Social isolation and inmate behavior: A conceptual framework for theorizing prison visitation and guiding and assessing research

Purpose

Scholarship suggests that prison visitation is important because it allows inmates access to social ties that, in turn, can offset social isolation and help inmates cope with the transition back into society upon release. Only a small number of empirical assessments of visitation exist, however, and existing studies have typically overlooked how the heterogeneity inherent in visitation may influence whether visitation is beneficial, harmful, or has no effect. The goal of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework for theorizing this heterogeneity and its impacts, evaluating visitation research, and guiding future research aimed at estimating visitation effects.

Methods

The paper reviews theory and research on inmate visitation. In so doing, it systematically examines heterogeneity in visitation and the implications of this heterogeneity.

Results

The paper identifies five dimensions—visitation timing, longitudinal patterns in visitation, visitor type, visitation experiences, and inmate characteristics—that can be used to characterize visitation events or patterns that, themselves, may have varied effects on in-prison outcomes and reentry outcomes.

Conclusions

More nuanced theories of, and empirical research on, inmate visitation are needed both to understand better the implications of visitation, and inmate social ties more broadly, and to advance theory, research, and policy.     

Reasons underlying treatment preference: an exploratory study

Very little is known about what factors influence women's treatment preferences after a sexual assault. To learn more about these factors, data were collected from 273 women who read a standard "if this happened to you, what would you do" scenario describing a sexual assault and subsequent trauma-related psychiatric symptoms. After reading standardized treatment options for a pharmacotherapy (sertraline) and a psychotherapy (cognitive behavioral treatment), participants made a hypothetical treatment choice and reported the main reasons for their choice. Women often cited reasons surrounding the effectiveness of a treatment as the primary reason for their treatment preference, suggesting potential masking of symptoms with the medication and more logical, long-lasting effects with the psychotherapy. Other common reasons underlying treatment preference were wariness of the medication and positive feelings about talking in psychotherapy. Better understanding factors that influence treatment preference may aid in refining psychoeducation materials regarding the psychological consequences of sexual assault and their treatment for the lay public and in helping clinicians further tailor their discussion of treatment alternatives for these women.     

Victimization and fear of crime in an entertainment district crime “hot spot:” A test of structural-choice theory

Theories of criminal opportunity and criminal victimization (lifestyles, routine activities, and structuralchoice) all stress the convergence of motivated offenders, suitable targets, and the absence of guardianship in time and space. They each assert the chances of victimization increase as proximity to motivated offenders, exposure to highrisk environments, target attractiveness, and ineffective guardianship increase. This study tests Miethe and Meier’s structuralchoice theory by examining domainspecific victimization and fear of crime among patrons of an entertainment district crime “hot spot. ”Regression results show both victimization experience and fear of crime are associated significantly with indicators of proximity and guardianship, but not with exposure or target attractiveness. White patrons of this area are more likely to be victimized, nonwhites report significantly higher levels of fear. The research for this paper was supported by Grant No. 97PRWX0298 from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. Findings and conclusions of the research reported here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.     

Opportunity,motivation, and assaults on police: A bivariate arima analysis

Drawing on insights garnered from the routine activity and pluralistic conflict perspectives, the present investigation examines the interrelationships between structural sources of opportunities and motivations to engage in potentially conflictive interactions with police personnel and assaults against the police. Overall, the longitudinal analyses of the reciprocal relationship between total and disaggregated measures of arrest and non-lethal assaults within Oklahoma City, Oklahoma tend to produce weak and insignificant results. The implications of these findings for opportunity theories of crime are discussed.     

A Macro-Social Exploratory Analysis of the Rate of Interstate Cyber-Victimization

This study examines whether macro-level opportunity indicators affect cyber-theft victimization. Based on the arguments from criminal opportunity theory, exposure to risk is measured by state-level patterns of internet access (where users access the internet). Other structural characteristics of states were measured to determine if variation in social structure impacted cyber-victimization across states. The current study found that structural conditions such as unemployment and non-urban population are associated with where users access the internet. Also, this study found that the proportion of users who access the internet only at home was positively associated with state-level counts of cyber-theft victimization. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Self-Control Theory and Nonlinear Effects on Offending

Objectives

This paper examines Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (A general theory of crime. Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1990) self-control theory and develops theoretical arguments for why self-control may have a differential effect on offending depending on the level of self-control.

Methods

We test the argument that the association between self-control and violent offending (n = 5,681) and non-violent offending (5,672) is nonlinear by using generalized propensity score analyses of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.

Results

The results indicate that self-control and offending are nonlinearly related in a manner that involves two thresholds. Specifically, among individuals at the high end of the self-control spectrum, there was little evidence of an association between variation in self-control and offending. However, among individuals in the middle part of the self-control spectrum, a positive association obtained—that is, the greater the level of low self-control, the greater the likelihood of offending. Finally, among individuals at the low end of the self-control spectrum, there was, once again, little evidence of an association.

Conclusions

A nonlinear association between self-control and offending may exist and have implications for self-control theory and tests of it. Studies are needed to investigate further the possibility of a nonlinear association and to test empirically the mechanisms that give rise to it.     

The Role of School-Related Bonding Factors and Gender: Correlates of Gang Membership Among Adolescents

In the past several decades both the education and criminology literatures have examined the influence of school factors on the attitudes and behaviors of adolescents. This literature shows that school-related factors, especially those related to social bonding, are relevant to explaining delinquent behavior. This research examines the efficacy of school-related bonding factors in explaining gang membership. In addition, it examines whether these bonding factors differentially explain male and female gang membership. The results show that delinquent involvement is the strongest predictor of gang membership among middle school children. Although several bonding variables are related to gang membership, their influence is very weak. In addition, we do not find support for the hypothesis that these variables differentially explain male and female gang membership. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Overkill? An Examination of Comparatively Excessive Death Sentences in North Carolina, 1990–2010

This study examines death/life capital sentences in one southern state, North Carolina, during the period 1990 to 2010 to determine the extent to which they are comparatively excessive/lenient. The study employs data derived from a variety of official sources on the population of capital trials in the state during this timeframe and follows the analytic techniques developed by David Baldus and his colleagues and by Paternoster and Kazyaka in their studies of comparative excessiveness in capital sentencing in California, Georgia, and South Carolina, respectively. The results show a substantial number of death sentences that meet the standard for excessiveness, but the data also show a nearly equal number of life sentences that may be deemed too lenient. The implications of these findings are discussed.