bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A PROSPECTIVE TEST OF A CRIMINAL CAREER MODEL*
Authors: BARNETT ARNOLD , BLUMSTEIN ALFRED , FARRINGTON DAVID P.
Published: March 2006

In an earlier article in this journal, Barnett, Blumstein, and Farrington (1987) formulated a model that described the criminal careers of the multiple offenders in a cohort of London males that had been studied from their 10th to 25th birthdays. That model involved two subpopulations of offenders (denoted as “frequents” and “occasionals”), each characterized by a constant annual conviction rate (μ) and a constant probability (p) of terminating the career following a conviction. This article describes the results of a prospective and predictive test of the model using new data collected on the same offenders from their 25th to 30th birthdays. The original model accurately predicted the number of recidivists, the degree of recidivism risk, the total number of recidivist convictions, and the time intervals between recidivist convictions. However, the predictions for the frequents suffered some distortions introduced by a few “intermittent” offenders who seemed to have terminated their careers, but who re‐initiated offending during the test period after a long gap.
SPECIALIZATION IN VIOLENCE: EVIDENCE OF A CRIMINAL SUBGROUP*
Authors: BRENNAN PATRICIA , MEDNICK SARNOFF , JOHN RICHARD
Published: March 2006

This study examines the criminal arrest records of a Danish birth cohort of 28,884 men to test the hypothesis that specialization exists for violent offending. Property offending is included for comparison. Specialization in violence is found to exist for offenders with more than three arrests, and specialization in property offending, for offenders with fewer than four arrests. Knowledge of past violent offending is discussed as a potentially valuable part of the predictive equation of future violence.
HEREDITY AND CRIME: BAD GENES OR BAD RESEARCH?*
Authors: WALTERS GLENN D. , WHITE THOMAS W.
Published: March 2006

This review of the research literature on the heritability of criminal behavior organizes the studies by four basic research methodologies: family studies, twin studies, adoption studies, and gene‐environment interaction studies. Interpretation of the relationships observed in these studies is made ambiguous and problematic by critical methodological inadequacies in the research itself: The methodological Jaws notwithstanding, the research evidence does seem to suggest the existence of a fairly consistent relationship between heredity and criminal behavior. Recommendations concerning the future direction of research in this area are discussed.
PROSECUTORIAL DISCRETION IN FILING CHARGES IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CASES*
Authors: SCHMIDT JANELL , STEURY ELLEN HOCHSTEDLER
Published: March 2006

Based on data collected from prosecutors' files on domestic violence cases, the research reported here attempts to isolate variables associated with a decision to issue criminal charges in a case. The analysis reveals that variables reflective of the defendant's current or past choices were most strongly associated with the charging decision. Specifically, the defendant's appearing at the charging conference and his use of drugs or alcohol at the time of the violence were the factors most strongly associated with the decision to issue a criminal charge. Other related factors were also reflective of choices made by the defendant: degree of injury inflicted, the instrument used, the fact of prior offenses, and prior abuse of the particular victim.
PRETREATMENT CHARACTERISTICS AND TREATMENT PERFORMANCE OF LEGALLY COERCED VERSUS VOLUNTARY METHADONE MAINTENANCE ADMISSIONS*
Authors: ANGLIN M. DOUGLAS , BRECHT MARY‐LYNN , MADDAHIAN EBRAHIM
Published: March 2006

Analyses were conducted to determine whether addicts coerced into treatment by actions of the criminal justice system differed from voluntary entrants in terms of background characteristics, early risk factors, or drug use and criminal behavior during pretreatment, treatment, and post treatment periods. Subjects were categorized into high, moderate, and low legal coercion groups based on their official legal status, related narcotics testing requirements, and their self‐reported perceptions of criminal justice system coercion. Those induced to enter the treatment program through legal channels had slightly higher rates of serious property offenses and higher proportions of time incarcerated and under legal supervision, but they did not differ from voluntary entrants in overall criminal behavior during pretreatment periods. All groups showed substantial improvement in level of narcotics use, criminal involvement, and most other behaviors during treatment, but there was some regression after treatment.
A FIELD EXPERIMENT ON INSURANCE FRAUD IN AUTO BODY REPAIR*
Authors: TRACY PAUL E. , FOX JAMES ALAN
Published: March 2006

This article focuses on a particular form of white‐collar crime–insurance fraud in auto body repair. Through the use of an experimental design, whether repair estimates were related to insurance coverage was investigated for a statewide representative sample of auto body repair shops in Massachusetts. The auto body repair estimates were significantly higher with insurance coverage than without, regardless of type of car, extent of damage, sex of driver, and location of shop. The implication of the findings is that the automobile insurance industry is very susceptible to fraudulent or illegal practices that take unfair advantage of consumers and insurance companies.
FEMINIST THEORY, CRIME, AND JUSTICE*
Authors: SIMPSON SALLY S.
Published: March 2006

