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Showing papers in "Criminology in 1990"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Clinical sensitivity and a psychologically informed perspective on crime may assist in the renewed service, research, and conceptual efforts that are strongly indicated by the review.
Abstract: Careful reading of the literature on the psychology of criminal conduct and of prior reviews of studies of treatment effects suggests that neither criminal sanctioning without provision of rehabilitative service nor servicing without reference to clinical principles of rehabilitation will succeed in reducing recidivism. What works, in our view, is the delivery of appropriate correctional service, and appropriate service reflects three psychological principles: (1) delivery of service to higher risk cases, (2) targeting of criminogenic needs, and (3) use of styles and modes of treatment (e.g., cognitive and behavioral) that are matched with client need and learning styles. These principles were applied to studies of juvenile and adult correctional treatment, which yielded 154 phi coefficients that summarized the magnitude and direction of the impact of treatment on recidivism. The effect of appropriate correctional service (mean phi = .30) was significantly (p <.05) greater than that of unspecified correctional service (.13), and both were more effective than inappropriate service (−.06) and non-service criminal sanctioning (−.07). Service was effective within juvenile and adult corrections, in studies published before and after 1980, in randomized and nonrandomized designs, and in diversionary, community, and residential programs (albeit, attenuated in residential settings). Clinical sensitivity and a psychologically informed perspective on crime may assist in the renewed service, research, and conceptual efforts that are strongly indicated by our review.

1,973 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the predictive power of a variety of characteristics of the preschool child for antisocial outcome at ages 11 and 15, and found that having preschool behavior problems was the single best predictor of antisocial disorders at age 11.
Abstract: It is often argued that intervention efforts can benefit from the early identification of children at risk for antisocial disorders. Little is known, however about the predictive efficacy of early predictors This study examined the predictive power of a variety of characteristics of the preschool child for antisocial outcome at ages 11 and 15. The subjects were 1,037 members of a longitudinal investigation of a New Zealand birth cohort. Groups with no disorders (n = 837), disorders other than antisocial disorders (n =37), and antisocial disorders (n = SO) were defined. Preschool descriptors were screened for their predictive power. A discriminant function analysis was computed with the jive most promising preschool variables. The function correctly classified 81 % of subjects as antisocial, or not. at age 11, and 66% of subjects as delinquent, or not, at age 15. Having preschool behavior problems was the single best predictor of antisocial disorders at age 11. This result is consistent with earlier findings that, among measures assessed in childhood, behavior problems are the best predictor of later antisocial outcome.

395 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article found that personal crime is contingent on the exposure that comes from following certain lifestyles, particularly for certain demographic groups, particularly young males, and the importance of the resulting conflict styles in promoting or reducing the opportunity for crime in certain settings and conditions.
Abstract: From Kennedy, L.W., and Forde, D.R. (1990). Routine activities and crime: An analysis of victimization in Canada. Criminology, 28, 137-152.Miethe, Stafford, and Long (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 the9.1 Abstract 217 9.2 Introduction 218 9.3 Review of Literature 218 9.4 The Study 220 9.5 Measures of Crime 220 9.6 Individual Characteristics 221 9.7 Group Characteristics 222 9.8 Findings 2229.8.1 Impact of Individual-Level Characteristics and Routine Activities on Victimization 2229.8.2 Impact of Urban Structure on Routine Activities and Victimization 2259.9 Discussion and Conclusions 229U.S. study by Miethe and colleagues, this study finds contrary evidence that suggests that personal crime is contingent on the exposure that comes from following certain lifestyles. 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.

357 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors 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.
Abstract: 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.

309 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article reported on a replication of the Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment in Omaha, Nebraska and found no differences by disposition in prevalence or frequency of repeat offending, using jive measures of recidivism to assess outcome six months after police intervention.
Abstract: This paper reports on a replication of the Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment in Omaha, Nebraska Suspects who were eligible for the experiment were randomly assigned to one of three police dispositions: mediation, separation, or arrest No differences by disposition were found in prevalence or frequency of repeat offending, using jive measures of recidivism to assess outcome six months after police intervention A survival analysis, using three of the measures for which dates of failure were available, also produced no differences by disposition

258 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper combined cognitively oriented research on anger and aggression with W. Wilson's (1987) arguments about the "truly disadvantaged" to revise the theories of subcultural theories of violence.
Abstract: Violent incidents arising out of trivial conflicts and insults have been explained by subcultural theories of violence, but empirical support for those theories has been lacking. Recent cognitively oriented research on anger and aggression is combined in this analysis with W. Wilson's (1987) arguments about the “truly disadvantaged” to revise those theories. An individual-level theory explains the violent incidents, and an aggregate level theory explains the distribution of those incidents among social groups. A subculture of angry aggression arises under conditions of social isolation, when multiple feedback loops result in concentration effects.

