Justice Quarterly 28(3)

Street Youths and the Proximate and Contingent Causes of Instrumental Crime: Untangling Anomie Theory
Stephen W. Baron

Utilizing a sample of 300 homeless street youths, the research examines the individual-level sub-model of Baumer's interpretation of Merton's anomie theory. The paper explores the role the interaction between monetary goals and weak commitment to legitimate means plays in the generation of instrumental crime and the manner in which this interaction is itself moderated by blocked opportunities, monetary dissatisfaction, social modeling, cultural support, and the perceived risk of punishment. The findings reveal that a weak commitment to legitimate means, but not monetary goals, has a lower order impact on the willingness to commit instrumental crime. These two variables, however, do not interact to predict intentions to offend. Instead the findings reveal that blocked opportunities and higher levels of monetary dissatisfaction moderate the relationship between the monetary goals and weak commitment to legitimate means interaction and the willingness to offend. Findings are discussed and suggestions for further research are offered.

How Much is the Public Willing to Pay to be Protected from Identity Theft?
Nicole Leeper Piquero; Mark A. Cohen; Alex R. Piquero

Identity theft has become one of the most ubiquitous crimes in the USA with estimates of the number of households being victimized annually ranging between 5% and 25%, resulting in direct losses totaling hundreds of billions of dollars over the past few years. Government efforts to combat identity theft have included legislation criminalizing and increasing penalties as well as regulatory efforts designed to protect individual identifying information held by financial and other business organizations. At the same time, individuals are taking their own preventive actions and purchasing private protection such as credit monitoring and identity theft insurance services. We use data from a large sample of residents from four states (Illinois, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Washington) in order to assess the public's willingness to pay (WTP) for a government program designed to reduce identify theft under two separate conditions, one promising a 25% reduction in identity theft and the other promising a 75% reduction in identity theft. Results indicate that: (1) between 40% and 66% of the public is willing to pay an additional tax for identity theft prevention, more so when the promise of a reduction is highest (75% compared to 25%) with an average WTP of $87, and (2) WTP is highest among individuals who carry many credit cards, who subscribe to an identity theft protection service, and who take active steps in preventing fraud by shredding bills and paying with cash, but is lowest among individuals who believe that taxes are too high. Converted into a “per crime” cost and combined with the portion of identity theft costs that are borne directly by business, we estimate the average cost per identity theft to range from approximately $2,800 to $5,100.

Juvenile Justice Decision-Making Before and After the Implementation of the Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) Mandate
Michael Leiber; Donna Bishop; Mitchell B. Chamlin

The disproportionate minority confinement (DMC) mandate was included in the reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act in 1988 and required states to assess the extent DMC was evident and to develop strategies to address the issue. The DMC mandate was designed to achieve equal treatment of youth within the juvenile justice system. In the present study, we analyzed the predictors of juvenile justice decision-making before and after the mandate to determine the impact of possible changes in the relative influence of legal criteria and extralegal considerations, especially race, on case outcomes in one juvenile court. The findings indicate that the factors impacting decision-making, for the most part, did not change in significance or relative impact though some unanticipated race effects were found at judicial disposition following the mandate.

Looking Inside the Black Box of Drug Courts: A Meta-Analytic Review
Deborah Koetzle Shaffer

There has been a rapid proliferation of drug courts over the past two decades. Empirical research examining the effectiveness of the model has generally demonstrated reduced rates of recidivism among program participants. However, relatively little is known about the structure and processes associated with effective drug courts. The current study seeks to address the issues by exploring the moderating influence of programmatic and non-programmatic characteristics on effectiveness. The methodology goes beyond previous meta-analyses by supplementing published (and unpublished) findings with a survey of drug court administrators. Consistent with previous research, the results revealed drug courts reduce recidivism by 9% on average. Further analyses indicated target population, program leverage and intensity, and staff characteristics explain the most variability in drug court effectiveness. These findings are discussed within the context of therapeutic jurisprudence and effective interventions.

