The Police Research Lab (PRL) is a working group of doctoral students and faculty in the School of Criminal Justice (SCJ) at Michigan State University (MSU) that conducts research related to policing and police officers. The PRL is directed by Drs. Scott Wolfe and Jeff Rojek from the SCJ. The purpose of the PRL is to provide a mechanism for Drs. Wolfe and Rojek and their doctoral students to work collaboratively on police and policing-related research projects. Lab members routinely engaged in practitioner-researcher partnerships with police departments around the United States and federal law enforcement agencies. These projects result policy-oriented reports for these agencies and peer-reviewed publications. The lab also conducts research on existing datasets to address timely publications and presentations with practical and theoretical significance.
Scott Wolfe
Scott Wolfe is an Associate Professor in the School of Criminal Justice (SCJ) at Michigan State University (MSU) and is co-director of the Police Research Lab (PRL). He received his PhD in criminology and criminal justice from Arizona State University. Scott’s research focuses on policing, organizational justice, legitimacy, and criminological theory and routinely involves research partnerships with local and federal law enforcement agencies. Currently, he is principal investigator on a Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Strategies in Policing Innovation (SPI) grant with the Saginaw (MI) Police Department (SPD). This project focuses on improving police-community relations and engagement through front-porch roll calls in Saginaw neighborhoods. He is principal investigator on a BJA Project Safe Neighborhoods grant that involves a partnership with SPD, other local and federal law enforcement agencies, and community service providers to develop focused deterrence strategies to combat gang-related and other violent crimes in Saginaw. Scott is co-principal investigator on a National Science Foundation grant that involves a partnership with the Grand Rapids (MI) Police Department and examines the factors that contribute to favorable officer decision making and officers’ physiological responses to stressful citizen encounters. Scott recently completed a National Institute of Justice grant evaluating a police officer social interaction and de-escalation training program. His other recent work has examined issues such as the predictors of police officer seatbelt use, police managers’ support for organizational justice, officers’ experience with negative publicity and the Ferguson Effect, officers’ willingness to use procedural justice, and the legal socialization process.
Jeff Rojek
Jeff Rojek is an Associate Professor in the School of Criminal Justice and Director of the Center Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection at Michigan State University. He received his Ph.D. in criminology and criminal justice from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Jeff’s research focuses on policing and anti-counterfeiting. He has received more than $3 million in research funding from federal (National Institute of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health), state and local agencies as a principal and co-principal investigator to examine topics that include police practitioner-researcher partnerships, intelligence led-policing, violent crime, law enforcement response to disasters, officer decision-making, officer safety and police training.
Funded projects
- “Saginaw Community, Offender, and Victim Cooperation Initiative” (2019-WY-BX-0003). Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Strategies for Policing Innovation (SPI). Principal Investigator: Scott Wolfe; Amount: $646,706 ($266,941 to MSU).
- Grad students = Spencer Lawson, Travis Carter, David Nam
- “Project Safe Neighborhoods – Saginaw Violent Gang and Gun Crime Reduction Program” (2019-GP-BX-0060). Eastern District of Michigan. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance. Principal Investigator: Scott Wolfe; Investigator: Allison Rojek. Amount: $351,844 ($135,541 to MSU).
- Grad students = Spencer Lawson, Travis Carter, David Nam
- “Improving Officer Safety and Decision-making by Understanding and Harnessing Within-Officer States and Between-Officer Traits.” National Science Foundation. Principal Investigator: Brent Scott; Co-Investigators: John Hollenbeck, Joe Hamm, and Scott E. Wolfe. Amount: $499,884.
Individual research projects
- Procedural justice moderates the relationship between police ineffectiveness and perceived legitimacy (Nam and Wolfe).
- This project examines the extent to which peoples’ perceptions of procedural justice moderate the relationship between their views of police ineffectiveness and perceived legitimacy. The findings suggest that the negative relationship between perceived ineffectiveness and legitimacy evaluations is minimized when people view the police as more procedurally fair.
- Extending the invariance thesis: The invariant effect of police legitimacy on cooperation and empowerment (Nam and Wolfe).
- This project extends the invariance thesis by examining whether police legitimacy evaluations are associated with cooperation and empowerment to a similar degree across demographic groups.
- The effect of perceived disorder on fear of crime is moderated by police legitimacy and informal social control (Carter and Wolfe).