238 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Theoretical and empirical work concerning socioeconomic status (SES) and delinquency has mainly been devoted, throughout the past decade, to specifying the conditions under which SES and delinquent are likely to be highly related as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Theoretical and empirical work concerning socioeconomic status (SES) and delinquency has mainly been devoted, throughout the past decade, to specifying the conditions under which SES and delinquency are likely to be highly related Three broad categories of conditions, with 12 particular subconditions, have been hypothesized as specifiers of the SES/delinquency relationship Here, we review the recent empirical literature as it bears on these potential specifications The results do not support any of the conditional hypotheses about SES and delinquency, and they again challenge the idea that a negative SES/delinquency relationship is general and pervasive Almost all of the recent research finds some condition under which SES and delinquency are significantly related, however, and several of the specification hypotheses have not been thoroughly enough investigated to permit firm conclusions about their potency This poses a quandary for scholars trying to understand delinquent behavior Possible responses to the situation are discussed

158 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
Mark H. Haller1
TL;DR: In this article, three major factors explain the cooperation that sometimes emerges among illegal entrepreneurs: systematic corruption, which often permits police or politicians to bring order to illegal activities within a political subdivision, overlapping partnerships by which entrepreneurs often launch and maintain illegal businesses.
Abstract: Illegal enterprise—defined as the sale of illegal goods and services to customers who know that the goods or services are illegal—has long been a central part of the American underworld, but it has received little attention as a separate criminological category. Although such activities are often relatively short term and small scale when compared with legal businesses, three major factors explain the cooperation that sometimes emerges among illegal entrepreneurs. The first factor is systematic corruption, which often permits police or politicians to bring order to illegal activities within a political subdivision. A second factor is overlapping partnerships by which entrepreneurs often launch and maintain illegal businesses. A third factor is the internal economic characteristics of illegal businesses, which shape the manner in which they operate. The paper explores the implications of each factor through historical examples and suggests hypotheses concerning the changing structure of illegal enterprises in American cities.

128 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article investigated the reliability of four widely used cross-national data sets by constructing an error framework that relates types of errors to uses of the data, and found that for studies seeking aggregate descriptions of world crime or analytic explanations of crossnational crime rates, differences in the data sets do not make a difference in the results.
Abstract: This study investigates the question of reliability among four widely used cross-national data sets by constructing an error framework that relates types of errors to uses of the data. The findings indicate that (1) for nation-by-nation point estimation, the four data sets differ by varying degrees, (2) for aggregate point estimation in cross-sectional descriptive and longitudinal descriptive studies, they are statistically similar, and (3) for analytic or explanatory cross-sectional purposes, they yield statistically and substantively similar results. In short, for studies seeking aggregate descriptions of world crime or analytic explanations of cross-national crime rates, differences in the data sets do not make a difference in the results.

117 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a multidisciplinary approach is proposed to predict, prevent, and manage antisocial behavior using behavioral genetics, physiological psychology, psychopharmacology, and endocrinology.
Abstract: 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.

