bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
STATE PRISON POPULATIONS AND THEIR GROWTH, 1971–1991*
Authors: GREENBERG DAVID F. , WEST VALERIE
Published: March 2006

We extend earlier analyses of the factors that explain differences among the U.S. states in imprisonment rates by demonstrating the importance of state culture and political arrangements to the explanation of imprisonment rates, and growth in those rates, for the years 1971–1991.
ARREST FOR DOMESTIC AND OTHER ASSAULTS*
Authors: FELSON RICHARD B. , ACKERMAN JEFF
Published: March 2006

We use the National Crime Victimization Survey to examine whether a suspect's relationship to an assault victim affects whether the police make an arrest. The results indicate that in cases of minor assaults the police are less likely to make an arrest when the suspect is an intimate partner of the victim than when the suspect is an identifiable stranger. However, the police are not as lenient when the suspect is an intimate partner as they are when the suspect is someone else the victim knows. Intimate partner suspects avoid arrest in part because they are less likely to commit their crimes in front of witnesses. In addition, victims who know the suspect in any way are reluctant to sign complaints, and this reluctance inhibits arrest. Men are less likely than women to sign complaints, particularly when the suspect is a partner.
STRUCTURAL MODELS OF PERSONALITY AND THEIR RELATION TO ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR: A META‐ANALYTIC REVIEW*
Authors: MILLER JOSHUA D. , LYNAM DONALD
Published: March 2006

The authors argue that the concept of personality has much to offer the field of criminology. To this end, they used meta‐analytic techniques to examine the relations between antisocial behavior defined relatively broadly and four structural models of personality: Eysenck's PEN model, Tellegen's three‐factor model, Costa and McCrae's five‐factor model (FFM), and Cloninger's seven‐factor temperament and character model. A comprehensive review of the literature yielded 59 studies that provided relevant information. Eight of the dimensions bore moderate relations to antisocial behavior; the dimensions could all be understood as measures of either Agreeableness or Conscientiousness from the FFM. The implications of these findings for future research are considered.
IN SEARCH OF A DEPENDENT VARIABLE: COMMENT ON AVAKAME, 1998*
Authors: SCHWARTZ JENNIFER , ACKERMAN JEFF
Published: March 2006

In a previous Criminology article, Avakame (1998) applies hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) techniques to Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR) to disentangle individual‐ and aggregate‐level factors associated with offending. A close reading of his analysis reveals serious flaws in the dependent variable, which renders the results meaningless. Although it is ambiguous whether Avakame intended to model homicide “risk” or “frequency,” either is problematic. “Homicide frequency” has no logical connection to the individual‐level predictors; “homicide risk” is constant in SHR data, which makes the analysis impossible. In detailing these problems, we spell out the logical data requirements and offer sound empirical examples for an HLM analysis.
STRAIN, PERSONALITY TRAITS, AND DELINQUENCY: EXTENDING GENERAL STRAIN THEORY
Authors: AGNEW ROBERT , BREZINA TIMOTHY , WRIGHT JOHN PAUL , CULLEN FRANCIS T.
Published: March 2006

Although Agnew's (1992) general strain theory (GST) has secured a fair degree of support since its introduction, researchers have had trouble explaining why some individuals are more likely than others to react to strain with delinquency. This study uses data from the National Survey of Children to address this issue. Drawing on Agnew (1997) and the psychological research on personality traits, it is predicted that juveniles high in negative emotionality and low in constraint will be more likely to react to strain with delinquency. Data support this prediction.
EXAMINING THE CONDITIONAL NATURE OF THE ILLICIT DRUG MARKET‐HOMICIDE RELATIONSHIP: A PARTIAL TEST OF THE THEORY OF CONTINGENT CAUSATION
Authors: OUSEY GRAHAM C. , LEE MATTHEW R.
Published: March 2006

Recently, Zimring and Hawkins (1997) have suggested that drug markets are a “contingent cause” of the increase in homicide rates. That is, where structural conditions known to produce violence are already in place, the drug distribution‐homicide link may be exacerbated. This analysis uses hierarchical linear modeling to investigate two key research questions: (1) Is within‐city variation in illicit drug market activity positively associated with within‐city variation in homicide rates during the 1984–1997 period? (2) Is the illicit drug market‐homicide association contingent on preexisting violence conducive socioeconomic conditions? Using three measures of drug market activity, analyses provide affirmative evidence on both questions. Theoretical and research implications of these findings are discussed.
RECONSIDERING THE BROKEN HOMES/DELINQUENCY RELATIONSHIP AND EXPLORING ITS MEDIATING MECHANISM(S)*
Authors: REBELLON CESAR J.
Published: March 2006

As a result of methodological limitations, prior research may have artificially attenuated the magnitude of the broken homes/delinquency relationship. As a result of theoretical limitations, prior research has achieved only limited success in identifying the mechanism through which broken homes may promote delinquency. The present study addresses both issues using a national probability sample of 1, 725 adolescents. Results suggest that divorce/separation early in the life course may be more strongly related to delinquency than prior research implies and that remarriage during adolescence may be strongly associated with status offending. Overall, results also suggest that association with deviant peers and attitudes favorable to delinquency account for the broken homes/delinquency relationship better than do a number of alternative explanations.
CRIME IN EMERGING ADULTHOOD*
Authors: PIQUERO ALEX R. , BRAME ROBERT , MAZEROLLE PAUL , HAAPANEN RUDY
Published: March 2006