Feminist research has expanded beyond its origins in Women's Studies to influence the more traditionally bounded academic disciplines. Criminology has not been immune to these excursions. This paper presents an overview of feminist theory/methods and its applications within select areas of crime and justice studies. Points of intra‐theoretical divergence as well as directions for future feminist contributions are noted.
ASSESSING AGE AND GENDER DIFFERENCES IN PERCEIVED RISK AND FEAR OF CRIME*
Authors: LAGRANGE RANDY L. , FERRARO KENNETH F.
Published: March 2006

Much of the research on fear of crime indicates that women and older persons are highly afraid of crime. These findings, especially older persons' fear of crime, are widely communicated in the scientific and popular media. This study examines age and gender differences in perceived risk and fear of crime. The data are from telephone interviews of 320 randomly selected residents in a southeastern metropolitan area of the United States. The relationships of age and gender to fear of crime are compared using a National Crime Survey (NCS) measure of fear of crime and 11 alternative indicators of fear of specific offenses. Women reported signifcantly greater perceived risk and fear of crime than men regardless of how fear of crime was measured and older adults reported the greatest fear of crime when the NCS measure was used. but not when the alternative individual measures of fear of crime were used. A LISREL model with latent constructs for fear of personal crime and fear of property crime also indicates that older adults do not have higher levels of fear of crime. In short, the extent of fear in the everyday lives of most older persons has been overestimated in many previous studies because of measurement problems.
THE DETERRENT EFFECT OF PERCEIVED CERTAINTY AND SEVERITY OF PUNISHMENT REVISITED*
Authors: KLEPPER STEVEN , NAGIN DANIEL
Published: March 2006

This paper synthesizes and extends recent criticisms of cross‐sectional and panel studies of perceptual deterrence and then uses those criticisms to design a better cross‐sectional study. A series of scenarios involving the noncompliance of a hypothetical plumber were posed to a sample of predominantly middle‐aged administrators. The respondents were asked to estimate the probability that the noncompliance would be detected and, if detected, the probability that it would result in criminal prosecution. Respondents were also asked to project their own behavior if in the plumber's position. The results contrast sharply with prior findings, especially of the panel studies. Not only do perceptions of detection risk play an important role in deterring tax noncompliance, but fear of criminal prosecution appears to be a powerful deterrent.
“FOR THEIR OWN GOOD”: CLASS INTERESTS AND THE CHILD SAVING MOVEMENT IN MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, 1900–1917
Authors: SHELDEN RANDALL G. , OSBORNE LYNN T.
Published: March 2006

This paper addresses the question of whether the “child saving” movement, a precursor of the modern juvenile justice system. was a benevolent movement to “save” delinquent youths or, as Platt (1977) contends, a class‐based movement to extend social control to the children of the poor. Analysis of the child saving movement in Memphis, Tennessee, using historical data, provides support for the thesis advanced by Platt. The evidence collected here strongly suggests that it was the upper‐class citizens who were in the forefront of the movement in Memphis. Also, social control was extended over a wide range of behavior (mostly noncriminal) of children and youths, particularly morals offenses and dependency/neglect cases. In Memphis the juvenile justice system was created to control and regulate the children of the poor, not to save them.
GENDER AND VARIETIES OF WHITE‐COLLAR CRIME*
Authors: DALY KATHLEEN
Published: March 2006

The Wheeler et al. (1982) data set of white‐collar defendants is used to compare men's and women's socioeconomic profiles and occupations and the nature of their illegalities. The results show that a minority of men but only a handful of women fit the image of a highly placed white‐collar offender. Most employed women were clerical workers, and most employed men were managers or administrators. Women were more likely to be nonwhite, less likely to have completed college, and owned less in economic assets. Men were more likely to work in crime groups and to use organizational resources in carrying out crimes, and their attempted economic gains were higher. Occupational marginality, not mobility, better explains the form of women's white‐collar crime. The results raise questions about white‐collar arrest data and the nature of crime and offenders in white‐collar sentencing samples. They compel an investigation of the multiple injuences of gender, class, and race relations in generating varieties of white‐collar crime and in being caught and prosecuted for white‐collar crime.
BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES IN CRIMINOLOGY *
Authors: FISHBEIN DIANA H.
Published: March 2006

For several decades, mainstream criminology has been dominated by sociological and political perspectives. Although findings from these fields must not be discarded or underplayed, considered alone, they do not offer a complete assessment of the contributions to criminal behavior. Data currently being generated from numerous behavioral sciences, such as behavioral genetics, physiological psychology, psychopharmacology, and endocrinology, indicate that biological factors play an equally significant role in the development of antisocial behavior and should be considered accordingly. Incorporation of the theoretical parameters and findings of these behavioral sciences into a criminological framework would yield valuable in formation regarding processes underlying antisocial behavior. Such a multidisciplinary approach is likely to enhance capabilities to predict, prevent, and manage antisocial behavior. Theoretical parameters, methodological issues, selected research findings, potential applications, and precautions are discussed.
DEMOGRAPHY, POLICE BEHAVIOR, AND DETERRENCE *
Authors: KOHFELD CAROL W. , SPRAGUE JOHN
Published: March 2006

