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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Is Emerging Adulthood Influencing Moffitt’S Developmental Taxonomy? Adding The “Prolonged” Adolescent Offender, Christopher Salvatore, Travis A. Taniguchi, Wayne Welsh Oct 2019

Is Emerging Adulthood Influencing Moffitt’S Developmental Taxonomy? Adding The “Prolonged” Adolescent Offender, Christopher Salvatore, Travis A. Taniguchi, Wayne Welsh

Christopher Salvatore

The study of offender trajectories has been a prolific area of criminological research. However, few studies have incorporated the influence of emerging adulthood, a recently identified stage of the life course, on offending trajectories. The present study addressed this shortcoming by introducing the "prolonged adolescent" offender, a low-level offender between the ages of 18 and 25 that has failed to successfully transition into adult social roles. A theoretical background based on prior research in life-course criminology and emerging adulthood is presented. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health analyses examined the relationship between indicators of traditional turning …


Your Friends And Neighbors: Localized Economic Development And Criminal Activity, Matthew Freedman, Emily G. Owens Apr 2016

Your Friends And Neighbors: Localized Economic Development And Criminal Activity, Matthew Freedman, Emily G. Owens

Matthew Freedman

We exploit a sudden shock to demand for a subset of low-wage workers generated by the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) program in San Antonio, Texas to identify the effects of localized economic development on crime. We use a difference-in-differences methodology that takes advantage of variation in BRAC’s impact over time and across neighborhoods. We find that appropriative criminal behavior increases in neighborhoods where a fraction of residents experienced increases in earnings. This effect is driven by residents who were unlikely to be BRAC beneficiaries, implying that criminal opportunities are important in explaining patterns of crime.

Forthcoming in the …


Police Integrity Lost Podcast Episode 28: Police Shootings: Are Officers Ever Convicted?, Philip M. Stinson Feb 2016

Police Integrity Lost Podcast Episode 28: Police Shootings: Are Officers Ever Convicted?, Philip M. Stinson

Philip M Stinson

This episode of the Police Integrity Lost podcast features an interview of Bowling Green State University professor Phil Stinson that aired live January 24, 2016, on the Nick Taliaferro Show on WURD 900AM Radio in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.


The Criminal Justice Response To Policy Interventions: Evidence From Immigration Reform, Sarah Bohn, Matthew Freedman, Emily Owens May 2015

The Criminal Justice Response To Policy Interventions: Evidence From Immigration Reform, Sarah Bohn, Matthew Freedman, Emily Owens

Matthew Freedman

Changes in the treatment of individuals by the criminal justice system following a policy intervention may bias estimates of the effects of the intervention on underlying criminal activity. We explore the importance of such changes in the context of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA). Using administrative data from San Antonio, Texas, we examine variation across neighborhoods and ethnicities in police arrests and in the rate at which those arrests are prosecuted. We find that changes in police behavior around IRCA confound estimates of the effects of the policy and its restrictions on employment on criminal activity.


Theories Of Crime : A Reader, Claire Renzetti, Daniel Curran, Patrick Carr Mar 2015

Theories Of Crime : A Reader, Claire Renzetti, Daniel Curran, Patrick Carr

Daniel J. Curran

This reader contains excerpts from criminologists' writings on many of the most recent sociological, biological, and psychological theories of crime.

Editors Renzetti, Curran, and Carr have compiled one of the most thorough books on the market in terms of presenting diverse theoretical perspectives. They offer introductions to each theory, briefly outlining the theory's strengths and weaknesses, and provide a set of discussion questions at the end of each theory. Excerpted readings were chosen for their accessibility to all students.

(Description from Google Books)


Bad Reputation: Stigma As An Inhibitor Of Risk Behaviors, Brian Newby, Whitney Decamp Dec 2014

Bad Reputation: Stigma As An Inhibitor Of Risk Behaviors, Brian Newby, Whitney Decamp

Whitney DeCamp

In recent years, it has been suggested that technological and scientific advancements have made the world a safer place, yet the fear of risk and threats to safety is higher than ever. This theory suggests that people are increasingly basing decisions about risk behaviors on the potential impact on their reputation. Specifically, the stigma of taking risks has been alleged to be a primary factor inhibiting risk-taking behavior. This claim, however, has remained theoretical and without empirical tests to determine its validity. The present study uses data collected from a random sample of college students, including data from open-ended responses …


Developmental Victimology: Estimating Group Victimization Trajectories In The Age-Victimization Curve, Whitney Decamp, Heather Zaykowski Dec 2014

Developmental Victimology: Estimating Group Victimization Trajectories In The Age-Victimization Curve, Whitney Decamp, Heather Zaykowski

Whitney DeCamp

Although research on the age-crime curve has made significant advances in the past few decades, our understanding of victimization has not benefited to the same degree. The present study examines the age-victim curve to explore victimization trajectories, which increases our understanding of risks over time through different life pathways. Using data from the Offending, Crime and Justice Survey, a national longitudinal survey in England and Wales, trajectory modeling is used to estimate different violent victimization trajectories for people aged 10 to 29 over four years of data. Analyses indicate the presence of four distinct victimization trajectories, including: rarely victimized, young …


