Showing papers in "Justice Quarterly in 1996"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that low self-control will have both direct and indirect effects via situational characteristics on intentions to shoplift and drive drunk, and that such an examination is necessary for a more complete understanding of criminal offending.
Abstract: This paper builds on work by Nagin and Paternoster in which they contend that two recent developments in criminological theory, self-control and rational choice, have been explored separately rather than in conjunction with one another. In their analysis, Nagin and Paternoster found direct effects for variables from each of these theories and called for more research into simultaneous examination of the two. We build on their work by delineating a more highly specified model of rational offending, in which we observe that the research thus far has not examined the indirect effects of low self-control. We believe that this area is grossly underdeveloped and that such an examination is necessary for a more complete understanding of criminal offending. We advance three hypotheses concerning the integration of low self-control into a rational choice framework: (1) that low self-control will have both direct and indirect effects via situational characteristics on intentions to shoplift and drive drunk; (2) tha...
497 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a three-year field study of active gang members in St. Louis was conducted and the authors examined five activities in which gang members use violence and highlighted their role in generating additional violence and contributing to the growth of gangs.
Abstract: Gang members engage in a considerable amount of violence. Based on a three-year field study of active gang members in St. Louis, this paper examines five activities in which gang members use violence. Retaliatory gang violence is highlighted for its role in generating additional violence and contributing to the growth of gangs. We pay particular attention to the normative aspects of gang violence. In addition, gang violence is interpreted from the perspective of collective behavior.
366 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that blacks hold more favorable attitudes toward the police than do whites, and argued that as the social context of cities changes, so might the relationship between race and citizens' attitudes towards the police.
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.
187 citations
TL;DR: The authors examine five years of recent sentencing data from Pennsylvania, focusing on the degree to which sentences that depart from the state's guideline recommendations involve extralegal differences, and find that legally prescribed factors such as offense type/severity and criminal history are the primary predictors of departure decisions.
Abstract: Unwarranted sentencing disparity, a long-standing concern for sociologists studying criminal sentencing, helped to stimulate reforms of sentencing such as sentencing guidelines. Guidelines, however, do not assure the elimination or even the reduction of sentencing disparity. Courts have the discretion to deviate from guideline recommendations, and these departures become a potential source of unwarranted disparity. Therefore we examine five years of recent sentencing data from Pennsylvania, focusing on the degree to which sentences that depart from the state's guideline recommendations involve extralegal differences. We find that legally prescribed factors such as offense type/severity and criminal history are the primary predictors of departure decisions, but that departures from guidelines are also the locus of significant extralegal differences involving gender, race, and mode of conviction (guilty plea vs trial). We conclude by discussing the dilemmas these extralegal differences present for sentencin...
169 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined the effect of the racial makeup of the offender/victim pair on a series of sexual assault case outcomes and found that sexual assaults involving black men and white women are not always treated more harshly than other types of assaults.
Abstract: Previous research testing the sexual stratification hypothesis has demonstrated that the defendant's race interacts with the victim's race to produce harsher sentences for blacks who sexually assault whites. Research also has demonstrated that victim characteristics affect outcomes of sexual assault cases. We use data on defendants bound over for trial in Detroit Recorder's Court to build on and extend this research. We examine the effect of the racial makeup of the offender/victim pair on a series of sexual assault case outcomes, and we test for interaction between offender/victim race, the relationship between the victim and the offender, and evidence of risk-taking behavior by the victim. Our results show that sexual assaults involving black men and white women are not always treated more harshly than other types of assaults. We conclude that the sexual stratification hypothesis must be modified to account for the role of factors other than the racial composition of the offender/victim pair.
148 citations
TL;DR: For example, the authors found that as many as 80 percent of citizens support the death penalty for offenders convicted of murder, while only 5 percent opposed it. But these surveys, however, typically pose abstract questions about gen...
Abstract: Recent survey data indicate that as many as 80 percent of citizens support the death penalty for offenders convicted of homicide. These surveys, however, typically pose abstract questions about gen...
113 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that dissatisfaction with monetary status is highest among objectively deprived individuals and those who desire a lot of money, have low expectations for making a lot more money, and feel relatively deprived, and that dissatisfaction has a positive effect on both income generating crime and drug use.
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...
106 citations
TL;DR: The authors make sense of an irony experienced while conducting field research, by linking it to broader social, political, and cultural processes, and explain the irony necessitates a theoretical and epistemological discussion of the relationship between the dualities of agency/structure, micro/macro, and personal/political.
