Victim-offender race and support for capital punishment: A factorial design approach

Existing research suggests that juries are more likely to condemn murderers to death when offenders are black victims are white. It remains to be seen, however, whether these decisions reflect broader racial prejudices in society that are imported into the jury room. If they do, then insuring equity in capital sentencing may be beyond reach. Accordingly, this study uses factorial design methodology to examine whether members of the general public are more supportive of capital punishment when asked to rate a vignette describing a murder involving a white victim and black offender as opposed to other victim-offender racial combinations. Our analyses suggest that the race of the offender, but not the victim, has a significant influence on support for capital punishment. Thus, procedural safeguards alone may be unable to eliminate racial bias in capital sentencing.     

Rip-Off transfers: Source of social progress

This article advocates taking from the weak and giving to the strong.     

Undetected opiate use: A comparison of official drug user files and a private methadone clinic's patient records

To address the question of the extent of undetected opiate use and the characteristics of this user-population, a research study was undertaken comparing a random sample of ‘walk-in’ patients from a private methadone treatment clinic to police intelligence files on drug-users in a major eastern U.S. city. An independent law enforcement agency substantiated the accuracy of the police files, and the treatment agency had procedures which verified the addiction of the patients. The result of the comparison of these two information sources disclosed that: (1) 51.8 percent of the patients were unknown to the law enforcement authorities; (2) a higher percentage of blacks were unknown than whites, and (3) seventy percent of the addicts under thirty years of age were not known to the police as drug users. These findings tend to discount official estimates of addiction rates often based on law enforcement records, and suggest some interesting treatment methods and research questions.     

The pleasures of youth: Parent and peer compliance toward discretionary time

In the past, research into an adolescent's leisure time has almost exclusively focused on furnishing a record or checklist of activities. This investigation evaluates attitudinal dimensions of leisure, peer identification, and parental accommodation as it relates to patterns of leisure present in an affluent adolescent subculture. Two factors emerged from the attitudinal study, representing achievement and egalitarian dispositions. Patterns of peer and parental compliance were measured against these dispositions. Parental and peer influences were found to affect the outcome of an adolescent's attitudes. Differences between sexes and between early and late adolescence were also discovered to influence levels of compliance with parents and peers, thereby affecting an adolescent's leisure attitudes.Received Ph.D. in sociology from State University of New York at Buffalo, where he specialized in the study of leisure and recreation. Currently, as a research sociologist, pursues studies in attitudes toward wilderness among youth and investigates patterns of association in leisure and outdoor recreation. A monograph on the adolescent and leisure is planned which will have a cross-cultural and comparative perspective.Received Ph.D. in sociology from Vanderbilt University. Current interests include the study of relationships between religious attitudes and drug usage among adolescents and is currently completing a monograph on serpenthandling religions.