This paper presents a model of police response to changes in crime frequencies and a criminal response model characterizing the deterrent effects of police arrest behavior. These models are estimated for data taken from police department records in the city of St. Louis. The underlying theoretical conception is that arrests constitute communication to criminals in general in addition to the specific deterrence achieved through the arrest it see Disaggregation in both space and time enables identification of the statistical models through measurement rather than through statistical manipulation. The models are estimated for burglaries under varying demographic conditions and using data organized through aggregation in time (by weeks) and space (by census tracts). Under some demographic conditions, both police response and deterrent effects on criminal behavior are enhanced. Under other demographic conditions, these effects are suppressed. Enhancements and attenuations arising from specific demographic conditions for both the police response and criminal response models have a similar pattern, consistent with the underlying communication hypothesis.
ROUTINE ACTIVITIES AND CRIME: AN ANALYSIS OF VICTIMIZATION IN CANADA *
Authors: KENNEDY LESLIE W. , FORDE DAVID R.
Published: March 2006

Miethe et al. (1987) have suggested that there are strong interaction effects between demographic characteristics of victims and certain routine activities that occur at night and away from home, but only for victims of property crime. This same pattern does not appear for victims of violent crime, they maintain, because unlike property crime, violent crime often involves interpersonal conflict and disagreement and is therefore spontaneous. Using data from the Canadian Urban Victimization Survey, which contains detailed measures of routine activities not available in Miethe et al. 's U.S. study, this study finds contrary evidence that suggests that personal crime is contingent on the exposure that comes from following certain life‐styles. This is particularly true for certain demographic groups, particularly young males. The findings are considered in the light of the literature focusing on the interaction between situation and personality and the importance of the resulting conflict styles in promoting or reducing the opportunity for crime in certain settings and under certain conditions.
PARENTAL MANAGEMENT: MEDIATOR OF THE EFFECT OF SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS ON EARLY DELINQUENCY *
Authors: LARZELERE ROBERT E. , PATTERSON GERALD R.
Published: March 2006

This study used structural equation modeling with longitudinal data from the Oregon Youth Study to test the hypothesis that the effect of socioeconomic status (SES) on delinquency in early adolescence would be mediated entirely by parental management skills. SES was measured by parental education and occupation when the son was in the fourth grade, parental management skills during the sixth grade, and delinquency during the seventh grade. The hypothesis was supported: The direct effect of SES on delinquency was not significant after controlling for parental management, which was modeled as a second‐order factor consisting of parental monitoring and discipline. Implications are discussed for theories of delinquency and for delinquency prevention and treatment.
THE EFFECT OF VICTIM PARTICIPATION IN SENTENCING ON SENTENCE OUTCOME *
Authors: EREZ EDNA , TONTODONATO PAMELA
Published: March 2006

The role of victims in the criminal justice process has been a neglected area of research. In the past two decades, however, victims of crime have received increased attention, and recently this attention has centered on the involvement of victims in sentencing. This paper addresses the concerns of critics of the involvement of victims in sentencing and assesses the impact of victim participation on sentence outcome using felony crimes in one midwestern county.

Analysis reveals that filing a victim impact statement has some effect on sentence outcome (probation versus incarceration), although offense and offender characteristics are of primary importance. Victim requests for a particular sentence do not influence the choice of sentence. Legal considerations largely explain length of imprisonment, although several of the victim‐related variables have explanatory power. The implications of these results for the debate concerning victim participation are discussed.
IMPROVING OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES OF POLICE
Authors: MASTROFSKI STEPHEN , PARKS ROGER B.
Published: March 2006

Despite advances in measurement and the sophistication of statistical technique, quantitative studies of police behavior seems to have reached the limits of their capacity to explain variance, develop and test theory, and inform policy choices. This paper suggests that further advances in observational studies of police behavior require that researchers account for the cognitive decision processes police use in exercising their discretion. A method for debriefing officers after encounters with the public is described. The results of a preliminary test of the method indicate that valuable in formation can be obtained with quite limited reactivity effects.
A CENTURY OF CRIME IN TORONTO: GENDER, CLASS, AND PATTERNS OF SOCIAL CONTROL, 1859 TO 1955 *
Authors: BORITCH HELEN , HAGAN JOHN
Published: March 2006

A great deal of attention has been focused on the nature and extent of contemporary gender differences in criminality and, especially, recent increases in female crime rates. The failure to examine the relation among gender roles, social control mechanisms, and crime rates within a broad historical context, however, has contributed to several shortcomings and misconceptions in current research and theorizing. Results of a time‐series analysis of male and female arrests in Toronto from 1859 to 1955 reveal an overall decline in male and female rates, as well as an overriding similarity in long‐term patterns of male and female arrest rates for different categories of offenses In particular, the preponderance of public order arrests for males and females strongly confirms the enduring relation between social class and official criminality, regardless of gender. To explain the long‐term reduction in female arrest rates, qualitative data are used to illustrate the historically contingent relation between gender roles and changes in formal and informal structures of social control. The findings point to the prominent role of “Yrst‐wave feminists” in changing the forms of both formal and informal controls on women, which contributed to a sharp decline in female arrest rates during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
HEREDITY, CRIME, AND THE KILLING‐THE‐BEARER‐OF‐BAD‐NEWS SYNDROME: A REPLY TO BRENNAN AND MEDNICK *
Authors: WALTERS GLENN D.
Published: March 2006