The extent to which local life circumstances influence criminal activity has been the focus of much theoretical debate. Although empirical research has been initiated, it remains limited. Herein, we use data on 524 serious offenders from the California Youth Authority for a seven‐year post‐parole period to examine the relationship between changes in local life circumstances and criminal activity. We extend previous research by employing a statistical model that accounts for the joint distribution of violent and nonviolent crime during the late teens and twenties in order to present information on patterns of criminal activity during a newly recognized developmental period of the life course, “emerging adulthood.”
MAKING WAR CRIMINAL
Authors: HAGAN JOHN , GREER SCOTT
Published: March 2006

Turk's conflict theory of political criminality is used to account for the virtual cessation of international criminal law enforcement following the Nuremberg Tribunal and its revival through the establishment of The Hague Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Turk's theory further helps to contextualize the little known contribution of Sheldon Glueck to the development of the Nuremberg Trials. Glueck helped overcome Soviet wishes to turn Nuremberg into a show trial and developed the organizational plan for the visual and witness evidence of the Holocaust that led to the most important convictions for crimes against humanity in the Nuremberg Trials. The contributions of Glueck and Turk provide an underappreciated foundation for the criminological study of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
WEAPON EFFECTS AND INDIVIDUAL INTENT TO DO HARM: INFLUENCES ON THE ESCALATION OF VIOLENCE*
Authors: WELLS WILLIAM , HORNEY JULIE
Published: March 2006

In order to assess the roles of weapons and offender intentions in the outcomes of potentially violent events, we analyze more than 2,000 incidents described by offenders. We advance the study of weapons effects through a within‐person analysis that lets us control for all time‐stable characteristics of the offenders. Thus, we address the concern that relationships between type of weapon and incident outcome may be spurious because individuals with a greater propensity to do harm are more likely to use guns. Findings indicate that weapons have independent effects that differ across the stages of an event.
THE EFFECT OF GENDER ON THE DECISION TO INCARCERATE BEFORE AND AFTER THE INTRODUCTION OF SENTENCING GUIDELINES*
Authors: KOONS‐WITT BARBARA A.
Published: March 2006

The present study explores the relationships between gender and imprisonment decisions in Minnesota before and after the introduction of sentencing guidelines. Results from a series of logistic regression models indicate that gender alone did not have a significant impact on the likelihood of imprisonment, but women with dependent children were significantly less likely to be imprisoned before sentencing guidelines and in the years subsequent to their implementation. The findings suggest that despite the introduction of sentencing reforms, court officials tend to return to issues of substantive justice, and they appear unable to shed their individual or organizational ideas of fairness in sentencing.
THE EFFECT OF IMPRISONMENT ON RECIDIVISM RATES OF FELONY OFFENDERS: A FOCUS ON DRUG OFFENDERS*
Authors: SPOHN CASSIA , HOLLERAN DAVID
Published: March 2006

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the deterrent effect of imprisonment. Using data on offenders convicted of felonies in 1993 in Jackson County (Kansas City), Missouri, we compare recidivism rates for offenders sentenced to prison with those for offenders placed on probation. We find no evidence that imprisonment reduces the likelihood of recidivism. Instead, we find compelling evidence that offenders who are sentenced to prison have higher rates of recidivism and recidivate more quickly than do offenders placed on probation. We also find persuasive evidence that imprisonment has a more pronounced criminogenic effect on drug offenders than on other types of offenders.
A TEST OF LIFE‐COURSE EXPLANATIONS FOR STABILITY AND CHANGE IN ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR FROM ADOLESCENCE TO YOUNG ADULTHOOD*
Authors: SIMONS RONALD L. , STEWART ERIC , GORDON LESLIE C. , CONGER RAND D. , ELDER GLEN H.
Published: March 2006

Using longitudinal data from a sample of 236 young adults and their romantic partners, we tested a life‐course model that integrates social control and peer influence arguments with the idea of assortative mating. For both males and females, adolescent delinquency and affiliation with deviant peers predicted having an antisocial romantic partner as a young adult. Involvement with an antisocial romantic partner, in turn, had both a direct effect on crime as well as indirect influence through adult peer affiliations. For females, quality of the romantic relationship also predicted crime. The analyses revealed several moderating influences in addition to these mediating effects. For females, a conventional romantic partner, strong job attachment, and conventional adult friends all served to moderate the chances that a woman with a delinquent history would graduate to adult crime. In contrast, only conventional adult friends served this function for males.
PERCEPTIONS OF RACIAL PROFILING: RACE, CLASS, AND PERSONAL EXPERIENCE*
Authors: WEITZER RONALD , TUCH STEVEN A.
Published: March 2006