- This project explores the conditioning role of police legitimacy evaluations and perceptions of neighborhood informal social control on the relationship between perceived disorder and fear of crime. The findings demonstrate that the impact of disorder on fear of crime is minimized by higher perceptions of police legitimacy and informal social control. That is, these factors protect against the ill effects of neighborhood disorder.
- Officers’ lived experiences with the barriers to social interaction training programs (Moore, Lawson, Rojek, and Wolfe).
- This paper uses qualitative interviews with police officers and trainers that participated in a long-term social interaction training program in two U.S. police departments. We focused on officers’ and trainers’ experiences with the training with specific attention devoted toward their perceptions of the barriers that may impede the success of such programs.
- Organizational justice protects against the effect of occupational stress on police misconduct (Lawson, Wolfe, and Rojek).
- This paper demonstrates that officers’ perceptions of organizational justice protect against the effect of occupational stress on police misconduct. Officers’ occupational stress is positively associated with their support for noble-cause corruption beliefs, but this relationship is minimized if they believe their supervisors are organizationally fair.
- Police stress and negative work outcomes: A meta-analysis (Lawson and Wolfe).
- We are conducting a meta-analysis of the impact of various police officer stressors and negative work-related outcomes.
Presentations to Police Departments, Policy Makers, and/or the Public
- Wolfe, Scott E. (2020). “Racial justice and public safety: Defunding, defending, and the future of policing.” Community forum presenter. Forum hosted by the Flint Area Public Affairs Forum. Flint, MI. Presented with Chief of the Flint Police Department, President of Flint Black Lives Matter, and Director of the Flint Center for Health Equity Solutions.
- McLean, Kyle, Scott E. Wolfe, and Jeff Rojek. (2020). “Experiences from a randomized-controlled trial of police social interaction training.” Webinar presentation hosted by the Justice Clearinghouse. October 2020. (168 attendees; offered as continuing education credits for officers).
- Wolfe, Scott, and Jeff Rojek. (2020). “What works in police training?” Presentation at the Legislative Lunch Forum, Institute for Public Policy and Social Research, Michigan State University. September 2020.
- McLean, Kyle, Scott E. Wolfe, Jeff Rojek, Geoff Alpert, and Brian Lande. (2020). “What works in police training?” Symposium on police training organized and hosted by the Metropolitan Police Department and New Orleans Police Department.
- Wolfe, Scott. (2020). “Listening session on criminal justice and race.” Virtual meeting with researchers, state representatives, and local criminal justice practitioners. Hosted by the Scholars Strategy Network (SSN) of Michigan. June 2020.
- Rojek, Jeff, and Scott Wolfe. (2020). “Avoiding the need for de-escalation – A social interaction training experiment.” Livestream presentation with the National Police Foundation. June 2020.
- Wolfe, Scott, and Jeff Rojek. (2020). “What works in police training?” Presentation to Michigan Legislative Staff, Legislative Leadership Program (Legislative Staff Training), Institute for Public Policy and Social Research, Michigan State University. June 2020.
- Wolfe, Scott, Jeff Rojek, Kyle McLean, and Geoff Alpert. (2019). “An evaluation of a social interaction training program to reduce the use of force and build legitimacy.” Presentation to command staff at the Tucson Police Department. May 2019.
- McLean, Kyle, and Scott Wolfe. (2019). “Police Officers as Warriors or Guardians: Empirical Reality or Intriguing Rhetoric.” Presentation to the Charles Koch Institute, Future of Policing Network. May 1.
- Wolfe, Scott. (2019). “Policing the Police.” Panel member. Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Team, School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University. East Lansing, MI. March 20.
- Wolfe, Scott, Kyle McLean, Jeff Rojek, and Geoff Alpert. (2019). “Evaluating a Long-Term Social Interaction Police Training Program: A Randomized-Controlled Trial in the Real World.” Presentation at the Conference for Producing a Volume of the ANNALS of the AAPSS (“Fatal Police Shootings”). The Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, PA. February 7.
- Rojek, Jeff, Victor M. Manjarrez, Jr., Scott E. Wolfe, and Allison Rojek. (2017). “El Paso Sector Border Patrol Agent Survey Report.” Presentation to Acting Chief, United States Border Patrol, Carla L. Provost. Washington, D.C.
- Wolfe, Scott E. (2017). “The Ferguson Effect: What We Know and How it Can be Prevented.” Presentation to the Southern Police Institute’s Alumni Association Annual Conference. North Myrtle Beach, SC. July 13.
