THE CONTEXT OF MARRIAGE AND CRIME: GENDER,THE PROPENSITY TO MARRY,AND OFFENDING IN EARLY ADULTHOOD*

Marriage is central to theoretical debates over stability and change in criminal offending over the life course. Yet, unlike other social ties such as employment, marriage is distinct in that it cannot be randomly assigned in survey research to more definitively assess causal effects of marriage on offending. As a result, key questions remain as to whether different individual propensities toward marriage shape its salience as a deterrent institution. Building on these issues, the current research has three objectives. First, we use a propensity score matching approach to estimate causal effects of marriage on crime in early adulthood. Second, we assess sex differences in the effects of marriage on offending. Although both marriage and offending are highly gendered phenomena, prior work typically focuses on males. Third, we examine whether one's propensity to marry conditions the deterrent capacity of marriage. Results show that marriage suppresses offending for males, even when accounting for their likelihood to marry. Furthermore, males who are least likely to marry seem to benefit most from this institution. The influence of marriage on crime is less robust for females, where marriage reduces crime only for those with moderate propensities to marry. We discuss these findings in the context of recent debates concerning gender, criminal offending, and the life course.     

Social Disorganization and Neighborhood Fear: Examining the Intersection of Individual,Community, and County Characteristics

Fear has long been studied as a consequence of crime given the consistent and ubiquitous nature of fear as a reaction and the systematic variations in its consequences. Past research has shown significant variations in fear of crime at both the individual and ecological level. Here we implement a multi-level approach to understanding potential interactions between perceived safety in one’s neighborhood in relation to social disorganization indicators at the neighborhood level and crime rates at the county level. The nationally representative sample data (n = 2,610) used in this analysis combines individual level data collected in 2006 from the Panel Study of Religion and Ethnicity (PS-ARE) with ecological level data at the tract and county level from the 2000 US Census. The findings suggest a three level interaction negating the well known protection hypothesis of marriage and crime; this essentially means that as being married or cohabitating decreases the negative effects of being in a community with a high level of familial disruption (percent of divorced) increases, but that effect is substantively negatively tempered as the violent crime rate of the county rises.     

Linking crime rates to relationship factors: The use of gender-specific data

The present study built on, and extended beyond, Steffensmeier and Haynie's efforts (2000) to understand social control factors at the macro level. It focused especially on gendered relationship factors as predictors of gender-disaggregated arrest rates for serious adult crimes. There are two aspects of social control that function to discourage crime: structural factors and relationship factors. Most previous studies had focused on the former aspect, examining the effects of a locale's structural disadvantages on its gender-disaggregated crime rates. In the present study, the authors addressed the latter aspect, in particular, the kinds of relationship factors built on marriage and employment. The evaluation was conducted using data recorded by the national census, the State of Ohio's Boards of Elections, and the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports for Ohio. The developed negative binomial regression models illustrate the general hypothesis that women and men residing in a common ecological area are not equally subject to relationship factors that help control criminal behavior. Women tend to be affected more strongly by such factors than men are.     

Natural population movement and marriage restrictions and hindrances in Styria in the 17th to 19th centuries

To marry has never been an egalitarian option or everybody's wish. There have always been calculations or considerations, structural or individual hindrances and even societal restrictions for individuals to get married despite wishing to do so. Without any doubt and apart from the debate on determination or love and free choice in former times, to marry has always been a societal event, a mutual relationship between personal wishes and societal environmental expectations.

And apart from all the debates on paradoxes in modernization processes, it is clear that in pre-modern times societal marriage restrictions were widespread.

It is very unlikely that people should have been forbidden to marry because they should not have sexual contacts, just for morality reasons. The keys have been considerations and calculations on reproductivity, economic and social resources, social and human capital. This paper deals with aggregated vital data from four parishes in Styria, Austria, covering the outgoing 17th century until the end of the 19th century, in order to detect hints of marriage restrictions.