Racial profiling by the police has become an increasingly controversial issue in recent years, but we know little about the extent of the problem and even less about public perceptions of profiling. This article analyzes recent national survey data on citizens' views of racial profiling. We find that both race and personal experience with profiling are strong predictors of attitudes toward profiling and that, among blacks, social class affects views of the prevalence and acceptability of the practice. The findings on social class point to the need for further investigation and explanation of class influences on evaluations of the police.
A LOG‐MULTIPLICATIVE ASSOCIATION MODEL FOR ALLOCATING HOMICIDES WITH UNKNOWN VICTIM‐OFFENDER RELATIONSHIPS*
Authors: MESSNER STEVEN F. , DEANE GLENN , BEAULIEU MARK
Published: March 2006

This research note critically evaluates conventional methods for allocating homicides with an unknown victim/offender relationship to meaningful categories, and it proposes an alternative approach. We argue that conventional methods are based on a problematic assumption, namely, that the missing data mechanism is “ignorable.” As an alternative to these methods, we propose an imputation algorithm derived from a log‐multiplicative model that does not require this assumption. We apply this technique to estimate levels of homicides disaggregated by victim/offender relationship using the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) data for 1996 and 1997, and we compare the resulting estimates with those obtained from the application of conventional procedures. Our results yield a larger proportion of stranger homicides than are obtained from the conventional methods.
TENUOUS BORDERS: GIRLS TRANSFERRED TO ADULT COURT*
Authors: GAARDER EMILY , BELKNAP JOANNE
Published: March 2006

There are tremendous gaps in our theories and knowledge about girls who have committed crimes deemed so serious as to justify adult sentencing. This study is guided by a feminist approach to “give voice” to 22 girls incarcerated in a women's prison in the Midwest. Through in‐depth interviews, the girls describe their lives before prison and their perceptions of being tried and convicted as adults. Consistent with other research on female offenders, these girls reported lives fraught with violence and victimization, sexism, racism, and economic marginalization. This study calls for a more careful and complex look at issues of victimization, agency, and responsibility among female offenders, particularly those proclaimed “adults” by the legal system.
POLICE DISRESPECT TOWARD THE PUBLIC: AN ENCOUNTER‐BASED ANALYSIS*
Authors: MASTROFSKI STEPHEN D. , REISIG MICHAEL D. , McCLUSKEY JOHN D.
Published: March 2006

We use observations of police encounters with 3,130 suspects in Indianapolis and St. Petersburg to estimate three influences on police disrespect: how suspects behave, their personal characteristics, and the location of the encounter. Logistic regression models show that suspects' behaviors were the most powerful predictors, but the suspect's sex, age, income, and degree of neighborhood disadvantage were also significant. Minority suspects experienced disrespect less often than whites (statistically significant in the hierarchical analysis controlling for degree of neighborhood disadvantage). These effects are concentrated in St. Petersburg, where the chief had made the suppression of police abuses a visible priority. The findings offer partial confirmation of Donald Black's theory of law.
EXAMINING THE (IR)RELEVANCE OF AGGREGATION BIAS FOR MULTILEVEL STUDIES OF NEIGHBORHOODS AND CRIME WITH AN EXAMPLE COMPARING CENSUS TRACTS TO OFFICIAL NEIGHBORHOODS IN CINCINNATI*
Authors: WOOLDREDGE JOHN
Published: March 2006

Different operational definitions of neighborhood boundaries could generate differences in empirical relationships between ecological dynamics and crime. As a call for research on whether aggregation bias is an issue for related studies, this note compares bi‐level models predicting re‐arrest for domestic violence with census tracts versus officially defined city neighborhoods as macro units. Results indicate that both types of units generate the same substantive findings at the aggregate and individual levels of analysis. Similarities also exist between these results and those from previous multilevel studies of crime and victimization despite differences in the aggregate units across studies (including block groups).
TESTS OF NONLINEAR DYNAMICS IN U.S. HOMICIDE TIME SERIES, AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS*
Authors: McDOWALL DAVID
Published: March 2006

Attempts to explain temporal patterns in U.S. homicide data usually assume that a linear process accounts for the variation. A nonlinear process is an obvious alternative, however, and reasonable arguments suggest that nonlinearity may in part underlie homicide series dynamics. This paper applies tests for nonlinearity to national time series of homicide rates and counts. The results provide relatively little evidence of nonlinear structure; instead, a linear (random walk) process appears to generate most of the change in the series. Although this supports the unstated assumptions of current theories, it also raises questions about why homicides should follow a linear time path in the first place.
COUNTING CRIME BOOMS AMONG NATIONS: EVIDENCE FOR HOMICIDE VICTIMIZATION RATES, 1956 TO 1998*
Authors: La FREE GARY , DRASS KRISS A.
Published: March 2006

Constructionists argue that crime booms are rare, modernizationalists predict that booms have been limited to industrializing nations, and globalizationalists claim that booms are universal among nations since World War II. We define crime booms as rates that increase rapidly and exhibit a positive sustained change in direction and use econometric methods to test for booms with homicide victimization rates for 34 nations, 1956 to 1998. Twelve nations satisfied our criteria for booms—too many to support constructionists, but too few to support globalizationalists. In support of modernizationalists, 70% of industrializing nations qualified as having booms, but fewer than 21% of industrialized nations did. Future research should explain industrializing nations that do not experience booms and industrialized nations that do.
ASSESSING NEIGHBORHOOD AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON CHILDHOOD VIOLENCE IN AN AFRICAN‐AMERICAN SAMPLE*
Authors: STEWART ERIC A. , SIMONS RONALD L. , CONGER RAND D.
Published: March 2006

