Institutionalism Old and New*

Abstract
The author deals with the legal theoretical approach that has been labelled "legal institutionalism." An old and a new version of this approach are singled out: The old one is identified with the theory defended by the Italian public lawyer Santi Romano in the first half of this century; the second one is seen in the recent work by Ota Weinberger and Neil MacCormick. After a short presentation of Romano's work, his ideas and the development proposed by MacCormick and Weinberger are compared. Similarities and differences between the two versions of institutional theory are worked out. A coda hints at an ambiguity in the definition of institution proposed by the "new" institutionalism.     

Beyond the "science of sophomores": does the rational choice explanation of crime generalize from university students to an actual offender sample?

Much of the criminological literature testing rational choice theory has utilized hypothetical scenarios presented to university students. Although this research generally supports rational choice theory, a common criticism is that conclusions from these studies may not generalize to samples of actual offenders. This study proceeds to examine this issue in two steps. First, a traditional sample of university students is examined to determine how various costs and benefits relate to their hypothetical likelihood of offending. Then the same data collection procedures are employed with a somewhat different sample of younger, adjudicated, and institutionalized offenders to determine whether the conclusions drawn from the student sample generalize to this offender sample. Results generally suggest that the content and process of hypothetical criminal decision making differ in the sample of known offenders relative to the university students. Limitations of the current study, as well as suggestions for future research, are discussed.     

Testing an Integration of Control Theories: The Role of Bonds and Self-Control in Decision Making

Since the redefinition of self-control (Hirschi, 2004) social bonding measures have been utilized as predictors or indicators of revised or decisional self-control. This approach departs from the prior literature which has hypothesized a selection effect of self-control on social bonds. To reconcile this discrepancy and explain the relationship among two self-control measures (attitudinal and revised self-control), an alternate model is proposed that explains the process of self-control on refrainment from offending at the situation level. Surveys using the vignette method for a hypothetical drunk-driving decision-making task were collected from large samples of young adults and inmates. Path analysis is used to model bonds and self-control as determinates of decisional self-control, thus indirectly influencing self-reported estimates of drunk-driving likelihood. Decisional self-control, attitudinal self-control and social bonds also directly affect intentions to drive drunk. Overall, the proposed model is supported. A strong direct effect of attitudinal self-control on drunk-driving likelihood remains while controlling for decisional self-control. There are relatively smaller indirect effects of social bonds and attitudinal self-control on drunk-driving likelihood, through their effects on decisional self-control. These findings support the need for the conceptual separation of bonds, attitudinal and decisional self-control as well as increased attention to differential effects of self-control.