Brennan and Mednick find fault in this issue of the journal with a review of the literature on heredity and crime conducted by Walters and White 1989. Brennan and Mednick argue that the review is lacking in specificity and that in sections in which the criticisms are explicit the reviewers draw erroneous conclusions. The relative merits of these two points are examined in this response to Brennan and Mednick's commentary.
THE INTERACTIVE EFFECTS OF PEER VARIABLES ON DELINQUENCY
Authors: AGNEW ROBERT
Published: March 2006

Drawing on relevant theory and research, it is argued that the impact of delinquent peers on delinquency is conditioned by (1) attachment to peers, (2) time spent with peers, and (3) the extent to which peers present delinquent patterns (i.e., present definitions favorable to delinquency, model delinquent behavior, and differentially rein force delinquency). Regression analyses with data from the National Youth Survey provide partial support for these arguments. When the above variables are at their mean or lower levels, a measure of association with peers who engage in serious delinquency has no impact or a negative impact on delinquency. When the above variables are at higher levels, delinquent peers (serious) has a strong, positive impact on delinquency. A measure of association with peers who engage in minor delinquency, however, is not conditioned by the above variables.
CASTE, CLASS, AND VIOLENT CRIME: EXPLAINING DIFFERENCE IN FEMALE OFFENDING*
Authors: SIMPSON SALLY S.
Published: March 2006

During the past decade, criminological research has targeted gender as an important discriminator of criminal participation and persistence. Yet, the research question too often contrasts the criminality of males and females without taking into account key differences among female populations. In this paper, race and class combine to produce uniquely situated populations of females (e.g., “underclass” black females) who, when compared with their gender and racial counterparts, also appear to have unique patterns of criminality. Using the extant literature, black female violent crime is juxtaposed against that of white females and black males in order to show how crime varies across groups and the potential sources of those differences. Three theoretical perspectives (neo‐Marxian, powercontrol, and socialist‐feminist theory) are reviewed and evaluated for their intragender/racial inclusivity. Directions for further empirical research and theoretical development are suggested.

Class‐oppressed men, whether they are white or black, have privileges afforded them as men in a sexist society. Similarly, class‐oppressed whites, whether they are men or women, have privileges afforded them as whites in racist society… . Those who are poor, black, and female have all the forces of classism, racism, and sexism bearing down on them (Mantsios, 1988:66–67).
ON THE RELATIONSHIP OF PAST TO FUTURE PARTICIPATION IN DELINQUENCY
Authors: NAGIN DANIEL S. , PATERNOSTER RAYMOND
Published: March 2006

Among the best documented empirical regularities in criminology is the positive association between past and future delinquency and criminality. In this paper, we examine alternative interpretations of this association. One is that prior participation has a genuine behavioral impact on the individual. Prior participation may, for example, reduce inhibitions against engaging in delinquent activity. Such an effect is termed state dependence. A second explanation is that individuals differ in unmeasured delinquent propensity and this unmeasured propensity is persistent over time. This second explanation is a consequence of population heterogeneity. Using a three‐wave panel data set, we attempt to distinguish these two interpretations of the positive association between past and future delinquency. Our results suggest that the positive association is principally due to a state‐dependent influence. Theoretical implications and directions for future research are also discussed.
PROSTITUTION, IV DRUG USE, AND SEXFOR‐CRACK EXCHANGES AMONG SERIOUS DELINQUENTS: RISKS FOR HIV INFECTION*
Authors: INCIARDI JAMES A. , POTTIEGER ANNE E. , FORNEY MARY ANN , CHITWOOD DALE D. , McBRIDE DUANE C.
Published: March 2006

There is mounting evidence that HIV infection among adolescents is increasing, particularly among minorities and inner‐city youths involved in certain high‐risk activities, such as multiple sex partners and intravenous drug use. Interviews conducted “on the street” with 611 seriously delinquent male and female adolescents (ages 12–17) included questions about their involvement in prostitution, intravenous drug use, and sex‐for‐crack exchanges. Findings included high percentages of youths engaged in these HIV‐risk activities and a consistent association between all of them and greater illicit drug use. This would suggest that these risk behaviors may be surprisingly prevalent among some inner‐city adolescent groups. Special AIDS prevention/intervention targeting these groups is warranted and urgently needed. Drug treatment should be a central focus of such programs.
TREND AND DEVIATION IN CRIME RATES: A COMPARISON OF UCR AND NCS DATA FOR BURGLARY AND ROBBERY*
Authors: BLUMSTEIN ALFRED , COHEN JACQUELINE , ROSENFELD RICHARD
Published: March 2006

