Crime & Delinquency 59(6)

Crime & Delinquency, September 2013: Volume 59, Issue 6 

Reporting Error in Household Gun Ownership in the 2000 General Social Survey
Richard L. Legault

The use of surveys is one of the few ways to determine the extent and character of firearms ownership in the United States. The findings from such surveys have implications for both firearms research and firearms policy. Using data from the 2000 General Social Survey, the author examines the possibility of error in the reporting of household firearm ownership. Strong and significant differences in ownership reporting are found between married men and women, especially for those who were not socialized in part of a traditional “gun culture.”

Accumulated Strain, Negative Emotions,and Crime: A Test of General Strain Theory in Russia
Ekaterina Botchkovar and Lisa Broidy

Drawing on a random sample of 340 adults, this study examines the relationships between strain, negative emotions, and criminal coping in the context of Russia. Extending the argument of general strain theory (GST), it also assesses the criminogenic potency of strain accumulation and raises the possibility that negative affect, accumulating from stressors closely grouped in time, heightens individual’s sensitivity to concurrent or subsequent strains. Although the data suggest that the core variables of GST are operant in Russia, support for the theory is mixed. Strain appears to be generally associated with negative emotions, but negative emotions are not uniformly criminogenic. Negative emotions do not appear to mediate the association between strain and crime but moderate the strain–crime link and, in some cases, increase the enabling effects of strains on illegal coping. Overall, the findings suggest that negative affect likely produced by accumulation or clustering of negative events and conditions may heighten the crime-generating potency of other, less criminogenic strains.

Judges’ Reactions to Ohio’s "Jessica’s Law"
Timothy Griffin and John Wooldredge

In 2007, Ohio lawmakers passed that state’s version of “Jessica’s law” (Senate Bill [SB] 260), which mandates severe prison terms for sex offenses against very young children. Using data from a survey of Ohio judges administered right after SB 260’s passage, the authors found that a majority opposed the new law, as predicted. However, no relationship between political party preference and overall assessment of SB 260 was found, challenging the assumption that judicial “leniency” would explain opposition to the harsh penalties. Instead, quantitative and qualitative data showed that judges who disliked SB 260 feared the loss of judicial discretion and excessively harsh sentences for relatively less serious sex offenders. Opposing judges also perceived SB 260 as derived from cynical politics and popular ignorance. The potential value of consulting practitioner perspectives on sentencing enhancements and considerations for addressing moral panic–driven crime legislation in the long run are explored.

General Strain Theory As a Basis for the Design of School Interventions
Byongook Moon and Merry Morash

The research described in this article applies general strain theory to identify possible points of intervention for reducing delinquency of students in two middle schools. Data were collected from 296 youths, and separate negative binomial regression analyses were used to identify predictors of violent, property, and status delinquency. Emotional punishment by teachers and youths’ prior victimization are significant predictors of delinquency. Strained youths are especially likely to commit various delinquent behaviors if they associate with delinquent peers, while they are less likely to be involved in violent and property-related delinquency if they report a positive relationship with parents. The findings suggest the need for programmatic attention to youths’ criminal victimization and teachers’ use of emotional punishment as well as youths’ relations with parents and involvement with delinquent peers in the two schools studied.

Associations Between Order Maintenance Policing and Violent Crime: Considering the Mediating Effects of Residential Context
Robert J. Kane and Shea W. Cronin

The present study examined the relationships between order maintenance arrests and violent crime across and within communities in a major metropolitan setting. Integrating the macro-deterrence and systemic model perspectives, the research tested the direct effects of vigorous disorder arrests on robbery and assault with a deadly weapon (i.e., violent street crime), as well as the interactive effects of Disorder Arrests × Residential Integration (mobility and owner-occupied dwelling) on violent crime. The research found no direct relationship between disorder arrests and violent crime, but it found that disorder arrests in conjunction with decreased residential integration was associated with violent crime reductions. The results suggest that police disorder arrests may produce the strongest violence reduction results in areas of decreased residential attachment; however, as residential integration increases, the effects of order maintenance arrests on violent crime diminish. The study discusses the implications for shared social control agency in communities, as well as future research directions.

The Impact of Drug Treatment on Recidivism: Do Mandatory Programs Make a Difference? Evidence From Kansas’s Senate Bill 123
Andres F. Rengifo and Don Stemen

This study compares the recidivism of eligible drug possessors sentenced under Kansas’s mandatory drug treatment policy (SB 123) to those of similar offenders receiving other sentences. Using multinomial logistic regression, the authors found that participation in SB 123 was generally associated with a decrease in the likelihood of recidivism. However, models relying on matched samples of offenders generated via propensity scores showed that SB 123 did not have a significant impact on recidivism rates relative to community corrections and actually increased recidivism rates relative to court services. The authors argue that the limited effect of SB 123 on recidivism stems from the net-widening effects often encountered with mandatory sentencing policies rather than inherent problems with the delivery of treatment.

Elaboration on Specialization in Crime: Disaggregating Age Cohort Effects
Shachar Yonai, Stephen Z. Levine, and Joseph Glicksohn

To elaborate past research, this study examines the course of specialization and versatility with maturation and contends that specialization develops in a nonrandom manner, as suggested by the orthogenic principle of human development. To examine the development of specialization and versatility, forward specialization coefficients were disaggregated for three age cohorts over a 20-year follow-up period in a sample of high-risk youth (n = 3,652) with 54,175 arrests. Results show that forward specialization coefficients were generally of moderate magnitude and, across age cohorts, developed modestly in an age-graded manner for the youngest cohort. In conclusion, the results provide preliminary support for the orthogenic theory among early first-admission youth.