Pub Date : 2021-11-16DOI: 10.1177/00224278211046256
Zachary R. Rowan, E. Kan, P. Frick, E. Cauffman
Objectives: Test the diffusion of responsibility hypothesis by examining associations between the presence, number, and role of co-offenders and adolescents’ perceived responsibility for criminal behavior. Methods: The study uses data from the Crossroads Study, a longitudinal study of 1,216 male adolescents who were arrested for the first time. A series of generalized ordered logistic regressions assess how different features of the group context are linked to adolescent offending. Models first examine the relationship between the presence of a co-offender and adolescents’ perceptions of responsibility for their crime, followed by co-offending specific models examining the impact of the number of co-offenders and role in the co-offense. Results: Adolescents’ perceptions of responsibility for criminal behavior decrease when they co-offend, as the size of the group increases, and when crime is not solely their idea. Conclusions: The study's findings are consistent with the diffusion of responsibility hypothesis, which highlights an important psychological experience tied to the group context. The findings contribute to our understanding of adolescent risky decision-making and shed insight into how the group context may facilitate criminal behavior.
{"title":"Not (Entirely) Guilty: The Role of Co-offenders in Diffusing Responsibility for Crime","authors":"Zachary R. Rowan, E. Kan, P. Frick, E. Cauffman","doi":"10.1177/00224278211046256","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00224278211046256","url":null,"abstract":"Objectives: Test the diffusion of responsibility hypothesis by examining associations between the presence, number, and role of co-offenders and adolescents’ perceived responsibility for criminal behavior. Methods: The study uses data from the Crossroads Study, a longitudinal study of 1,216 male adolescents who were arrested for the first time. A series of generalized ordered logistic regressions assess how different features of the group context are linked to adolescent offending. Models first examine the relationship between the presence of a co-offender and adolescents’ perceptions of responsibility for their crime, followed by co-offending specific models examining the impact of the number of co-offenders and role in the co-offense. Results: Adolescents’ perceptions of responsibility for criminal behavior decrease when they co-offend, as the size of the group increases, and when crime is not solely their idea. Conclusions: The study's findings are consistent with the diffusion of responsibility hypothesis, which highlights an important psychological experience tied to the group context. The findings contribute to our understanding of adolescent risky decision-making and shed insight into how the group context may facilitate criminal behavior.","PeriodicalId":51395,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency","volume":"59 1","pages":"415 - 448"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-11-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41617896","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-11-15DOI: 10.1177/00224278211046255
J. Carson, Rick Dierenfeldt, Daren G. Fisher
Objectives: This study examines the association between a country's gun availability and firearm-related terrorism. Methods: Employing data from 140 countries, we assess the possible relationship between a country's rate of suicide by firearm and their count of terrorist attacks involving a firearm through a series of structural equation models. Results: Collectively, we find that there is a positive relationship between gun availability and firearm-related terrorism in 2016 and 2017. However, this result fails our robustness check and is sensitive to the inclusion of the U.S. Conclusion: With important caveats, we believe the U.S. to be unique in terms of both gun availability and terrorism.