Trends and year‐to‐year deviations in UCR and NCS data on burglary and robbery are examined for the period 1973 to 1985. We find strong correspondence between year‐to‐year deviations in UCR crime rates and NCS victimization rates for both crime types. The difference between the two data series lies primarily in their contrasting trends, although there is some evidence that trends in UCR and NCS crime rates have been converging in recent years. Ex post forecasts reveal that the UCR/NCS relationships estimated from the 1973–1985 data continued through 1986 and 1987. Although the UCR rates in 1986 were somewhat influenced by unusual increases in the proportion of crimes reported to the police that year, changes in crime reporting for the period as a whole have had little effect on UCR burglary and robbery rates. We conclude that, within the two serious crime types examined in this study, there is strong consistency between the alternative data sources on variations in crime rates over time.
THE LINK BETWEEN OFFENDING AND VICTIMIZATION AMONG ADOLESCENTS*
Authors: LAURITSEN JANET L. , SAMPSON ROBERT J. , LAUB JOHN H.
Published: March 2006

Prior research on victimization in the United States has generally neglected two key areas—victimization among juveniles and young adults and the connection between offending and victimization. The research presented here fuses these two concerns by examining the effect of delinquent lifestyles on the criminal victimization of teenagers and young adults. An examination of longitudinal data from the first five waves of the National Youth Survey suggests that adolescent involvement in delinquent lifestyles strongly increases the risk of both personal and property victimization. Further, the analysis reveals that a significant proportion of the risk of victimization incurred by different demographic subgroups—especially males—results from greater involvement in lifestyles characterized by delinquency. The authors conclude that victimization patterns among youths cannot be understood apart from criminal and deviant activities.
CONSTITUTIVE CRIMINOLOGY: THE MATURATION OF CRITICAL THEORY*
Authors: HENRY STUART , MILOVANOVIC DRAGAN
Published: March 2006

This paper synthesizes recent trends in the development of critical criminology into a new theoretical direction in thinking about crime. It rejects approaches to criminological theory that reduce crime to an outcome of micro causes or macro contexts. It suggests instead that thinking about crime should be reconsidered as the coterminous discursive production by human agents of an ideology of crime that sustains it as a concrete reality. It argues that this coproduction occurs when agents act out criminal patterns, when others seek to control criminal behavior, and when yet others attempt to research, philosophize about, and explain crime. The paper argues that reducing crime will only come about with a reduction of investment by human agents in the ideology of crime production. Such a reflexive re‐conceptualization requires the development of a replacement discourse, rather than an oppositional one, a peacemaking discourse rather than a conflicting one. We call this new theoretical direction constitutive criminology.
HOMICIDE AGAINST THE ELDERLY: A RESEARCH NOTE*
Authors: FOX JAMES ALAN , LEVIN JACK
Published: March 2006

By virtue of the type of data generally used (victim surveys), previous research on the victimization of the elderly is limited in two respects. Not only is the crime of homicide outside the domain of victimization data, but sample surveys uncover too few incidents of victimization of the elderly to permit in‐depth analyses. Using the supplementary homicide reports from 1976–1985, we compared patterns and rates of homicide among the elderly and younger populations. Our results suggest that the elderly are in fact the least at risk for homicide generally, as has been reported for other crimes. When examining specific subtypes of homicide, however, the elderly are actually at greater risk than their younger counterparts for homicide committed during a robbery.
PREDICTING THE RECIDIVISM OF SERIOUS YOUTHFUL OFFENDERS USING SURVIVAL MODELS*
Authors: VISHER CHRISTY A. , LATTIMORE PAMELA K. , LINSTER RICHARD L.
Published: March 2006

Increases over the past decade in the number and seriousness of crimes committed by young offenders have resulted in renewed interest in control of the serious, violent, or chronic youthful offender. Recent research has established a number of theoretically relevant variables associated with persistent offending and offending defined recidivism. Few studies, however, have examined the individual characteristics that might predict the timing of youthful recidivism. This paper seeks to fill some gaps in knowledge of the serious youthful offender by estimating a multivariate survival model for a sample of youths paroled from California Youth Authority institutions. The model's results are then used to develop risk‐assessment profiles for the sample. We suggest that these profiles may provide a reasonable approach for establishing treatment protocols or supervision requirements for paroled youths.
CITIZEN‐BASED CRIME CONTROL ACTIVITY AND VICTIMIZATION RISKS: AN EXAMINATION OF DISPLACEMENT AND FREE‐RIDER EFFECTS*
Authors: MIETHE TERANCE D.
Published: March 2006

A common criticism of crime control activities is that such efforts simply redistribute crime to more vulnerable locales and persons rather than prevent it. This displacement effect has been widely assumed but rarely evaluated in previous studies. Using a sample of 5,302 Seattle residents who live on 600 city blocks, this study examines the crime‐reduction benefits of safety precautions and whether either displacement or a “free‐rider” effect best characterizes how the target‐hardening activities of immediate neighbors influence risks of burglary, property theft, and vandalism. The results of this study indicate that only individuals' risks of burglary victimization were significantly reduced by protective action. Contrary to both displacement and free‐rider hypotheses, individuals' risks and aggregate rates of victimization were largely unaffected by the protective actions of neighbors. The paper concludes with a discussion of these findings and their implications for public policy on crime prevention.
FRIENDSHIP NETWORKS, INTIMACY, AND ILLICIT DRUG USE IN YOUNG ADULTHOOD: A COMPARISON OF TWO COMPETING THEORIES*
Authors: KANDEL DENISE , DAVIES MARK
Published: March 2006

