Journal of Criminal Justice 38(3)

The effect of self-control on victimization in the cyberworld
Adam M. Bossler, Thomas J. Holt

In light of the differences between traditional forms of victimization and cybercrime victimization, this study examined whether the expansion of self-control theory to the field of victimization could help explain cybercrime victimization as well. This study found that self-control had a weak relationship with multiple forms of cybercrime victimization, but it did not have a direct effect on victimization after controlling for offending measures. Considering that this was incongruent with previous victimization research, these findings raise theoretical and empirical questions for the entire field of victimization regarding the importance of self-control when controlling for relevant peer offending.

The expression of low self-control as problematic drinking in adolescents: An integrated control perspective
Joseph O. Baker

In the past two decades, Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) self-control theory was widely tested, with ample empirical support that individual levels of self-control predict delinquency. The current study focused on social factors that condition the expression of self-control as delinquency—with specific attention given to the role of an adolescent's level of social attachments to adults. Concerning the type of delinquency, this study focused on applying established criminological theories to the issue of problematic drinking among adolescents. Using the Add Health survey of American adolescents, empirical tests supported the hypothesized conditioning effect of social attachments regarding the influence of self-control on problematic drinking. These findings suggest that theoretically and empirically addressing how social factors influence the expression of individual propensities could offer insight into the relationship between self-control and delinquency.

Social disorganization theory and the college campus
Michael S. Barton, Bonnie Lynne Jensen, Joanne M. Kaufman

Researchers and the mass media have focused increasing attention on campus crime in light of a few high-profile incidents. While rare, these incidents are important because college students are less likely to attend, spend time on, or participate in social activities on high crime campuses. The current study contributed to research on campus crime by exploring the generalizability of the updated social disorganization model to campus communities by using data collected from Peterson's Guide to Four-Year Colleges and the Uniform Crime Report for the year 2000. While social structural features of campus populations are clearly associated with rates of campus property crime, the role of social organization is less certain. These results have implications for future research and crime prevention planning on college campuses.

Untangling race and class effects on juvenile arrests
Michael Tapia

This study employed a synthesis of conflict and labeling theory to reexamine the often observed links between race, social class, and arrest. Using longitudinal data on a representative sample of U.S. teens, random effects negative binomial regressions detected direct and indirect effects of race and class on arrest. In support of main effects hypotheses, racial minority status and low SES increased arrests, controlling for demographic and legal items. Consistent with research on “out of place” effects for minority youth in high SES contexts, and counter to expectations, interactions showed that racial minority status increased arrest risk for high SES youth significantly more than it did for low SES youth. Somewhat reminiscent of research on the “Latino paradox,” the effect of minority status on arrest at low-income levels did not exert the same interactive effect for Hispanics as it did for Blacks. Implications for theory, policy, and future research are discussed.

Budgetary support for police services in U.S. municipalities: Comparing political culture, socioeconomic characteristics and incrementalism as rival explanations for budget share allocation to police
Jihong Zhao, Ling Ren, Nicholas P. Lovrich

Only limited research was available on the important question of the likely determinants of changes in budgetary allocations to municipal police agencies over time. Within that rather limited set of studies, three distinct perspectives on hypothesized key determinants of funding levels for police could be identified—namely, the local political culture, the nature of socioeconomic conditions, and the prevalence of incremental budget decision-making processes. This study employed a longitudinal data set derived from municipal clerk surveys administered in four waves to the same cross-section of U.S. cities in 1993, 1996, 2000, and 2003. The authors examined the relative utility of these three hypothesized determinants through the use of a two-way random-effects panel model. The findings for 188 U.S. municipal governments suggested that the incremental budgeting aspect of annual budgeting in municipal governments largely explained the variation in share of allocation to police agencies in these cities, with political culture and socioeconomic conditions demonstrating only weak effects at best.

Electronic supervision for sex offenders: Implications for work load, supervision goals, versatility, and policymaking
Brian K. Payne, Matthew T. DeMichele

Electronic monitoring strategies are being used increasingly for sex offenders across the United States. Despite this increased use, few researchers have considered the broader implications for probation and parole officers when these tools are used. In this study, attention was given to how the use of electronic monitoring for sex offenders is related to supervision goals, work load, the use of other supervision strategies, and state level policies. Findings showed significant differences in several areas. The conclusion focuses on community corrections policy implications.