The present study examines the extent to which neighborhood and social psychological influences predict childhood violence among 867 African‐American youth. The results showed that neighborhood affluence was the only neighborhood‐level variable to exert a significant influence on childhood violence. Furthermore, childhood violence was significantly related to social psychological influences, such as adopting a street code, associating with violent peers, parental use of violence, and quality parenting. Overall, the findings suggested that simply living in a violent neighborhood does not produce violent children, but that family, peer, and individual characteristics play a large role in predicting violence in childhood.
IN AND OUT OF HARM'S WAY: VIOLENT VICTIMIZATION AND THE SOCIAL CAPITAL OF FICTIVE STREET FAMILIES*
Authors: McCARTHY BILL , HAGAN JOHN , MARTIN MONICA J.
Published: March 2006

Homeless youth establish a variety of relationships with people they meet on the street. These associations generate different levels of the intangible resources of trust, commitment, and reciprocity that contribute to a person's social capital. We argue that the relationships homeless youth describe as “street families” resemble the fictive kin common among people who have limited resources, and that these relationships are a greater source of social capital than are other associations. Social capital may improve access to many valued outcomes, including protections. Regression analyses of violent victimization support our argument, demonstrating that fictive street families keep youth out of harm's way more than do other street associations.
THE APPLICATION AND ROBUSTNESS OF THE RATIONAL CHOICE PERSPECTIVE IN THE STUDY OF INTOXICATED AND ANGRY INTENTIONS TO AGGRESS*
Authors: EXUM M. LYN
Published: March 2006

Using a rational choice framework, this study examines the effects of alcohol and anger on violent decision making. Male students of legal drinking age participated in a randomized experiment in which intoxication and anger levels were manipulated. Participants read a “bar fight” scenario and completed a series of questions measuring aggressive intentions and the perceived consequences of violence. Results indicate that alcohol and anger interacted to increase one measure of aggressivity, but the perceived costs and benefits of violence were unaffected. Exploratory analyses call into question the robustness of the rational choice model, suggesting that the perspective may not be the general explanation for crime it is proclaimed to be.
PUBERTAL DEVELOPMENT, SOCIAL FACTORS, AND DELINQUENCY AMONG ADOLESCENT BOYS*
Authors: FELSON RICHARD B. , HAYNIE DANA L.
Published: March 2006

The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health is used to examine the relationship between pubertal development and delinquency among boys (grades 7–9). We find strong positive relationships between pubertal development and violence, on one hand, and property crimes, drug use, and precocious sexual behavior on the other. However, we find no evidence that these effects are due to the effects of puberty on risk‐taking, maladjustment, dominance behavior, or autonomous behavior. We do find evidence that pubertal development interacts with social factors—mature boys are more strongly influenced by delinquent friends. Pubertal development also has stronger effects on the delinquency of boys who are academically successful and thus are generally disinclined to engage in delinquency.
NEIGHBORHOOD DISADVANTAGE AND THE NATURE OF VIOLENCE*
Authors: BAUMER ERIC , HORNEY JULIE , FELSON RICHARD , LAURITSEN JANET L.
Published: March 2006

Although numerous studies have examined the influence of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage on the quantity of violence, little attention has been devoted to whether such conditions also shape the quality of violence. Drawing on Anderson's (1999) influential ethnography, we derive several hypotheses about how the nature of violence differs across neighborhoods with varying socioeconomic conditions. Using data on assaults and robberies from the area‐identified National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), our analyses reveal support for Anderson's description of the nature of violence in different neighborhood contexts, but only mixed support for his argument that those differences are due to neighborhood effects.
AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF DETERRENCE: CHEATING, SELF‐SERVING BIAS, AND IMPULSIVITY*
Authors: NAGIN DANIEL S. , POGARSKY GREG
Published: March 2006

This paper reports results from a randomized experiment in which 256 participants recruited to complete a survey could earn extra payment by cheating on a quiz. We report the first deterrence experiment that incorporates significant elements of situational and individual difference theories of crime into a single analytic framework. Consistent with extant deterrence research, the prevalence of cheating was lower when detection was more certain but not when the penalty was more severe. Further, cheating was more likely among participants with stronger present‐orientation, or who were prone to self‐serving bias.
DEVELOPMENTAL AND LIFE‐COURSE CRIMINOLOGY: KEY THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL ISSUES‐THE 2002 SUTHERLAND AWARD ADDRESS*
Authors: FARRINGTON DAVID P.
Published: March 2006