{"title":"Country-level firearm availability and terrorism: A new approach to examining the gun-crime relationship","authors":"J. Carson, Rick Dierenfeldt, Daren G. Fisher","doi":"10.1177/00224278211046255","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00224278211046255","url":null,"abstract":"Objectives: This study examines the association between a country's gun availability and firearm-related terrorism. Methods: Employing data from 140 countries, we assess the possible relationship between a country's rate of suicide by firearm and their count of terrorist attacks involving a firearm through a series of structural equation models. Results: Collectively, we find that there is a positive relationship between gun availability and firearm-related terrorism in 2016 and 2017. However, this result fails our robustness check and is sensitive to the inclusion of the U.S. Conclusion: With important caveats, we believe the U.S. to be unique in terms of both gun availability and terrorism.","PeriodicalId":51395,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency","volume":"59 1","pages":"449 - 486"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48874178","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-11-02DOI: 10.1177/00224278211049940
Brittany E. Hayes
Objectives: Building on the ecological model, multicontextual opportunity theory, and southern criminology, the study developed individual- and country-level indicators of opportunity to understand the experience of intimate partner violence (IPV) among married women in the Global South. Opportunity-related indicators considered the impact of globalization and variability across nations categorized as part of the Global South. Methods: Relying on data from the Demographic and Health Surveys and open-source country indicators, mixed effects logistic regression examined opportunity-related indicators on a sample of married women (N = 239,554) from the Global South (N = 41). Results: Exposure to motivated offenders was associated with higher odds of IPV. Individual-level vulnerability was associated with higher odds of IPV. Isolation and interviews that were interrupted, indicators of guardianship, were associated with higher odds of IPV while the number of people in the household was associated with lower odds. More Parliamentary seats held by women was associated with higher odds of IPV. Nine cross-level interactions were significant. Conclusions: National-level factors moderated the influence of individual-level opportunity, reinforcing the Global South is not monolithic. The traveling of IPV programing from the Global North to the Global South is likely ineffective. Programs must consider how context shapes individual experiences.
{"title":"Development and Application of Individual and National Opportunity to the Experience of Intimate Partner Violence among Married Women in the Global South","authors":"Brittany E. Hayes","doi":"10.1177/00224278211049940","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00224278211049940","url":null,"abstract":"Objectives: Building on the ecological model, multicontextual opportunity theory, and southern criminology, the study developed individual- and country-level indicators of opportunity to understand the experience of intimate partner violence (IPV) among married women in the Global South. Opportunity-related indicators considered the impact of globalization and variability across nations categorized as part of the Global South. Methods: Relying on data from the Demographic and Health Surveys and open-source country indicators, mixed effects logistic regression examined opportunity-related indicators on a sample of married women (N = 239,554) from the Global South (N = 41). Results: Exposure to motivated offenders was associated with higher odds of IPV. Individual-level vulnerability was associated with higher odds of IPV. Isolation and interviews that were interrupted, indicators of guardianship, were associated with higher odds of IPV while the number of people in the household was associated with lower odds. More Parliamentary seats held by women was associated with higher odds of IPV. Nine cross-level interactions were significant. Conclusions: National-level factors moderated the influence of individual-level opportunity, reinforcing the Global South is not monolithic. The traveling of IPV programing from the Global North to the Global South is likely ineffective. Programs must consider how context shapes individual experiences.","PeriodicalId":51395,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency","volume":"59 1","pages":"327 - 364"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46168911","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-08-03DOI: 10.1177/00224278211030964
Vijay F. Chillar
Objectives: An initial investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) found that the Newark Police Department (NPD) had engaged in a “pattern or practice” of constitutional violations with regard to stop and arrest practices, prompting the city to enter a consent decree. Methods: This study draws on official event-level data on FIs recorded by NPD officers (N = 50,322) and uses random effects panel regression models to examine how socioeconomic characteristics interact with the implementation of the consent decree at micro places in the short term. Results: Spatial analyses indicate a concentration of FI encounters. The implementation of the consent decree coincided with improvements in the quality of data collected by officers conducting FIs of citizens. It was also associated with decreased rates of reported FIs for the city’s Black and Latino citizens relative to their share of the local population, and patterns of FI encounters. Conclusions: Newark’s consent decree improved the quality of data collection. However, the spatial concentration of reported FIs and subsequent arrest of Black and Latino individuals have not experienced the same effect as they presumably require a culture change that is likely to necessitate a longer time frame to manifest.