Broken Windows or Window Breakers: The Influence of Physical and Social Disorder on Quality of Life
Allison T. Chappell; Elizabeth Monk-Turner; Brian K. Payne

The relationship between neighborhood disorder and fear of crime is well established. According to Wilson and Kelling's broken windows theory, physical and social disorder lead to fear and cause citizens to retreat into their homes. This breaks down informal social control mechanisms and may lead to more serious crime. Insofar as fear is related to quality of life, an implication of broken windows theory is that disorder may impact quality of life, but that relationship has not yet been examined in the research literature. The present study seeks to fill a void in the literature by investigating the relationship between neighborhood disorder and quality of life. Results indicate that disorder is related to quality of life. In particular, physical disorder is negatively associated with quality of life, but social disorder loses significance when controlling for physical disorder. Policy implications of the findings and direction for future research are discussed.

Justice Quarterly, June 2011: Volume 28, Issue 3

The Annals of the AAPSS 635

Young Disadvantaged Men: Fathers, Families, Poverty, and Policy
Timothy M. Smeeding, Irwin Garfinkel, and Ronald B. Mincy

No Country for Young Men: Deteriorating Labor Market Prospects for Low-Skilled Men in the United States
Andrew Sum, Ishwar Khatiwada, Joseph McLaughlin, and Sheila Palma

Young Disadvantaged Men as Fathers
Lawrence M. Berger and Callie E. Langton

The Relationship Contexts of Young Disadvantaged Men
Laura Tach and Kathryn Edin

Low-Income Fathers’ Influence on Children
Marcia J. Carlson and Katherine A. Magnuson

Comment: Reactions from the Perspective of Culture and Low-Income Fatherhood
Alford A. Young, Jr

Comment: Young Disadvantaged Men: Reactions from the Perspective of Race
Devah Pager

Comment: How Do Low-Income Men and Fathers Matter for Children and Family Life?
Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr

Child Support: Responsible Fatherhood and the Quid Pro Quo
Maria Cancian, Daniel R. Meyer, and Eunhee Han

Improving Education and Employment for Disadvantaged Young Men: Proven and Promising Strategies
Carolyn J. Heinrich and Harry J. Holzer

Incarceration and Prisoner Reentry in the United States
Steven Raphael

Policies That Strengthen Fatherhood and Family Relationships: What Do We Know and What Do We Need to Know?
Virginia Knox, Philip A. Cowan, Carolyn Pape Cowan, and Elana Bildner

Income Support Policies for Low-Income Men and Noncustodial Fathers: Tax and Transfer Programs
Ronald B. Mincy, Serena Klempin, and Heather Schmidt


The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, May 2011: Volume 635

British Journal of Criminology 51(3)

Human Evolution, History and Violence: An Introduction
Manuel Eisner

This special issue brings together original contributions by scholars from various disciplines that examine how evolutionary and historical research can advance our understanding of violence. In combining archaeological, anthropological, biological, sociological, and historical research the papers outline a perspective that transcends the conventional boundaries of criminology. Its core feature is the idea that we need a better understanding of the interaction between the evolutionary forces that shape the universal mechanisms associated with violence, and the ways in which social institutions, beliefs and structures of daily life control or amplify the potential for violent action.

A Change of Perspective: Integrating Evolutionary Psychology into the Historiography of Violence
John Carter Wood

Despite lively debates in many related fields about whether biological and evolutionary approaches can contribute to social and cultural investigations of human behaviour, historians have rarely confronted this issue directly. The historiography of violence is a partial exception, but there has been relatively little interdisciplinary exchange on topics central to both historical and natural-science analyses. Nevertheless, historians of violence have relied upon two concepts—‘social roles’ and ‘social construction’—that have been subject to constructive critique and revision from Darwinian perspectives. This article concludes by arguing that greater incorporation of evolutionary psychological perspectives and approaches into social and cultural analyses of violence (whether historical or contemporary) has much to contribute to a better understanding of the phenomenon of physical aggression.

Violence and Society in the Deep Human Past
Ian Armit

The past two decades have seen important changes in the ways in which archaeologists perceive interpersonal violence in the past. Prehistoric archaeology in particular provides a unique long-term perspective on the development and institutionalization of violence in human societies, adding a further dimension to the work of cultural anthropologists studying more recent non-state societies. Evidence can be drawn from a range of sources, including material culture, settlement patterning, iconography and (crucially) patterns of trauma in human remains. The interpretation of such evidence remains inseparable from wider contextual understandings of prehistoric social forms and practices. This paper considers the specific role of archaeological evidence in establishing a broader historical context for the study of violence.

