Showing papers by "Francis T. Cullen published in 1996"

Race, community context and confidence in the police

Abstract: Considers the impact of a range of variables on confidence in the police, including those given little or no previous attention, e.g. measures of crime experience and of conservative political orientation. Draws data from a larger study of urban crime‐prevention issues based on Cincinnati, Ohio. Finds that respondents’ race is not a significant determinant of confidence in the police; the most important determinant being the community context. Suggests that neighborhood social integration may provide a supportive context which could encourage positive evaluation of formal institutional arrangements. Finds that attitudes toward the police (ATP) are regulated by the social context and that much of the existing research, which excluded contextual variables, may have been wrong in making race a significant variable. Notes that confidence in the police is higher in women than in men, but this may be due to a lower rate of antagonistic contact between police and women (not measured here).

Reassessing the impact of race on citizens' attitudes toward the police: A research note

Abstract: This paper reassesses the relationship between race and attitudes toward the police. Using data obtained through a telephone interview survey of 560 residents of Detroit, the study contradicts previous research by finding that blacks hold more favorable attitudes toward the police than do whites. To explain these findings, we argue that as the social context of cities changes, so might the relationship between race and citizens' attitudes toward the police.

Assessing Public Support for Three-Strikes-and-You're-Out Laws: Global versus Specific Attitudes

Abstract: In the recent movement to pass “three-strikes-and-you're-out” laws, policymakers often cite opinion polls that ostensibly show widespread public support for these initiatives. Our community survey, however, reveals that support for three-strikes laws is high when citizens are asked broad single-item questions, but diminishes greatly when citizens are presented with specific situations covered under the law. Further, the public appears willing to make exceptions to three-strikes laws. Taken together, these findings suggest that citizens would endorse three-strikes policies that focus on only the most serious offenders and that allow for flexible application.

A new test of classic strain theory

Abstract: The central variable in classic strain theory is the individual's level of dissatisfaction or frustration with his or her monetary status. This variable, however, has been ignored in virtually all tests of the theory. Most often, strain is measured indirectly in terms of the disjunction between aspirations and expectations. This paper directly measures dissatisfaction with monetary status, and draws on classic strain theory to explore the determinants and effects of such dissatisfaction. Data from a sample of adults in Cincinnati indicate that dissatisfaction is highest among objectively deprived individuals and those who desire a lot of money, have low expectations for making a lot of money, and feel relatively deprived. Further, dissatisfaction has a positive effect on both income-generating crime and drug use. This effect is strongest among those who have criminal friends and beliefs conductive to crime. Unlike the findings in much previous research, these data provide qualified support for classic str...

Religion, social bonds, and delinquency

Abstract: Although criminologists have generally been indifferent or even hostile to the idea that religion inhibits criminal deviance, evidence of a consistent inverse relationship between religion and deviance—including crime and delinquency—has steadily accumulated over the last three decades. Yet controversy abounds concerning the extent to which this relationship is shaped by offense type, group affiliation, and other religious and social contexts. Some researchers have also claimed that, in fully specified models with controls for secular bonds, religion has no direct impact on delinquency. Using comprehensive measures of religion, secular social bonds, and delinquency, the present study seeks to resolve questions concerning the relative efficacy of religion as an inhibitor of delinquency. Unlike prior research, our models also include measures of three separate dimensions of religiosity (religious activities, salience, and “hellfire") and peer religiosity. In our most fully specified models, we find that gen...

"Stop Or I'll Shoot": Racial Differences in Support for Police Use of Deadly Force

Abstract: Based on a telephone survey of a stratified sample of 239 Cincinnati residents, we explored the impact of race on support for police use of deadly force on fleeing felons. The analysis revealed that, consistent with the standards demarcated by the U.S. Supreme Court in Tennessee v. Gamer, both Blacks' and Whites' approval of force was high when offenders manifested “past dangerousness” and was less pronounced when offenders committed nonviolent crimes. African Americans, however, were less likely than Whites to endorse the illegal use of deadly force. This attitudinal cleavage appeared to be rooted in broader racial differences in crime ideology, with Blacks being more liberal and Whites being more conservative in their views on crime and its control.

Determinants of public punitiveness toward drunk driving: A factorial survey approach

Abstract: Although drunk driving has emerged as a salient social problem, criminologists have devoted little attention to the determinants of public punitiveness toward driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI). Using data drawn from a factorial design survey of community residents, we find that harm, causing a fatal injury, and one measure of culpability, namely a drunk driver's prior record of arrests, significantly increase punitiveness ratings. Other indicators of offenders' culpability, however, do not affect the sanctions imposed by respondents.

Women's roles in serious offenses: A study of adult felons

Abstract: To determine the extent to which women play either dominant leadership roles or secondary follower roles during criminal events, we interviewed 104 adult female felons regarding their roles during their most recent criminal offense. Using open-ended questions, we examined women offenders' perceptions of their involvement with accomplices and the degree to which men influenced their general involvement in criminal behavior. We found that a larger proportion of African-American women played primary and equal crime roles than did Anglo and Hispanic women. However, crimes such as robbery, burglary, and drug dealing were more likely to be committed with male accomplices, who provided women an opening into deviant networks.

Labor Market Participation and Youth Crime: The Neglect of "Working" in Delinquency Research

Abstract: Criminologists generally agree that employment prevents crime. However, the available research data reveals that under adverse conditions, employment fails to nurture the development of youth of school age and is actually harmful to them. The labor market for youth is shaped by economic interests in society. Most youth work to support a materialistic lifestyle desired as a result of marketing campaigns. Most employers in fast-food restaurants and certain other highly competitive sectors of the economy turn to youth as a source of inexpensive and transient labor that requires little corporate or managerial investment. Policies that would reshape the labor market and provide meaningful work more widely for juveniles and adults would be desirable, but such a transformation is not likely soon. Moreover, programs aimed at easing the transition of youth into the primary labor market are scarce. Thus, pushing youth into low-paying jobs that provide little human, social, or cultural capital will likely consign them to the secondary labor market and a life of underemployment. Therefore, more emphasis is needed on programs that prevent delinquency by promoting healthy psychosocial development and building skills needed to take part in post-industrial society.

Prisons in Crisis: The American Experience

Abstract: Over the past two decades, an increasingly lengthy roster of commentators has characterized prisons in the United States as being in ‘crisis’ (see, for example, Blumstein, 1989; Colvin, 1992; Cullen and Gilbert, 1982; Gottfredson and McConville, 1987; Selke, 1993; Sherman and Hawkins, 1981; Simon, 1993). The term has been invoked to describe virtually every aspect of the American correctional system, but two uses have been most prominent and will occupy our attention here.1 Most obvious and most often, commentators speak of the ‘crowding crisis’ — how escalating inmate populations tax system resources and create an unrelenting administrative nightmare. Less clearly articulated but perhaps more fundamental, there is a sense that the very purpose or ‘conscience’ (Rothman, 1980) of the correctional enterprise is up for grabs or, still worse, undergoing a disquieting transformation.