- Wolfe, Scott E. (2016). “The Role of the Police: The Impact of Police/Community Relations.” Panel discussant for event hosted by the Federalist Society and American Constitution Society of the University of South Carolina Law School. February 25.
- Wolfe, Scott E. (2015). “Columbia, SC Smart Policing Initiative: Applying the UK National Intelligence Model.” Presentation given as part of the Smart Policing Initiative webinar series sponsored by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, US Department of Justice and CNA Corporation. January 21.
Conference Presentations
- Wolfe, Scott E., Kyle McLean, Jeff Rojek, Geoff Alpert, and Mike Smith. (2019). A randomized-controlled trial of social interaction police training: Outcomes. The 75th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, San Francisco, CA.
- McLean, Kyle, Scott E. Wolfe, Jeff Rojek, Geoff Alpert, and Mike Smith. (2019). A randomized controlled trial of social interaction police training: Receptivity. The 75th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, San Francisco, CA.
- Wolfe, Scott E., Kyle McLean, Jeff Rojek, Mike Smith, and Geoff Alpert. (2018). A randomized-controlled trial of a police social-interaction training program: Tact, Tactics, and Trust (T3). The 74th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Atlanta, GA.
- Hamm, Joseph, and Scott E. Wolfe. (2018). Disentangling the relative importance of the major dimensions of procedural justice and trustworthiness. The 74th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Atlanta, GA.
- Nix, Justin, Scott E. Wolfe, Justin Pickett, and Brandon Tregle. (2018). An exploration of the sources of self-legitimacy among a US sample of municipal police executives. The 74th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Atlanta, GA.
- Tregle, Brandon, Justin Nix, Justin Pickett, and Scott E. Wolfe. (2018). When will police executives release footage from body-worn cameras? A national experiment. The 74th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Atlanta, GA.
- Wolfe, Scott E. Jeff Rojek, Victor M. Manjarrez, Jr., and Allison Rojek. (2017). Why does organizational justice matter? Uncertainty management among Border Patrol agents. The 73rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Philadelphia, PA.
- Nix, Justin, Scott E. Wolfe, and Bradley Campbell. (2017). The (in)variance of police self-legitimacy. The 73rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Philadelphia, PA.
- McLean, Kyle, Scott E. Wolfe, Meg Chrusciel, and Robert Kaminski. (2017). On the viability of vignette studies in procedural justice research. The 54th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Kansas City, MO.
- Nix, Justin, Justin T. Pickett, Scott E. Wolfe, and Bradley Campbell. (2017). Demeanor, race, and police perceptions of procedural justice: Evidence from two randomized experiments. The 54th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Kansas City, MO.
- Wolfe, Scott E., and Kyle McLean. (2016). Procedural injustice, risky lifestyles, and violent victimization. The 72nd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, New Orleans, LA.
- Shjarback, John, Scott Decker, David Pyrooz, and Scott E. Wolfe. (2016). De-policing among Missouri police departments in the wake of Ferguson. The 72nd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, New Orleans, LA.
- Rojek, Jeff, Geoff Alpert, Scott E. Wolfe, and Hope M. Tiesman. (2016). Challenges to seatbelt use by officers. International Association of Chiefs of Police (ICAP) Annual Conference, San Diego, CA.
- Chrusciel, Meg, Andy Hansen, Scott E. Wolfe, Jeff Rojek, and Robert Kaminski. (2016). Principals’ perceptions of potential responses to active school shooters. The 53rd Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Denver, CO.
- Metcalfe, Christi, Scott E. Wolfe, Evelyn Gertz, and Marc Gertz. (2016). The impact of policing terrorism on police legitimacy and public cooperation: A study of Israeli Jewish perceptions. The 53rd Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Denver, CO.
- Nix, Justin, and Wolfe, Scott E. (2016). Sensitivity to the Ferguson Effect. The 53rd Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Denver, CO.
- Wolfe, Scott E., Kyle McLean, and Travis Pratt. (2016). Parental attitudes, legal socialization, and police legitimacy. The 53rd Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Denver, CO.
- McLean, Kyle, Scott E. Wolfe, Meg Chrusciel, and Robert Kaminski. (2016). South Carolina law enforcement executives’ perceptions of body-worn camera use and policy. The 53rd Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Denver, CO.