Retaliatory Violence in Human Prehistory
Christopher Boehm

Homicide often spurs lethal retaliation through self-help and this response is widespread among human foragers because brothers are often co-resident in mobile bands. The roots of this behaviour can be traced back to the shared ancestor of humans, chimpanzees and bonobos, which had strong tendencies to form social dominance hierarchies and to fight, and strong tendencies for alpha peacemakers to stop fights. As well-armed humans were becoming culturally modern, they were living in mobile egalitarian hunting bands that lacked such strong peace makers and lethal retaliation had free play. This continued with tribal agriculturalists who were equally egalitarian, but they tended to live in patrilineal communities, with the males staying put at marriage, and people with such fraternal interest groups developed elaborate rules for feuding. State formation finally brought centralized social control sufficient to put an end to feuding, but self-help killing still continues in certain contexts in modern society.

Biology and the Deep History of Homicide
Randolph Roth

Social science historians are discovering deep patterns in the history of homicide rates. Murders of children by parents or caregivers correlate inversely with fertility rates and appear to be a function of the cost of children relative to parental resources and to parental ambitions for themselves and their children. Murders among unrelated adults correlate with feelings towards government and society. These patterns may represent facultative adaptations to variable or unstable habitats (including social habitats) that may favour the nurture or neglect of children in the first instance, or cooperation or aggression among unrelated adults in the second. Human neural and endocrine systems may have evolved to facilitate such shifts in behaviour.

Killing Kings: Patterns of Regicide in Europe, AD 600–1800
Manuel Eisner

This paper examines the frequency of violent death and regicide amongst 1,513 monarchs in 45 monarchies across Europe between AD 600 and 1800. The analyses reveal that all types of violence combined account for about 22 per cent of all deaths. Murder is by far the most important violent cause of death, accounting for about 15 per cent of all deaths and corresponding to a homicide rate of about 1,000 per 100,000 ruler-years. Analyses of trends over time reveal a significant decline in the frequency of both battle deaths and homicide between the Early Middle Ages and the end of the eighteenth century. A significant part of the drop occurred during the first half of the period, suggesting that the civilizing processes assumed by Norbert Elias started between the seventh and the twelfth centuries. Finally, preliminary analyses suggest that regicide has a significant ‘autoregressive’ component in that the murder of the predecessor and the pre-predecessor increases the risk of homicide for the current monarch. It is suggested that such bundles of regicide may be interpreted as part of extended periods of civil wars and feuding that accompanied the state-building process. The paper concludes by suggesting several individual and contextual risk factors that may be involved in the risk of regicide.

Violence in Non-State Societies: A Review
Amy E. Nivette

Anthropological sources on non-state, tribal societies offer a wealth of evidence on violence that can expand the spatial and temporal gaze of criminological research. Reviewing this literature allows for a more comparative analysis of patterns of violence and challenges contemporary notions of social change and order. This paper provides an overview of the most relevant anthropological evidence on patterns of violence in non-state societies. Specifically, trends and overall levels of violence, age and sex patterns as well as social and environmental factors are reviewed in order to determine whether contemporary concepts and patterns of violence are universal or culturally specific. The findings presented here indicate that violence in non-state societies is a ubiquitous but culturally varying phenomenon used by males and may be related to interdependent social organizations and networks of exchange.

Criminal Justice, Coercion and Consent In ‘Totalitarian’ Society: The Case of National Socialist Germany
Eric A. Johnson

Scholars and layman alike have long assumed that the Nazi regime kept the German people in line by employing heavy doses of coercion involving arbitrary justice and lethal repression meted out by dreaded organizations of the Nazi criminal justice system such as the Gestapo and so-called Special Courts. Between the late 1980s and early 2000s, this view was challenged by a number of scholars who gained access to and analysed previously unavailable archival evidence and who became convinced that the Nazis did not rule primarily through coercion; rather, the Nazi regime was popular with most Germans who gave the regime their voluntary consent. Most recently, however, new proponents of the original view of Nazi support based more on coercion than consent have become popular again. This article employs an unprecedented combination of different types of empirical evidence to determine which view best characterizes the support for the Nazi movement during the Third Reich. The main types of evidence employed are quantitative analyses of thousands of archival files generated by policing and court bodies in three Rhineland cities and thousands of written questionnaires involving Jewish and non-Jewish German people who had resided in cities and smaller communities across the Third Reich.