117 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors assess the impact of victim participation on sentence outcome using felony crimes in one midwestern county and find that victim requests for a particular sentence do not influence the choice of sentence.
Abstract: 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.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a method for debriefing officers after encounters with the public is described, and the results of a preliminary test of the method indicate that valuable information can be obtained with quite limited reactivity effects.
Abstract: 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.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper proposed a latent trait model that simultaneously accounts for both participation in crime and the frequency of crimes, phenomena that the criminal career model attributes to different causal processes, and showed that separate causal processes are not necessary to account for group differences in frequency and in participation.
Abstract: We propose a latent trait model that simultaneously accounts for both participation in crime and the frequency of crimes, phenomena that the criminal career model attributes to different causal processes. The criminal career model is predicated on a categorical distinction between active offenders and nonoffenders, but the latent trait model assumes a continuous distribution of propensity to offend. Our specific statistical model relates a relatively stable and general latent propensity to engage in crime to the frequency of criminal behavior. The latent trait model successfully fit both the proportion of offenders (participation) and frequency of offending for several samples and several measures of offending. The model fit both samples of whites and nonwhites and both males and females. This shows that separate causal processes are not necessary to account for group differences in frequency and in participation, which disproves the major evidence in favor of the criminal career model. Finally, the latent trait model yielded evidence that disparate sex differences in rates of participation for different categories of offenses are consistent with a single difference on a latent trait. This demonstrates the latent trait model's potential for parsimoniously unifying knowledge about criminal careers.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, an objective risk classification instrument was administered to inmates from three jails, and low-scoring inmates from two of the jails were flagged for placement in correctional halfway houses, and the third jail was blind to LSI scores.
Abstract: Faced with prison overcrowding, institutions must seek alternatives to imprisonment. An under researched possibility is the use of halfway houses for the placement of offenders serving prison sentences. The LSI, an objective risk classification instrument, was administered to inmates from three jails. Low-scoring inmates from two of the jails were flagged for placement in correctional halfway houses, and the third jail was blind to LSI scores. The halfway house placement rate was 51 % for the jails that used LSI scores and 16% for the jail using traditional subjective classification procedures. The results suggest that subjective offender assessments run the risk of over classifying offenders whereas objective risk assessments yield more appropriate classifications.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper explored the capacity of alternative theoretical perspectives to explain the self-reported criminality of black and white young adult females and found that for black women structural indicators emerge as the important predictors of criminal involvement.
Abstract: This paper explores the capacity of alternative theoretical perspectives to explain the self-reported criminality of black and white young adult females. When criminal involvement is regressed on the theory operation-alizations separately by race, a key difference emerges: For white women, significant effects are clustered in the social-psychological theory groups (bonding, attitudes, and maturation), but for the black women the social-psychological variables have only scattered and inconsistent eflects. Instead, for black women structural indicators emerge as the important predictors of criminal involvement.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article examined changes in the rate of offending in a sample of 8,834 males whose official juvenile law-violating careers included 26,650 offense episodes between ages 8 and 17.
Abstract: This study examines changes in the rate of offending in a sample of 8,834 males whose official juvenile law-violating careers included 26,650 offense episodes between ages 8 and 17 The rate of offending of active offenders (i.e., lambda) varied substantially as a function of age, increasing monotonically with age. Lambda, however, was not related to the age at first offense. In fact, the average lambda was amazingly constant at each individual age level regardless of the age at which offending began or desisted. Results are discussed in the light of age-crime curves known from other data sets and from the perspective of developmental changes in the rate of offending as youths grow older.


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that there is strong evidence in the criminological literature that the neighborhood is the most meaningful level of aggregation for such studies, and they did not find any significant support for the deterrent effect of arrests on subsequent illegal behavior.
Abstract: Although the current resurgence of ecological deterrence research has addressed many of the methodological and theoretical problems of earlier studies, the question concerning the appropriate level of aggregation for such models has not been resolved. In this paper, we argue that there is strong evidence in the criminological literature that the neighborhood is the most meaningful level of aggregation for such studies. However, in an analysis of robbery incidents and arrests over 100 weeks in five Oklahoma City neighborhoods we did not find any significant support for the deterrent effect of arrests on subsequent illegal behavior. We propose that the lack of such a relationship reflects periods of short-term equilibrium in the local community, during which the levels of crime and arrests are relatively stabilized.

