Explaining Suspect Resistance in Police-Citizen Encounters

• Published date: 01 May 2005
• Date: 01 May 2005
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016805275675
• Subject Matter: Articles

10.1177/0734016805275675
Criminal Justice Review
Belvedere et al. / Explaining Suspect Resistance
Criminal Justice Review
Volume 30 Number 1
May 2005 30-44
© 2005 Georgia State University
Explaining Suspect Resistance
Research Foundation, Inc.
10.1177/0734016805275675
in Police-Citizen Encounters
http://cjr.sagepub.com
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Kimberly Belvedere
Southwestern University School of Law
John L. Worrall
Stephen G. Tibbetts
California State University, San Bernardino
The authors analyzed police records to explore why suspects resist arrest. The analysis was
based on a sample of 400 police reports from a mid-size urban police department in Southern
California. Two hundred cases involved suspects who were charged with resisting arrest. The
remaining 200 cases involved arrested suspects who did not resist. The authors used logistic
regression to explore the association between several demographic factors and a binary outcome
measuring suspect resistance. They found that suspects arrested in police beats characterized by
a disproportionate number of calls for service were more likely to resist. They further found that
Black suspects were more likely to resist relative to their White and Hispanic counterparts. The
authors also explored interaction effects.
Keywords: police; arrest; police-citizen encounters; resist; resisting arrest
Itiscommonlyacceptedthatpoliceofficershaveadangerousoccupation.Infact,noother
occupation in the country has a higher death rate by homicide (Lester, 1982). In addition,
approximately 60,000 officers are assaulted each year (National Law Enforcement Officers
Memorial Fund, 2001). Although recent trends in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uni-
form Crime Reports indicate that fewer police officers are being assaulted or killed today
than in the past, public concern over such incidents still exists (Meyer, Magedanz, Dahlin, &
Chapman, 1981).
Criminal justice researchers have also been drawn to the issue of police injuries and
assaults. Among other pursuits, they have attempted to identify variables linked to both lethal
and nonlethal assaults on police (Brandl, 1996; Fridell & Pate, 2001; Greenan, 1987;
Hirschel, Dean, & Lumb, 1994; Lester, 1982, 1984; Meyer et al., 1981; Meyer, Magedanz,
Dahlin, Chapman, & Swanson, 1982; Uchida, Brooks, & Kopers, 1987). They have also
focused on officers’use of force and the effect it can have on suspect compliance. These lines
of research have served an important policy function by informing law enforcement training
programs.
More recently, researchers have turned their attention to suspect resistance and the extent
to which it can lead to injuries (and even killings) of police officers (e.g., Engel, 2003;
Kavanagh, 1997). But only a handful of researchers have tried to predict suspect resistance in
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Belvedere et al. / Explaining Suspect Resistance 31
an effort to minimize injuries to police officers. Accordingly, we examined a random sample
of police records from a medium-size police department in Southern California. Our intent
was to determine (a) which suspect characteristics were associated with resistance and (b)
whether officer or suspect race (or interactions of both variables) aided in explaining
resistance.
Literature Review
We begin this section by reviewing the limited number of published studies dealing with
predictors of suspect resistance. During the review, we pay special attention to the variables
that researchers have linked to suspect resistance and the reasons they have offered for doing
so. Next, we discuss potential theoretical underpinnings associated with this line of research.
We argue that recent theoretical developments provide a logical framework for examining
resistance in encounters between police officers and suspects.
Previous Studies
To date, it appears that only two studies directly concerned with predictors of suspect
resistance have been published (Engel, 2003; Kavanagh, 1997). As indicated, several
researchers have studied predictors of police assaults (see Garner, Maxwell, and Heraux,
2002, for a recent example), but there have been few answers to the question, Why do sus-
pects resist? Even so, three types of variables most likely to be associated with suspect resis-
tance have been identified: (a) police variables, (b) suspect variables, and (c) situational vari-
ables. We look at each of these in the following subsections.
Some of the variables identified were included in our analysis, but others were not, due to
data limitations. We felt it was important to present as thorough a review as possible, even if
we were unable to obtain data on every conceivable variable linked to suspect resistance.
Also, given that only two studies with similar goals to our own have been published, there is
not a wealth of precedent justifying the inclusion of the variables we are about to identify.
Kavanagh (1997) and Engel (2003) have been forced to turn to the police violence and police
assault literature for evidence that police, suspect, and situational characteristics can affect
resistance.
Police officer variables. Researchers have previously linked a number of police officer
characteristics to use of force. These include officer race, age, education, and size (Cascio,
1977; Cohen & Chaiken, 1972; Croft, 1985; Croft & Austin, 1987; Westley, 1970). Drawing
on this knowledge, Kavanagh (1997) included all four variables and found that none were
significantly related to resisting arrest. Similarly, Engel (2003) recently found that police
officer demographic characteristics had virtually no bearing on suspect resistance. But just
because police officer characteristics were not significantly linked to resistance in past stud-
ies does not mean they should be ignored; the police violence literature informs us that they
should be included when examining the dynamics of police-citizen encounters.
Police attitudes have also been studied. Researchers have mostly been concerned with the
extent to which suspect behavior influences police attitudes, especially displays of disrespect
by the police (e.g., Mastrofski, Reisig, & McCluskey, 2002). But Kavanagh (1997) neverthe-
less included several measures of police attitudes as possibly being linked to suspect resis-