British Journal of Criminology, May 2011: Volume 51, Issue 3

Theory and Society 40(3)

Jurisdiction, inscription, and state formation: administrative modernism and knowledge regimes
Chandra Mukerji

Culture in the transitions to modernity: seven pillars of a new research agenda
Isaac Ariail Reed & Julia Adams

Where do classifications come from? The DSM-III, the transformation of American psychiatry, and the problem of origins in the sociology of knowledge
Michael Strand

A structural hermeneutics of The O’Reilly Factor
Matthew Norton

Theory and Society, May 2011: Volume 40, Issue 3

Crime & Delinquency 57(3)

Reconsidering Hispanic Gang Membership and Acculturation in a Multivariate Context
Holly Ventura Miller, J.C. Barnes, and Richard D. Hartley

Previous qualitative research has suggested that Hispanic gang membership is linked to the process of acculturation. Specifically, studies have indicated that those who are less assimilated into mainstream American or “Anglo” society are at greater risk for joining gangs. Building on these observations, this study examines the relationship between acculturation and gang membership within a theoretically and empirically informed multivariate framework. Based on a sample of Hispanic adolescents residing in the American Southwest, results largely supported previous qualitative studies that have suggested that a number of factors, including acculturation, are necessary to an understanding of gang membership within this demographic. Findings from logistic regression analyses indicated that respondents’ grade in school, neighborhood drug availability, level of ethnic marginalization, and level of acculturation were all significantly associated with self-reported gang membership. Results also suggested that marginalization may partially mediate the effects of acculturation.

Perceptions of Police Disrespect During Vehicle Stops: A Race-Based Analysis
Patricia Y. Warren

Blacks and Whites perceive American social institutions in very different terms, and views of the police are no exception. Prior research has consistently demonstrated that race is one of the most salient predictors of attitudes toward the police, with African Americans expressing more dissatisfaction than Whites. The purpose of this research is to evaluate this issue by examining the relative influence of vicarious experience and more general trust in social institutions on Black-White differences in perceptions of disrespect by the police. Using survey data from the North Carolina Highway Traffic Study, the results suggest that vicarious experience and more long-standing trust in social institutions influence the likelihood that respondents will perceive police as disrespectful.

Neighborhood Variation in Gang Member Concentrations
Charles M. Katz and Stephen M. Schnebly

This study examines the relationship between neighborhood structure, violent crime, and concentrations of gang members at the neighborhood level. We rely on official police gang list data, police crime data, and two waves of decennial census data characterizing the socioeconomic and demographic conditions of 93 neighborhoods in Mesa, Arizona. Although we find positive linear associations between gang member concentrations and indicators of economic deprivation and social and familial disadvantage, the results of nonlinear models reveal that at extreme levels of disadvantage, the magnitudes of these positive associations are substantially reduced. In addition, although we find that neighborhood crime has no influence on concentrations of gang members net of other neighborhood characteristics, our results reveal that neighborhood instability is a key component for understanding variability in the gang phenomenon. More specifically, our results suggest that gang membership is less likely in social contexts characterized by either a residentially unstable population or rapidly changing structural conditions.

The Gendered Nature of Drug Acquisition Behavior Within Marijuana and Crack Drug Markets
Marie L. Griffin and Nancy Rodriguez

Previous studies examining how gender structures women’s opportunities to engage in the street-level drug economy have provided insight into the changing nature of illicit drug markets and women’s roles within this illegitimate economy. Using national data from the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring program, this study adds to the existing body of research by examining drug market acquisition behaviors and how such drug activity differs by gender. The findings indicate that male and female arrestees use different strategies when obtaining drugs. Specifically, women appear to rely on a more limited array of social contacts than men when acquiring drugs. The results also reveal that the effect of gender on efforts to obtain drugs is not constant across drug types. This study suggests that the strategies used by women when obtaining drugs may very well reflect the gendered culture of street-level drug markets and the influence of personal relationships on women’s involvement in criminal activity.

