Impact of drug use on inmate misconduct: A multilevel analysis

Despite the importance of drug use problems among offenders, relatively little was known about whether drug use history affected inmate behavior in prison. Using data from the 1997 survey of inmates in state facilities in the U.S., this study examined the following relationships: the effect of drug use prior to incarceration on substance rule violations per month during incarceration and the effect of drug use prior to incarceration on non-substance rule violations per month in prison. This study revealed that the variable drug use history was a significant predictor of substance rule violations per month and of non-substance rule violations per month in prison. The implications of the findings are also discussed.     

The influence of prisons on inmate misconduct: A multilevel investigation

This article presents the results of multilevel analyses of prisoners' misconduct for the population of over 120,000 federal prisoners incarcerated in June 2001. Prior research has focused on individual-level explanations of inmate misconduct, but this study explicitly examines whether prisons vary in their influence on such misconduct. The study demonstrates that model specification makes a difference in our understanding of which variables are related to misconduct, that the type of misconduct is important for understanding the effects of covariates of misconduct, and that results of multilevel models can easily be used to compare the performance of prisons.     

Administrative determinants of inmate violence: A multilevel analysis

This study examined the effect of remunerative and coercive controls on inmate assault, net of traditional controls. The sample included 4,168 male inmates nested within 185 state correctional facilities. The results suggest a complex relationship between remunerative controls and inmate assault. Remunerative controls were not significant predictors of inmate-on-inmate assault; however, prisoners involved in work programs were significantly less likely to assault staff, net of control variables. A significant relationship was not found between coercive control and inmate assault.     

Social capital and crime: A cross-national multilevel study

Numerous studies have repeatedly supported the negative influence of social capital upon crime rates. Although the relationship between social capital and crime is theoretically persuasive and empirically robust, only a handful of studies have looked into its cross-national variation. Furthermore, no research in social capital has yet applied a multilevel approach to take into account both macro- and micro-level determinants of crime. In an attempt to fill in this research gap, we conducted multilevel analyses of country-level and individual-level factors of criminal victimization. Following the lead of previous studies, it was hypothesized that social capital—estimated as generalized trust, social norms, and civic engagement—reduces criminal victimization, net of individual-level determinants, and other well-established country-level factors. The results revealed that while a higher level of social capital was found to reduce the likelihood of robbery victimization, no significant impact was observed on burglary victimization. With regard to the three dimensions of social capital, generalized trust and social norms exerted significant effects on robbery victimization in the expected direction.     

Considering hierarchical models for research on inmate behavior: Predicting misconduct with multilevel data

Penologists recognize that both inmate- and prison-level characteristics are relevant to an understanding of individual inmates' behaviors; yet extant studies have focused only on unilevel models with either individual- or aggregate-level predictors and outcomes. To explore the potential of multilevel modeling for related research, we examine empirical relationships predicting the likelihood of inmate misconduct with individual-level (inmate) variables and aggregate levels of prison population crowding. The framework for the model borrows from both individual- and aggregate-level theories of informal social control. We examine three secondary data sets, using information common to each set. We compare results from hierarchical logistic models with those from stepwise pooled logistic regression models to see whether results differ significantly by method of estimation. The pooled models reveal inconsistency in the significance of inmate predictors (social demographics and criminal histories) across the three samples, and non-significant relationships involving prison crowding and an interaction between crowding and an inmate's age for all samples. By contrast, the hierarchical models reveal much more consistency in prediction (or a lack thereof) at either level across all three models, as well as significant aggregate-level main and interaction effects. The theoretical and methodological implications of these results are discussed.     

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.     

Military rule in Burma: A geographical analysis

The changing characteristics of the régime which took power in Burma in 1962 are analysed from the point of view of the political geographer. The régime was, from the start, authoritarian and centralist, placing little weight on Burma's ethnic diversity. By Asian standards Burma was a rich country in 1962: by 1987 the régime's policies with their emphasis on isolation and more particularly socialism, the latter implemented bureaucratically and incompetently, had reduced Burma to least developed country (LDC) status. The military remain in power despite a loss of support in their traditional urban strongholds in response to economic decline; but the collapse of some insurgencies, an opening up of the country's resources to foreign exploitation, improved infrastructures in these areas, better military equipment, and improved relations with several neighbouring countries have cumulatively enabled the régime to strengthen its position and extend its control in many as of ethnic insurgence. Many external powers have become increasingly critical and hostile, notably the USA, which was until 1988 very cooperative in the context of aid for the elimination of the opium trade, an aid abused for military ends by the régime, and more recently neighbouring states. The strength of the present government has a quite different geographical basis and outcome from that of its forebear of thirty years ago. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** A8806001 00002     

