The research sought to find out the effectiveness of the use of the Taser on lawbreakers who resisted arrest (White & Ready, 2010). The findings show that the police are likely to use the Taser on lawbreakers who appear violent and who are likely to become a nuisance. Though the Taser is meant to subdue trouble makers and make their arrest easy, in some cases, this has not been possible since the Taser did not deploy as expected, thereby not reaching the skin of the patients (White & Ready, 2010). In other situations, the results of the Taser were fatal, primarily when used on older adults or young children. It, therefore, means that it may not have achieved its objective as it may have been anticipated. The general significance of the study of this topic is that it tells the police officers that they must ensure that they deploy the Taser in the right manner so that it achieves its objective. Among the issues that they should address include the fact that there should be at a distance of at least 21 feet between the police officer and the person on whom the Taser is to be used. More so, they should not use it on children and the older adults as it is likely to lead to their deaths. The thesis or main idea from this article is that the Taser can work effectively if it is deployed correctly and to people in middle ages who could be of sound mind. The hypothesis is that the Taser may not work effectively in some situations or to some people. The previous literature answers these issues by making comparisons between what was used in the past and what is being used in the present. It has looked at the effectiveness of other methods of subduing violent lawbreakers since the 1960s when there used to be several cases of civil unrest in the U.S. The police used force on unarmed protesters, something that brought a bad name to the police. Eventually, other methods, like the use of the Oleoresin Capsicum (O.C.), pepper sprays, impact weapons, and foams, among others, were developed. All these were non-lethal methods of dealing with lawbreakers who were likely to turn violent. However, the effects of these methods lasted longer. That was why there was a need to get an alternative that could have taken a shorter time. The Taser gun came in to take that position. The way the articles have reviewed the research is comprehensive. The reason is that it has covered an extensive period, beginning the 1920s to the present times. It has also shown how evolution has taken place in the use of non-lethal methods of combating people who are a nuisance to the community. That comparison is wide enough to show that the literature review was comprehensive. The article was published in 2010. Articles cited that were less than seven years old are 15. The remaining 26 articles are more than seven years old. The sample size used in this research was 375 police officers who had used the Taser in their line of duty. They were sampled from about 35,000 police officers from the New York Police Department (NYPD) (White & Ready, 2010). The sampling design used is purposive sampling. The reason is that only reports made by police officers who had used the Taser were the ones that were used in this study. ii. How does the sampling design used to affect the validity of the study. The sampling is designed to affect the validity of the study by choosing study subjects from a population that had used the Taser. The selected population had also made reports about the effectiveness of the Taser so that it could be possible to make follow-ups. The study’s unit of analysis is the New York Police Department. The research design employed in this research is a case study. The reason is that it has tied itself to how the New York Police Department has used the Taser and the findings that this police department has learned from the use of this tool. More so, it has covered three years of use of this weapon by the New York Police Department only.
The study’s time dimension
The time dimension of this research is from 2002-2005
Method of data collection
The study’s method of data collection was primary, as it relied on what the NYPD had gathered from the field as far as the use of Taser is concerned.
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Type of study
The research was non-experimental. The reason is that it does not follow the steps that a real experiment is supposed to follow. These steps are the identification of the problem, hypothesis, setting up the experiment, analyze data and conclude
3. Measures
i. The x (independent) and y (dependent) variables
The independent variable in this research was the levels of suspect resistance towards the police. These levels determine whether the Taser could be used or not. The dependent variable was the police who made the judgment on whether to use the Taser or not under the prevailing circumstances.
The quality of the variables
The quality of both independent and dependent variables was thorough. The reason is that they have both shown the extent to which they have played a significant role in this research. The police have confirmed the extreme circumstances in which they used the Taser. The suspects have also demonstrated the high level of resistance that led to being silenced by the use of the Taser.
Presence of threats to the validity and reliability of the variables
The threats to validity and reliability originate from the fact that the research concentrated on only one police department in the entire U.S.: the NYPD (White & Ready, 2010). It, therefore, makes it impossible to generalize the findings of this research to the U.S. as a whole police force.
i. Causal relationship being investigated
The causal relationship that the study is investigating is the effectiveness of the Taser among suspected troublemakers. There is a need to establish whether it is capable of neutralizing troublemakers as expected or whether there is a need to improve on its performance.
How causality is presented
The study’s methods have established causality as they have indicated the limitations of the study. Among the limitations are the reports made from about the Taser equipment that has led the police making a report. It implies that the use of a Taser in which statements were not made is left out.
Presence of threats to the study’s casual validity
Threats to casual validity have not been pointed out.
The limitation includes that only the NYPD records on the use of Taser were analyzed. Other states were left out. Another limitation is that the study zeroed in on studies of reports made by police only. It means that studies in which statements were not made have been left out.
The authors have presented a persuasive argument. The reason is that they have compiled very many reports concerning the use of Taser in New York. The results got are scientific as there is a possibility of getting the same results even by using another researcher. Nothing is likely to change.
Conclusion
Something that the article adds to the knowledge of the reader is that it is possible to research primary sources. The primary sources, in this case, are the police reports compiled by the NYPD from 2002-2005 (White & Ready, 2010).
The implication for criminal justice that can be derived from this article is that the police should look for better ways of using the Taser so that they get optimum results from its usage without harming the suspects. Otherwise, the casual manner in which the police use it may not provide the desired results.
Reference
White, M.D., & Ready, J. (2010). The impact of the Taser on suspect resistance: Identifying predictors of effectiveness. Crime and Delinquency, 56 (1) pp 70-102.
