Violence in Juvenile Institutions

This study assesses the impact of selected deprivation and importation variables on inmate violence in four juvenile correctional institutions. While both sets of variables were shown to exert independent effects on inmate aggression, variations in the institutional context mediated the impact of inmate characteristics on levels of p r i s m violence. Preinstitutional violence emerged as the best predictor of inmate aggression, regardless of institutional setting. Race was shown to affect inmate violence directly m l y in the most treatment-oriented facility, while the inmate code was found to exert effects only in the most custodial institution.     

SEX RATIOS AND RAPE RATES: A POWERCONTROL THEORY*

Guttentag and Secord (1983) hypothesize that sex ratios (the number of men per 100 women) affect the roles of both men and women. They suggest that although high sex ratios decrease men 3 dyadic power, when sex ratios are high men use their structural power to control women. Their theory can be combined with the routine activities approach of Cohen and Felson (1979) or with a version of the power-threat/power-competition hypothesis of Blalock (1967) to develop a power-control theory dealing with the relationship between sex ratios and rape rates: i.e., when sex ratios are high, rape rates should be relatively low. Analyses of data from the United States for the years 1962, 1967, 1972, 1977, 1982, and 1987 support this hypothesis.     

Discourse Theory and Human Rights*

Abstract. The author's thesis is that human rights can be substantiated on the basis of discourse theory. The argument has two steps. The first step is the justification of the rules of discourse. The second step consists in the foundation of human rights.     

The Concept of Jurisprudence*

Abstract. The first part of this article contains (i) considerations as to the relationship between jurisprudence and legal dogmatics, legal philosophy, and sociology of law; (ii) considerations about the status of jurisprudence both as a meta- and an object-theory. These lead to the suggestion that jurisprudence should be defined as a general juristic theory of law and legal science. In the second part, the character and elements of this definition are explained systematically. The article's main thesis is that jurisprudence is not distinguished from legal philosophy and sociology of law by its subject or its method, but by the specifically juristic research aspect or perspective it is based upon.     

CRIME REPORTING:

Most of the recent work on crime reporting has yet to be integrated into a coherent theoretical scheme. In response to this theoretical void, the present article outlines a model of the social psychological processes involved in crime reporting. The processes underlying the reporting of an observed crime assume that the bystander is a rational decision maker. After sighting an unusual event. the bystander calculates how discrepant the event is from his personal norms, ponders the sort of label that is appropriate for explaining the event, assumes personal responsibility. and adds up the costs and benefits associated with action. Final action or inaction is the consequence of a long chain of unobservable, cognitive events. The model draws heavily from current theorizing in studies of help-giving and altruistic behavior.