Urban Inequality and Racial Differences in Risk for Violent Victimization
Toya Z. Like

Past research has shown that racial inequality in urban areas—Black and White residential segregation and economic inequality—is associated with increased levels of homicide offending and that victimization among Blacks yet serves as a protection mechanism against such violence among Whites. However, few studies have considered alternative measures of violence, namely nonfatal violent victimization in the study of racial inequality in urban areas. This oversight is problematic, given that although some scholars suggest that homicide is a reliable indicator of all forms of violence in general, victimization reports often point to qualitative differences in lethal and nonlethal forms of violence. Consequently, this research examines the link between city-level White and Black residential segregation and economic inequality and individual risks for nonfatal violent victimization net of individual-level factors that have also been associated with such risks. The data are disaggregated by race, because White and Black residential segregation and economic inequality are believed to have disparate effects on non-Hispanic Whites’ and non-Hispanic Blacks’ risks. Overall, the findings indicate that both forms of racial inequality function to protect Whites from nonfatal violent victimization but concomitantly increase such risks among Blacks. The implications of these findings and areas of future research are also discussed.

Predictors of School Victimization: Individual, Familial, and School Factors
Susan L. Wynne and Hee-Jong Joo

Recent deadly school crime incidents have caused great concern regarding school safety. From criminal acts to bullying and verbal abuse, school disorder compromises student safety and the learning environment. Using a series of logistic regression analyses and data from the National Crime Victimization Survey’s School Crime Supplement of 2003, this research seeks to identify a combination of individual, family, and school characteristics that can be used to predict student victimization at school. Results indicate that school victimization can be predicted from knowledge of student academic performance, prior victimization experiences, family characteristics, presence of gangs and drugs in the school, and certainty of punishment for school rule breaking. Findings support the need to adopt a multifaceted approach to provide a safer school environment, reduce juvenile offending, and facilitate learning.

Crime & Delinquency, April 2011: Volume 57, Issue 3

Criminology & Public Policy 10(2)

VOLLMER AWARD ADDRESS

Socially responsible Criminology: Quality relevant research with targeted, effective dissemination
Howard N. Snyder

This address argues that some members of the criminology community must take upon themselves the responsibility of communicating the knowledge developed by the field to practitioners and decision makers. It is reasoned that only with such targeted dissemination will the full potential benefits from our work be realized.

VOLLMER AWARD COMMENTARY

The magic and power of data: A tribute to Howard Snyder
Shay Bilchik

Howard N. Snyder
David P. Farrington

IMPACTS OF SEX OFFENDER NOTIFICATION ON COMMUNITY BEHAVIOR

Measuring the impact of sex offender notification on community adoption of protective behaviors 
Rachel Bandy

Editorial Introduction: Sex offender policies in an era of zero tolerance
Jill S. Levenson

The need to debate the fate of sex offender community notification laws
Lisa L. Sample

What is smart sex offender policy?
Karen J. Terry

DECARCERATION IN CALIFORNIA

The past as prologue? 
Rosemary Gartner, Anthony N. Doob and Franklin E. Zimring

Editorial Introduction: Decarceration
Vanessa Barker

So policy makers drive incarceration– Now what?
Shawn D. Bushway

Penal moderation in the United States?
Mary Bosworth

IMPLICATIONS OF RESIDENCE RESTRICTIONS ON SEX OFFENDER HOUSING

The policy implications of residence restrictions on sex offender housing in Upstate NY 
Kelly M. Socia

Editorial Introduction: Policy implications of sex offender residence restrictions laws
Richard Tewksbury

Residence restriction buffer zones and the banishment of sex offenders
Kristen M. Zgoba

Place a moratorium on the passage of sex offender residence restriction laws
J. C. Barnes

