Imminent Capture and Noncompliance: Probing Deterrence in Extreme Environments

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2019

Abstract

Understanding how deterrence operates under extreme conditions is both elusive and important. Studying suspect noncompliance in the form of flight during police-involved vehicle chases provides the opportunity to do this. These are crimes where the certainty of detection could not be higher, yet noncompliance is the end result and arguably comes because of the enhanced sanction risk rather than the obverse (deterrence) or in spite of it (defiance). Drawing from a qualitative sample of 25 auto thieves who have fled from the police, we explore their pre-chase perceptions, their motives for flight, and their decision-making processes during flight to probe the theoretical boundaries of perceptual deterrence. To this end, we pay particular attention to the mediating role of ambiguity aversion and belief updating in reconciling two seemingly inconsistent theoretical perspectives: risk framing and rational choice.

Publication Title

Justice Quarterly

Volume

36

Issue

6

First Page

1122

Last Page

1143

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1080/07418825.2018.1476577

ISSN

07418825

E-ISSN

17459109

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