Why So Many Questions? Measurement Issues And The Attitudinal Self-Control Scale, Whitney Decamp Dec 2014

Why So Many Questions? Measurement Issues And The Attitudinal Self-Control Scale, Whitney Decamp

Whitney DeCamp

The Grasmick et al. scale is one of the most frequently used measures in criminology. Regardless of how common the scale is used, questions remain about its dimensionality and the nature of forming a composite measure from its 24 individual components. This study examines whether a composite measure is the most effective method for using the scale with a series of analyses using different approaches to combining - or not combining - these measures. Based on data from a sample of over 1,500 college students, the results indicate that a single-factor composite of the 24 items is the least effective …


Élites Y Violencia Organizada En México, Andreas Schedler May 2014

Élites Y Violencia Organizada En México, Andreas Schedler

Andreas Schedler

La Encuesta Nacional de Violencia Organizada (ENVO Élites) fue levantada en otoño del 2013 en México entre seis sectores de élites: gobierno, políticos, academia, medios, empresarios y sociedad civil (N = 629). Indaga en las acciones y actitudes que adoptan las élites mexicanas hacia los actores principales de la violencia organizada criminal: los perpetradores, las víctimas, el Estado y la sociedad civil. El presente informe compara los resultados descriptivos principales entre los seis grupos de élite y entre ellos y la población general.


Ciudadanía Y Violencia Organizada En México, Andreas Schedler Apr 2014

Ciudadanía Y Violencia Organizada En México, Andreas Schedler

Andreas Schedler

La Encuesta Nacional de Violencia Organizada (ENVO) fue levantada en otoño del 2013 en México (N = 2,400). Indaga en las acciones y actitudes que adopta la ciudadanía mexicana hacia los actores principales de la violencia organizada criminal: los perpetradores, las víctimas, el Estado y la sociedad civil. El presente informe resume sus hallazgos descriptivos principales.


Your Friends And Neighbors: Localized Economic Development And Criminal Activity, Matthew Freedman, Emily Owens Mar 2014

Your Friends And Neighbors: Localized Economic Development And Criminal Activity, Matthew Freedman, Emily Owens

Matthew Freedman

We exploit a sudden shock to demand for a subset of low-wage workers generated by the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) program in San Antonio, Texas to identify the effects of localized economic development on crime. We use a difference-in-difference methodology that takes advantage of variation in BRAC’s impact over time and across neighborhoods. We find that appropriative criminal behavior increases in neighborhoods where a fraction of residents experienced increases in earnings. This effect is driven by residents who were unlikely to be BRAC beneficiaries, implying that criminal opportunities are important in explaining patterns of crime.

Forthcoming in the …


The Many Measurements Of Self-Control: How Reoperationalized Self-Control Compares, Whitney Decamp, Nicholas W. Bakken Dec 2011

The Many Measurements Of Self-Control: How Reoperationalized Self-Control Compares, Whitney Decamp, Nicholas W. Bakken

Whitney DeCamp

Since Gottfredson and Hirschi’s ‘A General Theory of Crime’ was published in 1990, self-control has become a major focus in criminological theory and research and the issue of measuring self-control has been the topic of many debates. Much of this research has used Grasmick and colleagues’ 1993 attitudinal scale. In 2004, Hirschi provided a new definition for self-control designed to spur new measurements of the concept. Despite this effort, only Piquero and Bouffard (2007) have provided an in-depth attempt to measure the redefined concept. This study replicates the Piquero and Bouffard measurement and a traditional measure of self-control in order …


Metacognition In Criminal Profiling, Barry Woodhouse, Wayne Petherick Aug 2010

Metacognition In Criminal Profiling, Barry Woodhouse, Wayne Petherick

Wayne Petherick

Extract:
As with many professions, one of the more serious problems that confronts the profiling community is that of the inept examiner. Deliberately unethical behavior is one thing, but ongoing incompetence because of profiler ignorance is something else entirely. In some instances, ignorance is the result of a metacognitive deficit caused by a lack of study, a lack of training, or a general lack of mental dexterity. In such instances, the profiler will continually do the wrong thing, such as using flawed methods and erroneous logic, because he lacks the ability to recognize his own ineptitude; the profiler cannot perceive …


An Introduction To Crime And Deviance, Wayne Petherick, Claire Ferguson Aug 2010

An Introduction To Crime And Deviance, Wayne Petherick, Claire Ferguson

Wayne Petherick

Extract: Criminological knowledge as it relates to concepts of deviance have been stagnating. Historically, new texts contain very little new knowledge. They have tended towards the recycled rather than the original. Old theories are posited over and over again, with little consideration or regard to whether they even apply in the current universe of criminal behavior. New editions rarely contain little more than new case studies as if this somehow keeps them contemporary. At best, many works offer a different spin on old approaches or theories. It is for these reasons that we have endeavoured to make this book a …