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32 Criminal Justice Review
tance. He surveyed officers and measured their attitudes with respect to their feelings on the
role of force, whether they tolerated revenge, whether they were cynical, and so on. One
would think a bad attitude on the part of the officer could influence resistance, but that is not
what Kavanagh found. Not one of his officer attitude variables was linked to resistance.
Suspect variables. The characteristics of the suspect, by contrast, are very often associated
with the likelihood of assaults on police officers. For example, Kaminski and Sorensen
(1995) found that officers who come in contact with non-White suspects are assaulted at a
higher rate. Research also shows that most assaults on police officers occur by suspects with a
prior criminal history (Fridell & Pate, 2001; Pinizzotto & Davis, 1995). In addition, citizen
demeanor has been used to explain assaults against and killings of police officers (e.g.,
Klinger, 1994). Worden and Shepard (1996) discovered that a hostile citizen demeanor was
correlated with police behavior.
Building on such findings, Kavanagh (1997) included several suspect characteristic vari-
ables in his model of resistance. He found that “arrestee disrespect was the most powerful of
all the variables that were found to be related to resisting arrest” (p. 25). He also explored the
effect of suspect age, height, and race on resistance. He found that such characteristics were
not related to resistance, but Engel (2003) found that non-White suspects were prone to resis-
tance when confronted by White officers. Walker (1999) has explained this by arguing, “To
the extent that officers stereotype young African-American males as potential suspects, they
may provoke higher rates of antagonistic behavior that, in turn, results in higher rates of
arrest” (pp. 226-227). In a classic study, Piliavin and Briar (1964) put it this way:
The tendency for police to give more severe dispositions to Negroes and to youths whose appear-
ance corresponded to that which police associated with delinquents partly reflected the fact,
observed in this study, that these youths also were much more likely than were other types of boys
to exhibit the sort of recalcitrant demeanor which police construed as a sign of the confirmed
delinquent. (p. 212, italics added)
Another suspect variable of interest to researchers has been offense seriousness. For exam-
ple, Kavanagh (1997) found that “persons arrested for serious crimes (felonies) were more
likely to resist arrest than those arrested for misdemeanors and violations” (p. 27). As com-
mon sense would have it, he went on to argue that police officers should use special care when
dealing with persons who are suspected of involvement in serious crime. In a similar vein,
Engel (2003) argued not so much that serious criminals are more prone to resistance but that
intoxicated persons and suspects who were fighting with others prior to police arrival on the
scene may be prone to resistance (see also Fagan, 1990; Muir, 1977).
Yet another suspect characteristic potentially linked to resistance is age of the suspect.
Much research shows that juveniles tend to have more negative...