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Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance

2008

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Articles 31 - 58 of 58

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Escape From Death Row: A Study Of “Tripping” As An Individual Adjustment Strategy Among Death Row Prisoners, Sandra Mcgunigall-Smith, Robert Johnson Mar 2008

Escape From Death Row: A Study Of “Tripping” As An Individual Adjustment Strategy Among Death Row Prisoners, Sandra Mcgunigall-Smith, Robert Johnson

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “The literature on stress and coping in American prisons tends to focus on the social dimensions of prison life. This literature describes a prison culture that shapes prison adjustment; such a culture entails norms, roles, and groups (including gangs) that dictate norms of adjustment. The literature also suggests that prisoners have to find a way to get along in the more public areas of the prison (such as the prison yard or mess hall) or retreat to smaller worlds within the prison while carving out “niches” that allow them to adjust in ways they find more familiar—in their jobs, …

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Table Of Contents, Volume 6, Number 3, 2008, The Death Penalty, Editorial Board Mar 2008

Table Of Contents, Volume 6, Number 3, 2008, The Death Penalty, Editorial Board

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

Table of contents for a special issue on the topic of capital punishment.

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Parent-Child Relations And Peer Associations As Mediators Of The Family Structure-Substance Use Relationship, Lizabeth A. Crawford, Katherine B. Novak Feb 2008

Parent-Child Relations And Peer Associations As Mediators Of The Family Structure-Substance Use Relationship, Lizabeth A. Crawford, Katherine B. Novak

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Survey of 1988, the authors assess the extent to which adolescents’ levels of parental attachment and opportunities for participating in delinquent activities mediate the family structure–substance use relationship. A series of hierarchical regressions supported the hypotheses that high levels of substance use among adolescents residing with stepfamilies would be explained by low parental attachment, whereas heightened opportunities for participating in deviant activities would account for the substance use behaviors of individuals living in single-parent households. More generally, the findings suggest that family structure has a moderate effect on youth substance use; that parental …

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Finishing In The Money (An Early Look At The 2008 Presidential Election), Michael I. Niman Ph.D. Jan 2008

Finishing In The Money (An Early Look At The 2008 Presidential Election), Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

An early look at the 2008 presidential election "horse race."

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Offenders, Judges, And Officers Rate The Relative Severity Of Alternative Sanctions Compared To Prison, David May, Nathan T. Moore, Peter B. Wood Jan 2008

Offenders, Judges, And Officers Rate The Relative Severity Of Alternative Sanctions Compared To Prison, David May, Nathan T. Moore, Peter B. Wood

Safety, Security and Emergency Management Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Recent work suggests that offenders rate several alternatives as more severe than imprisonment. We build on this literature by comparing punishment exchange rates generated by criminal court judges with rates generated by offenders and their supervising officers. Findings reveal that none of the three groups rates prison as the most severe sanction and judges and officers rate alternatives as significantly less severe than offenders. Offenders are generally willing to serve less of each alternative to avoid imprisonment than judges or officers. Serving correctional sanctions thus appears to reduce the perceived severity of imprisonment and increase the perceived severity of alternatives.

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Dealing With Misbehavior At Schools In Kentucky: Theoretical And Contextual Predicators Of Use Of Corporal Punishment, David May, Timothy Mcclure Jan 2008

Dealing With Misbehavior At Schools In Kentucky: Theoretical And Contextual Predicators Of Use Of Corporal Punishment, David May, Timothy Mcclure

Safety, Security and Emergency Management Faculty and Staff Scholarship

To test and compare theoretical explanations of the use of corporal punishment in school, the authors examine how well county-level measures of culture, socioeconomic strain, and social capital predict the prevalence and incidence of corporal punishment in Kentucky schools. Although several variables are significantly correlated with corporal punishment use, multivariate regression analyses reveal that high socioeconomic strain and low levels of social capital are the best predictors of (a) the prevalence of corporal punishment in a county’s public school system(s) and (b) a high incidence of corporal punishment in those counties where it is practiced. Explanations and practical implications of …