The paper proves the well-known variety of marriage systems in pre-industrial and pre-modern times. It supports the idea that the presence of marriage restrictions hindered population growth, but the absence of such restrictions did not automatically foster more societal transparency and developmental chances in a modern sense, as mortality and inequality were very strong factors in pre-modern agrarian societies. In the end, the question of marriage restrictions was apparently posed and answered by privileged groups.     

The Complexity of Hate Crime and Bias Activity: Variation across Contexts and Types of Bias

Are racially-motivated hate crimes, non-criminal bias incidents, and general forms of crime associated with the same structural factors? If so, then social disorganization, a powerful structural correlate of general crime, should predict rates of hate incidents. However, tests of social disorganization’s effects on racially-motivated hate crime yield inconsistent results. This study uses data from the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC) to explore such inconsistencies. Specifically, we assess the effects of social disorganization across contexts and types of bias motivation using bias incidents over 12 years. The results suggest that (a) social disorganization, particularly residential instability, is robustly correlated with rates of both hate crime and other prejudicial conduct, and that (b) the interactive effects of social disorganization help explain variations in incident rates by motivation type. Specifically, anti-black incidents are most frequent in unstable, homogeneous (i.e. white) and advantaged communities, while anti-white incidents are most frequent in unstable, disadvantaged communities.     

Marriage,residence, and occupational choices of senior and junior siblings in the english past

The aim of this study is to throw light on the importance of social networks by examining the choice of godparents and witnesses to marriage in early nineteenth-century Iceland. The article analyzes parish records concerning two communities representative of different socio-economic environments in southwestern Iceland. The results show that godparents were chosen predominantly among people of standing in the neighborhood, such as communal directors, church wardens, merchants, and midwives. Grandparents figured only rarely as godparents. In the case of marriage, however, close kin played a markedly more important role as witnesses, particularly in the upland community that had a more stable population than the coastal one. Observed local variations in this respect can be explained in light of different socio-economic settings.     

Natural population movement and marriage restrictions and hindrances in Styria in the 17th to 19th centuries

To marry has never been an egalitarian option or everybody's wish. There have always been calculations or considerations, structural or individual hindrances and even societal restrictions for individuals to get married despite wishing to do so. Without any doubt and apart from the debate on determination or love and free choice in former times, to marry has always been a societal event, a mutual relationship between personal wishes and societal environmental expectations.And apart from all the debates on paradoxes in modernization processes, it is clear that in pre-modern times societal marriage restrictions were widespread.It is very unlikely that people should have been forbidden to marry because they should not have sexual contacts, just for morality reasons. The keys have been considerations and calculations on reproductivity, economic and social resources, social and human capital. This paper deals with aggregated vital data from four parishes in Styria, Austria, covering the outgoing 17th century until the end of the 19th century, in order to detect hints of marriage restrictions.The paper proves the well-known variety of marriage systems in pre-industrial and pre-modern times. It supports the idea that the presence of marriage restrictions hindered population growth, but the absence of such restrictions did not automatically foster more societal transparency and developmental chances in a modern sense, as mortality and inequality were very strong factors in pre-modern agrarian societies. In the end, the question of marriage restrictions was apparently posed and answered by privileged groups.     

The Ecological Distribution of Community Advantage and Disadvantage: Power Structures,Political Economy,Communities, and Green-State Crime and Justice

Certain forms of criminology such as social disorganization theory examine how community characteristics influence crime. That approach, however glosses over the fact that the distribution of community advantages and disadvantages (CAD) has structural origins, and that the distribution of CAD is also an indicator of the kinds of social, economic and ecological injustice communities face. Building on observations recently made by Moloney and Chambliss concerning the integration of state and green criminological research, this article explores the structural origins of CAD, how taking a political economic view of CAD relates to the distribution of crime and injustice in communities, and how a CAD approach promotes the integration of state crime, radical criminological and green criminological research.     

