POETRY IN REVIEW

Peripheral Light: Selected and New Poems , by John Kinsella, Selected and with an introduction by Harold Bloom     

POETRY IN REVIEW

Inner Voices: Selected Poems, 1963-2003 , by Richard Howard
Paper Trail: Selected Prose, 1965 – 2003 , by Richard Howard     

RECIDIVISM AMONG OFFENDERS AND EX-MENTAL PATIENTS: A Comparative Analysis

Prior work has demonstrated a consistently higher rate of arrest for ex-offenders than for ex-mental patients. although as a group ex-patients are more often arrested than the general population. From 1968 and 1975 data, the current study examines some of the possible explanations for the higher rates of offenders as compared to ex-mental patients. Even when age and prior arrests are controlled, the variables with the strongest association with subsequent arrest, a higher proportion of offenders are arrested after release than ex-patients.     

The Savings and Loan Debacle of the 1980s: White-Collar Crime or Risky Business?*

This paper examines the role of white-collar crime in the savings and loan crisis. Noting economists' assertions that crime was only a minor ingredient in the crisis, we compare the explanatory power of this “minimal fraud” model to that of its “material fraud” alternative. Bringing together evidence from every major study of thrifts in the 1980s, we argue that only the material fraud hypothesis can make sense of these data. This study demonstrates the utility of deductive reasoning in distinguishing between white-collar crime and ordinary business transactions, thereby potentially contributing to prosecutorial efforts, and helping resolve long-standing methodological dilemmas confronting white-collar criminologists.     

Self Reports of Violence

Self-report data are used to compare the relative incidence of aggression and violence among ex-mental patients, ex-offenders, and the general population and to examine the effect of socio-demographic variables on the frequency of these behaviors. Frequency was measured by reported frequencies of aggressive behaviors during the preceding year, by whether respondents could recall serious disputes, and by the recency of the disputes they recalled. In support of studies that have relied on official arrest statistics, the evidence suggests that ex-offenders engage in violence with greater frequency than the other two groups and that they have a greater tendency to physically attack and injure their antagonists when involved in violent disputes. Ex-mental patients appear to use weapons more frequently than the general population, but they are no more likely to injure antagonists. In contrast to labeling theory, police were no more likely to become involved or to make an arrest in incidents involving ex-patients or ex-offenders.