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Published Version (Advanced Access)CC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
From evasion to retaliation: exploring the motivations behind assaults on police
Policing and Society, Vol.35(9), pp.1235-1255
2025
Appears in UniSC Supported Open Access Outputs
Abstract
Assaults on police have emerged as a pressing concern for police, authorities, and the public. Despite this, there is relatively little research about assaults on police – particularly why individuals assault police. This study provides the first comprehensive exploration of the motives behind assaults on police officers in Australia. It examined 170 reports consisting of two coroners reports and 168 court findings of substantiated cases of assaults on police. The findings revealed four key motives: evasive resistance, retaliatory aggression, provoked aggression, and protective confrontation. Each motive reflects distinct offender intentions, moving beyond situational and demographic factors to focus on the underlying reasons for the assaults. The findings show that most assaults are driven by attempts to evade arrest or retaliate against past encounters. Overall, these findings provide insights into the underlying drivers of police assaults to help inform the development of targeted policies and strategies aimed at prevention. By focusing on the root causes and specific circumstances that lead to such incidents, this research contributes to the ongoing efforts to enhance officer safety and reduce the frequency of assaults on police officers.
Details
- Title
- From evasion to retaliation: exploring the motivations behind assaults on police
- Authors
- Kelly Hine (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Law and SocietyKatie Davenport-Klunder (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Law and SocietyCatherine Creamer (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Law and SocietyDimitra Lattas (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Law and SocietyKelley Burton (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Law and Society
- Publication details
- Policing and Society, Vol.35(9), pp.1235-1255
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Date published
- 2025
- DOI
- 10.1080/10439463.2025.2475134
- ISSN
- 1477-2728; 1043-9463
- Copyright note
- © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Law and Society
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991109946302621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Criminology & Penology
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