Residence restrictions
Keri B. Burchfield

The contexts and politics of evidence-based sex offender policy
Chrysanthi Leon

INVESTIGATING THE SOCIAL ECOLOGY OF PAYDAY LENDING

Does fringe banking exacerbate neighborhood crime rates?
Charis E. Kubrin, Gregory D. Squires, Steven M. Graves and Graham C. Ousey

Editorial Introduction: Does fringe banking exacerbate neighborhood crime rates?
Steven F. Messner

Crime, local institutions, and structural inequality
Eric A. Stewart

Criminology of the unpopular
Pamela Wilcox and John E. Eck

Criminology & Public Policy, May 2011: Volume 10, Issue 2

American Sociological Review 76(2)

Cultural Anchors and the Organization of Differences: A Multi-method Analysis of LGBT Marches on Washington
Amin Ghaziani and Delia Baldassarri

Social scientists describe culture as either coherent or incoherent and political dissent as either unifying or divisive. This article moves beyond such dichotomies. Content, historical, and network analyses of public debates on how to organize four lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Washington marches provide evidence for an integrative position. Rather than just describe consistencies or contradictions, we contend that the key analytic challenge is to explain the organization of differences. We propose one way of doing this using the mechanism of a cultural anchor. Within and across marches, a small collection of ideas remains fixed in the national conversation, yet in a way that allows activists to address their internal diversity and respond to unfolding historical events. These results suggest that activists do not simply organize around their similarities but, through cultural anchors, they use their commonalities to build a thinly coherent foundation that can also support their differences. Situated at the nexus of culture, social movements, sexualities, and networks, this article demonstrates how the anchoring mechanism works in the context of LGBT political organizing.

Culture, Cognition, and Collaborative Networks in Organizations
Sameer B. Srivastava and Mahzarin R. Banaji

This article examines the interplay of culture, cognition, and social networks in organizations with norms that emphasize cross-boundary collaboration. In such settings, social desirability concerns can induce a disparity between how people view themselves in conscious (i.e., deliberative) versus less conscious (i.e., automatic) cognition. These differences have implications for the resulting pattern of intra-organizational collaborative ties. Based on a laboratory study and field data from a biotechnology firm, we find that (1) people consciously report more positive views of themselves as collaborative actors than they appear to hold in less conscious cognition; (2) less conscious collaborative–independent self-views are associated with the choice to enlist organizationally distant colleagues in collaboration; and (3) these self-views are also associated with a person’s likelihood of being successfully enlisted by organizationally distant colleagues (i.e., of supporting these colleagues in collaboration). By contrast, consciously reported collaborative–independent self-views are not associated with these choices. This study contributes to our understanding of how culture is internalized in individual cognition and how self-related cognition is linked to social structure through collaboration. It also demonstrates the limits of self-reports in settings with strong normative pressures and represents a novel integration of methods from cognitive psychology and network analysis.

Courtesy Stigma and Monetary Sanctions: Toward a Socio-Cultural Theory of Punishment
Alexes Harris, Heather Evans, and Katherine Beckett

Recent research suggests that the use of monetary sanctions as a supplementary penalty in state and federal criminal courts is expanding, and that their imposition creates substantial and deleterious legal debt. Little is known, however, about the factors that influence the discretionary imposition of these penalties. This study offers a comprehensive account of the role socio-cultural factors, especially race and ethnicity, have in this institutional sanctioning process. We rely on multilevel statistical analysis of the imposition of monetary sanctions in Washington State courts to test our theory. The theoretical framework emphasizes the need to treat race and ethnicity as complex cultural categories, the meaning and institutional effects of which may vary across time and space. Findings indicate that racialized crime scripts, such as the association of Latinos with drugs, affect defendants whose wrong-doing is stereotype congruent. Moreover, all individuals accused of committing racially and ethnically stigmatized offenses in racialized contexts may experience the courtesy stigma that flows from racialization. We find that race and ethnicity are not just individual attributes but cultural categories that shape the distribution of stigma and the institutional consequences that flow from it.