{"title":"The Racial Divide at Micro Places: A Pre/Post Analysis of the Effects of the Newark Consent Decree on Field Inquiries (2015–2017)","authors":"Vijay F. Chillar","doi":"10.1177/00224278211030964","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00224278211030964","url":null,"abstract":"Objectives: An initial investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) found that the Newark Police Department (NPD) had engaged in a “pattern or practice” of constitutional violations with regard to stop and arrest practices, prompting the city to enter a consent decree. Methods: This study draws on official event-level data on FIs recorded by NPD officers (N = 50,322) and uses random effects panel regression models to examine how socioeconomic characteristics interact with the implementation of the consent decree at micro places in the short term. Results: Spatial analyses indicate a concentration of FI encounters. The implementation of the consent decree coincided with improvements in the quality of data collected by officers conducting FIs of citizens. It was also associated with decreased rates of reported FIs for the city’s Black and Latino citizens relative to their share of the local population, and patterns of FI encounters. Conclusions: Newark’s consent decree improved the quality of data collection. However, the spatial concentration of reported FIs and subsequent arrest of Black and Latino individuals have not experienced the same effect as they presumably require a culture change that is likely to necessitate a longer time frame to manifest.","PeriodicalId":51395,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency","volume":"28 1","pages":"240 - 276"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41257661","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-21DOI: 10.1177/00224278211023980
Doyun Koo, Ben Feldmeyer, Bryan Holmes
Objectives: This study seeks to understand how national origin and legal migration status of noncitizen defendants in federal criminal courts shape incarceration and sentence length decisions. Method: The authors use annual United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) Monitoring of Federal Criminal Sentences (MFCS) datasets (2011–2016) to examine the impact of defendant’s (1) national origin and (2) legal versus illegal migration status on incarceration and sentence length decisions in federal criminal courts. In addition, in order to account for effects of immigration cases, supplemental analyses are conducted for (1) non-immigration offenses and (2) immigration-only offenses. Results: For the incarceration decision, noncitizen defendants have higher odds of incarceration than U.S. citizens, net of other factors. These effects are less consistent in the sentence length decision. These relationships systemically differ across national origin and legal migration status. Conclusions: Punishment disadvantages based on one’s citizenship are particularly pronounced for defendants from Mexico, Latin America, and Africa and especially for those with “illegal” migration status. As noncitizen populations continue to grow in federal courts and in the U.S. more broadly, understanding and addressing these citizenship disparities in punishment will be increasingly important.
{"title":"Citizenship and Sentencing: Assessing Intersectionality in National Origin and Legal Migration Status on Federal Sentencing Outcomes","authors":"Doyun Koo, Ben Feldmeyer, Bryan Holmes","doi":"10.1177/00224278211023980","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00224278211023980","url":null,"abstract":"Objectives: This study seeks to understand how national origin and legal migration status of noncitizen defendants in federal criminal courts shape incarceration and sentence length decisions. Method: The authors use annual United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) Monitoring of Federal Criminal Sentences (MFCS) datasets (2011–2016) to examine the impact of defendant’s (1) national origin and (2) legal versus illegal migration status on incarceration and sentence length decisions in federal criminal courts. In addition, in order to account for effects of immigration cases, supplemental analyses are conducted for (1) non-immigration offenses and (2) immigration-only offenses. Results: For the incarceration decision, noncitizen defendants have higher odds of incarceration than U.S. citizens, net of other factors. These effects are less consistent in the sentence length decision. These relationships systemically differ across national origin and legal migration status. Conclusions: Punishment disadvantages based on one’s citizenship are particularly pronounced for defendants from Mexico, Latin America, and Africa and especially for those with “illegal” migration status. As noncitizen populations continue to grow in federal courts and in the U.S. more broadly, understanding and addressing these citizenship disparities in punishment will be increasingly important.","PeriodicalId":51395,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency","volume":"59 1","pages":"203 - 239"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/00224278211023980","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46579315","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-12DOI: 10.1177/00224278211030968
B. Terpstra, Peter van Wijck
Objectives: This study examines whether police behavior that signals higher quality of treatment or decision-making leads to higher perceived procedural justice. Methods: Analyses are based on data collected during police traffic controls of moped drivers in two Dutch cities over a period of six months. Police behavior was measured through systematic social observation (SSO), and data on perceived procedural justice were collected through face-to-face interviews immediately after the encounters. Linear regression analysis with bootstrap estimates was used (n = 218), with an overall perceived procedural justice scale as the dependent variable in all regressions. Independent variables included an overall observed procedural justice index and four separate scales of police treatment and decision-making. Results: We find no evidence that police behavior that signals fairer treatment or decision-making leads to higher perceived procedural justice. Conclusions: Our findings add to the currently very limited empirical evidence on an important question, and raise questions about a central idea, that more procedurally just treatment and decision making by authorities leads to an increase in perceived procedural justice and enhanced compliance. The first of these requires more research.
