Showing papers in "Crime and Justice in 2005"

Assessing Macro-Level Predictors and Theories of Crime: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract: The macro-level approach reemerged as a salient criminological paradigm in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Prompted by new theories and reformulations of existing ones, over 200 empirical studies explored ecological correlates of crime. Few efforts have been made, however, to "make sense" of this literature. A "meta-analysis" was undertaken to determine the relative effects of macro-level predictors of crime. Indicators of "concentrated disadvantage" (e.g., racial heterogeneity, poverty, and family disruption) are among the strongest and most stable predictors. Except for incarceration, variables indicating increased use of the criminal justice system (e.g., policing and get-tough policy effects) are among the weakest. Across all studies, social disorganization and resource/economic deprivation theories receive strong empirical support; anomie/strain, social support/social altruism, and routine activity theories receive moderate support; and deterrence/rational choice and subcultural theories receive weak...

What Have We Learned from Five Decades of Neutralization Research

Abstract: Neutralization theory, though a popular framework for understanding deviant behavior, remains badly underdeveloped. Few attempts have been made to connect it to narrative and sociocognitive research in psychology and related fields. From this wider perspective, one reason neutralization theory has received only mixed empirical support is that it has been understood as a theory of criminal etiology. This makes little sense (how can one neutralize something before they have done it?) and makes the theory difficult to test. Neutralization should instead be seen as playing a role in persistence in or desistance from criminal behavior. The theory's central premises need to be substantially complicated. The notions that all excuses or justifications are "bad" and that reform involves "accepting complete responsibility" for one's actions are not tenable.

Understanding the Effects of Wrongful Imprisonment

Abstract: Concern about cases of wrongful conviction has arisen across different jurisdictions in recent decades. Some wrongly convicted individuals have spent many years in prison before their convictions are quashed, but little is known about the psychological effects of such miscarriages of justice on them. A preliminary descriptive clinical study examined eighteen men referred for psychiatric assessment after their convictions were quashed on appeal and they were released from long-term imprisonment. Substantial psychiatric morbidity and problems of psychological and social adjustment were evident in most cases. The difficulties of the wrongly convicted and their families were similar to those described in the clinical literature concerning other groups, such as war veterans, who have been exposed to chronic psychological trauma. At least some of the postrelease adjustment problems appeared to be a product of long-term imprisonment per se, which suggests that the "prison effects" literature has significant limi...

Cross-National Measures of Punitiveness

Abstract: Dealing with criminal offenders is a fundamental governmental process in a democratic society. Maintenance of public safety that allows citizens to get on with their lives is a core responsibility of government. Sanctioning of offenders, whether for preventive or moral reasons, provides the paradigm case of conflict between the state's interests in pursuing collective goals and the individual's interests in preserving liberty and autonomy. Societies vary substantially in the severity of the penalties they impose for various kinds of crimes and criminals, but it is not obvious by what metric to make such comparisons. Most such claims rely on crossnational comparisons of the average number of people held in prison per 100,000 population, but arguably equally valid measures include the number of people sent to prison per year per 100,000 population, average lengths of prison sentences, and the probability of imprisonment or average sentence length per crime committed, recorded, prosecuted, or resulting in a conviction. Results are likely to vary substantially depending on which measure is used. If average imprisonment rates in Western countries early in the twenty-first century are compared, the United States' approximately 700 per 100,000 in 2005 is much the

Sentencing Guidelines in Minnesota, 1978-2003

Abstract: Minnesota's guidelines, related sentencing laws, and charging and sentencing practices have evolved considerably since 1980. Sentencing has been coordinated with available correctional resources, avoiding prison overcrowding and ensuring that space is available to hold the most serious offenders; "truth in sentencing" has been achieved; custodial sanctions have been used sparingly; and the guidelines remain simple to understand and apply. However, the sentencing commission's emphasis on just deserts was undercut by subsequent appellate case law, legislation, and sentencing practices. Minnesota has achieved a workable and sustainable balance between sentencing purposes and in other important areas.