Look who's stalking: Obsessive pursuit and attachment theory
Christina L. Patton, Matt R. Nobles, Kathleen A. Fox

Few criminological theories have been applied to the study of stalking perpetration, and even fewer address the presence of underlying psychological mechanisms. Attachment theory describes the ways in which an individual with a chaotic family environment in childhood may develop feelings of insecurity that may lead to increased aggression and violent behavior in adolescence and adulthood. In this study, a sample of college students (N = 2,783) were queried on self-reported stalking behaviors and the revised Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR-R) measure of adult attachment. Stalkers scored significantly higher on the insecure-anxious scale of attachment and lower on insecure-avoidant scale. Other psychological variables (major/minor psychiatric diagnoses, depression, and anger-related issues) were also examined, with a history of anger-related diagnosis or treatment positively and significantly associated with stalking perpetration. Implications for theory development in stalking and future research directions are discussed.

Parole release decisions: Impact of victim input on a representative sample of inmates
Joel M. Caplan

Positive and negative input, in both verbal and written forms, was studied for a representative sample of 820 parole-eligible adult inmates in New Jersey to determine the extent to which victim participation and the provisions of victim input policies affect contemporary parole release practices. Victim input was not found to be a significant predictor of parole release. Measures of institutional behavior, crime severity, and criminal history were significant. Verbal input had a greater affect than written input. In the short-term, parole administrators should develop guidelines to clarify procedures and create a more uniform and transparent application of victim input. In the long-term, the receipt of victim input should be used to identify victims who have not yet found closure so that appropriate support services can be provided prior to most inmates’ eventual releases from prison.

Criminal victimization in South Korea: A multilevel approach
Sunghoon Roh, Eunyoung Kim, Minwoo Yun

A growing number of studies in criminal victimization had integrated the individual model and the context model to examine the dynamics of influences from the predictors at different levels. Only a few studies, however, had explored the impact of multilevel factors upon criminal victimization outside the U.S. context. Using the survey data gathered in Seoul, South Korea, the current study tested the applicability of the multilevel approach in criminal victimization to the Korean context. The results were mixed. At the macro level, poverty and community cohesion were positively associated with victimization by street crime and residential crime, respectively. Inconsistent with the findings in the U.S. studies, however, community cohesion increased the chance of residential crime victimization, and residential mobility was not significantly associated with criminal victimization. At the micro level, avoidance behaviors and target hardening efforts were associated with more criminal victimization, contrary to the proposition by opportunity theory. These unexpected findings could be explained by the unique social and cultural characteristics of Korean society. The unique contexts of modern Korean society as well as the limitation of the current study are discussed.

Critical incident preparedness and response on post-secondary campuses
Joseph A. Schafer, Eric Heiple, Matthew J. Giblin, George W. Burruss Jr.

Campus-based critical incidents received renewed focus in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University shootings. Legislative bodies, task forces, and professional associations sought to provide campus public safety departments with a range of recommended strategies to prevent and mitigate accidental and intentional critical events. Using data from a national sample of colleges and universities, this study examined the status of critical incident preparedness and response in the spring of 2008. Results indicated a solid base of prevention and response capacity; at the same time, respondents highlighted areas lagging behind recommended practices and barriers limiting achieved changes.

An empirical assessment of the process of restorative justice
Shih-Ya Kuo, Dennis Longmire, Steven J. Cuvelier

This study involved an empirical assessment of restorative justice processes with an application of a theoretical model proposed by Presser and Van Voorhis (2002). Their model identified three common procedural activities associated with restorative justice: dialogue, relationship building, and communication of moral values. This study utilized secondary data, consisting of observation and interview data, originally obtained by Sherman, Braithwaite, Strang, and Barnes (1999) for their Reintegrative Shaming Experiments (RISE) in Australia, 1995-1999, to test the theoretical model. The results generally supported the hypothesis that the restorative justice program engaged offenders in dialogue, relationship building, and moral communication to a greater degree than traditional court proceedings. An unexpected result emerged in the interview data showing that violent offenders in the restorative justice program did not report a greater sense of relationship building than those in court proceedings. Possible explanations accounting for the anomaly are provided. Implications for policy and future studies derived from the findings are also discussed.

Resiliency against victimization: Results from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health
Leah E. Daigle, Kevin M. Beaver, Michael G. Turner

Investigating the causes of why individuals desist from, or are resilient to, delinquency, crime, and other problem behaviors has captured the interests of scholars. Within the context of criminology, much of this research focused on resiliency against offending; that is, understanding how and why some individuals within high-risk environments do not engage in serious criminal offenses. The extant scholarship, however, has not fully explored the effects protective factors might have on fostering resiliency against victimization. Using a sample of respondents drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study investigated how individual protective factors and the accumulation of protective factors contribute to the explanation of resiliency against victimization. Analysis of the data revealed that commitment to school was the only statistically significant independent predictor of resiliency for at risk-individuals. Additional analyses indicated that a protective factor index measuring the accumulation of protection was significant across multiple measures of resiliency. The policy and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.

Journal of Criminal Justice, May 2010: Volume 38, Issue 3