The main aim of this paper is to advance knowledge and (especially) theories about developmental and life‐course criminology (DLC). First, I review the widely accepted DLC findings that all DLC theories have been designed to explain. Second, I review more contentious and unresolved empirical DLC issues that might present challenges to DLC theories. Third, I describe my own DLC theory and specify how it addresses key empirical and theoretical questions. Fourth, I summarize five important DLC theories, by Catalano and Hawkins, Sampson and Laub, Moffitt, LeBlanc, and Thornberry and Krohn. Fifth, I identify differences in assumptions and predictions between my theory and the other five theories. Finally, I recommend a detailed comparison of the key features of all DLC theories, of their answers to key empirical and theoretical questions, and of their predictions regarding key unresolved empirical DLC issues.
ESTIMATING INTERVENTION EFFECTS IN VARYING RISK SETTINGS: DO POLICE RAIDS REDUCE ILLEGAL DRUG DEALING AT NUISANCE BARS?*
Authors: COHEN JACQUELINE , GORR WILPEN , SINGH PIYUSHA
Published: March 2006

This paper investigates the effectiveness of police raids in reducing drug dealing in and around nuisance bars. We examine effects of both dosage (number of raids) and duration (months) of the intervention, as well as the conditioning effects of land use and population characteristics in shaping the underlying risk levels of drug dealing in the target and surrounding areas. Results indicate that the police intervention suppresses levels of drug dealing during periods of active enforcement, but the effects largely disappear when the intervention is withdrawn. Also, the effects of the intervention are mediated by risk characteristics in target and surrounding areas. Target areas characterized by higher levels of risk are more resistant to intervention effects than those with lower levels of risk. Risk factors in nearby areas are also significant. Bars with high levels of risk arising from land uses in surrounding areas are easier to treat, while bars with high levels of population‐based risk in surrounding areas are harder to treat.
CHANGES IN FRIENDSHIP RELATIONS OVER THE LIFE COURSE: IMPLICATIONS FOR DESISTANCE FROM CRIME*
Authors: GIORDANO PEGGY C. , CERNKOVICH STEPHEN A. , HOLLAND DONNA D.
Published: March 2006

We analyze life history narratives and structured data derived from a study of serious female and male offenders interviewed when incarcerated as adolescents and followed up thirteen years later. We highlight shifts in the influence of friends and in the nature of friendship choices, and suggest how these changes can facilitate desistance processes. While key events (e.g., marriage) are important to an understanding of such changes, shifts in the actor's perspective and identity are also integral to the process of making successful network realignments. Similarities and differences by gender in the effects of adult social influence processes are also examined.
SIBLING DEVIANCE: IN THE SHADOWS OF MUTUAL AND UNIQUE FRIENDSHIP EFFECTS?*
Authors: HAYNIE DANA L. , McHUGH SUZANNE
Published: March 2006

Drawing on a large sample of genetically related pairs of adolescents from the Add Health, we examine the influence of sibling deviance on adolescents' participation in minor deviance compared to the influence received from mutual friends (i.e., friends shared between siblings) and influence from unique friends (i.e., friends unique to each sibling). Multivariate analyses that control for genetic relatedness using DeFries‐Fulker regression (1985) indicate that after aspects of the shared and non‐shared environment of siblings are accounted for, the heritability effect, capturing genetic relatedness in sibling deviance, is no longer significantly associated with deviance. The deviance of siblings' unique friends accounts for a large portion of the heritability effect of sibling deviance.
NEIGHBORHOOD STRUCTURE AND RACE‐SPECIFIC RATES OF INTIMATE ASSAULT*
Authors: WOOLDREDGE JOHN , THISTLETHWAITE AMY
Published: March 2006

Addressing the methodological shortcomings of extant research on the racial invariance thesis, race‐specific rates of intimate assault are examined across census tracts in Hamilton County, Ohio. We extend Miles‐Doan's (1998) approach to examining neighborhood structural effects on intimate assault rates in order to test the racial invariance thesis. Findings reveal comparable effects of neighborhood disadvantage and population age structure on assault rates for African‐American males and white males, yet a stronger effect of “disinvestment” (in marriage and in neighborhoods) on rates for African‐Americans. These results conflict with previous city‐level analyses demonstrating stronger structural effects on other violent crime rates for whites.
EXAMINING THE PREVALENCE OF CRIMINAL DESISTANCE*
Authors: BUSHWAY SHAWN D. , PATERNOSTER RAYMOND , BRAME ROBERT
Published: March 2006

Criminological theorists and criminal justice policy makers place a great deal of importance on the idea of desistance. In general terms, criminal desistance refers to a cessation of offending activity among those who have offended in the past. Some significant challenges await those who would estimate the relative size of the desisting population or attempt to identify factors that predict membership in that population. In this paper, we consider several different analytic frameworks that represent an array of plausible definitions. We then illustrate some of our ideas with an empirical example from the 1958 Philadelphia Birth Cohort Study.
EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MILITARY SERVICE AND CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR DURING THE VIETNAM ERA: A RESEARCH NOTE*
Authors: BOUFFARD LEANA ALLEN
Published: March 2006