- Wolfe, Scott E., and Justin Nix. (2015). Does Officer Self-Legitimacy Minimize the Impact of Supervisor Procedural Injustice? Police Organizational Trust and Sensitivity to the Ferguson Effect. The 71st Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Washington, DC.
- Nix, Justin, and Scott E. Wolfe. (2015). The impact of negative publicity on police self-legitimacy. The Annual Meeting of the Southern Criminal Justice Association, Charleston, SC.
- McLean, Kyle, and Scott E. Wolfe. (2015). Procedural justice and offending: The mediating role of neutralizations. The 52nd Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Orlando, FL.
- Alpert, Geoffrey P., J. Andrew Hansen, Jeff Rojek, and Scott E. Wolfe. (2014). The impact of organizational policies and practices on police officer-involved motor vehicle collisions. The 70th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, San Francisco, CA.
- Hansen, J. Andrew, Jeff Rojek, Geoffrey Alpert, Scott E. Wolfe, and Hope Tiesman. (2013). Officer and citizen injury and fatality outcomes from law enforcement vehicle collisions. The 69th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Atlanta, GA.
- Nix, Justin, Jeff Rojek, Robert Kaminski, and Scott E. Wolfe. (2013). Influencing police organizational change: Who are the key players? The 69th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Atlanta, GA.
- Chrusciel, Meg, J. Andrew Hansen, Scott E. Wolfe, Jeff Rojek, and Robert Kaminski. (2013). Law enforcement and educator perspectives on school resource officers. The 69th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Atlanta, GA.
- Wolfe, Scott E. (2010). Organizational justice and police misconduct. The 37th Annual Meeting of the Western Society of Criminology, Honolulu, HI.
- Wolfe, Scott E. (2008). Procedural Justice and Police Legitimacy during Online Solicitation of Children for sex investigations: A path analysis of the role of a procedure-specific measure of police legitimacy. The 45th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Cincinnati, OH.
- Vito, Gennaro F., William Walsh, George E. Higgins, and Scott E. Wolfe. (2008). Police ethics: An examination of middle management using the Klockars Scale. The 45th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Cincinnati, OH.
Funded projects
- “VALOR Officer Safety Initiative – National Coordinating Team.” Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance. Subcontracted by the National Police Foundation. Principal Investigator: Jeff Rojek; Co-Investigator: Scott E. Wolfe. Amount: $86,433.
- “An examination of officer-involved shootings at the Phoenix Police Department.” Consultants: Geoff Alpert, Justin Nix, Jeff Rojek, and Scott Wolfe. Contracted by the National Police Foundation.
- “VALOR Officer Safety and Wellness Pilot Project.” Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance. Consultants: Jeff Rojek and Scott Wolfe. Graduate Assistant: Spencer Lawson. Contracted by the National Police Foundation.
- “An evaluation of a social interaction training program to reduce use of force and build legitimacy” (2016-IJ-CX-0018). Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, Research and Evaluation in Support of the Recommendations of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Principal Investigator: Geoffrey P. Alpert; Co-Investigators: Jeff Rojek, Scott E. Wolfe, and Michael Smith. Amount: $799,454.
- “Columbia Ceasefire: An extension to the integrated data exchange and analysis project.” Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Smart Policing Initiative (SPI). Grant awarded to the Columbia (SC) Police Department and subcontract awarded to Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice ($44,361 to USC). Principal investigator: Scott Wolfe.
- “Evidence based solutions to reduce law enforcement officer vehicle crashes.” Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance. Principal Investigator: Geoffrey P. Alpert; Co-Principal Investigator: Jeff Rojek; Consultant: Scott Wolfe.
- “Integrated data exchange and analysis (IDEA) project.” Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Smart Policing Initiative (SPI). Grant awarded to the Columbia (SC) Police Department and Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice ($298,523 total; $103,417 to USC). Principal Investigator: Jeff Rojek; Co-Investigator: Scott Wolfe and Robert Kaminski.
- “Evidence based solutions to reduce law enforcement officer vehicle crashes.” Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice. Principal Investigator: Jeff Rojek; Co-Principal Investigator: Geoffrey P. Alpert; Consultant: Scott Wolfe.
Media publications
- Nix, Justin, and Scott E. Wolfe. (2020). Defunding or disbanding the police is a dangerous idea if done hastily. Washington Post. June 18 (authorship is alphabetical).
- Shjarback, John, Scott Decker, Scott Wolfe, and David C. Pyrooz. (2017). De-policing, crime, and the ‘Ferguson effect’ in Missouri. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. October 3.
