NONSOCIAL REINFORCEMENT AND HABITUAL CRIMINAL CONDUCT: AN EXTENSION OF LEARNING THEORY *

Drawing on a diverse literature, we explain how criminal behavior is maintained through a process of nonsocial reinforcement, and show that some persons find criminal behavior particularly rewarding. We test our assumptions using surveys of 295 incarcerated adult felons and 150 male college students and intensive focus groups with 40 habitual offenders currently serving time. Results suggest that the experience of committing nonviolent and, particularly, violent crime is intrinsically rewarding and tends to reinforce such behavior among habitual criminals. The endogenous rewards identified center on (1) the neurophysiological high such acts produce and (2) the symbolic meaning of the behavior as it relates to self-concept and identity formation. Findings from the surveys and the focus groups suggest that habitual criminality is sustained partly through the positive sensations (physiological and psychological) those crimes activate within the offender and that those sensations are instrumental in the maintenance and reinforcement of criminal careers. Based on what is known in the literature and what has been learned from our research, it seems that an effective way of integrating this knowledge lies in the direction of a nonsocial reinforcement arm of learning theory.     

It's the government's fault! A cross-section study of economic voting in Denmark, 1990/93

Abstract. The relationship between voters' support for the government and thirteen items tapping their evaluation of the economic situation is analyzed. One data set is collected under Conservative rule and another under Social Democratic rule. The answers are first aggregated into three factors. Two are egotropic: the economic situation of the family, and its unemployment situation. One is sociotropic: worry about the economic development in the country. The impact of the first is strongly significant, and greater than found in comparable studies. The impact of the second is mostly significant, while the impact of the third is the least reliable. We have thus found a clear case of pocketbook voting.     

Delinquent Careers A Test of the Career Escalation Model

In the treatment of status offenders, the espousal of a medical therapeutic model has led to the development of diversion programs designed to offset a progressive career escalation from petty to serious delinquent acts. Using the offense histories of 1200 juveniles, transition probabilities were created to test for offense specialization and offense escalation. Controlling for age, sex, and race or ethnicity, the career transition configurations were reflective of homogeneous, number-independent Markov processes. The implications of these findings run counter to many popular assumptions of delinquency causation and treatment and challenge the basic tenets of many status offender programs.     

Rawls's Difference Principle as Compensation for Social Immobility

Outside academia, John Rawls's theory of justice—justice as fairness—has had little impact. This article is part of a broader project to rectify this. I offer a distinctive, second‐best, argument for Rawls's difference principle. The difference principle requires that inequalities in income and wealth are justified only if they benefit society's least‐advantaged citizens. My paper argues that, slightly‐modified, the difference principle is an excellent principle of redress in light of the UK's continued failure to give all citizens fair career chances. I show how we might realize the difference principle at the level of policy through tax rate reductions or negative tax rates. I conclude that if you don't want to accept the second‐best argument for the difference principle you must get serious about giving all citizens fair career chances. As I suggest, this task is extremely difficult.     

The 'Taking Liberties' Exhibition at the British Library

The British Library is currently staging an exhibition, Taking Liberties, on the history of liberty and democracy in Britain. This article reviews the exhibition. Its verdict is that the BL has done an outstanding job. As well as displaying a wide range of original documents, and providing an enticing means of interaction for visitors, the exhibition reminds us that liberty continues to evolve and its meaning continues to be contested. By showing how the evolution of liberty in Britain has taken centuries, rather than decades, it also reminds us that when we rightly criticise newer democracies for their imperfections, we should remember that the liberties of their citizens have evolved at a far faster rate than we ever achieved.