An Exploration of Recidivism and the Officer Shuffle in Police Sexual Violence

• Author: Cara E. Rabe-Hemp,Jeremy Braithwaite
• DOI: 10.1177/1098611112464964
• Published date: 01 June 2013
• Date: 01 June 2013
• Subject Matter: Articles

Police Quarterly

16(2) 127 –147

© 2012 SAGE Publications

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DOI: 10.1177/1098611112464964

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Policy QuarterlyRabe-Hemp and Braithwaite

Police Quarterly

1Illinois State University, Normal, IL, USA

2University of California, Irvine, CA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Cara E. Rabe-Hemp, Associate Professor, Illinois State University, Campus Box 5250, Normal,

IL 61790, USA.

Email: cerabe@ilstu.edu

An Exploration of Recidivism

and the Officer Shuffle in

Police Sexual Violence

Cara E. Rabe-Hemp1 and Jeremy Braithwaite2

Abstract

By examining a decade of newspapers accounts in the Midwest, the current study

explores the nature of repeat or recidivist police sexual violence (PSV) in comparison

to first-time offending in the characteristics of the offenders, nature of the PSV acts,

and the departments and criminal justice system response. Results show that more

than 41% of PSV cases are committed by recidivist officers who averaged 4 victims

each over a 3-year span of offending. The idea of the officer shuffle is explored in

the context of sexual offending by police, indicating that a minority of officers move

across jurisdictions maintaining police certification despite allegations of violence and

misconduct. Implications explore how policy changes, such as a national reporting

system for police sexual offending, would impact problem-prone PSV offending.

Keywords

police misconduct, sexual offending, problem prone officers

Introduction

The conclusions of the Christopher Commission (1991) that a small group of identifi-

able officers accounted for a disproportionate number of citizen complaints of brutal-

ity and excessive force gave rise to a body of literature on the problem-prone officer.

While there is compelling research that suggests much of police brutality and exces-

sive force is committed by a minority of police officers (Geller & Toch, 1995; Lersch

& Mieczkowski, 1996; Walker, Alpert, & Kenney, 2001), past research has not fully

explored police sexual violence (PSV) as a pattern-prone offense.

Article

128 Police Quarterly 16(2)

There is good reason to suggest that PSV may have a strong recidivist population.

First, research by Goldman (2003) and Goldman and Puro (1987, 2001) has confirmed

the existence of the officer shuffle by which disreputable officers move across police

jurisdictions, resigning at the onset of allegations to maintain their police certification

and police employment. Most recently, Shockey-Eckles (2011) explored the hiring

practices and existing laws that foster the practice of the office shuffle and the influ-

ence that these officers have on the image of law enforcement, suggesting that much

of the misconduct that occurs, may be due to the behaviors of a few, “rogue or gypsy

cops” (p. 292).

Second, several studies have mentioned the existence of the repeat PSV offender.

McGurrin and Kappeler (2002) and Jarriel (1997) reported numerous officers in their

sample had previously been convicted of sex offenses. Thomas Jarriel, reporter from

ABC’s 20/20 (1997), exposed a small group of recidivist PSV offenders who had been

accused of misconduct in several different police agencies. In addition, when inter-

viewed about their first and secondhand knowledge of police sexual misconduct,

police officers reported the existence of recidivist offenders, noting that certain offi-

cers engaged in more sexual misconduct than others.

This study explores the nature of recidivist or repeat PSV in comparison to nonre-

peat offending in the characteristics of the offenders, nature of the sexual acts, and the

criminal justice system and department response. Specifically, the present research

seeks to address the following questions:

Research Question 1: Is there a pattern of a few recidivist officers with multiple

allegations of sexual offending by citizens? Are these perpetrated by shuf-

fling officers, who perpetrate violence across jurisdictions due to the practice

of resigning at the onset of previous allegations?

Research Question 2: Is there a significant difference between the age and rank of

those officers with repeated allegations of PSM versus nonrepeat offenders?

Research Question 3: Is there a significant difference in the nature of the PSV

acts committed by repeat versus nonrepeat officer offenders, suggesting dif-

ferent forms of pattern offending?

Research Question 4: How does the response by the officers’ departments and

local criminal justice systems differ in repeat offenders versus nonrepeat

offenders?

The Nature of Sexual Offending

While police occupational deviance has been the subject of great interest and concern

within the past four decades, much of the research has focused on corruption and graft

(Geller & Toch, 1995; Sherman, 1980). Little research has focused on other means of

misconduct (Ivkovic, 2005). There is, however, a small body of literature on the

nature of police sexual offending, typically defined as police sexual misconduct or

violence (Barker, 1978; Kraska & Kappeler, 1995; Maher, 2003, 2008; McGurrin &