Theories of delinquency posit two opposing views on the social interactions of deviant individuals. Social control theory assumes that deviants have poor relationships with others. Cultural deviance theory assumes that deviant individuals are similar to nondeviants and have strong ties with members of their friendship networks. These theories have not been empirically tested for male and female users of illicit drugs. Descriptive and multivariate analyses are reported here for young adult men and women aged 28 to 29, who were asked about their same‐sex and opposite‐sex friends in general and three specific close friends. Few differences were found in the characteristics of friendship networks of illicit drug users and nonusers. Where differences were observed. the frequent users tended to have more intimate friendships than other young adults, which supports the cultural deviance perspective. Structural equation models predicting two latent components of intimacy, confiding and interacting, with the three closest friends and same‐sex and opposite‐sex friends indicate that, controlling for other determinants of intimacy with friends, illicit drug use retains a unique effect and predicts substantially higher levels of intimacy among males. The strong social ties of adult drug‐using males will make it more difficult to develop effective intervention strategies targeted toward individual users.
THE NEW ORLEANS INMATE SURVEY: A TEST OF GREENWOOD'S PREDICTIVE SCALE*
Authors: MIRANNE ALFRED C. , GEERKEN MICHAEL R.
Published: March 2006

Analysis of face‐to‐face interviews with 200 male inmates incarcerated in New Orleans, using a modified version of the Rand instrument used in California, Michigan, and Texas, showed the same highly skewed offense‐rate distribution but generally lower median offense frequencies. These lower rates are attributed to an improved instrument and method of administration and to Louisiana's much higher incarceration rate. A search for a prediction model for the New Orleans inmate offense rates yielded the same seven‐variable model developed by the Rand researchers and the same predictive efficiency as well. The results suggest the generalizability of the seven‐item scale, at least to the prediction of inmates' self‐reported offense rates.
MEASURING PROTECTIVE HANDGUN OWNERSHIP*
Authors: MARCINIAK LIZ MARIE , LOFTIN COLIN
Published: March 2006

Hill et al. (1985) have suggested a measure of protective handgun ownership that can be implemented in an omnibus survey like the General Social Survey (GSS), which does not ask respondents why they own the gun. Using the 1980 GSS and their refined measure, Hill et al. report (among other things) that fear of crime and prior victimization increase the likelihood that men, but not women, will own handguns for protection. Their analysis, however, is Jawed because (1) they made errors in their analysis and (2) their measure of protective handgun ownership is biased. This paper explains why the measure is biased and shows how the measure alters parameter estimates.
UNEMPLOYMENT AND PUNISHMENT: AN EMPIRICAL ASSESSMENT*
Authors: CHIRICOS THEODORE G. , BALES WILLIAM D.
Published: March 2006

Evidence for a relationship between unemployment and imprisonment has been regarded as “elusive” and “conflicting.” Such conclusions have been based primarily on aggregate‐level data. Individual‐level data have provided only indirect evidence for this relationship. This research considers prosecution, incarceration, and length of incarceration outcomes for 1,970 criminal defendants arrested in 1982. Multivariate logit and OLS estimates show a significant, strong, and independent impact of unemployment on pretrial and postsentencing incarceration. The interaction of race and unemployment shows that the greatest likelihood of incarceration is for unemployed black defendants, especially those who are young males or charged with violent and public order crimes. Theoretical implications for the control and punishment of “dangerous classes” are discussed.
FROM INITIAL DETERRENCE TO LONGTERM ESCALATION: SHORT‐CUSTODY ARREST FOR POVERTY GHETTO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE*
Authors: SHERMAN LAWRENCE W. , SCHMIDT JANELL D. , ROGAN DENNIS P. , GARTIN PATRICK R. , COHN ELLEN G. , COLLINS DEAN J. , BACICH ANTHONY R.
Published: March 2006

Persons arrested for misdemeanor domestic violence are held in custody for widely varying lengths of time. To test the effects of this variance, we randomly assigned short (X̄= 2.8 hours), full (X̄= 11.1 hours), and no arrests (warning only) to a sample of 1,200 cases with predominantly unemployed suspects concentrated in black ghetto poverty neighborhoods in Milwaukee. Victim interviews and one official measure showed that short arrest had a substantial initial deterrent effect relative to the warning group. Longer term follow‐up and before‐after analysis, however, found neither arrest group reflected any deterrence. On the most comprehensive official measure, short arrest consistently showed significantly higher long‐term recidivism than no arrest. Its deterrent effect ended at 30 days, but its criminogenic effect was significant after one year. We conclude that short‐custody arrests for domestic violence in poverty ghetto areas may pose a dilemma between short‐ and long‐term crime control, but longer custody arrests have no clear long‐term effect in either direction.
PROTESTANT FUNDAMENTALISM AND THE RETRIBUTIVE DOCTRINE OF PUNISHMENT*
Authors: GRASMICK HAROLD G. , DAVENPORT ELIZABETH , CHAMLIN MITCHELL B. , BURSIK ROBERT J.
Published: March 2006