Abstract: This paper makes sense of an irony, experienced while conducting field research, by linking it to broader social, political, and cultural processes. The objectives in doing so are not exclusively theoretical, practical, or methodological, but all three. Explaining the irony necessitates a theoretical and epistemological discussion of the relationship between the dualities of agency/structure, micro/macro, and personal/political. The ethnographic description of a police paramilitary unit's “training session,” and the author's reaction, provide a forum for exposing the practical implications of this micro research event: a strengthening of paramilitaristic policing, state tendencies to militarize social problems in the post-Cold War era, and a revitalization of paramilitarism in popular culture. Finally, the enactment of “self-reflexivity” as the methodological foundation of this study demonstrates its utility.
100 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored the techniques used by dealers while engaging in street sales of crack to defy detection, obfuscate illicit activity, and avoid apprehension, through a three-part typology consisting of environmental positioning, stashing, and transactional mediation.
Abstract: The present paper explores the techniques used by dealers while engaging in street sales of crack to defy detection, obfuscate illicit activity, and avoid apprehension. These techniques are presented through a three-part typology consisting of environmental positioning, stashing, and transactional mediation. Discussion focuses on restrictive deterrence, a subfield in neoclassical theory to which the present paper gives both theoretical and practical attention. Data are drawn from semistructured interviews with 40 active street-level crack dealers operating in a medium-sized midwestern metropolitan area.
91 citations
TL;DR: This article examined the relationship of ethnicity and employment status to private counsel, pretrial release, and sentence severity in Bexar County and El Paso County, Texas, and found that ethnic minorities and the unemployed were disadvantaged in the sentencing process.
Abstract: Despite extensive research on differential justice, only a few studies have examined the dispositions of southwestern Hispanics. Hispanic defendants' ability to acquire legal resources—representation by private counsel and pretrial release—remains virtually unstudied. Our research extends knowledge in this area by examining the relationships of ethnicity and employment status to private counsel, pretrial release, and sentence severity in Bexar County and El Paso County, Texas. The legal resource and sentence severity variables were analyzed sequentially, approximating the relevant stages of criminal justice decision making. Examination of the legal resource effects in the two jurisdictions reveals that ethnicity and employment exerted indirect influences on sentence severity through the private attorney and bail variables; ethnicity also directly affected sentence severity in El Paso County. The findings show that ethnic minorities and the unemployed were disadvantaged in the sentencing process.
82 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored the characteristics of hate crimes in two jurisdictions, New York City and Baltimore County, Maryland, and the responses of the police, finding that bias crimes are investigated by a specialized detective unit and are far more likely than comparison crimes to result in the arrest of one or more perpetrators.
Abstract: The apparent substantial increase in hate crime during the 1980s has led to two responses; legislation to expand the scope of the law and severity of punishment for such offenses, and police-initiated efforts to focus attention on and more fully investigate such crimes. This paper explores the characteristics of hate crimes in two jurisdictions, New York City and Baltimore County, Maryland, and the responses of the police. Data come from case records of the universe of hate crimes and from a sample of comparison crimes matched on the basis of criminal offense, date, and precinct. In New York City, bias crimes are investigated by a specialized detective unit and are far more likely than comparison crimes to result in the arrest of one or more perpetrators. In Baltimore County, patrol officers conduct follow-up investigations of bias crimes and emphasize victim support as an extension of the police department's community-oriented policing policy. Bias crimes in both jurisdictions differ from similar offense...
TL;DR: Wang et al. as mentioned in this paper examined two important strategies of community crime prevention in contemporary Chinese society: bang-jiao and tiao-jie, and explored their effectiveness with survey data from a sample of offenders in Tianjin, China.
Abstract: This paper examines two important strategies of community crime prevention in contemporary Chinese society: bang-jiao and tiao-jie. Bang-jiao refers to community efforts to reintegrate offenders into the community. Tiao-jie refers to community groups designed to resolve disputes among neighbors and family members, and in doing so, to reduce crime. We describe these strategies, discuss their philosophical underpinnings, and identify the features of Chinese society that support their implementation. We also explore their effectiveness with survey data from a sample of offenders in Tianjin, China. Our empirical analyses suggest that bang-jiao and tiao-jie may indeed be important structural mechanisms for crime control in a communitarian society.
TL;DR: The authors found that harm, causing a fatal injury, and one measure of culpability, namely a drunk driver's prior record of arrests, significantly increase punitiveness ratings for driving under the influence of alcohol.
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.
TL;DR: This article explored the effects of training on drunk-driving arrest productivity for 443 officers in six Pennsylvania police agencies and found that training has a significant positive effect on DUI arrests in agencies that provide a supportive environment, but fails to have an effect in agencies which are otherwise indifferent or hostile to DUI enforcement.