Punishment and Crime across Space and Time

Abstract: Crime rates rose in the United States from the mid-1960s through the early 1990s;1 imprisonment rates began rising in 1973 and continued to do so through 2005. To the man on the street and many politicians, those patterns appear to tell a comforting story. As crime rose, more miscreants were arrested, prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned, and imprisonment rates increased. After a long while, nearly twenty years, the deterrent and incapacitative effects of increased imprisonment took hold, and crime rates fell. "Prison works," as some politicians are quick to claim. The logic is tidy but the conclusion is not necessarily right, as comparisons of the United States and Canada show (Tonry 2004, fig. 5.23). Crime rate trends in Canada have closely paralleled those in the United States since 1970. When America's crime rates rose, so did Canada's. When America's crime rates fell, so did Canada's. However, there is no resemblance between American and Canadian imprisonment trends. After a four-decade-long period of stable imprisonment rates (Blumstein and Cohen 1973), the American rate grew continuously after 1973, more than quadrupling to 700 per 100,000 population, and the absolute

Ethnic Differences in Intergenerational Crime Patterns

Abstract: Some disadvantaged minority groups in Western countries have elevated rates of crime. Others do not. The experience of diverse minority groups in England and Wales, primarily postcolonial migrants since World War II, provides a case study. The highest levels of poverty and disadvantage occur among Bangladeshis and Pakistanis, and the lowest among Indians and African Asians. Afro-Caribbeans have achieved middling levels of prosperity. Crime rates in the first generation appear to have been low among all of these groups. They rose sharply in the second generation among Afro-Caribbeans but not among the South Asian groups. One reason for this divergence was the legacy of slavery, which led to rapid changes in the Afro-Caribbean family after migration that loosened constraints on crime and antisocial behavior. Another was their British cultural inheritance, which led Afro-Caribbean migrants to expect more from British people and to interact with them more freely. This outgoing style of life led to frequent ex...

Cross-National Patterns in Crime Rates

Abstract: This volume contains detailed reports on crime and punishment for six types of crime in each of seven nations. The nations were selected by the criterion that during the period 1981-89 they all had conducted several representative national crime-victimization surveys, which provide the basis for comparison of time trends in survey data with time trends in official recorded data. Sweden, not among the seven nations but also meeting this criterion, was included in an earlier publication stemming from this project (Farrington, Langan, and Tonry 2004); in this essay, we include Sweden in some comparisons. Five of the nations are English-speaking and are, or were at one time, British (England and Wales, Scotland, the United States, Canada, and Australia); the remainder are Western European (the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland). These nations have in common that they are part of the "first world" of wealthy countries with stable governance and similarly advanced technological infrastructure. But they have substantial differences with respect to criminal codes and administrative procedures for recording data on crime and punishment. Considerable effort was devoted by the authors of the studies included in this volume to adjust available data to make them as comparable as possible. Here we use these data to explore crime patterns across the nations and over time, based on both recorded data and survey data, and to take some modest steps toward explaining the observed patterns.

Crime and Punishment in the United States, 1981-1999

Abstract: Periods of variation in criminal punishment provide natural opportunities to investigate effects on crime. In general, punishment severity (sentence length and time served, for example) did not vary over the period investigated in this study, while punishment risk did: most notably, both arrest and conviction rates rose. As the risk of legal punishment rose, crime fell, which suggests, but by no means proves, a causal connection. It is impossible to identify from existing national data the specific policies and practices that produced rising arrest and conviction rates in the United States.

Crime and Justice in England and Wales, 1981-1999

Abstract: Serious property crimes in England and Wales increased from 1981 to 1993 and then decreased, while serious nonlethal violence increased during the entire period 1981-99. Increases in unemployment may have caused increases in property crime rates, and increases in prosperity may have caused increases in nonlethal violence. Increases in the risk of punishment may have caused decreases in crime rates, but increases in the severity of punishment probably did not. Conclusions are tentative because many factors that might possibly influence national crime rates over time could not be measured and controlled for.

Crime and Punishment in the Netherlands, 1980-1999

Abstract: According to police data, crime rates in the Netherlands increased for almost all offenses from 1980 to 1999. Victim survey data often show different patterns. Victim survey questions, however, do not always match police categorizations, and victim surveys are often too short or unstable to investigate these differences well. The system has become increasingly efficient in identifying offenses that have a greater likelihood of ending up in conviction. Sanctioning increasingly is deflected to the prosecutor's office, probably at the expense of conditional sentences. Pressure on prison space was mitigated through increasing use of community sanctions for less serious offenses. Sentence severity appears fairly stable for most offenses except rape, for which sentence lengths increased strongly.