Throughout U.S. history, the military has played a role in the lives of a large proportion of the U.S. population. However, little research has focused on this topic, particularly in criminology. This study seeks to determine whether military service changes an individual's criminal behavior and/or whether the military provides another setting for the continuation of prior behavior. To address these questions, this study uses Wolfgang's 1945 Philadelphia birth cohort and Shannon's 1949 Racine, Wisconsin birth cohort data sets. Statistical methods were used to account for potential differences in selection and the presence of unobserved heterogeneity. Results suggest that military service reduces later offending in general. However, there is no significant effect of service on later violent behavior.
SOCIAL SUPPORT, INEQUALITY, AND HOMICIDE: A CROSS‐NATIONAL TEST OF AN INTEGRATED THEORETICAL MODEL*
Authors: PRATT TRAVIS C. , GODSEY TIMOTHY W.
Published: March 2006

Social support, institutional anomie, and macrolevel general strain perspectives have emerged as potentially important explanations of aggregate levels of crime. Drawing on insights from each of these perspectives in a cross‐national context, the analyses show that 1) our measure of social support is inversely related to homicide rates, 2) economic inequality also maintains a direct relationship with homicide rates, and 3) social support significantly interacts with economic inequality to influence homicide rates. The implications of the analysis for ongoing discourse concerning the integration of these criminological theories and the implications for the development of effective crime control policies are discussed.
STRUCTURAL INEQUALITY AND HOMICIDE: AN ASSESSMENT OF THE BLACK‐WHITE GAP IN KILLINGS*
Authors: VÉLEZ MARÍA B. , KRIVO LAUREN J. , PETERSON RUTH D.
Published: March 2006

This paper examines the relationship between race and violent crime by directly modeling the racial gap in homicide offending for large central cities for 1990. We evaluate the role of black‐white differences in aspects of both disadvantage and resources in explaining which places have wider racial disparities in lethal violence. The results show that where residential segregation is higher, and where whites' levels of homeownership, median income, college graduation, and professional workers exceed those for blacks to a greater degree, African Americans have much higher levels of homicide offending than whites. Based on these results, we conclude that the racial homicide gap is better explained by the greater resources that exist among whites than by the higher levels of disadvantage among blacks.
EXPLAINING RACIAL AND ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN SERIOUS ADOLESCENT VIOLENT BEHAVIOR*
Authors: McNULTY THOMAS L. , BELLAIR PAUL E.
Published: March 2006

This study explains racial/ethnic differences in serious adolescent violent behavior using a contextual model derived from prior urban, developmental, and criminological theory. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health, we compare involvement in serious violence among Asians, blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, and whites. Results indicate that statistical differences between whites and minority groups are explained by variation in community disadvantage (for blacks), involvement in gangs (for Hispanics), social bonds (for Native Americans), and situational variables (for Asians). The lesser involvement in violence among Asians compared to blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans is accounted for by similar factors. Differences in violent behavior among the latter three minority groups are not significant. Theoretical and policy implications of the findings are discussed.
SCHOOLS AS COMMUNITIES: THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG COMMUNAL SCHOOL ORGANIZATION, STUDENT BONDING, AND SCHOOL DISORDER*
Authors: PAYNE ALLISON ANN , GOTTFREDSON DENISE C. , GOTTFREDSON GARY D.
Published: March 2006

Research has indicated that school factors such as communal school organization and student bonding are predictive of school disorder, with greater communal organization and greater student bonding leading to less delinquency and victimization. Data from a nationally representative sample of 254 public, nonalternative, secondary schools were used to examine structural equation models representing hypothesized relationships among communal school organization, student bonding, and school disorder. The hypothesis that communally organized schools would have less disorder held true for teacher victimization and student delinquency, but not for student victimization. In addition, the hypothesis that the relationship between communal school organization and school disorder would be mediated by student bonding was supported for student delinquency, but not for teacher victimization.
GENDER, SOCIAL NETWORKS, AND RESIDENTIAL BURGLARY*
Authors: MULLINS CHRISTOPHER W. , WRIGHT RICHARD
Published: March 2006

Criminological researchers have devoted substantial attention to the nature and dynamics of residential burglary, but the role played by gender in shaping this offense remains largely unexplored. Feminist ethnographers have documented the fact that streetlife is highly gendered, and that this typically serves to marginalize women's participation in criminal networks and activities. Therefore, it appears likely that residential burglary—a prototypically social offense that requires good network connections—will be strongly influenced by gender dynamics. In this study, we analyze in‐depth, semi‐structured interviews with 18 female and 36 male active residential burglars to examine the ways in which gender structures access to, participation in, and potential desistance from, residential burglary. In doing so, we aim to provide an insider's view of how gender stereotypes are expressed, reinforced, and exploited within streetlife social networks, and how these networks shape the lived experience of men and women engaged in residential burglary.
CHANGES IN POLICE NOTIFICATION FOR RAPE, 1973–2000*
Authors: BAUMER ERIC P. , FELSON RICHARD B. , MESSNER STEVEN F.
Published: March 2006

