RACE,ETHNICITY, THREAT AND THE LABELING OF CONVICTED FELONS*

Florida law allows judges to withhold adjudication of guilt for persons who have either pled guilty or been found guilty of a felony. This provision may apply only to persons who will be sentenced to probation, and it allows such individuals to retain all civil rights and to truthfully assert they had not been convicted of a felony. This paper examines the effects of race and Hispanic ethnicity on the withholding of adjudication for 91,477 males sentenced to probation in Florida between 1999 and 2002. Hierarchical Generalized Linear Modeling is used to assess the direct effects of defendant attributes as well as the cross‐level interactions between race, ethnicity and community level indicators of threat, such as percentage black and Hispanic and concentrated disadvantage. Our results show that Hispanics and blacks are significantly less likely to have adjudication withheld when other individual and community level factors are controlled. This effect is especially pronounced for blacks and for drug offenders. Cross‐level interactions show that concentrated disadvantage has a substantial effect on the adjudication withheld outcome for both black and Hispanic defendants. The implications of these results for the conceptualization of racial/ethnic threat at the individual, situational and social levels are discussed.     

What Happens When House Members “Run with Congress”? The Electoral Consequences of Institutional Loyalty

This article characterizes the electoral consequences of messages of institutional loyalty and disloyalty sent by incumbent House members to their constituents. We show that, for the contemporary House, there is variation in these messages—not all incumbents in the contemporary House “run for Congress by running against Congress.” Moreover, we show that these messages can, under the right conditions, have significant electoral consequences, even after controlling for party affiliation and district political factors. In addition to demonstrating the electoral relevance of legislators' presentations, our results show an incumbent‐level link between constituents' trust in government and their voting behavior—a link created by interaction between constituents' perceptions, legislators' party affiliations, and the messages that legislators send to their constituents.     

A Comparison of Punishment Systems in Denmark and the United States

The Danish prison system is recognized worldwide as a model incorporating the most progressive principles of punishment. This article is the result of the author's research in Denmark undertaken to clarify the foundations of Danish penal philosophies. Findings suggest that penal practices are the outcome of a complex interaction of social and criminological theories. Formulated in an atmosphere that minimizes the emotionalism and politicization of crime, Danish crime control policies represent a pragmatic and reasoned approach to dealing with criminal offenders. Prison conditions reflect the social and political attitudes regarding the causes of crime and the treatment of marginal citizens.     

Climbing the Greasy Pole: Promotion in British Politics

This article addresses the subject of ministerial promotion and is based on memoirs and interviews. It seeks to discern the essential qualities which motivate political ambition; for example extremes of energy, confidence, optimism and family support. The talent pool for office is held to be worryingly shallow though allowing wider access, via the Lords, has not so far proved a huge success. Deciding upon appointments is also analysed as is the means politicians use to advertise their suitability for office. It concludes that, natural ability notwithstanding, luck and courage are often the chief attributes of success.