- Shjarback, John, Scott Decker, Scott Wolfe, and David C. Pyrooz. (2017). Did the Ferguson shooting make police less proactive? Washington Post. September 18.
- Tiesman, Hope, Jeff Rojek, Geoffrey P. Alpert, and Scott E. Wolfe. (2017). Officer-involved collisions: Magnitude, risk factors, and prevention. The Police Chief. May 2017.
- Wolfe, Scott E., Scott H. Decker, and David C. Pyrooz. (2016). What does science tell us about the so-called Ferguson effect? Quillette. March 1.
- Wolfe, Scott E., and Justin Nix. (2016). Managing police departments post-Ferguson: Officers want fairness and transparency from their bosses. Harvard Business Review. September 13.
- Wolfe, Scott E. (2016). When young people no longer see the police as procedurally fair, they are more likely to engage in risky behavior and be victimized. London School of Economics United States Politics and Policy Blog. August 18.
Technical Reports for Police Departments
- Carter, Travis, Yongjae (David) Nam, Allison Rojek, Scott E. Wolfe, & Spencer G. Lawson. (August 2020). “Spatial analysis of crime hot spots: City of Saginaw (2019-2020).” East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University, School of Criminal Justice.
- Carter, Travis, Yongjae (David) Nam, Spencer G. Lawson, Allison Rojek, & Scott E. Wolfe. (June 2020). “Analyzing the spatial distribution of crime: City of Saginaw (2017-2019).” East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University, School of Criminal Justice.
- Rojek, Allison, Scott E. Wolfe, Spencer G. Lawson, Travis Carter, & Yongjae (David) Nam. (May 2020). “Analyzing the spatial distribution of crime: City of Saginaw (2017-2019).” East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University, School of Criminal Justice.
- Rojek, Jeff, Justin Nix, Scott E. Wolfe, Geoff Alpert, James Burch, Julie Grieco, and Teresina Robbins. (2019). “Analysis of 2018 Use of Deadly Force by the Phoenix Police Department.” A report to the City of Phoenix (AZ). The National Police Foundation. Link.
- Rojek, Jeff, Victor M. Manjarrez, Jr., Scott E. Wolfe, and Allison Rojek. (2017). “El Paso Sector Border Patrol Agent Survey Report.” A report submitted to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Border Patrol, El Paso Sector. University of Texas at El Paso, Center for Law & Human Behavior.
- Wolfe, Scott E., and Margaret M. Chrusciel. (2017). “City of Columbia (SC) Police Department Smart Policing Initiative: An Addendum to the Final Report.” Addendum to the Final Report to the Bureau of Justice Assistance (Extension to Award No. 2009-DG-BX-K021).
- Wolfe, Scott E., Jeff Rojek, Robert J. Kaminski, and Justin Nix. (2015). “City of Columbia (SC) Police Department Smart Policing Initiative.” A Final Report to the Bureau of Justice Assistance (Award No. 2009-DG-BX-K021).
- McLean, Kyle, Scott E. Wolfe, Margaret M. Chrusciel, and Robert J. Kaminski. (2015). “Body-Worn Cameras in South Carolina: Law Enforcement Executives’ Views Concerning Use, Policies, and Outcomes.” (2015 Census). University of South Carolina, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
- Wolfe, Scott E., and Justin Nix.* (2015). “Results from the 2015 Richland County Sheriff’s Department employee survey.” University of South Carolina, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
- Chrusciel, Margaret M., Kyle McLean, Scott E. Wolfe, Bob J. Kaminski, and Jeff Rojek. (2015). “Officer-involved traffic collisions in South Carolina: Exploring the issue through official records (2001-2010) and survey responses of law enforcement executives.” (2014 Census). University of South Carolina, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
- Chrusciel, Margaret M., J. Andrew Hansen, Jeff Rojek, Scott E. Wolfe, and Bob J. Kaminski. (2014). “School resource officers (SROs) and the arming of school teachers or administrators as responses to school shootings: Results from a state census of law enforcement executives and public school principals.” (2013 Census). University of South Carolina, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
Publications
Police training
- McLean, Kyle, Scott E. Wolfe, Jeff Rojek, Geoffrey P. Alpert, and Michael R. Smith. (2020). A randomized-controlled trial of social interaction police training. Criminology & Public Policy, 19, 805-832.