Behavioral Consistency, The Homology Assumption And The Problems Of Induction, Wayne Petherick, Claire Ferguson Aug 2010

Behavioral Consistency, The Homology Assumption And The Problems Of Induction, Wayne Petherick, Claire Ferguson

Wayne Petherick

Extract: The ultimate goal of profiling is to identify the major behavioral and personality characteristics to narrow the suspect pool. Inferences about offender characteristics can be accomplished deductively, based on the analysis of discrete offender behaviors established within a particular case. They can also be accomplished inductively, involving prediction based on abstract offender averages from group data (these methods were detailed extensively in Chapter 2; see also Petherick & Turvey, 2008a). As discussed, these two approaches are by no means equal.


Alcohol, Drugs And Crime, Wayne Petherick, Nila Myers Aug 2010

Alcohol, Drugs And Crime, Wayne Petherick, Nila Myers

Wayne Petherick

Extract:
There are a great many factors that contribute to criminality. These include, but are not limited to poverty, mental disorder, personality disorder, sub-cultures (such as gangs), personality differences, and socialization. One of the more prevalent though would be the use of alcohol and other drugs. This applies to both the offender and the victim. That is, many offenders are under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol at the time of their offense, and so are victims. In fact, victim use of drugs parallels that of offenders in many offense types.


Cults, Wayne Petherick Aug 2010

Cults, Wayne Petherick

Wayne Petherick

Extract: Cults are a universal phenomenon, and can likely be found in some form in every country around the world. Haworth (1997) suggests that there are 500 cult groups operating in the UK and other parts of Europe, meaning that on a per capita basis, the problem is the same as in the USA. Langone (undated) suggests that cult educational organizations have compiled lists of more than 2,000 groups with perhaps 1,000 of these groups actually meeting the criteria of cults, Furthermore, as an indication of their global nature, he suggests that grassroots cult educational organizations exist in more than …


School Shootings And Guns, Wayne Petherick, Brent Turvey, Jared Kreeger Aug 2010

School Shootings And Guns, Wayne Petherick, Brent Turvey, Jared Kreeger

Wayne Petherick

Extract: School shootings are a global phenomenon, as they occur in almost every country around the world. However, the United States ranks number one in terms of the total number of school shooters and total number of victims in a single incident. Despite the media attention such incidents receive, they are uncommon and as such are deviant both statistically and ideologically as an extreme form of anti-social (and homicidal) behavior.


Book Review Of: Crime In An Insecure World: By Richard Ericson, Allen Gnanam Jan 2009

Book Review Of: Crime In An Insecure World: By Richard Ericson, Allen Gnanam

Allen Gnanam

Crime in an Insecure World written by Richard Ericson, depicts western society as a neo-liberal state, that has an impulsive tendency to criminalizes all sources of harm through precautionary logic, risk assessment, surveillance measures, and counter law I and II, due to the dominant culture of impulsive criminalization that produces uncertainty. Counter Law, precautionary logical, risk assessment, and uncertainty are the 4 major concepts discussed by Ericson, and these concepts will be analyzed and interpreted during this book review.


Crime And Precaution, Allen Gnanam Jan 2009

Crime And Precaution, Allen Gnanam

Allen Gnanam

Precautionary logic and risk assessments can be associated with counter terrorism, criminal profiling, and the management of high risk individuals/ groups. Overall, risk precautionary logic and risk assessments can be framed using the Ban-opticon concept identified by Bigo, though panopitic elements do exist when discussing concepts of surveillance. The Ban opticon framework has 3 major concepts: (a) Criminal profiling, (b) the management of movement and (c) exceptionalism.

Both precautionary logic and risk assessments are associated with the profiling of harms and threats, the management of individual or group movement, and both are used to provide qualitative and quantitative rationale for …


Living Off Crime, Kenneth Tunnell Dec 2005

Living Off Crime, Kenneth Tunnell

Kenneth Tunnell

A sociological exploration of highly active property offenders who commit themselves to careers in serious property crimes, such as burglary and armed robbery. This book takes the unique approach of situating these criminal careers within the fundamental sociological concepts of social class, criminal subcultures, and consciousness. Kenneth D. Tunnell brings class back into the dialogue of property crime among the highly criminally active and economically marginalized, and gives considerable treatment to the subcultural values of this group. The book does not ignore the politics of repetitive property offenders' behaviours; rather, it describes their actions as political, yet absent of politicized …


Choosing Crime: The Criminal Calculus Of Property Offenders, Kenneth Tunnell Dec 1991

Choosing Crime: The Criminal Calculus Of Property Offenders, Kenneth Tunnell

Kenneth Tunnell

How people make decisions to commit criminal acts is a growing area of research and theory. This area of criminology is usually labeled "rational choice".