{"title":"The Influence of Police Treatment and Decision-making on Perceptions of Procedural Justice: A Field Study","authors":"B. Terpstra, Peter van Wijck","doi":"10.1177/00224278211030968","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00224278211030968","url":null,"abstract":"Objectives: This study examines whether police behavior that signals higher quality of treatment or decision-making leads to higher perceived procedural justice. Methods: Analyses are based on data collected during police traffic controls of moped drivers in two Dutch cities over a period of six months. Police behavior was measured through systematic social observation (SSO), and data on perceived procedural justice were collected through face-to-face interviews immediately after the encounters. Linear regression analysis with bootstrap estimates was used (n = 218), with an overall perceived procedural justice scale as the dependent variable in all regressions. Independent variables included an overall observed procedural justice index and four separate scales of police treatment and decision-making. Results: We find no evidence that police behavior that signals fairer treatment or decision-making leads to higher perceived procedural justice. Conclusions: Our findings add to the currently very limited empirical evidence on an important question, and raise questions about a central idea, that more procedurally just treatment and decision making by authorities leads to an increase in perceived procedural justice and enhanced compliance. The first of these requires more research.","PeriodicalId":51395,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency","volume":"60 1","pages":"344 - 377"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-07-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/00224278211030968","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42018803","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-06-30DOI: 10.1177/00224278211023988
Kathleen Powell
Objectives: Drawing on the life course and social stress perspectives, this paper examines age variation in the mental health consequences of justice system involvement by assessing arrest, conviction, or incarceration as possible age-graded stressors that amplify harm at younger ages of involvement. Methods: Individual fixed effect regression models utilizing National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1997) data test whether age moderates the mental health impact of arrest, conviction, or incarceration. Follow-up analyses for moderated associations compute and compare age-specific relationships to identify differences in the significance and magnitude of mental health consequences for contacts spanning late adolescence, emerging adulthood, and adulthood. Results: The incarceration-mental health relationship is moderated by age, as significant harms to mental health are exclusively observed following secure confinement in late adolescence (ages 16–17) and emerging adulthood (18–24), but not in adulthood (25–33). The lack of moderation between arrest and mental health indicates a universally harmful experience at all ages. Conclusions: Evidence supports conceptualizing incarceration as an age-graded social stressor that is correlated with pronounced harm to mental health during late adolescence and emerging adulthood. Future research should identify the mechanisms of this unique stress response following earlier incarcerations and its long-term salience for processes of cumulative disadvantage.