We use data from the National Crime Survey (NCS) and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) to explore changes in the likelihood of police notification in rape incidents. The findings indicate that during the 1970s and 1980s there was a significant increase in police notification by third parties and by victims raped by non‐strangers. During the 1990s the increase in rates of police notification in rape incidents accelerated and broadened in scope. In addition, differences in police notification between stranger and non‐stranger incidents diminished during the 1970s and 1980s and, by the early 1990s there was no significant difference.
RACIAL AND ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN PRETRIAL RELEASE DECISIONS AND OUTCOMES: A COMPARISON OF HISPANIC, BLACK, AND WHITE FELONY ARRESTEES*
Authors: DEMUTH STEPHEN
Published: March 2006

The present study uses data on the processing of felony defendants in large urban courts to examine Hispanic, black, and white differences at the pretrial release stage. The major finding is that Hispanic defendants are more likely to be detained than white and black defendants. And, racial/ethnic differences are most pronounced in drug cases. In fact, Hispanic defendants suffer a triple burden at the pretrial release stage as they are the group most likely to be required to pay bail to gain release, the group that receives the highest bail amounts, and the group least able to pay bail. These findings are consistent with a focal concerns perspective of criminal case processing that suggests Hispanics as a newly immigrated group are especially prone to harsher treatment in the criminal case process.
CONCERNS ABOUT SAFETY, OBSERVER SEX, AND THE DECISION TO ARREST: EVIDENCE OF REACTIVITY IN A LARGE‐SCALE OBSERVATIONAL STUDY OF POLICE*
Authors: SPANO RICHARD
Published: March 2006

Data from a large‐scale observational study of police examined the impact of an observer's presence on patrol officer arrest behavior. One major theme within the descriptive data on reactivity (concerns about safety) was described as a series of anecdotes and specified in terms of its prevalence. Consistent with hypothesized effects, patrol officers who expressed concerns about safety were less likely to arrest suspects. Additional analyses also revealed that patrol officers were less likely to arrest when accompanied by female versus male observers and that there is a different pattern of acclimation that is contingent on a combination of observer sex and concerns about safety. The implications of these findings and suggestions for future research will also be considered.
COMPARING DELINQUENCY CAREERS IN COURT RECORDS AND SELF‐REPORTS*
Authors: FARRINGTON DAVID P. , JOLLIFFE DARRICK , HAWKINS J. DAVID , CATALANO RICHARD F. , HILL KARL G. , KOSTERMAN RICK
Published: March 2006

Most knowledge about delinquency careers is derived from official records. The main aim of this paper is to compare conclusions about delinquency careers derived from court referrals with conclusions derived from self‐reports. Data are analyzed from the Seattle Social Development Project, which is a prospective longitudinal survey of 808 youths. Annual court and self‐report data were available from age 11 to age 17 for eight offenses. The prevalence of offending increased with age, in both court referrals and self‐reports. There was a sharp increase in the prevalence of court referrals between ages 12 and 13, probably because of the reluctance of the juvenile justice system to deal with very young offenders. The individual offending frequency increased with age in self‐reports, but it stayed constant in court referrals, probably because of limitations on the annual number of referrals per offender. There was significant continuity in offending in both court referrals and self‐reports, but continuity was greater in court referrals. The concentration of offending (and the importance of chronic offenders) was greater in self‐reports. An early age of onset predicted a large number of offenses in both self‐reports and court referrals. However, an early onset predicted a high rate of offending in court referrals but not in self‐reports, possibly because very young offenders who were referred to court were an extreme group. About 37% of offenders and 3% of offenses led to a court referral. The more frequent offenders were less likely to be referred to court after each offense, but most of them were referred to court sooner or later. There was a sharp increase between ages 12 and 13 in the probability of an offender and an offense leading to a court referral. It is concluded that criminal career research based on self‐reports sometimes yields different conclusions compared with research based on official records.
AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF THE VIOLENT VICTIMIZATION OF WOMEN: RACE/ETHNICITY AND SITUATIONAL CONTEXT*
Authors: DUGAN LAURA , APEL ROBERT
Published: March 2006

Although much has been learned in recent years about the victimization experiences of women, there remains a considerable knowledge gap with respect to the victimization of women of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. In order to confront this issue, we use the large number of cases available in the National Crime Victimization Survey (1992–2000) to examine the risk and protective factors associated with violent victimization among non‐Hispanic white, non‐Hispanic black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, and Native American women. We then describe in more detail the violent incidents against these women, looking for distinguishing patterns across groups. Our results are useful for fine‐tuning theories of victimization to explain variance in violence for females across racial and ethnic subgroups.
POLICE, MINORITIES, AND THE FRENCH REPUBLICAN IDEAL*
Authors: ZAUBERMAN RENÉE , LÉVY RENÉ
Published: March 2006

This paper examines the strained relationship between French police agencies and ethnic minorities and discusses evidence of ethnic discrimination by the police and the criminal justice system. Until recently, the idea that ethnic composition of a police force ought to reflect, to some degree, the community it polices, seemed odd in France. We argue that there are two main reasons for this viewpoint: first, a conception of the role of the police in the State as accountable to the government rather than to the citizens; secondly, a conception of Republic and citizenship denying any political significance to the personal identities of citizens. We conclude that ethnic diversification of police forces is but one aspect of a more encompassing struggle against discrimination that requires a degree of accommodation with the present legal and statistical invisibility of racial/ethnic groups.
LOCAL POLITICS AND VIOLENT CRIME IN U.S. CITIES*
Authors: STUCKY THOMAS D.
Published: March 2006