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The Lesser Of Two Evils? A Qualitative Study Of Offenders' Preferences For Prison Compared To Alternatives, David May, Alisha Williams, Peter B. Wood Jan 2008

The Lesser Of Two Evils? A Qualitative Study Of Offenders' Preferences For Prison Compared To Alternatives, David May, Alisha Williams, Peter B. Wood

Safety, Security and Emergency Management Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Recent work has demonstrated that many offenders will choose to serve prison rather than any amount of a community-based sanction. This primarily quantitative research has found that offender-generated exchange rates are influenced by a wide variety of experiences and characteristics. Missing from this literature is a qualitative evaluation of why offenders might make this choice. We present qualitative data from 618 probationers and parolees to explain why those who have experienced imprisonment are less willing to serve community sanctions than their counterparts, and more willing to serve prison. Results hold implications for deterrence, recidivism, rehabilitation, and correctional policy issues.

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An Examination Of Female Youth Gangs, Tiffiney Y. Barfield-Cottledge, Myrna Cintron, Jonathan Sorensen Jan 2008

An Examination Of Female Youth Gangs, Tiffiney Y. Barfield-Cottledge, Myrna Cintron, Jonathan Sorensen

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

Cohen's subculture of delinquency theory (1955) posits that male youth gangs exist largely as the result of the status frustration experienced by rejected adolescents in their search for middle class acceptance. Cohen concluded that social and structural factors, particularly neighborhood and school environments, impacted youth gang prevalence. While many studies related to the existence of youth gangs have been conducted, few have focused specifically on female youth gangs. In the current study, an examination of female youth gangs was conducted using self-report data gathered for the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1997-2001). Contrary to arguments that gendered-specific criminological theories are …

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Assessment Practices In Residential Treatment Facilities For Juvenile Offenders, Liz Marciniak, Diane T. Marsh Jan 2008

Assessment Practices In Residential Treatment Facilities For Juvenile Offenders, Liz Marciniak, Diane T. Marsh

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

Given the high prevalence of mental disorders among juvenile offenders, as well as the link between untreated disorders and delinquent behavior, there is a critical need for standardized, cost-effective, and clinically effective procedures to identify youth with mental health problems. Surveys were sent to staff in juvenile residential facilities throughout Pennsylvania to examine statewide assessment practices, including the background and training of staff, the standard intake procedures used in these facilities, and the role of assessment in treatment planning. Although results provide evidence of some common statewide assess-ment practices, there was significant variability in the use of specific procedures. Suggestions …

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Bullying: An Adult Perspective From Educators Who Work Predominately With African American Students, Rebecca A. Robles-Piña, Anthony Harris, Rachel Porias Jan 2008

Bullying: An Adult Perspective From Educators Who Work Predominately With African American Students, Rebecca A. Robles-Piña, Anthony Harris, Rachel Porias

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

A survey of 31 teachers and counselors who work predominantly with African American students about bullying revealed these findings: Analyses by individual questions indicated that participants (a) disagreed that bullies and victims were of any particular ethnic group, (b) were unsure about whether gender impacted bullying and whether bullying had decreased (c) agreed that pairing loners with other students was a good intervention and that victims tended to be students with special needs, and (d) strongly agreed that bullies have feelings of power and control. Analyses by categories and demographic characteristics indicated no statistically significant differences for gender and job …

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Television Violence Prevention Versus Juvenile Violence Prevention: Any Connections In Parental Control?, Sharlette Kellum Jan 2008

Television Violence Prevention Versus Juvenile Violence Prevention: Any Connections In Parental Control?, Sharlette Kellum