In Gregg v. Georgia in 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that public opinion, including the public's presumed desire for retribution, can be a legitimate basis for penal policy. Subsequently, the retributive doctrine has guided sentencing reform across the nation. But variation among the public in support for retribution as the goal of punishment and the effects of religion in shaping public sentiments about punishment have received little attention from researchers. Drawing from recent work on attribution theory and religion, this paper proposes and reports evidence that public support for the retributive doctrine is closely linked to affiliation with fundamentalist Protestant denominations and fundamentalist religious beliefs. The normative implications of such a connection are addressed.
WHO KILLS WHOM IN SPOUSE KILLINGS? ON THE EXCEPTIONAL SEX RATIO OF SPOUSAL HOMICIDES IN THE UNITED STATES*
Authors: WILSON MARGO I. , DALY MARTIN
Published: March 2006

A hitherto unremarked peculiarity of homicide in the United States is that women kill their husbands almost as often as the reverse. For every 100 US. men who kill their wives, about 75 women kill their husbands; this spousal “sex ratio of killing” (SROK) is more than twice that in other Western nations. Our analyses of spousal homicide samples from the United States, Canada, Australia, and Great Britain indicate that this contrast cannot be attributed to greater gun use in the United States, nor to a domain‐general convergence of the sexes in their uses of violence. Significant predictors of the spousal SROK include registered versus de facto marriage, coresidency versus separation, ethnicity, and age disparity, but the impacts of these variables are not sufficient to explain the differences between US. and other nations’victim sex ratios.
GENDER AND CRIMINAL COURT OUTCOMES: AN HISTORICAL ANALYSIS*
Authors: BORITCH HELEN
Published: March 2006

Research on gender differences in criminal sanctions generally finds a pattern of more lenient outcomes for female offenders, while noting that the effect of gender varies in relation to a number of contextual influences. As yet, however, little attention has been paid to how the relationship of gender to court outcomes varies across different historical periods. This paper examines this issue, using data on male and female offenders committed to Middlesex County Jail, Ontario, during the Urban Reform Era (1871–1920). The findings reveal an overall pattern of more severe dispositions for female offenders in the past. At the same time, there is considerable variability in the impact of gender across different measures of sanction severity, various offender and offense attributes, and from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. The study highlights the need for research in this area to be sensitive to the historically specific nature of the relations among gender roles, formal and informal control mechanisms, and criminal sanctions.
TECHNOLOGICAL DRAMAS AND THE POLICE: STATEMENT AND COUNTERSTATEMENT IN ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS*
Authors: MANNING P.K.
Published: March 2006

Information technologies, especially computer‐based recordkeeping and dispatching, when introduced into the police organization, are a material resource and a symbolic statement. Such statements can produce counter‐statements, thus animating a dialectic, a technological drama that alters social fields (Bourdieu, 1977) and centrally features power and control (Burke, 1968). Ethnographic evidence is used to explore, with examples, four symbolic aspects (or meanings) of information technology. It is suggested that the introduction of information technology is an occasion for a socio‐technical drama, or the selective use of messages to convey an impression. The drama is context dependent and plays itself out differentially in the several vertically ordered segments of police organizations. Technology as a symbol can point to one of several referents, each with overt and covert meanings: the regulatory aspects of technology, the modes of adjustment it creates, the reconstitution of technology, and processes of social reintegration. The four are ambivalent clusters that signal positive and negative meanings of “technology” while concealing relevant dissimilarities. These dramas are illustrated and analyzed, and suggestions are made for needed research. Some speculations about the consequences of technological dramas for role change in policing and the place of uncertainty in power relations conclude the paper.
DETERRING CORPORATE CRIME*
Authors: SIMPSON SALLY S. , KOPER CHRISTOPHER S.
Published: March 2006

Using event history analysis, we examine the recidivism patterns of a sample of 38 corporations charged with one or more serious antitrust violations between 1928 and 1981 to see whether sanction experience decreases the likelihood of a firm's reoffending. Specifically, we analyze the effects of procedure type (e.g., civil, criminal, and administrative redress) and proxy measures of corporate deterrence while controlling for changes in antitrust law and the economic conditions of the firm, industry, and general economy. Though not robust, there is some evidence that past guilty verdicts and changes in penalties for lawbreaking from misdemeanors to felonies inhibit recidivism. We note, however, that industry characteristics are stronger by far in their effects on future illegality than formal sanction risk or consequence. The implications of these findings for organizational deterrence and corporate crime control are discussed.
DO THE STEREOTYPES FIT? MAPPING GENDER‐SPECIFIC OUTCOMES AND RISK FACTORS*
Authors: DORNFELD MAUDE , KRUTTSCHNITT CANDACE
Published: March 2006

It has generally been accepted that boys and girls differ in their behavioral and emotional responses to stressful family events. These gender differences could be due to either different family risk factors affecting boys and girls or to boys coping differently in response to the same negative family events. These two alternative hypotheses form the basis of our analysis. Specifically, using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), we assess whether and how (1) marital discord, (2) marital stability and change, (3) harsh discipline, and (4) maternal deviance impact three different outcomes for males and females: delinquency, alcohol use, and depression. Multivariate analyses reveal that, although females generally display more vulnerabilities to specific dimensions of family life than males, the responses to these risk factors are not constrained to gender‐stereotypic outcomes.
RACIAL INEQUALITY AND RACIALLY DISAGGREGATED HOMICIDE RATES: AN ASSESSMENT OF ALTERNATIVE THEORETICAL EXPLANATIONS*
Authors: MESSNER STEVEN F. , GOLDEN REID M.
Published: March 2006