Abstract: The effects of training on workers' productivity may depend on the workers' organizational environment. This study explores the effects of training on drunk-driving arrest productivity for 443 officers in six Pennsylvania police agencies. A multiple regression analysis shows that when various other factors expected to influence arrest productivity are controlled, training has a significant positive effect on DUI arrests in agencies that provide a supportive environment, but fails to have an effect in agencies that are otherwise indifferent or hostile to DUI enforcement. A technical/rational model of police organizations can explain these results. The utility of an institutional organizational model, however, is thought to account for the use of training in two of the six agencies studied. In these agencies it appears that although training did not contribute to technical (arrest) productivity, it supported the institutional objective of securing legitimacy for the organization, and that this was accomplis...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined women offenders' perceptions of their involvement with accomplices and the degree to which men influenced their general involvement in criminal behavior, finding that a larger proportion of African-American women played primary and equal crime roles than did Anglo and Hispanic women.
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.
TL;DR: In this paper, the explanatory power of the perspective might differ across level of economic development and men's and women's arrest rates, using cross-national time-series analyses, and different regression equations are estimated for the scope conditions of development and gender, using separate regression equations.
Abstract: In the past 15 years, the routine activities approach has gained considerable popularity in explaining crime rates. Its explanations are offered, however, without considering the approach's theoretical scope. Recent research suggests that the explanatory power of the perspective might differ across level of economic development and men's and women's arrest rates. To address the issue of theoretical applicability, separate regression equations are estimated for the scope conditions of development and gender, using cross-national time-series analyses. The findings suggest that the explanatory power differs when the scope conditions of development and gender are applied. The routine activities approach appears to explain minor theft arrest rates most accurately for men in developed nations. In less developed nations, none of the four routine activities indicators showed a relationship with men's theft arrest rates. Two indicators, motivation and guardianship, evidenced a relationship with women's minor theft...
TL;DR: This article used the concept of social support to explain responses to fraud, one form of white-collar crime, and found that social support in the form of information from others influenced whether fraud victims report their victimizations.
Abstract: Little effort has been made to understand white-collar crime victims, and little is known about the factors that influence reporting behavior among these victims. In this paper we use the concept of social support to explain responses to fraud, one form of white-collar crime. Results show that social support in the form of information from others influences whether fraud victims report their victimizations. Fraud victims' responses parallel those of street crime victims in that both types of victims respond according to the direction of social support they receive from family and friends.
TL;DR: The motif of gang initiation resembles claims about other deviant conspiracies as discussed by the authors, and its use illustrates how existing cultural resources serve the construction of social problems, such as gang initiation.
Abstract: References to gang initiation rites are common in contemporary discourse about crime. Contemporary legends claim that gangs require initiates to commit horrific crimes, social science researchers depict initiations as brief tests of character, and newspaper accounts use initiation rites to explain unsolved crimes. The motif of gang initiation resembles claims about other deviant conspiracies. Its use illustrates how existing cultural resources serve the construction of social problems.
TL;DR: This paper explored correlations between economic conditions, crime rates, and federal criminal justice legislation in the United States from 1948 to 1987 and found some support for a relationship between economic condition and criminal justice.
Abstract: This study explores correlations between economic conditions, crime rates, and federal criminal justice legislation in the United States from 1948 to 1987. We expand on the punishment and social structure literature, inspired by Georg Rusche, by introducing new variables for operationalizing the political economy and criminal justice policy. We conduct a multivariate time-series analysis using various national economic indicators of the conditions of capital and labor over 40 years. The findings provide some support for a relationship between economic conditions and criminal justice legislation, even when crime rate is controlled.
TL;DR: A postmodern criminology is in its developing stages as mentioned in this paper, drawing from chaos theory, catastrophe theory, and topology theory, focusing on psychoanalytic semiotics and three exemplary topological constructions: the Mobius band, the cross-cap, and Borromean knots.
Abstract: An affirmative postmodern criminology is in its developing stages. This article provides some examples of some of the methodological and conceptual tools for inquiry. Accordingly it draws from chaos theory, catastrophe theory, and topology theory, focusing on psychoanalytic semiotics and three exemplary topological constructions: the Mobius band, the cross-cap, and Borromean knots. The relevance to doing critical criminology is indicated by focusing attention on some selected criminological theories that have affinities for an integrative approach, particularly those on “edgework,” “invitational edge,” and the “foreground factors.” This emergent state is more in tune with modeling and with explaining dynamic, nonlinear, transformational states (complexity theory).
TL;DR: In this article, the authors employ the concept of storytelling to explore the assumptions underlying the story about determinate sentencing that has dominated sentencing research and policy since the 1970s, and argue that the incarceration crisis fostered by current sentencing policy is in part a crisis of imagination.
