Police Deviance : Rotten Apple or Rotten Barrel?

Criminal Justice : Policy and Practice

Police Deviance : Rotten Apple or Rotten Barrel?

Jessica

18th November 2010

Contents

1. Abtract……………………………………………………………………..….P.3
2. Bad Barrel : Police culture leads to corruption………………………..…..…..P.5
3. Application : IRA Miscarriage of Justice………………………………….....P.10
4. Application : Case of Rolando Mandoza………….…………………………P.12
5. Policy implication…………………………………………………………….P.14
6. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………P.16
7. References……………………………………………………………………P.18

Abstract
The term paper attempts to examine the problem of Police Corruption. Police force is the only body in the society who are given authority to use the force towards citizens, any malpractice in the police force will harm the society. Therefore, it is important to investigate and understand the chronic police corruption in the force. “Police corruption” in this paper is defined as “any behavior performed by police officers who is improper, not ethnical, dishonest, deviant or against the law (criminal)” (Barker & Roebuck,1973). In the study of the police corruption, two schools of thoughts prevail : “Rotten Apple” Theory and “Rotten Barrel” Theory.
The Rotten Apple Theory first appeared in the Knapp Commission Report released in 1973(Lahue,Ruiz,Clarke,1999) . According to this theory, any police deviance is individualized as an individual problem, organizational and institutional factors are downplayed or ignored. This stream perceives police corruption as a rotten apple in a clean barrel. In other words, it is an individualistic model of deviance (Punch,2003).
The Rotten Apple Theory was criticized by the former commissioner of New York Police Department, Patrick Murphy, who perceives police corruption was contributed by the failure of the police system. Contrasts to the Rotten Apple Theory, organizational factors were emphasized. It is the barrel making the apple rotten instead of the rotten apple contaminates the barrel. Patrick

References: Barker T. and Roebuck J.B., 1973, The Empirical Typology of Police Corruption, Springfield, IL ; Thomas James Q Kappeler.V, Sluder.R & Alpert G., 1994, Forces of Deviance : Understanding the Dark Side of Policing. Prospect Hills, IL. Waveland Press Knapp Commission, 1973, The Knapp Commission Report on police corruption, New York, George Braziller Lori Lahue, Jim Ruiz, Pam Clark, 1999, Serotonin : What role has it in the making of a “Rotten Apple”? , Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, Vol 14, Issue 2, P.20-28, Springer Bonston Morgan R , Newburn T,1997, The Role of Police Murphy Patrick.V, 1973, Police Corruption, Police Chief, 12, pp.36-72 Stephen K.Rice & Michael D Rob White & Santina Perrone, 2001, Crime and Social Control, Oxford O.P