Suspicion formation among police officers: an international literature review

Abstract

Recent research on racial profiling has renewed attention on how police officers develop suspicions about citizens, and how these suspicions influence the official behavior of police. In order to guide the current research, a review of the wealth of existing qualitative and quantitative research on this topic is necessary. This literature review examines the existing international research in psychology, sociology, and criminology on police officer development of suspicion. It also lays out a framework for organizing the findings with four broad methods of suspicion development: stereotypical perceptions about typical criminal offenders, prior knowledge about specific citizens; incongruent circumstances, and suspicious nonverbal cues. It concludes with the few studies linking officer suspicions to official police behavior.

Keywords:

• police
• nonverbal cues
• psychology
• racial profiling
• symbolic assailant