- Wolfe, Scott E., Kyle McLean, Jeff Rojek, Geoffrey P. Alpert, and Michael R. Smith. (2020). Advancing a theory of police officer training motivation and receptivity. Justice Quarterly, DOI: 10.1080/07418825.2019.1703027.
- Wolfe, Scott E., Jeff Rojek, Kyle McLean, and Geoffrey P. Alpert. (2020). Advancing social interaction training to reduce the likelihood of officer use of force events. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 687(1), 124-145.
Police officers’ attitudes and beliefs
- McLean, Kyle, Scott E. Wolfe, Jeff Rojek, Geoffrey P. Alpert, and Michael R. Smith. (2020). Police officers as warrior or guardians: Empirical reality or intriguing rhetoric? Justice Quarterly, 37(6), 1096-1118.
- Nix, Justin, Scott E. Wolfe, and Brandon Tregle. (2018). Police Officers’ Attitudes toward Citizen Advisory Councils. Policing: An International Journal, 41(4), 418-434.
- Nix, Justin, Scott E. Wolfe, and Bradley Campbell. (2018). Command-level police officers’ perceptions of the “war on cops” and de-policing. Justice Quarterly, 35, 33-54.
- Nix, Justin, and Scott E. Wolfe. (2018). Management-level officers’ experiences with the Ferguson Effect. Policing: An International Journal 41(2), 262-275.
- Shjarback, John. A., Justin Nix, and Scott E. Wolfe. (2018). The ecological structuring of police officers’ perceptions of citizen cooperation. Crime & Delinquency, 64(9), 1143-1170.
- Nix, Justin,* and Scott E. Wolfe. (2017). The impact of negative publicity on police self-legitimacy. Justice Quarterly, 34(1), 84-108.
- Chrusciel, Margaret, Scott E. Wolfe, J. Andrew Hansen, Jeff Rojek, and Robert J. Kaminski. (2015). Law enforcement executive and principal perspectives on school safety measures: School resource officers and armed school employees. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 38 (1), 24-39.
- Vito, Gennaro F., Scott E. Wolfe, George E. Higgins, and William F. Walsh. (2011). Police integrity: Rankings of scenarios on the Klockars Scale by management cops. Criminal Justice Review, 36(2), 152-164.
Organizational justice
- Wolfe, Scott E., and Spencer G. Lawson. (2020). The organizational justice effect among criminal justice employees: A meta-analysis. Criminology, 58(4), 619-644.
- Lawson, Spencer G., and Scott E. Wolfe. (2020). “Organizational justice and policing.” In Geoffrey P. Alpert, Roger Dunham, and Kyle McLean (Eds.), Critical Issues in Policing (7th Edition). Waveland Press.
- Wolfe, Scott E. (2020). “Doing organizational justice: The role of police manager communication. In Howie Giles, Ed Maguire, and Shawn Hill (Eds.), The Rowman & Littlefield Handbook of Policing, Communication & Society. Sage.
- Wolfe, Scott E., Jeff Rojek, Victor M. Manjarrez, Jr., and Allison Rojek. (2018). Why does organizational justice matter? Uncertainty management among law enforcement officers. Journal of Criminal Justice, 54, 20-29.
- Wolfe, Scott E., Justin Nix, and Bradley Campbell. (2018). Police managers’ self-control and support for organizational justice. Law and Human Behavior, 42(1), 71-82.
- Wolfe, Scott E., and Justin Nix. (2017). Police officers’ trust in their agency: Does self-legitimacy protect against supervisor procedural injustice? Criminal Justice & Behavior, 44(5), 717-732.
- Nix, Justin, and Scott E. Wolfe. (2016). Sensitivity to the Ferguson Effect: The role of managerial organizational justice. Journal of Criminal Justice, 47, 12-20.
- Wolfe, Scott E., and Alex R. Piquero. (2011). Organizational justice and police misconduct. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 38(4), 332-353.
Officer-safety and wellness
- Lawson, Spencer G., Jeff Rojek, and Scott E. Wolfe. (2019). “A Safety and Wellness Toolkit for Law Enforcement: Ensuring Resilience and Survivability.” A report to the VALOR Officer Safety Initiative, Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance.
- Wolfe, Scott. E., Spencer G. Lawson, Jeff Rojek, and Geoffrey P. Alpert. (2020). Predicting police officer seat belt use: Evidence-based solutions to improve officer driving safety. Police Quarterly, 23(4), 472-499.