{"title":"The Age-Graded Consequences of Justice System Involvement for Mental Health","authors":"Kathleen Powell","doi":"10.1177/00224278211023988","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00224278211023988","url":null,"abstract":"Objectives: Drawing on the life course and social stress perspectives, this paper examines age variation in the mental health consequences of justice system involvement by assessing arrest, conviction, or incarceration as possible age-graded stressors that amplify harm at younger ages of involvement. Methods: Individual fixed effect regression models utilizing National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1997) data test whether age moderates the mental health impact of arrest, conviction, or incarceration. Follow-up analyses for moderated associations compute and compare age-specific relationships to identify differences in the significance and magnitude of mental health consequences for contacts spanning late adolescence, emerging adulthood, and adulthood. Results: The incarceration-mental health relationship is moderated by age, as significant harms to mental health are exclusively observed following secure confinement in late adolescence (ages 16–17) and emerging adulthood (18–24), but not in adulthood (25–33). The lack of moderation between arrest and mental health indicates a universally harmful experience at all ages. Conclusions: Evidence supports conceptualizing incarceration as an age-graded social stressor that is correlated with pronounced harm to mental health during late adolescence and emerging adulthood. Future research should identify the mechanisms of this unique stress response following earlier incarcerations and its long-term salience for processes of cumulative disadvantage.","PeriodicalId":51395,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency","volume":"59 1","pages":"167 - 202"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/00224278211023988","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43305306","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-05-07DOI: 10.1177/00224278211016030
D. Hatten, Eric L. Piza
Examine the place-based correlates of robbery activity displaced by a foot-patrol intervention in Newark, NJ. We use constructs from Crime Pattern and Social Disorganization theories to test hypotheses concerned with associations between the structure of the environment and the displacement of crime. Robbery incidents were spatially joined to street segments to study micro-level displacement processes. Predictor variables were operationalized using data from the Newark Police Department and Infogroup USA. Generalized Linear models tested associations between the characteristics of street segments and displaced robbery in the target area as compared to a control. Environmental structure is important to understanding the settings of displacement, though this varied between spatial and temporal displacement. Relationships between displaced crime activity and model covariates did not always appear in expected directions. For example, bus stops predicted increased spatial displacement while corner stores predicted decreased levels of temporal displacement. While testing for displacement has become commonplace in place-based policing interventions, less attention has been paid to the micro-level factors that may facilitate the displacement of crime events. Both bus stops and corner stores show consistent associations with displaced crime activity, but the directions of these relationships suggest more complex processes requiring further examination.
{"title":"When Crime Moves Where Does It Go? Analyzing the Spatial Correlates of Robbery Incidents Displaced by a Place-based Policing Intervention","authors":"D. Hatten, Eric L. Piza","doi":"10.1177/00224278211016030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00224278211016030","url":null,"abstract":"Examine the place-based correlates of robbery activity displaced by a foot-patrol intervention in Newark, NJ. We use constructs from Crime Pattern and Social Disorganization theories to test hypotheses concerned with associations between the structure of the environment and the displacement of crime. Robbery incidents were spatially joined to street segments to study micro-level displacement processes. Predictor variables were operationalized using data from the Newark Police Department and Infogroup USA. Generalized Linear models tested associations between the characteristics of street segments and displaced robbery in the target area as compared to a control. Environmental structure is important to understanding the settings of displacement, though this varied between spatial and temporal displacement. Relationships between displaced crime activity and model covariates did not always appear in expected directions. For example, bus stops predicted increased spatial displacement while corner stores predicted decreased levels of temporal displacement. While testing for displacement has become commonplace in place-based policing interventions, less attention has been paid to the micro-level factors that may facilitate the displacement of crime events. Both bus stops and corner stores show consistent associations with displaced crime activity, but the directions of these relationships suggest more complex processes requiring further examination.","PeriodicalId":51395,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency","volume":"1 1","pages":"002242782110160"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/00224278211016030","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44624296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-15DOI: 10.1177/00224278211004667
Maria João Lobo Antunes, M. Manasse
Objectives: Explanations of community violence traditionally reflect a social disorganization perspective, suggesting that neighborhood characteristics affect crime via the intervening mechanism of informal social control. Drawing on Agnew’s Macro Strain Theory [MST], we argue that neighborhood characteristics 1) also affect macro-level crime for reasons related to aggregated strain and 2) condition the relationship between micro-level strains and individual violent offending. Methods: Using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, we conduct a series of multilevel models examining both the macro- and multi-level relationship between neighborhood characteristics, strain and youth violence. Findings: Results generally support our arguments, suggesting that neighborhood characteristics like concentrated disadvantage 1) remain associated with community violence even after adjusting for multiple measures of informal social control and 2) condition the association between micro-level strain and violent offending. Conclusions: Strain processes, at both the macro and micro-level, play a critical role in the well-established empirical relationship between structural disadvantage and violence. In light of results, community crime control policies should address the ways in which structural disadvantage increases motivation, rather than focusing exclusively on the ways in which it weakens informal social control.