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

Animated features, like children's cartoons, are considered by some to be the most violent shows on televi-sion, with approximately 25 to 50 acts of violence per hour (Dietz and Strasburger, 1991). Cartoons, unlike other shows that portray violence, present instances of violence to children in an "acceptable" way, which teaches children from zero to 17 years of age that hurting people is tolerable. Television violence has been linked to juvenile aggression, which has been linked to juvenile violence. In researching several studies, the author found that many of the preventions mentioned in the television violence studies were also mentioned in …

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Controversies Surrounding Mandatory Arrest Policies And The Police Response To Intimate Partner Violence, Amy Leisenring Jan 2008

Controversies Surrounding Mandatory Arrest Policies And The Police Response To Intimate Partner Violence, Amy Leisenring

Amy Leisenring

Since the early 1970s, the efforts of the battered women’s movement have led to many changes in the criminal justice response to intimate partner violence (often referred to more broadly as ‘domestic violence’) in the USA. One important reform has been the implementation of policies that encourage or mandate the arrest of offenders. However, mandatory arrest policies have been hotly debated by scholars, activists, and criminal justice system officials. In this article, I review the recent changes to the ways in which police officers respond to intimate partner violence and discuss the controversies surrounding these changes in light of recent …

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The Reluctance To Police The Police, Gil Villagran Jan 2008

The Reluctance To Police The Police, Gil Villagran

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

A most basic function of government is to ensure public safety, and the San Jose Police Department provides this for our city. The Department generally has a good reputation for professionally trained officers. Most police officers like their job, do it professionally, and many remain on the force until retirement.

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Is There Such A Thing As “Defended Community Homicide”?: The Necessity Of Methods Triangulation, Elizabeth Griffiths, Robert D. Baller, Ryan E. Spohn, Rosemary Gartner Jan 2008

Is There Such A Thing As “Defended Community Homicide”?: The Necessity Of Methods Triangulation, Elizabeth Griffiths, Robert D. Baller, Ryan E. Spohn, Rosemary Gartner

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Data on homicides in Buffalo, New York, are analyzed to demonstrate the importance of “methods triangulation” for assessing the validity of quantitative measures. Defended community homicides are quantitatively operationalized as acts that occur in the offender’s community against a nonlocal victim. Poisson models provide strong support for the existence of defended community homicide, which is significantly more common in residentially stable and racially homogenous neighborhoods. However, subsequent qualitative analyses of the victim and offender characteristics and motives of these homicides undermine the “defended community” concept. Qualitative analyses are necessary to assess the validity of quantitative measures in criminological research.

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An Assessment Of Cross-National Variation In Rates Of Incarceration, Ryan E. Spohn, Travis Linnemann Jan 2008

An Assessment Of Cross-National Variation In Rates Of Incarceration, Ryan E. Spohn, Travis Linnemann

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Our theoretical approach compares the relative efficacy of multiple theories of law and social control. From a general social threat perspective, we find that variables reflecting the size of the unemployed youth population and general measures of income inequality have positive impacts on a nation's rates of incarceration. We also find partial support for one of Durkheim's laws of quantitative change and penal evolution, in that, all else equal, nations with a more authoritarian form of government utilize incarceration at a higher rate than their more democratic counterparts. We also find that the institutional anomie perspective, which has previously been …

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Men Of Steel Or Plastic Cops: The Use Of Ethnography As A Transformative Agent, Christine Teague, David Leith Jan 2008

Men Of Steel Or Plastic Cops: The Use Of Ethnography As A Transformative Agent, Christine Teague, David Leith

Research outputs pre 2011

The Perth urban rail system, like many other rail systems in Australia and overseas, is subject to crime and anti-social behaviour around the railway environs from a small minority of the travelling public. The transit officers, who form part of the security section of the Public Transport Authority, are the people employed to deal with these incidents, which can result in transit officers being injured. To fully understand the violence and antisocial behaviour that they deal with on a regular basis and develop strategies to reduce this risk of injury, it was necessary to enter their world. The researcher in …