A multilevel analysis of school-based weapon possession

In this study we present and estimate a multilevel model of weapon possession by students. Our approach extends existing research through an emphasis on the simultaneous effects of individual-level factors including fear, victimization, criminal lifestyle, pro-gun socialization, and social engagement, as well as school-level contextual factors including various indicators of school structure, school capital, and school deficits. We estimate multilevel main effects using hierarchical logistic regression methods and data from more than 6,000 students in 21 schools in Louisville, Kentucky. Results indicate that the likelihood of carrying a weapon to school varies not only across individuals but across schools. School-level structural characteristics—especially SES—were significant in accounting for some of this cross-school variation. Further, the effects of SES on weapon carrying were mediated by school capital and school deficits.     

Social ecology, individual risk, and recidivism: A multilevel examination of main and moderating influences

Purpose

Despite a longstanding tradition in criminology to consider the impact of neighborhood context on crime-related outcomes, criminologists have largely ignored the influence of social ecology on recidivism until recently. The purpose of the present study was to examine the main and moderating influences of social ecology on recidivism.

Materials and Methods

The present study used hierarchical nonlinear modeling to estimate the effects of concentrated disadvantage, immigrant concentration, and residential stability on recidivism for a sample of offenders released from custody/supervision in 2006 and nested within Iowa counties. We controlled for individual-level risk for recidivism using the Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R), a validated risk assessment instrument. We also examined whether the relationship between LSI-R score and recidivism varied across counties, and if so, whether this variation can be explained by social structural characteristics.

Results

Results indicate that residential stability was the only contextual variable significantly related to recidivism. The relationship between individual-level risk and recidivism did not vary across contexts.

Conclusions

The findings suggest that the social structural context has limited influence on recidivism, while the LSI-R is a robust predictor of recidivism across contexts. We discuss the implications of our findings for theory, practice, and future research.     

Social support, ethnic heterogeneity, and homicide: A cross-national approach

This study examined the manner that social support theory accounts for the dynamic between social support, ethnic heterogeneity, and homicide at the cross-national level. Using five alternative measures of social support, the findings indicated that social support influences homicide, but these effects are somewhat contingent on the type or dimension of social support provided. Additionally, the analyses performed here revealed that social support and ethnic heterogeneity interact to influence rates of homicide. Taken together, these findings revealed that social support theory provides a useful foundation for exploring the factors that influence homicide at the cross-national level.     

Growth curves of deviant behavior in early adolescence: A multilevel analysis

Multilevel growth curve models provide a means of analyzing individual differences in the growth of deviance, allow a number of theories to be integrated in a single model, and can help to unify research on deviant/delinquent/criminal careers at different stages of the life cycle. Building on the distinction between population heterogeneity and state dependence as alternative explanations of persistent individual differences in deviance (Heckman, 1981; Nagin and Paternoster, 1991), we show that models with two levels can be used to represent and analyze a variety of criminological theories. The first level (level 1) uses repeated measurements on individuals to estimate individual-level growth curves. The second level treats the level 1 growth curve parameters (e.g., slope, intercept) as outcome variables and uses time-invariant factors to explain variation in these parameters across individuals. We illustrate this approach by estimating a model of growth in deviance drawn from Gottfredson and Hirschi's deviant propensity theory. An innovative feature is the assumption that adolescents' expected growth curves of deviance follow a classical Pearl-Verhulst logistic growth model (Pearl, 1930). The results suggest that five risk factors—parental psychiatric problems, lack of parental support, living arrangements with zero or one parent in residence, low family income, and male gender—have strongly positive effects on deviant propensity. For example, adolescents with no supportive parents, and no other risk factors, have expected asymptotic levels of deviance (peak levels attained at about age 18) that are about twice as high as those of adolescents with no risk factors. Yet more than two-thirds of the individual-level variability in growth curves is unexplained by the five risk factors. This unobserved heterogeneity would remain hidden in analyses using conventional structural equations models and the same explanatory variables.     

Community influence on prosecutorial dismissals: A multilevel analysis of case- and county-level factors

Researchers have recently recognized the importance of social context for developing a more complete understanding of the sentencing process where community characteristics help to account for variation in sentencing practices from one legal jurisdiction to the next. Similar developments, however, have been nearly absent in the study of prosecutorial decision making; this is particularly important given the substantial authority afforded prosecutors throughout the criminal justice process. To address this considerable shortcoming, the current study used multilevel modeling to test the effects of several theoretically relevant community-level measures on the prosecutor's decision to dismiss criminal charges. Findings indicated that multiple measures of social context influence prosecutorial decision making, but not always as specified by the examined theoretical frameworks. Implications of the current study are discussed with regard to theory, research, and policy.     