Journal ArticleDOI
Robert Agnew1
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used data from two nationally representative surveys of adolescents to analyze the relation between resources and delinquency among adolescents differing in their predisposition for delinquency and their perceived self-efficacy.
Abstract: The dominant theories of delinquency tend to view the delinquent as a deprived individual who engages in delinquency because of forces beyond his or her control. This paper challenges that image, awing that many adolescents possess resources that increase their power and autonomy. This power and autonomy may be used to reduce social control and increase “Illegitimate means,” which in turn increase the likelihood of delinquency. Whether adolescents use their resources for delinquent ends is conditioned by several factors, most notably the adolescent's predisposition for delinquency, the benefits and costs of employing resources for delinquent ends in a particular situation, and the adolescent's perceived self-efficacy. Data from two nationally representative surveys of adolescents are used to analyze the relation between resources and delinquency among adolescents differing in their predisposition for delinquency. In most cases, resources are positively related to delinquency when the predisposition for delinquency is high.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a time-series analysis of male and female arrests in Toronto from 1859 to 1955 reveals an overall decline in crime rates for both genders, as well as an overriding similarity in long-term patterns for different categories of offenses.
Abstract: 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.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Recently, when I was having dinner at a restaurant and having trouble selecting among the fruit tart, the chocolate mousse, and the cheese cake, the waiter suggested taking a little of each as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Recently, when I was having dinner at a restaurant and having trouble selecting among the fruit tart, the chocolate mousse, and the cheese cake, the waiter suggested taking a little of each. His suggestion worked so well that I decided to try the same solution for this address to you. My talk will have a bite of new information about an old intervention program, a taste of data on how social contexts affect the age of first conviction, and a morsel of reflections about research on the etiology of crime.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The negative correlation between crime rates and estimates of the objective certainty of a legal punishment is interpreted by some as support for the deterrence doctrine, while others argue that the correlation is not inherently artifactual but is nevertheless spurious because of measurement error as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The often-observed negative correlation between crime rates and estimates of the objective certainty of a legal punishment is interpreted by some as support for the deterrence doctrine. Others, however, characterize the correlation as inherently artifactual because the variables being correlated have a common term (number of crimes is the numerator of the crime rate and the denominator of the objective certainty variable). Still others argue that the correlation is not inherently artifactual but is nevertheless spurious because of measurement error. This paper shows that the negative correlation is not inherently artifactual and provides evidence to support the measurement error interpretation. Unfortunately, however, there is no definitive way to demonstrate whether the negative correlation between the crime rate and the objective certainty of punishment rejects deterrence or merely measurement error.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article applied the economic threat hypothesis to the exercise of non-lethal social control in Georgia between 1874 and 1936 and found that declines in racial inequality slightly increased racial disparities in incarceration.
Abstract: Economic threat figures prominently in recent explanations of lethal social control directed against blacks after the Civil War. As the position of whites and blacks became more similar, racial antagonisms intensified and found expression in efforts to suppress and intimidate blacks through lynchings and executions. This paper applies the economic threat hypothesis to the exercise of nonlethal social control in Georgia between 1874 and 1936. Time series analysis indicates that declines in racial inequality slightly increased racial disparities in incarceration. More noticeably, they decreased the black male incarceration rate and increased its white counterpart. The paper concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and empirical implications of the results.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a model of police response to changes in crime frequencies and a criminal response model characterizing the deterrent effects of police arrest behavior are presented for data taken from police department records in the city of St. Louis.
Abstract: 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 itsee 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 specijic demographic conditions for both the police response and criminal response models have a similar pattern, consistent with the underlying communication hypothesis. How does social structure condition the interaction between criminals and police? This question is addressed here by exploiting the differential time response pattern that characterizes the interaction between police and criminals while varying the demographic characteristics of microenvironments. Four assumptions are critical. First, police respond to changes in criminal activity, and criminals respond to changes in police activity (i.e., arrests). Second, change is assessed relative to a background frequency of events; hence, the relevant perceptual units are changes in event frequencies for both criminals and police. Third, for allocations of resources that are roughly constant in time (for large administrative aggregates such as city police departments), criminal activity and the activities of police are close to equilibrium in


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors analyzes aspects of Beccaria's life and works and concludes that the adoration afforded by penologists far outweighs the actual contributions he made to penology, and that many of the reforms that occurred during the eighteenth century can be as easily be attributed to social and political conditions as to Beccria's work.
Abstract: Beccaria is widely acknowledged as one of penology's great reformers. This paper analyzes aspects of Beccaria's life and works and concludes that the adoration afforded Beccaria by penologists far outweighs the actual contributions he made to penology. Many of the reforms that occurred during the eighteenth century can as easily be ascribed to social and political conditions as to Beccaria's work When compared with the works of other great reformers of the eighteenth century, such as Voltaire or Bentham, Beccaria's works are less profound. The myth of Beccaria nonetheless presides over the modern paradigm of liberal penology.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that Walters and white's criticisms are often global statements of disapproval or name-calling rather than useful, analytic statements, and when they become specific, they are usually in error.
Abstract: This paper is written in response to the Walters and white (1989) review article “Heredity and Crime: Bad Genes or Bad Research?” Walters and white's criticisms are often global statements of disapproval or name-calling rather than useful, analytic statements. Unfortunately, when they become specific, they are usually in error.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Brennan and Mednick as mentioned in this paper found fault in this issue of the journal with a review of the literature on heredity and crime conducted by Walters and White 1989 and argued that the review is lacking in specificity and that in sections in which the criticisms are explicit the reviewers draw erroneous conclusions.
Abstract: 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.