that has significantly grown over the last year. Additionally, differences in the prevalence of topics by complainants’ educational level were also found. Conclusions Our findings contribute to the enterprise of opening the black box of complaints against the police and highlighting opportunities for social accountability in a developing country.

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公民投诉作为一种问责机制：利用主题模型揭示模式

警务研究人员认为，公民投诉是警察不当行为的一个指标，也是警察与社区关系的一个代表。尽管如此，美国和欧盟的研究往往侧重于官方机构和官员相关机构报告的持续投诉。本研究以智利军事化警察部队Carabineros为例，考察了（a）数字平台上针对警察的大量投诉中包含的潜在主题，以及（b）这些主题随时间的变化和（c）投诉人的教育水平。方法我们使用新颖的计算自然语言处理技术来识别投诉语料库中的潜在主题（N = 1623），于2013年至2020年在一个在线论坛上主办。结果我们的研究结果显示了语料库中的八个潜在主题。除其他外，这些主题与警察的有效性、警察的不当行为以及去年大幅增长的制度危机的总体框架有关。此外，还发现申诉人的教育水平在主题流行率方面存在差异。结论我们的调查结果有助于打开针对警察的投诉黑匣子，并突出发展中国家社会问责的机会。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY-

CiteScore

5.50

自引率

6.20%

发文量

期刊介绍： For over 45 years, this international forum has advanced research in criminology and criminal justice. Through articles, research notes, and special issues, the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency continues to keep you up to date on contemporary issues and controversies within the criminal justice field. Research and Analysis: The Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency presents a wide range of research and analysis in the field of criminology. You’ll find research on the social, political and economic contexts of criminal justice, examining victims, offenders, police, courts and sanctions. Comprehensive Coverage: The science of criminal justice combines a wide range of academic disciplines and fields of practice. To advance the field of criminal justice the journal provides a forum that is informed by a variety of fields. Among the perspectives that you’ll find represented in the journal are: -biology/genetics- criminology- criminal justice/administration- courts- corrections- crime prevention- crime science- economics- geography- police studies- political science- psychology- sociology.