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Investigating Racial Disparity At The Detention Decision: The Role Of Respectability, Don L. Kurtz, Travis Linnemann, Ryan E. Spohn Jan 2008

Investigating Racial Disparity At The Detention Decision: The Role Of Respectability, Don L. Kurtz, Travis Linnemann, Ryan E. Spohn

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

A concern over inequity and the existence of racial disparity of youth served by the juvenile justice system has long been a topic of considerable interest among scholars, policymakers, and court offi cials. Numerous empirical studies undertaken by academics and various public and private organizations have attempted to shed some light on this phenomenon. Research fi ndings on disproportionate minority contact have hardly been uniform, leaving much of this practice unexplained. This study uses data obtained at the detention decision point over a three-year period examining variance in juvenile case processing related to race. Findings suggest that extra-legal factors influencing …

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Torture And The Biopolitics Of Race, Dorothy E. Roberts Jan 2008

Torture And The Biopolitics Of Race, Dorothy E. Roberts

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

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The Sixth Amendment And Criminal Sentencing, Stephanos Bibas, Susan R. Klein Jan 2008

The Sixth Amendment And Criminal Sentencing, Stephanos Bibas, Susan R. Klein

All Faculty Scholarship

This symposium essay explores the impact of Rita, Gall, and Kimbrough on state and federal sentencing and plea bargaining systems. The Court continues to try to explain how the Sixth Amendment jury trial right limits legislative and judicial control of criminal sentencing. Equally important, the opposing sides in this debate have begun to form a stable consensus. These decisions inject more uncertainty in the process and free trial judges to counterbalance prosecutors. Thus, we predict, these decisions will move the balance of plea bargaining power back toward criminal defendants.

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Constructing A Criminal Justice System Free Of Racial Bias: An Abolitionist Framework, Dorothy E. Roberts Jan 2008

Constructing A Criminal Justice System Free Of Racial Bias: An Abolitionist Framework, Dorothy E. Roberts

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

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Contrived Defenses And Deterrent Threats: Two Facets Of One Problem, Claire Oakes Finkelstein, Leo Katz Jan 2008

Contrived Defenses And Deterrent Threats: Two Facets Of One Problem, Claire Oakes Finkelstein, Leo Katz

All Faculty Scholarship

What relation do the various parts of a plan bear to the overall aim of the plan? In this essay we consider this question in the context of two very different problems in the criminal law. The first, known in the German criminal law literature as the Actio Libera in Causa, involves defendants who contrive to commit crimes under conditions that would normally afford them a justification or excuse. The question is whether such defendants should be allowed to claim the defense when the defense is itself either contrived or anticipated in advance. The second is what we call the …

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The Lesser Of Two Evils? A Qualitative Study Of Offenders' Preferences For Prison Compared To Alternatives, David May, Alisha Williams, Peter Wood Dec 2007

The Lesser Of Two Evils? A Qualitative Study Of Offenders' Preferences For Prison Compared To Alternatives, David May, Alisha Williams, Peter Wood

David May

Recent work has demonstrated that many offenders will choose to serve prison rather than any amount of a community-based sanction. This primarily quantitative research has found that offender-generated exchange rates are influenced by a wide variety of experiences and characteristics. Missing from this literature is a qualitative evaluation of why offenders might make this choice. We present qualitative data from 618 probationers and parolees to explain why those who have experienced imprisonment are less willing to serve community sanctions than their counterparts, and more willing to serve prison. Results hold implications for deterrence, recidivism, rehabilitation, and correctional policy issues.

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Theoretical Predictors Of Delinquency In And Out Of School Among A Sample Of Rural Public School Youth, David May, Preston Elrod, Irina Soderstrom Dec 2007

Theoretical Predictors Of Delinquency In And Out Of School Among A Sample Of Rural Public School Youth, David May, Preston Elrod, Irina Soderstrom

Preston Elrod, Ph.D.