Changing Workplaces to Reduce Work-Family Conflict: Schedule Control in a White-Collar Organization
Erin L. Kelly, Phyllis Moen, and Eric Tranby

Work-family conflicts are common and consequential for employees, their families, and work organizations. Can workplaces be changed to reduce work-family conflict? Previous research has not been able to assess whether workplace policies or initiatives succeed in reducing work-family conflict or increasing work-family fit. Using longitudinal data collected from 608 employees of a white-collar organization before and after a workplace initiative was implemented, we investigate whether the initiative affects work-family conflict and fit, whether schedule control mediates these effects, and whether work demands, including long hours, moderate the initiative’s effects on work-family outcomes. Analyses clearly demonstrate that the workplace initiative positively affects the work-family interface, primarily by increasing employees’ schedule control. This study points to the importance of schedule control for our understanding of job quality and for management policies and practices.

The Initial Assignment Effect: Local Employer Practices and Positive Career Outcomes for Work-Family Program Users
Forrest Briscoe and Katherine C. Kellogg

One of the great paradoxes of inequality in organizations is that even when organizations introduce new programs designed to help employees in traditionally disadvantaged groups succeed, employees who use these programs often suffer negative career consequences. This study helps to fill a significant gap in the literature by investigating how local employer practices can enable employees to successfully use the programs designed to benefit them. Using a research approach that controls for regulatory environment and program design, we analyze unique longitudinal personnel data from a large law firm to demonstrate that assignment to powerful supervisors upon organization entry improves career outcomes for individuals who later use a reduced-hours program. Additionally, we find that initial assignment to powerful supervisors is more important to positive career outcomes—that is, employee retention and performance-based pay—than are factors such as supervisor assignment at the time of program use. Initial assignment affects career outcomes for later program users through the mechanism of improved access to reputation-building work opportunities. These findings have implications for research on work-family programs and other employee-rights programs and for the role of social capital in careers.

Socioeconomic Status and the Increased Prevalence of Autism in California
Marissa D. King and Peter S. Bearman

The prevalence of autism has increased precipitously—roughly 10-fold in the past 40 years—yet no one knows exactly what caused this dramatic rise. Using a large and representative dataset that spans the California birth cohorts from 1992 through 2000, we examine individual and community resources associated with the likelihood of an autism diagnosis over time. This allows us to identify key social factors that have contributed to increased autism prevalence. While individual-level factors, such as birth weight and parental education, have had a fairly constant effect on likelihood of diagnosis over time, we find that community-level resources drive increased prevalence. This study suggests that neighborhoods dynamically interact with the people living in them in different ways at different times to shape health outcomes. By treating neighborhoods as dynamic, we can better understand the changing socioeconomic gradient of autism and the increase in prevalence.

Comment and Reply

Misclassification by Whom?: A Comment on Campbell and Troyer (2007)
Simon Cheng and Brian Powell

Further Data on Misclassification: A Reply to Cheng and Powell
Mary E. Campbell and Lisa Troyer

American Sociological Review, April 2011: Volume 76, Issue 2

Journal of Criminal Justice 39(2)

Self-control theory: The Tyrannosaurus rex of criminology is poised to devour criminal justice  
Matt DeLisi

Judicial scrutiny of gender-based employment practices in the criminal justice system
Claire Angelique R.I. Nolasco, Michael S. Vaughn

Research Highlights: This study examines sex discrimination claims against criminal justice agencies. Employment practices are tested using two theories: disparate impact and disparate treatment. Each theory uses distinct burden shifting procedures and applies different employment practices. Policy implications are described for criminal justice agencies to ensure their legality.

Moving beyond the socialization hypothesis: The effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy on the development of self-control
Michael G. Turner, Crista M. Livecchi, Kevin M. Beaver, Jeb Booth

Research Highlights: The development of self-control. Neuropsychological deficits and self-control. Self-control varies across neighborhood context and race.

Compstat in Australia: An analysis of the spatial and temporal impact
Lorraine Mazerolle, James McBroom, Sacha Rombouts

Research Highlights: Empirical evaluation of crime control impact for Australian version of COMPSTAT (OPRs). Mixed model approach assessing OPRs’ role in explaining crime variation (spatial and temporal). Major differences between 29 police districts (for assault, robbery, unlawful entry). Select few police districts driving statewide crime reductions. Police districts to be called-upon during maturation of OPRs to facilitate crime reduction.

