U.S. SOCIAL STRUCTURE, CRIME, AND IMPRISONMENT

This research develops a structural model of crime and imprisonment in the United States from data on 49 states which was evaluated through a series of path and regression analyses. The major findings revealed that crime rates were effectively predicted by social structural characteristics, primarily urban population characteristics, and in turn that prison admissions were predicted by crime rates. Prison releases were not as strongly influenced by structural characteristics as crime rates and prison admissions; however, prison admissions were found to significantly affect releases. Variations in social structural determinants of violent and property crimes were also observed. The implication of these results ore discussed and suggestions for future research are presented.     

RACIALLY HOMOPHILOUS SOCIAL TIES AND INFORMAL SOCIAL CONTROL

Social disorganization theory argues that racial/ethnic heterogeneity is a key neighborhood characteristic leading to social disorganization and, consequently, higher levels of crime. Heterogeneity's effect is argued to be a result of its fragmentation of social ties along racial/ethnic lines, which creates racially homophilous social networks with few ties bridging racial/ethnic groups. Most studies of social ties in social disorganization models, however, have examined their quantity and left unaddressed the extent to which ties are within or across different racial groups. This study goes beyond previous studies by examining the effects of both racially homophilous and interracial friendship networks on informal social control. Using multilevel models and data from 66 neighborhoods with approximately 2,300 respondents, we found that heterogeneity actually increased the average percentage of residents with interracial friendship networks, but the percentage of residents with interracial networks decreased the likelihood of informal social control. In contrast, the percentage of residents with White racially homophilous networks increased the likelihood of informal social control. Examining the microcontext of individuals’ networks, however, we found residents with interracial ties reported higher likelihoods of informal social control and that this effect was enhanced in neighborhoods with higher percentages of non‐White racially homophilous networks.     

CIVIC COMMUNITY IN THE HINTERLAND: TOWARD A THEORY OF RURAL SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND VIOLENCE*

Drawing on the civic community literature, this article explicates a theoretical model to explain variation in rates of violence across rural communities. It is hypothesized that rural communities with a stable population base that is locally invested, a vibrant participatory civic culture with a well‐developed noneconomic institutional base, and a robust economically independent middle class will have lower rates of violent crime. Results from the analysis of data for more than 1,000 rural counties reveal that the 11 variables used to operationalize the theory are empirically distinguishable from indicators of resource disadvantage and form three well‐defined indices: a residential stability/local investment factor, a local capitalism/independent middle class factor, and a civic engagement factor. Negative binomial regression models confirm that violent crime rates are generally much lower in communities that score high on these dimensions. Implications of these findings for future macrolevel criminological research are discussed.     

SOCIAL STATUS AND DEVIANCE

The relationship between social class and four measures of deviance was examined within the context of schools with predominantly upper-middleclass. middle-class, and working-class populations. The hypothesis that there would be significant inverse relationships between social class and rates of deviant behavior within working-class but not upper-middle- or middle-class schools was not supported by our data. There also was no consistent support found for the hypothesis that working-class schools should have higher rates of deviance. The fact that even when we contextualize the social class/delinquency relationship we fail to find a significant inverse relationship, further confirms the conclusion that social class does not appear to be an important predictor of delinquency.     

MASS COMPLIANCE AND SOCIAL INTERACTION

When government policy decisions affect the general public, people may or may not comply. How and why compliance occurs is not well understood. Current research on compliance has several weaknesses: (1) it tends to focus on the behavior of public officials rather than on the general public; (2) it relies on static rather than dynamic models; and (3) it underestimates the impact of social groups on individual choices. The present analysis treats compliance as a dynamic process incorporating both social influence and individual calculation. We assume that primary groups (family, peers), social status, and a society's culture all play important roles in changing compliance over time.     

SOCIAL CLASS AND DELINQUENT BEHAVIOR

The apparent refutation by self-report studies of social class-related theories of juvenile delinquency is critically reviewed. Improper conceptualization and operationalization of “social class” are considered to be primary causes of inconsistent findings. A more appropriate “underclasslearning class” model of stratification is suggested. Although no empirical support is found for a relationship between self-reported delinquent behavior and socioeconomic status of father's occupation. indications are that social class is somewhat more related to self-reported delinquency using the underclass/earning class model. However, there is no reason to expect social class to emerge as a major correlate of delinquent behavior no matter how it is measured.     