Causes and correlates of prison inmate misconduct: A systematic review of the evidence

Purpose

Inmate rule violations or “misconducts” reflect offending within a prison, and this study involved a systematic review of studies of the causes/correlates of inmate misconduct published between 1980 and 2013.

Methods

An exhaustive search of relevant high impact journals yielded 98 studies of causes/correlates of inmates misconduct published between 1980 and 2013. The final models from these studies were examined to assess the impact of the predictor variables on misconduct.

Results

Findings revealed that predictor variables reflecting inmates’ background characteristics (e.g., age, prior record), their institutional routines and experiences (e.g., prior misconducts), and prison characteristics (e.g., security level) all impact misconduct.

Conclusions

Researchers should apply general theories of crime and deviance (e.g., control) that can incorporate all of the empirically relevant inmate and prison characteristics to the study of offending in prison (misconduct). Researchers should also examine the sources of variability in the effects of predictor variables across studies.     

The effect of school classroom characteristics on low self-control: A multilevel analysis

Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory has reaped a substantial amount of empirical support. Recently, attention has focused on the factors associated with the development of self-control. With few and isolated exceptions, most research has examined the ways in which parents contribute to the development of self-control in children. Gottfredson and Hirschi hypothesized, however, that other social institutions, especially schools, may play at least some role in inculcating self-control. The current study addressed this possibility by conducting a series of multilevel models that examined whether the characteristics of schools, and classrooms within schools, were salient to the development of self-control. Using a longitudinal sample of kindergarten and first-grade students, the results revealed that classroom characteristics influenced self-control.     

Community-level influences on individuals' social bonds,peer associations,and delinquency: A multilevel analysis

Social disorganization theory is usually considered a macro-level theory, and therefore has been used almost exclusively to explain variation in crime rates. Shaw and McKay, however, also applied their theory to explaining micro-level variation in social bonds, peer associations, and delinquency. Specifically, they argued that social bonds and peer associations actually mediated the influence of social disorganization on delinquency. Little empirical research has focused on this interpretation of their theory. In this study the connections between neighborhood-level social disorganization and individual-level social bonds, peer associations, and delinquency are explicated and tested empirically with multilevel data and hierarchical linear modeling. The results show that social disorganization significantly affects peer associations but not social bonds. In addition, the effect of social disorganization on delinquency is mediated fully by peer associations. Implications for future research on social disorganization theory are discussed.     

Social support and homicide in transitional Russia

Like the United States, Russia is a large industrialized nation with high violence rates. Although its overall homicide rate is among the highest in the world, however, local rates of crime vary widely. Similarly, the level of social support provided by the state varies throughout Russia due to former Soviet policies, the differential pace of political and economic change, and the level of development. Relying upon recent criminological literature on social support theory, this study tested the hypotheses that areas with higher levels of social support will have lower homicide rates and that the effects of negative socioeconomic change on homicide rates will be moderated by levels of social support. Utilizing data from Russian regions (n = 78) and controlling for other structural covariates, negative binomial regression was employed to estimate the effects of social support on regional homicide rates. As expected, negative socioeconomic change was associated with higher homicide rates, but the results provided no support for direct or conditioning effects of social support on homicide. The findings are discussed in the context of Russia-specific conditions and of the meaning of these findings for recent research on social support and crime.     

A theoretical model of multiple stigma: ostracized for being an inmate with intellectual disabilities

Even though some people are associated with a single stigmatized group, others are associated with several. In order to shed light on such multiple stigma processes, we propose a theoretical model of ‘multiple stigma’ by describing how two stigma-related categories (having intellectual disabilities and being an inmate) merge into a third stigmatized category (being an inmate with intellectual disabilities) that makes it possible to be ostracized for each of these three. We describe how this extensive ostracism is associated with negative psychological problems and antisocial responses. Consequently, we discuss some possible implications for the criminal justice system and future research.     

Examining the empirical relationship between prison crowding and inmate misconduct: A meta-analysis of conflicting research results

Incarceration rates in the United States dramatically increased over the past several decades. This trend has drawn significant academic attention to prison overcrowding and its potential effect on inmate misconduct. The empirical relationship between inmate misconduct and overcrowding, however, is less than clear. To be sure, studies indicating positive, negative, and null relationships can all be found in the literature. The current research subjects this body of literature to a meta-analysis in an effort to: (1) clarify the direction and strength of the relationship between overcrowding and rates of prison misconduct across all studies, and (2) to uncover the degree to which variation in research outcomes can be attributed to methodological differences across studies. Results indicate that prison crowding has little substantive impact on inmate misconduct. Implications of the findings are discussed in detail.