First-time DWI offenders are at risk of recidivating regardless of sanctions imposed
Eileen M. Ahlin, Paul L. Zador, William J. Rauch, Jan M. Howard, G. Doug Duncan

Research Highlights: Deterrence among first-time DWI offenders not affected by sanction type First-time DWI offenders have high rate of recidivism First-time DWI offenders more likely to recidivate than drivers with no prior DWI

Serious assaults on prison staff: A descriptive analysis
Jon R. Sorensen, Mark D. Cunningham, Mark P. Vigen, S.O. Woods

Research Highlights: Serious assaults on prison staff are quite infrequent. Staff assaults causing life-threatening injury are extremely rare. Almost all staff assaults involved lone assailants. Black and female correctional officers were underrepresented. Younger, Black, gang member, or violence-convicted assailants were over-represented.

Violent criminals locked up: Examining the effect of incarceration on behavioral continuity
Jon Sorensen, Jaya Davis

Research Highlights: Nearly 15% of inmates were involved in a “dangerous rule violation”. Inmates convicted of robbery and assault committed more violations. Inmates convicted of homicide committed an average number of violations. Inmates convicted of sexual assault committed fewer violations. Findings provide mixed support for the behavioral continuity thesis.

Procedural justice during police-citizen encounters: The effects of process-based policing on citizen compliance and demeanor
Mengyan Dai, James Frank, Ivan Sun

Research Highlights: Procedural justice factors have limited and inconsistent effects on citizen behavior. Officers’ demeanor has significant effects on citizen disrespect. Officers’ consideration of citizen voice could significantly reduce citizen noncompliance. Citizen disrespect and citizen noncompliance do not share common antecedents.

Does victimization reduce self-control? A longitudinal analysis
Robert Agnew, Heather Scheuerman, Jessica Grosholz, Deena Isom, Lesley Watson, Sherod Thaxton

Research Highlights: The effect of victimization on self-control is examined using longitudinal data. Victimization reduces subsequent self-control in the near term. Results support general strain theory.

Examining GPS monitoring alerts triggered by sex offenders: The divergence of legislative goals and practical application in community corrections
Gaylene S. Armstrong, Beth C. Freeman

Research Highlights: GPS legislation assumes monitoring controls high risk offender movements. A high number of offender “alerts” or “triggers” result from GPS equipment limitations. Most GPS monitored sex offenders do not enter “restricted” zones when wearing monitoring equipment Offender absconding though equipment removal cannot be entirely controlled.

Can financial incentives reduce juvenile confinement levels? An evaluation of the Redeploy Illinois program
Gaylene S. Armstrong, Todd A. Armstrong, Vince J. Webb, Cassandra A. Atkin

Research Highlights: Counties in Illinois can easily acquire confinement and evaluation services at state funded facilities and as a result much needed local community based alternatives are non-existent. Legislation was adopted that mandated a reduction of juveniles set to state funded residential facilities. Financial incentives to counties were effective in alleviating over reliance on state funded juvenile residential facilities for evaluation and confinement purposes. Changes in placements were primarily attributable to a decrease in placement for evaluation purposes which kept juveniles in their home communities as a result.

Black–white differences in positive outcome expectancies for crime: A study of male federal prison inmates
Glenn D. Walters

Research Highlights: Positive outcome expectancies for crime were compared for black and white inmates. Black inmates had higher positive outcome expectancies for crime than white inmates. Outcome expectancy differences not the result of demographics or criminal thinking. Anticipation of social benefits of crime particularly salient for black inmates. Achievement motivation important in explaining black–white differences in crime.

Is teen court the best fit? Assessing the predictive validity of the Teen Court Peer Influence Scale
Kenneth S. Smith, Ashley G. Blackburn

Research Highlights: The predictive validity of the Teen Court Peer Influence Scale was tested. 404 teen court participants in Florida completed the TCPIS from 2006-2007. TCPIS scores explained significant variance among delinquency measures. The TCPIS may be useful in deciding who is best suited for teen court.

 Journal of Criminal Justice, March 2011: Volume 39, Issue 2