Unemployment and highway fatalities

We considered unemployment, an often overlooked covariate of highway fatalities, hypothesizing that (1) as unemployment rises, aggregate driving decreases, especially among the unemployed, and as driving decreases, fatalities should decrease; (2) unemployment may influence drinking--some among the unemployed may drink less due to lower incomes, while others may drink more due to stress so the net effect would be ambiguous; and (3) unemployment may increase aggregate levels of stress and unhappiness, which can result in poor concentration on driving and thus, in turn, should result in more accidents and deaths. We used data from fifty states and the District of Columbia from 1976-1980, representing 255 observations. (No prior study has as many observations or controls for as many covariates.) Using econometric models of the data, we present evidence for two of the three hypothesized effects of unemployment. We conclude that, if the number of miles driven is held constant, worsening unemployment leads to higher fatality rates, most likely due to stress effects. But because more unemployment means less driving, increases in unemployment, on balance, are associated with decreases in fatalities.     

Justice on the road to change in the people's republic of China

Dengist reform programs, including mandated changes in the operation of Chinese industrial enterprises, depart radially from previous Maoist practices and ideologies. With these changes, issues of distributive justice have become extremely salient in China. We explore shifting norms regarding distributive justice in China, with a focus on the conceptions of, and implications for, practicing managers. After first reviewing the pertinent literature, we present some original data gathered from Chinese managers in 1986 and in 1989, comparing them to data gathered from managers in the United States.     

Comparison of the criminal statistics of the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany

A systematic procedure for comparing the criminal statistics of the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany is presented. The procedure was developed after (1) reviewing and translating applicable paragraphs of the Federal Republic of Germany's Penal Code and (2) reviewing both the formal and informal processes used in both countries for recording crime statistics. Subsequently, a detailed comparison of criminal statistics was made using this comparative procedure.     

Sex and marriage in utopia

where he has also taught history since 1964. He is author of Sex and Marriage in Utopian Communitiesand A Frontier Town Grows Up in America.     

What is Crime?

Since its emergence in the 19th century, orthodox criminology has suffered from the contradiction of claiming, on the one hand, to be a value-neutral, intellectual discipline, and on the other, operating as part of the ideological apparatus of the political state by taking state definitions of what is crime and who are its criminals as the starting points for criminological inquiry. This essay examines the ways in which criminology has suffered from this internal contradiction, with particular attention to how it has been constrained by political, economic, and professional forces to focus primarily on crimes whose collective harm to society falls well below the harms caused by the wrongful, but often legal acts of economic and political elites. It concludes with the recognition that the kind of critical inquiry emblematic of the work of Bill Chambliss is essential if criminology hopes to remain relevant to the challenges of the future.