When Suspects Resist Arrest: Prevalence, Correlates, and Implications for Front-Line Policing

• DOI: 10.1177/1098611120957767
• Date: 01 June 2021
• Published date: 01 June 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

When Suspects Resist

Arrest: Prevalence,

Correlates, and

Implications for

Front-Line Policing

Kelly A. Hine

1

, Jason L. Payne

1

, and

Alex R. Piquero

3,4

Abstract

Police use of force is one of the most critical issues in policing with research consistently

finding that the best predictor of force is suspect resistance. Yet, resistance itself is rel-

atively rarely researched. This study drew from the Drug Use Monitoring in Australian

(DUMA) program – Australia’s longest running cross-sectional survey of offenders. Data

was analyzed using multivariate and multi-level logistic regression to identify factors that

predict suspect resistance in terms of whether the suspect was charged with resisting

arrest or not. Results showed that while suspect resistance was relatively rare, it was

more common under specific situations. Factors relating to offender demographics, crime,

temporal/situational, and policing district all contributed to whethe r suspects were

charged with resisting arrest. Moreover, the results showed that the policing region

was the strongest predictor of whether a detainee was charged with suspect resistance.

These findings highlight the complex and multifaceted nature of police-citizen encounters.

Keywords

police, law enforcement, resist

1

ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

2

The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, United States

3

Department of Sociology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, United States

4

School of Social Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

Corresponding Author:

Kelly A. Hine, ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods,Australian National University, Room 2.24,

Beryl Rawson Building, Ellery Crescent, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.

Email: kelly.hine@anu.edu.au

Police Quarterly

2021, Vol. 24(2) 135–158

!The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/1098611120957767

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Understanding police off‌icer decision-making, especially within the context of

interactions with citizens and including the potential use of force, has long been

of interest to social scientists (see Piliavin & Briar, 1964; D. A. Smith, 1984).

Police-citizen interactions can often be dangerous and unpredictable events;

especially when off‌icers encounter noncomplying citizens. In these dynamic

and rapidly unfolding events, off‌icers are expected to make diff‌icult decisions

about the use of force. Too much force may be deemed excessive or unnecessary,

while not enough force may put off‌icers and the community at risk of harm

(Hine et al., 2018a). Global events in the last decade have highlighted the pub-

lic’s demand to understand police-citizen interactions. For example, the fatal

police shootings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner in the US

generated the ‘Black Lives Matter’ and ‘Hands-Up, Don’t Shoot’ social move-

ments and protests (Stayner, 2016, July 17), and the recent murder of George

Floyd on May 25, 2020 has generated renewed calls for serious police reform.

The police shooting of a Black man in England resulted in riots in 66 locations

(Bridges, 2012). In Australia, four fatal police shootings during a one-month

period resulted in a formal review (Queensland Police Service, 2016a) and,

during the same period, another formal review was conducted into potential

misuses of force within one policing district (Queensland Police Service, 2016b).

Accordingly, the use of force by police is one of the most critical issues in

policing today with major law enforcement groups holding international

forums to address the problem and investigate alternative options to avoid or

reduce violent behavior (International Association of Chiefs of Police, 2001;

Police Executive Research Forum, 2016), all of which are designed, in part, to

help regain and/or build trust and cooperation between the police and the com-

munity (President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, 2015).

Research consistently f‌inds that the best predictor of police use of force is

suspect resistance (Alpert & Dunham, 1997; Bayley & Garofalo, 1989; Bolger,

2015; Dunham & Alpert, 2015; Engel et al., 2000; McCluskey et al., 2005;

Terrill, 2005; Worden et al., 1996), yet, suspect resistance itself is relatively

rarely researched (see Jetelina et al., 2017). Suspect resistance is typically studied

as a predictor of police behavior (Mastrofski et al., 1995, 2002; Worden &

Shepard, 1996) and police use of force (Alpert et al., 2004; Bazley et al., 2007;

Garner et al., 1995; Hine et al., 2018a, 2018b; MacDonald et al., 2003; Morabito

et al., 2012; Terrill, 2003, 2005; Terrill & Mastrofski, 2002; Wolf et al., 2009) or

off‌icer injuries (Covington et al., 2014; Hine et al., 2018b; MacDonald et al.,

2009; Paoline et al., 2012; M. R. Smith et al., 2007; Taylor & Woods, 2010).

These f‌indings suggest that off‌icer behavior is inf‌luenced by suspect resistance.

Due to the role that suspect resistance plays in these violent confrontations, it is

important that we better understand the factors inf‌luencing, and predictors of,

suspect resistance in order to help inform guidelines and policies surrounding

the use of force.

136 Police Quarterly 24(2)