Police reactions to crimes involving people with mental retardation: A cross-cultural experimental study

Police officers in Western Australia and Pennsylvania were asked to describ e their likely responses to crime reports. Some of the reports involved per sons with mental retardation who were identified as either victims or alleg ed assailants of the crimes. Multiple regression analysis of the data using a completely randomized factorial research design revealed that officers r esponded differently to crimes involving persons with mental retardation. R esponse patterns were not consistent. That is, in some cases, police office rs were more tolerant of the disability; in others they were less tolerant. Thus police officers were influenced by the presence of mental retardation , but they were unsure how they should react to the disability. Response pa tterns were not different for Australian and Pennsylvania police. Implicati ons for training and further research are discussed.