EVALUATION OF THE PAINT CREEK YOUTH CENTER: A RESIDENTIAL PROGRAM FOR SERIOUS DELINQUENTS*

A classic experimental design was used to determine whether youths assigned to a small experimental program, designed to offer a comprehensive and highly structured array of intervention services and activities, actually received significantly different treatment, and performed better, than control youths assigned to traditional training schools. Interviews with staff and youths suggest that the experimental program did deliver significantly more treatment services. One-year follow-up data showed no significant differences in arrests or self-reported delinquency between experimental and control groups, although those who completed the experimental program performed significantly better than those who were removed for disciplinary reasons.     

Compliance Motivations: Perspectives of Farmers,Homebuilders, and Marine Facilities*

This paper addresses the role of differing regulatory contexts in shaping compliance motivations. These are examined for farmers and environmental regulation in Denmark, homebuilders and building safety in the United States, and marine facilities and water quality in the United States. The findings show that the influence of different regulatory practices and the relevance of normative and social considerations differ among these regulatory contexts. This calls attention to the need for more research on the interplay of regulatory arrangements and contexts in shaping motivations for regulatory compliance.     

HOMICIDE AGAINST THE ELDERLY: A RESEARCH NOTE*

By virtue of the type of data generally used (victim surveys), previous research on the victimization of the elderly is limited in two respects. Not only is the crime of homicide outside the domain of victimization data, but sample surveys uncover too few incidents of victimization of the elderly to permit in-depth analyses. Using the supplementary homicide reports from 1976–1985, we compared patterns and rates of homicide among the elderly and younger populations. Our results suggest that the elderly are in fact the least at risk for homicide generally, as has been reported for other crimes. When examining specific subtypes of homicide, however, the elderly are actually at greater risk than their younger counterparts for homicide committed during a robbery.     

On Joining the Constitution

A new independent crossbench peer takes stock of the institution he has just joined, examines the arguments for reform and ponders what might await.     

EXPLAINING THE GENDER GAP IN CRIME: THE ROLE OF HEART RATE

Although it is well established that males engage in more crime compared with females, little is known about what accounts for the gender gap. Few studies have been aimed at empirically examining mediators of the gender–crime relationship in a longitudinal context. In this study, we test the hypothesis that a low resting heart rate partly mediates the relationship between gender and crime. In a sample of 894 participants, the resting heart rate at 11 years of age was examined alongside self‐reported and official conviction records for overall criminal offending, violence, serious violence, and drug‐related crime at 23 years of age. A low resting heart rate partially mediated the relationship between gender and all types of adult criminal offending, including violent and nonviolent crime. The mediation effects were significant after controlling for body mass index, race, social adversity, and activity level. Resting heart rate accounted for 5.4 percent to 17.1 percent of the gender difference in crime. This study is the first to produce results documenting that lower heart rates in males partly explain their higher levels of offending. Our findings complement traditional theoretical accounts of the gender gap and have implications for the advancement of integrative criminological theory.