This research considers the relationship between levels of racial inequality and homicide rates for a sample of 154 U.S. cities. We identfy four causal processes that have been cited in the theoretical literature to explain the link between racial inequality and criminal violence. These diflerent causal explanations imply distinctive relationships between racial inequality and different types of homicide rates disaggregated by the racial characteristics of victims and offenders. Accordingly, we examine the effects of racial inequality on racially disaggregated homicide rates, as well as on total rates. We also introduce factor scales to alleviate the common problem of multicollinearity. Our results reveal significant, positive coefficients for racial inequality in equations predicting total homicide rates and race‐specific offending rates. These results offer greatest support for theoretical arguments emphasizing a generalized effect of racial inequality on the offending behavior of residents of metropolitan communities.
AN EMPIRICAL TEST OF GENERAL STRAIN THEORY*
Authors: AGNEW ROBERT , WHITE HELENE RASKIN
Published: March 2006

This paper tests Agnew's (1992) general strain theory (GST) of crime and delinquency. GST argues that strain occurs when others (1) prevent or threaten to prevent you from achieving positively valued goals, (2) remove or threaten to remove positively valued stimuli that you possess, or (3) present or threaten to present you with noxious or negatively valued stimuli. The impact of such strain on delinquency is said to be conditioned by several variables, such as association with delinquent peers and self‐efficacy. Data from a sample of 1,380 New Jersey adolescents provide qualified support for the theory; strain measures of the type described above have a relatively substantial effect on delinquency and drug use. Further, the effect of these strain measures is conditioned by delinquent peers and self‐efficacy, as predicted by GST.
THE ONSET AND PERSISTENCE OF OFFENDING*
Authors: NAGINO DANIEL S. , FARRINGTON DAVID P.
Published: March 2006

This paper assesses the need for and focus of developmental theories of crime by analyzing three questions: (1) whether age of onset of criminal behavior has a causal impact on subsequent behavior, (2) whether the determinants of onset vary, at least in part, with age, and (3) whether the determinants of onset and continuation of offending differ in some respects. The inverse association between age of onset and persistence of offending is found to be entirely attributable to time‐stable individual differences and, thus, is not attributable to a causal linkage. However, evidence is found of the covariates of onset changing with age and differences in the covariates of onset and of the continuation of offending.
CRIMINAL ANTHROPOLOGY IN THE UNITED STATES*
Authors: RAFTER NICOLE HAHN
Published: March 2006

Criminologists continue to debate fundamental issues about the nature of their work. Some of the issues were built into the field by the criminal anthropologists who founded it a century ago. By examining the work of major American criminal anthropologists—a nearly forgotten group—one can identify the origins of three enduring problems: criminology's difficulties in (1) establishing its disciplinary boundaries; (2) defining its methods: and (3) deciding whether its primary goal is crime control or the production of knowledge with no immediate use‐value. The study of criminology's roots in criminal anthropology cannot settle these debates, but it can put them in historical perspective and clarify their substance.
IS JUSTICE “COLLAR‐BLIND”?: PUNISHING MEDICAID PROVIDER FRAUD*
Authors: TILLMAN ROBERT , PONTELL HENRY N.
Published: March 2006

The question of punishment of white‐collar criminals is addressed in this paper through an examination of sanctions imposed on health care providers convicted of defrauding California's Medicaid “Medi‐Cal” system. Quantitative data were collected from Medi‐Cal case files and, for comparative purposes, from a statewide data base maintained by the California Bureau of Criminal Statistics for grand theft arrestees. Qualitative data comprising interviews with Medi‐Cal enforcement personnel supplement the analysis. The analysis of criminal sanctions reveals greater leniency in the punishment of Medi‐Cal offenders than in the punishment of similarly charged non‐white‐collar offenders. The findings are related to recent debates regarding the severity of punishment for white‐collar offenders.
A META‐ANALYSIS OF THE GENE‐CRIME RELATIONSHIP*
Authors: WALTERS GLENN D.
Published: March 2006

This investigation used the statistical technique of meta‐analysis to probe the putative association between heredity and crime. The data for this study were 54 effect sizes obtained from 38 family, twin, and adoption studies on crime. In addition to the overall gene‐crime relationship, the potential moderating effects of gender, sample nationality, date of publication, and quality of the research design were also investigated. It was predicted that heredity and crime would not coincide, although subsequent analyses disclosed a low‐moderate correlation between these two variables (mean unweighted phi coefficient = .25; mean weighted phi coefficient = .09). Further analysis of these data revealed that better designed and more recently published studies provided less support for the gene‐crime hypothesis than more poorly designed and earlier published investigations. The individual strengths and weaknesses of the meta‐analytic technique relative to this effort to achieve insight into the gene‐crime relationship are discussed.