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Showing papers in "Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology in 1978"


Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: A variety of psychological or personal problems have been marshalled to explain female delinquency as discussed by the authors, such as sexual offenses, incorrigibility and running away, and their involvement in more serious offenses.
Abstract: delinquency literature as well as in the continued choice of males as preferred subjects of empirical research. Psychological or "personal problems" explanations have generally been marshalled to explain female delinquency. It has also been assumed that sexual offenses, incorrigibility and "running away" make up the delinquent repertoire of girls, and that their involvement in more serious offenses

158 citations



Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: In this article, the efficacy of three main categories of theoretical explanations which have been used in the past in an attempt to explain delinquent or deviant adolescent behavior was compared in a public secondary school population.
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to compare the efficacy of three main categories of theoretical explanations which have been used in the past in an attempt to explain delinquent or deviant adolescent behavior. This comparison will be made in terms of the ability of the three theories to account for the variance in delinquent or deviant behaviors in a public secondary school population. The later portion of this article will have a second purpose -an assessment of the manner in which the three

40 citations





Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: Migrant workers of various European nationalities more frequently committed crimes against persons, although their overall prevalence figures were actually lower than for the populations of the host countries.
Abstract: criminal.3 The prevalence of violent crime within a minority group has been reported in other countries as well. The higher rates of violent crime in England among the Irish and West Indian minorities of London4 and Birmingham5 are a matter of record. More general analysis of Commonwealth immigration into England has led to the conclusion that delinquency rates were generally low, except for violent crimes.6 Migrant workers of various European nationalities more frequently committed crimes against persons, although their overall prevalence figures were actually lower than for the populations of the host countries.7 Homicides committed in Israel between 1950-1964 were more

32 citations


Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: No account has been taken of the great diversity of conduct represented by such legal categories as "offenses against the person," "offense against property," criminal homicide, rape, robbery, burglary, larceny, and others, which is a cogent reason for dissatisfaction with present definitions of juvenile delinquency.
Abstract: [I]nnumerable variables have been statistically correlated with the events covered by the legal terms "crime" and "delinquency" and provocative theories about these phenomena have been formulated, but even in the most sophisticated researches little or no account has been taken of the great diversity of conduct represented ... by such legal categories as "offenses against the person," "offenses against property," criminal homicide, rape, robbery, burglary, larceny, and others. This, we think, is a cogent reason for the dissatisfaction with present definitions of juvenile delinquency and the demand that something be done about it.2

31 citations



Journal Article•DOI•

24 citations






Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: An important question is whether lay persons base their decisions on factors similar to or different from police forces, which are highly dependent upon citizens for knowledge of criminal incidents.
Abstract: Criminologists have long been concerned about whether certain groups are treated differently than others in the criminal justice system Studies of the decisions of police, prosecutors, and judges, for example, have suggested that extra-legal characteristics play an important role' Although some of the evidence is mixed, it has been relatively well established that characteristics such as demeanor, age, race, social class, and gender routinely influence the discretionary decisions of members of the criminal justice system2 Lay people are also in a position to make discretionary decisions Police, for instance, are highly dependent upon citizens for knowledge of criminal incidents Upwards of three quarters of all policecitizen encounters are initiated by citizens who telephone the police3 The fact that citizens make discretionary decisions prior to calling police is evidenced by the results of victimization surveys These surveys indicate that about half the time, lay persons elect not to alert police to crimes to which they have fallen victim4 An important question, therefore, is whether lay persons base their decisions on factors similar to or different from

Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: This study examines the effect of a prosecutor's values and social background on his rate of plea bargaining, based on a mail survey of prosecuting attorneys and their assistants in the state of Illinois.
Abstract: Increasing crime rates generate considerable public concern over the performance of the criminal justice system. Many citizens would be shocked to learn that the system operates on the basis of mutual cooperation and consultation, rather than the media image of the strident prosecutor battling a committed defense attorney. The actual operation of the American system of criminal justice is vastly different from the ideal adversary system. The reality is bureaucratic bargaining.1 Approximately ninety percent of all criminal cases are resolved through the process of pre-trial negotiation or plea bargaining.2 Plea bargaining results from an agreement between the prosecutor, defense attorney, and ocrasionally the defendant. The prosecutor offers the defendant a quid pro quo (charge reduction or sentence recommendation) for pleading guilty. Plea bargaining is a low visability process, one which occurs in a private and informal setting. Decisions are made over lunch or in the hallway of the criminal court building. Moreover, the participants wield such discretion that in most cases they serve as the final arbiters in the sentencing decision. The practice of plea bargaining has created considerable controversy. Various study groups such as the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice and the American Bar Association have endorsed the practice, although recommending certain reforms.3 However, other groups, specifically the Nixon Administration's National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals, have argued for the abolition of plea bargaining.4 Given the prevalence of the practice, as well as the widespread disagreement over its use, plea bargaining merits further study and research." This study examines the effect of a prosecutor's values and social background on his rate of plea bargaining. The findings presented here are based on a mail survey of prosecuting attorneys and their assistants in the state of Illinois.6 The survey instrument contained both open-ended and closed questions focusing primarily on the prosecutor's plea bargaining practices and his view of these procedures. Respondents were also asked to supply biographical data.



Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: 'In capital cases the fundamental respect for humanity underlying the Eighth Amendment requires consideration of the character and record of the individual offender and the circumstances of the particular offense as a constitutionally indispensable part of the process of inflicting the penalty of death.
Abstract: precludes imposition of the death penalty (vithout an individualized judgment that it is "appropriate".' Thus, "in capital cases the fundamental respect for humanity underlying the Eighth Amendment ... requires consideration of the character and record of the individual offender and the circumstances of the particular offense as a constitutionally indispensable part of the process of inflicting the penalty of death."2 It follows that capital sentencing procedures must "allow consideration of particularized mitigating factors,"3 for

Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: Fourteenth-century Venice was an unusual city, perhaps the wealthiest in Western Europe, which formally took absolute control of government in the fourteenth century by enacting laws that allowed no one but members of the merchant nobility to be in charge.
Abstract: Fourteenth-century Venice was an unusual city, perhaps the wealthiest in Western Europe. It had a trading empire whose domain stretched from the Near East to the Atlantic. Individual entrepreneurs had even reached as far as China and in the process the merchant elite of Venice, who were legally recognized as nobles, had become collectively and individually some of the richest men in Europe. A balanced trade provided the main economic measure of their wealth; balanced, that is, between the long-distance trade of spices and other luxury products of the East and a short-distance trade in staples carried out over the extensive inland waterways of the Lombard plain. But Venice was unusual in more than its wealth. Politically, its merchant nobility-which formally took absolute control of government in the fourteenth century by enacting laws that allowed no one but members of their


Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: Upon considering legal services, more is at stake than the principle of equality before the law, because at issue are ancient sociological questions about the forces which constitute the social fabric.
Abstract: However, experience has shown that power is not limited to these aspects of the law. There is also power in the knowledge of law and in the access to its employment. This is demonstrated by the success of legal services to the poor and to other groups historically denied such access. Upon considering legal services, more is at stake than the principle of equality before the law. At issue are ancient sociological questions about the forces which constitute the social fabric. These are

Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: In the criminal justice field, confidentiality concerns professional and personal ethics: a promise or vow, explicit or otherwise, to a source of research data not to disclose the source's identity, or not to attribute certain facts, opinions or beliefs of the source.
Abstract: Criminal justice researchers often enter into confidential relationships with their research subjects.' In attitudinal research, personality testing or observation of subjects, confidentiality may be promised to a subject by a criminologist. In acquiring information from archival sources, or in securing information from informants knowledgeable in the affairs, attitudes, beliefs or behavior of a subject, a confidential relationship may be nurtured, occasionally over a long period of time. "'Confidentiality" refers to the conditions under which scientific data, acquired from or about research subjects, is used by criminologists. Confidentiality concerns professional and personal ethics: a promise or vow, explicit or otherwise, to a source of research data not to disclose the source's identity, or not to disclose or attribute certain facts, opinions or beliefs of the source. Confidentiality refers to the status of research information, and involves questions of whether and under what circumstances


Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: Chase as mentioned in this paper argued that the ideal of judicial impartiality requires that whatever laws there are be administered in an impartial manner, but does not require that the laws themselves be impartial, since the law with magnificent impartiality forbids the rich and the poor alike to steal a loaf of bread or to sleep under the bridges.
Abstract: * The author wishes to thank Anthony Chase, a thirdyear student at the Wayne State University Law School, who not only provided valuable assistance and direction in the preparation of this article, but who also has become a close personal friend. I would also like to note that as a compromise between the sometimes competing stylistic goals of clarity and the absence of sexism, I will use the masculine gender for all personal pronouns while recognizing that the feminine gender is equally appropriate. ** Visiting Associate Professor of Law, University of Hawaii Law School, on leave from Wayne State University Law School. B.B.A. 1967, M.B.A. 1968, J.D. 1971, University of Michigan. I American legal theorist William Seagle makes this point quite clearly when he recalls Anatole France's familiar aphorism. The ideal ofjudicial impartiality requires alone that whatever laws there are be administered in an impartial manner. It does not require that the laws themselves be impartial. As Anatole France observed, the law with magnificent impartiality forbids the rich and the poor alike to steal a loaf of bread, or to sleep under the bridges. Thus the impartiality of the law simply masks the partiality of the laws, which reflect the configurations of power in the state, or are entirely composed of political ingredients. The impartial administration of an unjust law can no more make it a just law than the efficient enforcement of a bad law can make it a good law. W. Si A;i.E, L-xw: THE SCIENCE OF INEFFICIENCY 14 (1952). Scagle is quick to observe the ironic character of courtroom procedures designed to convey an impression of fairness while the laws administered in those courtrooms clearly favor different social groups and classes and inevitably bear the imprint of the structure of power in societ, . Judicial impartiality achieves a kind of fairness which is obviously untroubled by drastic inequity built into the content of the laws themselves. Citing Griffin v. Illinois, 351 U.S. 12 (1956), the Supreme Court ruled in 1963 that state criminal procedure denying benefit of counsel for an indigent's one and only appeal as of right violated the fourteenth amendment, arguing that "there can be no equal justic where the kind of an appeal a man enjoys 'depends on the amount of money he has."' Douglas v. California, 372 U.S. 353, 355 (19631. Thus by establishing an indigent's right to counsel on appeal, the Court presumably enhanced the impartial administration of justice. consensus of those who write task force reports or otherwise contribute to the legal literature on criminal justice, is that the lower criminal courts in