Public attitudes toward prison capacity expansion in Mississippi

This paper presents the results of an exploratory study designed to identify and determine the effects of social and economic factors on Mississippians’ attitudes toward prison expansion strategies. Data were obtained from a statewide survey, utilizing a random digit dialing telephone sampling procedure. The study sample consists of 606 respondents. Favorable attitudes toward correctional facilities were hypothesized to be explained by fear of crime, presence of an existing facility, perceived economic impact of prisons, gender, race, age, and income. The results of the regression analysis revealed that the presence of an existing prison facility, perceived economic benefits, race, and education were significant predictors of attitudes toward prison expansion strategies among Mississippians. Possible explanations for the findings and directions for future research are discussed. This research was supported by grant #30401903821 from the Department of Public Safety, Division of Public Safety Planning of the Governor’s Office, Jackson, Mississippi. Please send all correspondence to: Craig Robertson, Dept. of Sociology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT. 59717.     

Classing Sex Offenders: How Prosecutors and Defense Attorneys Differentiate Men Accused of Sexual Assault

As public awareness of and concern about sexual victimization has increased in recent decades, stigmatization of sex offenders has also increased considerably. Contemporary sex offender policies transform discrete criminal behaviors into lifelong social identities. Although there is much debate about the efficacy and constitutionality of such policies, we know little about how the category of “sex offender” is constituted in the first place. In this article, I reveal how prosecutors and defense attorneys construct sex offenders, not as monsterous or racialized as is commonly thought, but as “lower class” men. This analysis is based on 30 in‐depth interviews with prosecutors and defense attorneys in Michigan. These legal actors wield disproportionate power in defining the boundaries of criminal behaviors and individuals. That they associate sexual criminality with lower class men demonstrates yet another way that class‐based inequalities are reproduced in the legal field.