SOCIAL ALTRUISM AND CRIME*

Drawing on the theoretical statements of Braithwaite (1989), Cullen (1994), Messner and Rosenfeld (1994), this research examines the influence of social altruism on the level of crime for a sample of U.S. cities. The multivariate analyses clearly indicate that the ratio of contributions to the United Way to aggregate city income, a behavioral approximation of the cultural value of altruism, is inversely related to property and violent crime rates. The implications of these findings for the reduction of crime are discussed.     

SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH AND SOCIAL POLICY: BRIDGING THE GAP1

Clinical examples of misapplications of social science research are reviewed with an emphasis on what can be learned with regard to dealing with and preventing such misuse of this type of knowledge. The differences in language and culture that characterize scientific research as separate from advocacy and social policy are also examined, with recommendations for improved cross‐cultural communication.     

SOCIAL CONTROL AND SOCIAL LEARNING MODELS OF DELINQUENT BEHAVIOR A Synthesis

Social control and social learning models of delinquent behavior are reviewed and compared. The data analysis shows that predictions from the social learning model ficrther specify the control perspective. Thus, attachments are an important influence on delinquent behavior only when the source of attachment is taken into consideration, Further, the data presented suggest that observational learning has an influence on delinquent acts as suggested by social learning theory. Particular parental behaviors which influence the reinforcing value of the home appear to have the primary influence on delinquent behavior in the parent/child bond. From this study, it is concluded that a combination of the social “bonding” notion from control theory along with specific principles of social learning lay the groundwork for a more comprehensive theory of delinquent behavior than either perspective alone.     

SOCIAL CLASS AND VIOLENT BEHAVIOR*

This paper examines the relationship between violent behavior and a variety of measures of social class. Police records from one study and questionnaire data from two studies are analyzed. The strength of the relationship between class and violence varies significantly, depending primarily on the measure of class used. The implications of these findings are potentially profound for class-based theories of crime and delinquency. Methodological implications of the findings are significant for sampling issues as well as for conceptualizations of class.     

SOCIAL WORK AND CORRECTIONS Another View

Based on the views expressed in the preceding article, this paper critically examines the “case” for a social work contribution to the field of corrections. It argues that social work as a discipline, largely attributable to a characteristic neglect of empirical assessment, has tended disproportionately to emphasize altruistic intentions over practice consequences, and has focused both conceptually and practically on the empirically questionable enterprise of individual treatment to the relative exclusion of the greater potentials for change associated with correctional administration and social policy. It is suggested that social work must begin to take a more flexible and open posture with respect to its theories and methods in an effort to strengthen its clinical practice skills and to facilitate its contribution to the structure and values of correctional programs.     

SOCIAL JUSTICE AND FAMILY COURT REFORM

Creating a unified family court, or any type of family court reform, may have only a minimal impact if it simply changes the structure of how judges do business rather than addresses the structure of the child welfare system itself. The authors argue that family court reform must place social justice at its center. First, they discuss profound flaws in the child welfare system that make poor and minority families especially vulnerable to coercive state intervention. Second, they describe two approaches to child welfare cases–family systems theory and therapeutic justice–that can help to guide reform efforts directed at addressing these structural flaws. Finally, they suggest ways in which family law scholarship can assist in creating a social justice agenda for family court reform.     

THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF VENGEANCE: A TEST OF BLACK'S MODEL*

The current research tests Black's (1990) model of vengeance through interviews with prison inmates. Drawing on a case‐control method, each respondent describes a matched pair of conflicts: the crime of vengeance and a similar nonviolent conflict from the same time period. The quantitative data are used to estimate the impact of conflict structure on conflict management. Conditional logistic regression models offer mixed support: relational distance and functional independence increase the odds of vengeance, but the remaining theoretical variables do not. The qualitative data are used to illustrate the quantitative patterns and unearth parallels between premodern and modern violence.     

STRUCTURAL AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF PRlSONlZATlON

This study. based on an analysis of data obtained from a randomly selected sample of 239 inmates of a maximum security federal penetentiary, assesses the explanotory power and relative importance of variables related to prisonization in the previous literature. While support for hypotheses derived from the importation and deprivation models was found, our analysis. consistent with earlier research, reveals that the proportion of variance in prisonization which can be accounted for is not high. Still, our findings underline the necessity of moving toward an integration of existing theories of prisonization rother than attempting to view them as contradictory perspectives.