Choice, Culture and the Politics of Belonging: The Emerging Law of Forced and Arranged Marriage

The article discusses recent legal and policy initiatives aimed at preventing forced marriage, placing them in the broader context of the exclusionary governance of British Muslim cultural difference. It argues that forced marriage is understood almost entirely as a product of cultural difference. Thus, attempts to prevent forced marriage focus on the control of cultural pressures at the point of marriage. This near-exclusive focus on culture has two consequences for women. First, inadequate attention is paid to the social and economic problems which intersect with and aggravate cultural factors restricting women's marital choice. Second, this problematisation of culture has generated paternalistic legislation with the consequence that young women who wish to follow cultural practice and fully consent to an arranged marriage may be prevented from marrying as they choose.     

Winners and Losers

This paper considers whether the Human Rights Act 1998 is, in itself, capable of materially improving the lives of those who experience social exclusion – or whether it is likely to exacerbate their difficulties. It draws on the relevant post-2000 research concerning the Act's impact on socially excluded groups which suggests that the response of the statutory agencies has been disappointing – that 'not being proactive' has proved to be the most attractive option. It then addresses the incongruity between the government's strategies for combating social exclusion and civil justice.     

日本内缘婚制度研究

日本内缘婚又被称为事实婚姻,产生于19世纪后期日本民法典颁布之后,并随着日本社会的发展而处于不断的演变之中。从内缘保护的法的形成、内缘关系成立的要件及内缘婚的法律效果三个方面来看,中日两国的事实婚姻制度既具有相同之处,也有不同的地方。     

Family and social factors associated with substantiation of child abuse and neglect reports

One hundred fifty-nine families who were reported for child abuse or neglect to a country social services agency in a single fiscal year were studied empirically to test the ecological model of child abuse and neglect. Several family and social factors were studied. Only two, size of family and stage in family developmental cycle, were significantly associated with an increased risk of substantiation of the report. Two potential sources of social support, the use of regular child care and the presence of an extended family member, were tested for their effect on substantiation in those cases where risk factors such as the two mentioned above and combinations of risk factors such as single parenthood and unemployed head of household were associated with higher rates of substantiation. In every case, these two examples of social support reduced the substantiation rate. The influence of the use of regular child care was especially strong in mitigating the effect of the family and social risk factors.     

我国结婚制度立法研究──关于我国《婚姻法》结婚制度的修改、补充建议及其主要理由

近年来随着我国社会的发展,《婚姻法》有关结婚制度的规定已日益不适应调整新形势下婚姻关系的需要,本文建议对其从以下方面加以修改、补充和完善：扩大禁止结婚的近亲属范围,并规定某些除外情形;对禁止结婚的疾病,增补具体规定;新增结婚公告制度,完善结婚程序;增加专节规定婚姻无效制度,填补立法空白。     

论身份关系协议对民法典合同编的参照适用

婚姻、收养、监护等有关身份关系的协议存在"参照适用"民法典合同编的空间。"身份关系协议的性质"是身份法律行为及相应身份权利义务关系所展现出的身份共同体特点,也是"参照适用"时对被引用法条限制或者修正变通的判断标准和解释依归。"身份关系协议的性质"具体包括鼓励缔结婚姻、维护夫妻等身份关系和谐安定、实现夫妻乃至家庭共同利益、养老育幼、未成年子女利益最大化等价值追求。应该区分不同类型的身份关系协议、区分同一类型身份关系协议中不同内容约款、区分身份关系协议的内部效力与外部效力,分别讨论"参照适用"的空间。不能脱离身份关系协议的"整体"来看待忠诚协议、离婚财产分割协议或者夫妻财产约定中的所谓"赠与条款"这个"部分",身份关系协议原则上应该作为一个整体,且形成继续性民事法律关系。     

生态文明社会调节机制：立法评估与制度重塑

生态文明社会调节机制是否完善,直接关系到生态文明建设的成败。而生态文明社会调节机制的法律体系是一个纷繁复杂的法律系统,包括从中央到地方的法律、法规和其它规范性文件。通过运用要素量化评估法,并辅之以法律解释学的价值判断,可以有效地发现生态文明社会调节法律体系的问题和缺陷,进而提出完善该法律体系和加强生态文明法制建设的建议。     

