Typifications
Chambliss studied two groups of youth: the middle-class 'Saints' and the working-class 'Roughnecks'.
He found that, while both groups committed offences, the police enforced the law more strictly against the Roughnecks. Cicourel argues that police officers hold typifications — ideas about what a 'typical criminal' is like. For example, they are more likely to regard working-class rather than middle-class individuals with suspicion resulting in more arrests for this group.
Piliavin and Briar found that 'situational factors' play a large part in police officers' decisions to stop or arrest a person. These include the individual's class, ethnicity, age, attitude towards the officer, and place and time of day or night. Thus two different individuals can commit the same offence but one may be more likely than the other to be arrested.