Abstract: In this article I employ the concept of storytelling, as developed in feminist and postmodern theory, to explore the assumptions underlying the story about determinate sentencing that has dominated sentencing research and policy since the 1970s. Four analytic tools embedaed in storytelling—a critique of objectivity, a focus on process, an understanding of identity, and a new conceptualization of power—are used to investigate core assumptions that guide determinate sentencing policy. Finally, I offer a new story about sentencing and argue that the incarceration crisis fostered by current sentencing policy is in part a crisis of imagination.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present an assessment of three broad changes in the institutional environment of parole and probation and how a particular local organizational culture is responding to those changes, using a set of linguistic devices called "toy" to provide cultural context for comprehending institutional changes.
Abstract: The present research is an assessment of three broad changes in the institutional environment of parole and probation and how a particular local organizational culture is responding to those changes. I argue that changes in the institutional environment of parole and probation are articulated in classes and topics selected for Peace Officer State Training (POST). These changes in turn are mediated through instructors who use linguistic devices called tropes—stories, ironies, and metaphors—to provide the cultural context for comprehending institutional changes. An assessment of tropes provides a schematic of the way in which local agency culture responds to institutional changes in terms of preexisting cultural meanings.
TL;DR: This paper examined the effect of legal and extralegal variables on prison sentencing among Jews and Arabs, based on one 1989 data set, and found that the probability of an Arab being sentenced to prison increases with the offender's level of dangerousness.
Abstract: A review of the research literature on racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system yields mixed conclusions. Little attention has been devoted to decision making related to nationality and ethnicity in the criminal justice system in Israel. The study examines the effect of legal and extralegal variables on prison sentencing among Jews and Arabs, based on one 1989 data set. The probability of an Arab being sentenced to prison increases with the offender's level of dangerousness. A different effect, however, is shown for property offenses than for violent offenses.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the interactions present in multiple-offender homicide events using case studies of homicides occurring in Baltimore, Maryland during 1987, 1988, and 1989 and found that the final decision to use lethal force is commonly made before the offenders enter the final, lethal interaction.
Abstract: The interactions present in multiple-offender homicide events are examined using case studies of homicides occurring in Baltimore, Maryland during 1987, 1988, and 1989. Models developed for the analysis of single-offender non-felony homicides and for lethal shootings by police are employed. These models are generally found to be applicable to multiple-offender and felony-related homicides as well. The results indicate that multiple-offender homicides are less likely than single-offender homicides to involve “character disputes” which develop solely during the course of the homicidal interaction. They more often involve a character or business dispute spread over time, during which the situation evolves toward a lethal outcome. The final decision to use lethal force is commonly made before the offenders enter the final, lethal interaction. Consequently we conclude that it is important to integrate an anticipatory phrase into a model of these interactions in order to emphasize the importance of prior “rehea...
TL;DR: In this paper, all social costs and benefits are computed, and a positive annualized social net benefit is realized, including avoidance of property losses and personal injuries from both burglary and fire.
Abstract: Home surveys and ethnographic studies have demonstrated that alarms are effective in deterring intruders. Local police departments across North America, however, face significant difficulties in responding to ever-increasing false activations and in managing alarm registrations. Local, county, and state governments must know whether alarms create a net benefit or a net burden to society as a whole. In this paper, all social costs and benefits are computed, and a positive annualized social net benefit is realized. Benefits include avoidance of property losses and personal injuries from both burglary and fire. Costs include installation and utility charges for systems and police response. The results of the analysis provide public policy suggestions for police involvement in alarm activities and for effective alarm-related ordinances.
TL;DR: The often confusing, sometimes bizarre, nature of crime and justice in contemporary society is due to five fundamental mistakes in criminal justice: (1) the failure to consider an explanation of crime based on ethical decision-making, given the inadequacies of positivistic, classical, and structural approaches; (2) The failure to devote more attention to generally poor police training and low clearance rates; (3) The Failure to realize that winning cases and moving caseloads have overshadowed the original purposes of truth and justice as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The often confusing, sometimes bizarre, nature of crime and justice in contemporary society is shown to result from five fundamental mistakes in criminal justice: (1) the failure to consider an explanation of crime based on ethical decision making, given the inadequacies of positivistic, classical, and structural approaches; (2) the failure to devote more attention to generally poor police training and low clearance rates; (3) the failure to realize that winning cases and moving caseloads have overshadowed the original purposes of truth and justice in the adjudication process; (4) the failure to consider an alternative approach to corrections based on punishment and rehabilitation rather than punishment or rehabilitation; and (5) the failure to pay greater attention to the early lives of young people and their families, from whom much subsequent criminal behavior emerges. Evidence attesting to these failures is presented, and recommendations for overcoming them are indicated.