试论事实婚姻的认定及处理

本文认为事实婚姻在一定时期内是禁而难绝的社会现象,在力求杜绝事实婚姻发生的原则下,有条件地承认事实婚姻关系是符合实际的。     

Faith-based efforts to improve prisoner reentry: Assessing the logic and evidence

Prisoner reentry constitutes one of the central criminal justice challenges confronting U.S. society. Coinciding with this emerging social problem has been increased policymaker interest in faith-based programs to improve outcomes for vulnerable populations, including released prisoners. Critical questions about the nature and effects of faith-based reentry programs remain largely unaddressed, however: (1) What is a “faith-based” program? (2) How does or could such a program reduce recidivism and improve other behavioral outcomes among released offenders? (3) What is the evidence concerning the impacts of faith-based reentry programs? (4) What are critical implementation issues that may affect the operations and impacts of such programs? This article examines each of these questions and identifies critical conceptual, theoretical, and research gaps in the literature. It highlights that the term “faith-based” is used inconsistently, that the precise causal relationship, if any, between various measures of faith and crime remains in question, and that few rigorous evaluations of faith-based reentry programs exist. It then discusses recommendations for improving knowledge and practice.     

Neighborhood Characteristics, Peer Networks, and Adolescent Violence

Although ecological researchers consistently find high rates of crime and violence within socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods, there is little consensus as to why this pattern exists. To address this question, we use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (n=12,747) to examine three related research questions. Are neighborhood characteristics associated with adolescent violence net of compositional and selection effects? Are neighborhood characteristics associated with adolescents’ exposure to violent and prosocial peers? Does peer exposure mediate the neighborhood characteristics–violence association? Results indicate that across a wide range of neighborhoods, socioeconomic disadvantage is positively related to adolescent violence net of compositional and selection effects. Additionally, neighborhood disadvantage is associated with exposure to violent peers, and peer exposure mediates part of the neighborhood disadvantage–violence association. Joining structural and cultural explanations for violence, our findings suggest that neighborhood disadvantage influences adolescent violence indirectly by increasing opportunities for youth to become involved in violent peer networks.     

Getting Caught and Getting Hitched: An Assessment of the Relationship Between Police Intervention,Life Chances,and Romantic Unions

Little research has assessed the link between formal police intervention, financial hardship, and the formation and quality of romantic relationships. Using data from the Rochester Youth Development Study, we contribute to this literature by examining effects of police intervention at two time points on marriage stability and romantic relationship quality. We find that police intervention during adolescence is associated with increases in financial hardship during young adulthood, which, in turn, decreases the odds of entering into a stable marriage by age 31 and the extent to which those who have a romantic relationship feel their partner is supportive. Early police intervention also is indirectly associated with a reduction in partner satisfaction and an increase in partner violence via young adult arrest. We conclude that even minimally invasive contact with the criminal justice system during adolescence has long-lasting collateral consequences in the family arena.     

The Hindu marriage system in Bangladesh: addressing discrimination

As a social and legal institution, marriage is recognized in every society and by every faith. The author examines the institution of marriage amongst the Hindu community of Bangladesh. After the independence of Bangladesh, no legislative measure has been taken to address the Hindu marriage system. From a gender as well as a religious perspective, the whole spectrum of Hindu marriage has often been criticised as being discriminatory, particularly towards women. Despite the fact that the Constitution of Bangladesh has clearly abolished all forms of gender and religious discrimination, these provisions are not reflected in reality. As a signatory of various international conventions, Bangladesh is also under an international obligation to materialise the notion of equality in its municipal system. This article analyses the various lacunae of the prevalent Hindu marriage system in Bangladesh and their underlying reasons. It also makes recommendations in order to achieve Bangladesh’s constitutional and international obligations toward gender equality.