Showing papers by "Francis T. Cullen published in 1988"

The impact of family structure and quality on delinquency: a comparative assessment of structural and functional factors*

Abstract: Despite the plethora of studies of broken homes, multivariate studies comparing the effects of the broken home and other theoretically relevant measures of the quality of family life are rare. This study examines the family structure versus family function issue by testing the comparative effects on self-reported delinquency of family structure and jive measures of family function. Five types of delinquency are considered. The data were obtained from a 1980 survey of 152 high school students in a small midwestern town. Item analysis and data reduction techniques were employed to construct six family quality indices and jive delinquency indices. Two types of family structure were examined: presence of both biological parents in the home v. other and single- v. two-parent homes. Multivariate analyses controlled for the effects of age and gender. Bivariate tests of the relationships between broken homes and delinquency were not significant, except for a moderate relationship between broken homes and status offenses. In addition, a bivariate relation between single-parent homes and delinquency was observed for status offenses only. Other forms of family dysfunction all were significantly related to overall delinquency and to status offenses. Moreover, several measures of family quality evidenced significant bivariate relationships to property offenses. violent offenses, and drug offenses. The importance of the broken home was further diminished when the direct effects of broken homes and home quality were examined in multivariate tests. Regression equations showed home quality and gender, rather than family structure, to be the more important determinants of delinquency. The family structure coefficient was significant in only 1 of 10 tests, a regression of broken home and home quality on status offenses. Efforts to expand the analysis to identify specific areas of family dysfunction were unenlightening.

Prison Crowding: Public Attitudes Toward Strategies of Population Control

Abstract: This article examines public attitudes toward policies to reduce prison crowding. Public attitudes were assessed through telephone surveys of adult residents of two major midwestern cities: Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio. Substantial public support for community-based corrections and incentive good time was found. Prison construction received only moderate support while high levels of public disapproval were found for shortening sentences and increasing parole board authority. Probit regression analysis of the relationship between respondent characteristics and support for policies to reduce prison crowding revealed that attitudinal variables were more consistently related to public opinion than were demographic variables. The broader issue of the relationship between public attitudes and prison policy is also raised and discussed within the context of this research.

Were Cloward and Ohlin Strain Theorists? Delinquency and Opportunity Revisited

Abstract: Although Cloward and Ohlin are frequently seen as offering a variation of Merton's strain theory, I argue that their work is more accurately conceived as offering a fundamental critique of this paradigm—a critique rooted most firmly in the writings of the Chicago School. Cloward and Ohlin's central premise is that strain (or stress) theories are incomplete because they do not account for the content of the resulting adaptation. As a result, a second perspective—which they called “opportunity theory”—is needed to explain why persons choose one wayward path rather than another. I attempt to detail Cloward and Ohlin's reasoning, suggest reasons why the main point of their theorizing has often been missed, and discuss the significance of their perspective for formulating more adequate explanations of crime and deviance.

District attorneys and corporate crime: surveying the prosecutorial gatekeepers

Abstract: A mail survey of California district attorneys regarding corporate crime focused on the recent experiences of the prosecutors with such crimes and on factors that limit the likelihood of their prosecuting corporate offenders. A significant majority of the district attorneys had prosecuted a variety of corporate crimes, and a sizable minority anticipated devoting more resources to corporate crime prosecutions in the future. There was a strong consensus among the district attorneys that the primary obstacle to corporate crime prosecutions is not political but practical and inheres in the level of resources available to them. Prosecutors in small districts were more constrained by the potential impact that a corporate prosecution might have on the local economy than their counterparts in large districts. This finding suggests that community context may influence social control responses to corporate lawbreakers.

Public Support for Mandatory Drug-Alcohol Testing in the Workplace

Abstract: In both the public and private sectors, mandatory testing for substance abuse has become a salient policy issue. Testing programs have spread rapidly, and the prudence of this policy has come under scrutiny. Based on a 1987 survey of 258 Cincinnati residents, the present study attempts to assess the extent to which citizens endorse the campaign to expand the scope of employee testing for substance abuse. In general, the data suggest that the public supports the policy of testing. Support is strongest when programs are proposed for workers whose impairment would jeopardize public safety (e.g., airline pilots). In contrast, more dissensus is evident when the policy proposal is to bring all workers under the purview of mandatory drug-alcohol testing.

Reducing the Legal Consequences of a Felony Conviction: A National Survey of State Statutes

Abstract: Offenders convicted of a felony are restricted from exercising a number of civil rights. This paper surveys the statutes for each state in order to determine the available legal methods for restoring a convicted individual's civil rights. Specifically, the methods investigated in the statutes were pardon, expungement of conviction, and the automatic restoration of civil rights upon the completion of sentence. While the number of restoration procedures varied by state, the southern region of the nation had the fewest opportunities for offenders to restore their civil rights.