This paper compares predictors of in-school and out-of-school delinquency and is based on data collected from 2,011 subjects at two elementary, one middle, and one high school in a rural school district. Predictors were derived from a variety of theoretical perspectives including social organization and social control; interactionist theory; differential association and social learning; strain, culture conflict, and critical theory. In addition, several demographic variables were included in the analysis. Regression results revealed that negative peer influence, victimization experience, attachment to school, gender, general strain, alienation, and the student’s self-reported response to a weapon at school were significant predictors of …

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Lessons Learned From Punishment Exchange Rates: Implications For Research, Theory, And Correctional Policy, David May, Peter Wood, Amy Eades Dec 2007

Lessons Learned From Punishment Exchange Rates: Implications For Research, Theory, And Correctional Policy, David May, Peter Wood, Amy Eades

David May

A growing number of studies have used exchange rates to examine perceptions of the punitivieness of prison when compared to alternative sanctions among prisoners, probationers, parolees, correctional professionals, and judges. Without exception, the findings from these research efforts call into question the punishment continuum that anchors probation as the least punitive sanction and prison as the most punitive. In this paper, we combine findings from these research efforts with data collected from 1271 adults to propose a revised continuum of punishment. Additionally, we provide a theoretical framework to help explain how offenders experience correctional sanctions, and offer suggestions for policy …

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Offenders, Judges, And Officers Rate The Relative Severity Of Alternative Sanctions Compared To Prison, David May, Nathan Moore, Peter Wood Dec 2007

Offenders, Judges, And Officers Rate The Relative Severity Of Alternative Sanctions Compared To Prison, David May, Nathan Moore, Peter Wood

David May

Recent work suggests that offenders rate several alternatives as more severe than imprisonment. We build on this literature by comparing punishment exchange rates generated by criminal court judges with rates generated by offenders and their supervising officers. Findings reveal that none of the three groups rates prison as the most severe sanction and judges and officers rate alternatives as significantly less severe than offenders. Offenders are generally willing to serve less of each alternative to avoid imprisonment than judges or officers. Serving correctional sanctions thus appears to reduce the perceived severity of imprisonment and increase the perceived severity of alternatives.

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Dealing With Misbehavior At Schools In Kentucky: Theoretical And Contextual Predicators Of Use Of Corporal Punishment, David May, Timothy Mcclure Dec 2007

Dealing With Misbehavior At Schools In Kentucky: Theoretical And Contextual Predicators Of Use Of Corporal Punishment, David May, Timothy Mcclure

David May

To test and compare theoretical explanations of the use of corporal punishment in school, the authors examine how well county-level measures of culture, socioeconomic strain, and social capital predict the prevalence and incidence of corporal punishment in Kentucky schools. Although several variables are significantly correlated with corporal punishment use, multivariate regression analyses reveal that high socioeconomic strain and low levels of social capital are the best predictors of (a) the prevalence of corporal punishment in a county’s public school system(s) and (b) a high incidence of corporal punishment in those counties where it is practiced. Explanations and practical implications of …

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How Do Inmates Perceive Jail Conditions?: A View From Jail Administrators, David May, Rick Ruddell, Peter Wood Dec 2007

How Do Inmates Perceive Jail Conditions?: A View From Jail Administrators, David May, Rick Ruddell, Peter Wood

David May

Focuses on a study conducted which examines the perceptions of jail administrators about the hardships in jail incarceration. It is found that inmates view jail to be more punitive than prison. Further, it is noted that jail administrators have observed that often an inmate would prefer to be in a jail that is close to his family.

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Unusual Burials And Necrophobia: An Insight Into The Burial Archaeology Of Fear, Anastasia Tsaliki Dec 2007

Unusual Burials And Necrophobia: An Insight Into The Burial Archaeology Of Fear, Anastasia Tsaliki

Dr Anastasia Tsaliki, PhD

No abstract provided.

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