CONTROL BALANCE AND EXPLOITATIVE CORPORATE CRIME*

Control balance theory indicates that the control one exercises relative to the control one experiences, or the control balance ratio, should relate to specific forms of deviance. Control surpluses, or when control exercised is greater than control experienced, should relate to autonomous forms of deviance, whereas control deficits, or when control experienced is greater than control exercised, should relate to repressive forms of deviance. To date, control balance theory has been investigated empirically only to a limited extent, with mixed to supportive results. This paper presents an application of control balance theory to the autonomous deviant act of exploitation in a corporate crime context. Both control balance theory and the extant corporate crime literature offer impetus for such an investigation. Using data collected on working adults, the results support the key hypothesis that control surpluses rather than control deficits relate to exploitative acts in the corporate context. This finding holds with two control balance ratio measures, global and workplace‐specific. Future theoretical and empirical research directions are outlined.     

FIREARMS OWNERSHIP, GUN CONTROL ATTITUDES, AND NEIGHBORHOOD ENVIRONMENT

Consensus has not been reached on whether a relationsip exists among violent crime, fear of crime, and firearms ownership. The questions addressed here are how, if at all, the neighborhood environments of urban blacks and whites affect their patterns and levels of gun ownership, what their attitudes are toward gun regulation, and whether there is a relationship between gun regulation attitudes and firearms ownership. Data collected through a mail questionnaire from white and black residents of high and low homicide risk neighborhoods in Detroit were used to test the questions. Results indicate, for the most part, that blacks and whites hold different attitudes toward gun regulation, that gun regulation attitudes affect gun ownership patterns, and that only in one instance did neighborhood environment explain gun ownership relatively well.     

FEAR OF CRIME AND HANDGUN OWNERSHIP

The levels of handgun ownership and the fear of criminal victimization Abstract are both considered social problems in American society. The present study attempted to test for causal effects among these and several other variables through the use of a nonrecursive simultaneous equation model to analyze data for 1,818 men. The results indicated that handgun ownership had the effect of reducing the fear of crime while fear had no statistically signficant effect on handgun ownership. These variables, in turn were influenced by religious membership, region, income, size of place of residence, political orientation, and age. The Findings do not support claims that the fear of crime motivates increased handgun ownership but do confirm arguments that in the contemporary United States. Handgun ownership provides some men with a sense of personal security.     

GENDER,FEAR, AND PROTECTIVE HANDGUN OWNERSHIP*

Nonrecursive models which have been used to assess the potentially reciprocal relationship between fear of crime and handgun ownership may suffer on two accounts: (a) the use of “weak” instrumental variables: and (b) the measurement of household (versus personal) handgun ownership. Data from the 1980 NORC General Social Survey are used in this study to minimize these problems in examining the relationships among fear of crime, victimization, and protective handgun ownership among males and females. Significant effects of fear and victimization on personal gun ownership are found among men but not among women. These results are discussed in light of two concerns. First, earlier research is confirmed that finds gender differences in the factors influencing gun ownership. Second, a clear need is emphasized for further research addressing questions of both conceptualization and measurement in the study of fear of crime and its effects on protective handgun ownership.     

COLLECTIVE SECURITY AND THE OWNERSHIP OF FIREARMS FOR PROTECTION

This paper examines the hypothesis that people purchase firearms for protection when confidence in collective institutions of justice and security declines. Analysis of survey data from Detroit indicates that gun ownership for protection is inversely related to confidence in the police and in the courts, and that these relationships are independent of demographic and socioeconomic variables and fear of crime.