The criminological potential of pure sociology

The pure sociology perspective invented by Donald Black, a general theoretical framework for the prediction and explanation of social reality, has considerable potential for the scientific understanding of criminal behavior. Several scholars have profitably drawn upon Black’s proposal that a significant amount of crime is a form of disputing or social control, especially to explain violent conflict. However, pure sociology has not yet been extended and applied to criminal behavior more broadly. A pure sociology of predatory behavior, for instance, would address the location and direction in social space of predators, prey, and third parties. In expanding criminological thought, however, pure sociology also challenges it. Pure sociology explanations are not restricted by time or place, a feature not easily realized with a concept so closely tied to a relatively recent social invention: the state. Additionally, the supra-psychological, -anthropocentric, and -teleological nature of pure sociology generates explanations of behavior that are at odds with many of the assumptions of traditional criminology. Ultimately, then, pure sociology yields a new paradigm for the explanation of behavior the state defines as criminal. Presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology. Toronto, November 17, 2005.     

Politics, culture, and political crime: Covariates of abortion clinic attacks in the United States

This study examined crime and violence against abortion clinics, testing elements of several theories that may help explain the variation of such attacks. The study theoretically and methodologically improved upon the prior research on abortion-related crime and violence. Theoretically, it investigated previously unexamined hypotheses from the social movement literature that may be relevant to this type of behavior. Methodologically, it used more careful measures for several variables, employed unique and heretofore ignored data bases, and examined hundreds of criminal acts across several types of crime (e.g., violence, vandalism, and harassment) directed at abortion clinics. Employing robust logistic regression and correcting for clustering of clinics by state, the study investigated the cross-sectional effects of state-level cultural and structural characteristics on anti-abortion crimes against clinics and staff. Results indicated that some crimes against clinics are more likely in areas where female empowerment is weaker, female victimization is more tolerated, and the anti-abortion movement has failed to reduce abortions.     

Federal Reimbursement for Mandates on State and Local Governments

One of the remedies sought by state and local officials for the growing burden of federal mandates is a mandate reimbursement law. A major purpose of mandate reimbursement is to deter Congress from imposing excessive costs on state and local governments by making it fully accountable for its actions. The paper begins by extending the economic theory of grants to mandates and reimbursed mandates. It goes on to assess the benefits and costs of mandate reimbursement, and to distinguish mandates that should be reimbursed, should a reimbursement program prove desirable, from those that should not. Then, using the economic theory of grants and mandates, the paper compares reimbursed mandates with two alternatives for accomplishing the same objective, compensating grants and procedural rules. It concludes that the latter are more promising than mandate reimbursement.