Crime & Delinquency 59(7)

Crime & Delinquency, October 2013: Volume 59, Issue 7

Does Prison-Based Adult Basic Education Improve Postrelease Outcomes for Male Prisoners in Florida?
Rosa Minhyo Cho and John H. Tyler

The authors use administrative data from Florida to determine the extent to which prison-based adult basic education (ABE) improves inmate’s postrelease labor market outcomes, such as earnings and employment. Using two nonexperimental comparison groups, the authors find evidence that ABE participation is associated with higher postrelease earnings and employment rates, especially for minorities. The authors find that the relationship is the largest for ABE participants who had uninterrupted ABE instruction and for those who received other education services. However, the results do not find any positive effects of ABE participation on reducing recidivism.

Deterrence and Macro-Level Perceptions of Punishment Risks: Is There a “Collective Wisdom”?
Gary Kleck and J. C. Barnes

Prior research indicates that individual perceptions of the risk of punishment for criminal behavior are unrelated to actual risks of punishment in the areas in which individuals reside. It could be argued, however, that the relevant policy question is whether variation in actual punishment levels affects average perceptions of risk among aggregates. Scholars have argued that there is “collective wisdom” in the perceptions of collectivities of humans, even if the views of individuals are inaccurate. This thesis is tested using survey data on individual perceptions of the risks of legal punishment for crimes, aggregated up to the level of county populations. The authors find that the aggregate perceptions of county populations are generally not related to actual county levels of the certainty, severity, and swiftness of punishment. Thus, neither the perceptions of individuals nor the average perceptions of populations have any significant association with actual risks of punishment.

Community Characteristics and Methamphetamine Use in a Rural State: An Analysis of Preincarceration Usage by Prison Inmates
Aaron Roussell, Malcolm D. Holmes, and Richard Anderson-Sprecher

Social disorganization theory attempts to explain the relationships of community characteristics and patterns of illicit drug use, but methamphetamine poses a problem for this perspective. Methamphetamine use is prevalent in rural areas, where greater community social organization may contribute to its usage, a possibility examined here using data from a highly rural state. Data were collected from a population of prisoners entering Wyoming state correctional facilities from July 2005 to June 2006. Hierarchical linear models estimated the effects of individual- and county-level variables on preincarceration amphetamine/methamphetamine use and severity of use. Results indicate that individual-level variables predict use, whereas county-level variables predict severity of use. The effects of individual-level measures of social control were consistent with the social disorganization model, whereas the effects of county-level variables provided support for the social organization argument. Implications of the findings for a multidimensional, multilevel conceptualization of the social organization/disorganization continuum are discussed.

Maternal Employment and Juvenile Delinquency: A Longitudinal Study of Korean Adolescents
Joongyeup Lee, Hyunseok Jang, and Leana A. Bouffard

Historically, many have suggested that women’s participation in the labor force has contributed to higher juvenile delinquency rates due to the extensive amount of time and attention that working mothers must spend outside the home and away from their children. Although some researchers have examined this hypothesis, findings are mixed and inconclusive. Using longitudinal data provided by the Korean Youth Panel Survey project, the effects of maternal employment on a child’s propensity to commit general delinquency are examined. Results from hierarchical linear modeling analysis indicated that children of working mothers display a higher likelihood of becoming involved in delinquency. In addition, working mothers with higher educational backgrounds were more apt to have a child who commits delinquency.

Problem-Oriented Policing and Open-Air Drug Markets: Examining the Rockford Pulling Levers Deterrence Strategy
Nicholas Corsaro, Rod K. Brunson, and Edmund F. McGarrell

Problem-oriented policing strategies have been regarded as promising approaches for disrupting open-air drug markets in vulnerable communities. Pulling levers deterrence interventions, which are consistent with the problem-oriented framework, have shown potential as an effective mechanism for reducing and preventing youth, gun, and gang violence. This study examines the effect of a strategic, pulling levers intervention that was implemented by law enforcement officials in Rockford, Illinois, to address drug markets in a high crime neighborhood. The initiative builds on a similar effort developed in High Point, North Carolina, and represents an extension of pulling levers that was originally developed in Boston. The impact evaluation uses a mixed method of quantitative hierarchical growth curve models and qualitative interviews with residents. Study findings suggest that the Rockford strategy was associated with a statistically significant and substantive reduction in crime, drug, and nuisance offenses in the target neighborhood. Results from this examination have implications for both research and public policy.

Does the Presence of Sexually Oriented Businesses Relate to Increased Levels of Crime? An Examination Using Spatial Analyses
Eric S. McCord and Richard Tewksbury

Scholarly debate about whether the presence of sexually oriented businesses in a community is related to increased levels of crime has been present for several decades. This argument about the “secondary effects” of such businesses shows support for the link to increased crime as well as evidence of a lack of relationship. This article addresses this debate, presenting findings from three spatial analyses using varying-sized buffer zones of rates of violent, property, and public order offenses in the vicinity of sexually oriented businesses in Louisville, Kentucky. Results show that sexually oriented businesses are associated with much higher rates of all types of offenses in the immediate vicinity of the business and continue to have significant effects on crime levels as one moves further from the business. At the site of the sexually oriented business, community, social and economic characteristics are outweighed by the effect of the business; in farther-reaching buffer zones, community characteristics become more important, although the effects of the business remain significant.