{"title":"Social Disorganization and Strain: Macro and Micro Implications for Youth Violence","authors":"Maria João Lobo Antunes, M. Manasse","doi":"10.1177/00224278211004667","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00224278211004667","url":null,"abstract":"Objectives: Explanations of community violence traditionally reflect a social disorganization perspective, suggesting that neighborhood characteristics affect crime via the intervening mechanism of informal social control. Drawing on Agnew’s Macro Strain Theory [MST], we argue that neighborhood characteristics 1) also affect macro-level crime for reasons related to aggregated strain and 2) condition the relationship between micro-level strains and individual violent offending. Methods: Using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, we conduct a series of multilevel models examining both the macro- and multi-level relationship between neighborhood characteristics, strain and youth violence. Findings: Results generally support our arguments, suggesting that neighborhood characteristics like concentrated disadvantage 1) remain associated with community violence even after adjusting for multiple measures of informal social control and 2) condition the association between micro-level strain and violent offending. Conclusions: Strain processes, at both the macro and micro-level, play a critical role in the well-established empirical relationship between structural disadvantage and violence. In light of results, community crime control policies should address the ways in which structural disadvantage increases motivation, rather than focusing exclusively on the ways in which it weakens informal social control.","PeriodicalId":51395,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency","volume":"59 1","pages":"82 - 127"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/00224278211004667","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47739009","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-03-29DOI: 10.1177/00224278211000088
Gregory Midgette, Thomas A. Loughran, Sarah Tahamont
Objectives: To invoke behavioral economics theories of ambiguity in the context of offender decision-making, and to test the impact of ambiguity in punishment certainty on offender decisions. Methods: We leverage a quasi-experimental condition among a sample of drunk driving arrestees that are tested for alcohol use and subject to mandatory brief incarceration for a violation. The treatment condition relaxes a zero-tolerance alcohol rule, thereby introducing design-based ambiguity surrounding the certainty of punishment. We use Mahalanobis matching and propensity score weighting methods to estimate the impact of ambiguity on violations. We then interrogate this finding with complementary sensitivity analyses. Results: When facing the ambiguity condition participants are 27–28 percentage points (84–93 percent) more likely to violate program conditions after 30 days of supervision. We demonstrate that a statistical difference in violations due to ambiguity is still detectible at 90 and 180 days of supervision. These results are robust to alternative specifications and falsification tests. Conclusions: This study is the first to examine the impact of ambiguity on criminal justice program compliance using a quasi-experiment from the field. We further demonstrate the unintended costs to persons under supervision and jurisdictions of laxity in program design, which are applicable across criminal justice domains.
{"title":"The Impact of Ambiguity-induced Error in Offender Decision-making: Evidence from the Field","authors":"Gregory Midgette, Thomas A. Loughran, Sarah Tahamont","doi":"10.1177/00224278211000088","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00224278211000088","url":null,"abstract":"Objectives: To invoke behavioral economics theories of ambiguity in the context of offender decision-making, and to test the impact of ambiguity in punishment certainty on offender decisions. Methods: We leverage a quasi-experimental condition among a sample of drunk driving arrestees that are tested for alcohol use and subject to mandatory brief incarceration for a violation. The treatment condition relaxes a zero-tolerance alcohol rule, thereby introducing design-based ambiguity surrounding the certainty of punishment. We use Mahalanobis matching and propensity score weighting methods to estimate the impact of ambiguity on violations. We then interrogate this finding with complementary sensitivity analyses. Results: When facing the ambiguity condition participants are 27–28 percentage points (84–93 percent) more likely to violate program conditions after 30 days of supervision. We demonstrate that a statistical difference in violations due to ambiguity is still detectible at 90 and 180 days of supervision. These results are robust to alternative specifications and falsification tests. Conclusions: This study is the first to examine the impact of ambiguity on criminal justice program compliance using a quasi-experiment from the field. We further demonstrate the unintended costs to persons under supervision and jurisdictions of laxity in program design, which are applicable across criminal justice domains.","PeriodicalId":51395,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency","volume":"58 1","pages":"635 - 665"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/00224278211000088","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48195637","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}