Predicting School Sense of Community: Students’ Perceptions at Two Catholic Universities

Understanding the factors that predict sense of community (SOC) among college students has important implications for higher education policy and practice. The present study determined whether perceptions of inclusion and religious pluralism across 2,199 university students' (1,442 women, 757 men; M age = 23.42, SD =7.84) at two Catholic universities predicted levels of school sense of community (SSOC). As expected, results indicated that perceptions of both inclusion and religious pluralism significantly predicted SSOC. However, mixed results were found regarding the interaction of university setting with inclusion and religious pluralism. Limitations and future directions for research are discussed.     

Reducing crime by remediating vacant lots: the moderating effect of nearby land uses

Journal of Experimental Criminology - Place-based blight remediation programs have gained popularity in recent years as a crime reduction approach. This study estimated the impact of a citywide...     

The Defence of Illegality in Private Law

Liverpool Law Review - The defence of illegality is invoked across private law, but has a reputation for being confused. This article argues that the defence can be rendered intelligible and...     

The policy impact of unified government: evidence from 2000 to 2002

Do the outcomes of government action differ between periods of unified and divided government? Using “event study” methodology, this articles addresses the question by looking at sudden shifts between divided and unified government—Bush v. Gore, the Jeffords switch, and the 2002 election. The results show that oil and gas stocks (i.e. Republican “constituent firms”) rose abruptly as Republicans took unified control, while renewable energy stocks (i.e. Democratic “constituent firms”) fell. The pattern reversed, however, when Democrats took back control of the Senate. These outcomes call into question non-partisan theories of law making.     

Religion as an insulator of delinquency in schools

While much of the current social control literature has examined the role of religiosity in delinquency, very little attention has been given to its effect on school delinquency. This study sought to fill that void by examining the effectiveness of social bond theory in restraining students from committing school delinquency in a rural Southern county. Further, given the literature that suggests that delinquency varies along developmental stages, the authors also sought to determine the effect of the revised social bond along 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th grades. Findings indicate that social control theory was moderately successful in explaining school delinquency, while religion achieved significance in the 6th, 8th, and 12th grades, but not the 10th grade. Suggestions for practitioners and policy makers are also discussed. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Southern Criminal Justice Association, Raleigh, NC, 2004.