Crime and Punishment in Canada, 1981-1999

Abstract: The average Canadian enjoys a high standard of living bolstered by a social safety network that includes universal health care coverage, generous benefits for unemployed workers and families in need, and year-long maternity leave. While crime ranks among the public's top concerns nationally, Canada is viewed as a safe and peaceful country in which to live and visit. But how safe is Canada? Police records indicate that Canada experienced a substantial fall in rates of serious crimes in the 1990s. Reasons include an aging population and an improved economy. There is mixed evidence on whether the Canadian criminal justice system's response to serious crime influenced crime trends during the 1990s. There is a need for increased public investment in many facets of basic research on crime and punishment in Canada. Such an investment may go some way to bring about more informed and efficacious crime policy.

Cross-National Comparisons of Crime Rates in Four Countries, 1981-1999

Abstract: The main aims of this essay are to compare changes in crime rates over time in different countries and to assess the plausibility of some explanations of these changes. We do not attempt to explain differences between countries in levels of crime. We compare four countries: England and Wales (hereafter referred to as England), the United States, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. We choose these countries because the essays on the United States, the Netherlands, and Switzerland most closely followed the template of the original England chapter in the Bureau of Justice Statistics report (Farrington, Langan, and Tonry 2004), both in documenting changes in crime and punishment over time and in investigating correlations between crime rates and other possibly influencing factors. We analyze victim survey crime rates for residential burglary, vehicle theft, robbery, and assault because we believe that they are more accurate than police-recorded crime rates, but we have to use policerecorded crime rates for rape and homicide. Despite efforts to collect comparable data in different countries, many problems remain. In particular, the methodology used in victim surveys in

Crime and Punishment in Switzerland, 1985-1999

Abstract: A recurring question in criminology has always been how the "costs of offending" (the risk of being convicted and sentenced to custody) relate to offending rates. Langan and Farrington's and Cusson's studies have renewed interest in this question. Examination of victim surveys and police and court statistics over nearly two decades produces mixed conclusions. Some of the offenses considered (burglary, motor vehicle theft, robbery, assault, rape, and homicide) show substantial variations since 1985 and are better explained by opportunity theories than in terms of changing costs of offending. The odds of an average offender being convicted and imprisoned have, depending on the indicators used, remained stable over time, or changed erratically, in ways that are difficult to relate to crime rates as the "outcome." Crime rates appear to be better explained by changes in routine activities and other opportunities than by deterrence variables.

Crime and Punishment in Australia, 1980-2000

Abstract: Over the twenty years from 1980 to 2000, Australia experienced sustained increases in the incidence of robbery, serious assault, and rape; declines in motor vehicle theft; and stability in homicide and burglary. Persons convicted of homicide, serious assault, burglary, and motor vehicle theft received longer sentences. The exceptions were robbery and rape. Limited access to uniform national crime statistics and time-series data on crime-related socioeconomic factors makes explaining these trends difficult. Differences in the responses of states and territories to crime and lack of uniform court and prison statistics make identification of the factors underlying the risk of offending complicated. The risk of punishment seems to be negatively associated with crime rates, but trying to explain this apparent relationship is adventurous. Development of uniform and integrated national crime statistics systems remains a priority.

Crime and Punishment in Scotland, 1980-1999

Abstract: The substantial rises in crime in Scotland during the golden era between 1950 and 1973 tended to level off after 1980, although this did not apply to the most serious crimes of rape and homicide. There was no sustained or substantial rise in the production of convictions for homicide, rape, robbery, serious assault, burglary, or motor vehicle theft. The chance that an offender would be caught and punished tended to decline over the period 1981-99, with only minor and short-term exceptions. In broad terms, rising crime leveled off in Scotland even though the system was becoming less effective at catching and punishing offenders. The Scottish case suggests that the effectiveness of criminal justice in catching and punishing offenders is not a major factor influencing changes in the level of crime.