Publication Date
3-13-2023
Abstract
This study operationalized quantitative measures of crime and deviance through the categorization of coding narrative violations as a specific section of the law. The aggregate number of violations in the game and fish, waters of the state, ports, and watercraft, and conservation and natural resources categories, which make up the majority of the total violations, suggests that these laws may be a priority for law enforcement or that there are many people violating these rules. However, without more information it is difficult to say what is significant about the data without more context. The difference in citations and warnings between the crimes and offenses category and the motor vehicles and traffic category may be due to various factors such as the complexity of offenses, enforcement priorities, and ease of enforcing specific rules. Moreover, the relatively low percentage of violations in the alcoholic beverages, criminal procedure, health, and insurance categories suggests that these codes are not as heavily enforced or may be less relevant to the studied population. Therefore, this study highlights the need for detailed incident-based data to measure the extent of game warden work overlap with routine law enforcement, and for a nuanced understanding of the factors that influence enforcement priorities and strategies.