- Wolfe, Scott E., Jeff Rojek, Geoffrey P. Alpert, Hope Tiesman, and Stephen James. (2015). Characteristics of officer-involved vehicle collisions in California. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 38, 458-477.
- Hansen, J. Andrew, Jeff Rojek, Scott E. Wolfe, and Geoffrey P. Alpert. (2015). The influence of department policy and accountability on officer-involved collisions. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 38, 578-594.
Procedural justice and police-community relations
- Nix, Justin, Justin Pickett, and Scott E. Wolfe. (2020). Testing a theoretical model of perceived audience legitimacy: The neglected linkage in the dialogic model of police-community relations. Journal of Research in Crime & Delinquency, 57(2), 217-259.
- McLean, Kyle, Scott E. Wolfe, and Travis C. Pratt. (2019). Legitimacy and the life course: An age-graded examination of changes in legitimacy attitudes over time. Journal of Research in Crime & Delinquency, 56(1), 42-83.
- Nix, Justin, Justin Pickett, Scott E. Wolfe, and Bradley Campbell. (2017). Demeanor, race, and police perceptions of procedural justice: Evidence from two randomized experiments. Justice Quarterly, 34(7), 1154-1183.
- Alpert, Geoffrey P., Kyle McLean, and Scott E. Wolfe. (2017). Consent decrees: An approach to police accountability and reform. Police Quarterly, 20(3), 239-249.
- Wolfe, Scott E., and Kyle McLean. (2017). Procedural injustice, risky lifestyles, and violent victimization. Crime & Delinquency, 63(11), 1383-1409.
- Wolfe, Scott E., Kyle McLean, and Travis C. Pratt. (2017). I learned it by watching you: Legal socialization and the intergenerational transmission of legitimacy attitudes. British Journal of Criminology, 57(5), 1123-1143.
- Wolfe, Scott E., Chrusciel, Margaret, Jeff Rojek, J. Andrew Hansen, and Robert J. Kaminski. (2017). Procedural justice, legitimacy, and school principals’ evaluations of school resource officers: Support, perceived effectiveness, trust, and satisfaction. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 28(2), 107-138.
- Metcalfe, Christi, Scott E. Wolfe, Evelyn Gertz, and Marc Gertz. (2016). They protect our homeland but neglect our community: Homeland security overemphasis, legitimacy, and public cooperation in Israel. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 53(6), 814-839.
- Wolfe, Scott E., Justin Nix, Robert J. Kaminski, and Jeff Rojek. (2016). Is the effect of procedural justice on police legitimacy invariant? Testing the generality of procedural justice and competing antecedents of legitimacy. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 32(2), 253-282.
- Wolfe, Scott E., and Justin Nix. (2016). The alleged “Ferguson Effect” and police willingness to engage in community partnership. Law and Human Behavior, 40(1), 1-10.
- McLean, Kyle, and Scott E. Wolfe. (2016). A sense of injustice loosens the moral bind of law: Specifying the links between procedural injustice, neutralizations, and offending. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 43(1), 27-44.
- Nix, Justin, Scott E. Wolfe, Jeff Rojek, and Robert J. Kaminski. (2015). Trust in the police: The influence of procedural justice and perceived collective efficacy. Crime & Delinquency, 61(4), 610-640.
- Ferdik, Frank V., Scott E. Wolfe, and Nicholas Blasco. (2014). Informal social controls, procedural justice, and perceived police legitimacy: Do social bonds influence evaluations of police legitimacy? American Journal of Criminal Justice, 39, 471-492.
- Reisig, Michael D., Scott E. Wolfe, and Kristy Holtfreter. (2011). Legal cynicism, legitimacy, and criminal offending: The non-confounding effect of low self-control. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 38(12), 1265-1279.
- Wolfe, Scott E. (2011). The effect of low self-control on perceived police legitimacy. Journal of Criminal Justice, 39(1), 67-74.
Police and crime
- Shjarback, John. A., David C. Pyrooz, Scott E. Wolfe, and Scott H. Decker. (2017). De-policing and crime in the wake of Ferguson: Racialized changes in the quantity and quality of policing among Missouri police departments. Journal of Criminal Justice, 50, 42-52.
- Pyrooz, David C., Scott H. Decker, Scott E. Wolfe, and John Shjarback. (2016). Was there a Ferguson Effect on crime rates in large U.S. cities? Journal of Criminal Justice, 46, 1-8.