Recent research has begun to examine the effects of politics on crime. However, few studies have considered how local political variation is likely to affect crime. Using insights from urban politics research, this paper develops and tests hypotheses regarding direct and conditional effects of local politics on violent crime in 958 cities in 1991. Results from negative binomial regression analyses show that violent crime rates vary by local political structures and the race of the mayor. In addition, the effects of structural factors such as poverty, unemployment, and female‐headed households on violent crime depend on local form of government and the number of unreformed local governmental structures. Implications for systemic social disorganization and institutional anomie theories are discussed.
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND VIOLENCE: A SUB‐NATIONAL TEST OF INSTITUTIONAL ANOMIE THEORY*
Authors: MAUME MICHAEL O. , LEE MATTHEW R.
Published: March 2006

Messner and Rosenfeld's institutional anomie theory is grounded in the assumption that relatively higher crime rates in the United States are due to (1) the overwhelming influence of economic motives and institutions in society, and (2) the subjugation of all other social institutions to cultural economic interests (e.g., the American Dream). Our analysis is designed to extend the limited body of empirical research on this theory in several ways. First, we seek to test the utility of institutional anomie theory for predicting crime rates across aggregate units within the United States (counties). Second, we draw out the theory's emphasis on instrumental crime and suggest that measures of noneconomic social, political, familial, religious, and educational institutions will be particularly relevant for explaining instrumental as opposed to expressive violence. Third, in contrast to prior research, we develop conceptual reasons to expect that these factors will primarily mediate (as opposed to moderate) the relationship between economically motivating pressures and instrumental violence. Our negative binomial regression analyses of data from the Supplementary Homicide Reports and various censuses indicate that the measures of noneconomic institutions perform well in explaining both instrumental and expressive homicides, but that these measures mediate the impact of economic pressures (as measured by the Gini coefficient of family income inequality) to commit instrumental violence most strongly. Further, we find only very limited support for the more popular moderation hypothesis.
DIFFUSION OF FRAUD: INTERMEDIATE ECONOMIC CRIME AND INVESTOR DYNAMICS*
Authors: BAKER WAYNE E. , FAULKNER ROBERT R.
Published: March 2006

Criminologists have studied the spread of fraudulent practices and techniques among perpetrators. This article attempts to contribute to the field by looking at the other side of diffusion, examining the spread of fraud among investors in a case of “intermediate fraud.” Intermediate fraud occurs when fraudulent acts are committed in or by a legitimate business. Using comprehensive archival, interview, and survey data, we analyze a business that exhibited a two‐stage pattern of intermediate fraud: It was created and operated as a legitimate business in the first stage, and then economic crimes were increasingly committed in the second stage. We use diffusion theory to guide our analysis, investigating the ways in which five factors—product attributes, buyer attributes and behavior, seller attributes and behavior, structure of the social network, and method of propagation—influence the adoption and diffusion of investments in oil and gas wells among a population of investors. The case of intermediate fraud is interesting because the factors that contributed to the success of the business in its legitimate stage are the same factors that contributed to the success of the fraud in its illegitimate stage.
THE DELINQUENCY OF CHILDREN BORN TO YOUNG MOTHERS: RESULTS FROM THE ROCHESTER YOUTH DEVELOPMENT STUDY*
Authors: POGARSKY GREG , LIZOTTE ALAN J. , THORNBERRY TERENCE P.
Published: March 2006

This paper examines the relationship between a mother's age at first childbirth and the delinquent behavior of her children. Using data from the Rochester Youth Development Study (RYDS), an ongoing longitudinal study of adolescent development, we found that children born to mothers who began childbearing at a young age were more prone to general delinquency, violence, and arrest than were children born to mothers who began childbearing when they were older. This “early first‐birth effect” was far larger in white and Hispanic families than in African‐American families. Mediating analyses found that the early first‐birth effect was most attributable to the unstable composition of families in which early childbearing occurs. That said, a substantial portion of the effect remains unmediated.
LABELING, LIFE CHANCES, AND ADULT CRIME: THE DIRECT AND INDIRECT EFFECTS OF OFFICIAL INTERVENTION IN ADOLESCENCE ON CRIME IN EARLY ADULTHOOD*
Authors: BERNBURG JÖN GUNNAR , KROHN MARVIN D.
Published: March 2006

Scholars have recently revitalized labeling theory as a developmental theory of structural disadvantage. According to this approach, official intervention increases the probability of involvement in subsequent delinquency and deviance because intervention triggers exclusionary processes that have negative consequences for conventional opportunities. The theory predicts that official intervention in adolescence increases involvement in crime in early adulthood due to the negative effect of intervention on educational attainment and employment. Using panel data on urban males that span early adolescence through early adulthood, we find considerable support for this revised labeling approach. Official intervention in youth has a significant, positive effect on crime in early adulthood, and this effect is partly mediated by life chances such as educational achievement and employment.