LEVELS OF SOCIAL INTEGRATION IN GROUP CONTEXTS AND THE EFFECTS OF INFORMAL SANCTION THREAT ON DEVIANCE*

Contextual data from a unique study (Notre Dame Study of Catholic Parish Life) are used to test multilevel models predicting three types of deviance ranging from excessive drinking to tax evasion. Measures representing informal sanction threat and aggregate-level social integration as well as the interaction of these variables displayed the net effects that were predicted only for those types of deviance that appear to be less impulsive. In general, the deterrent effects of informal sanctions were found to be strongest in communities characterized by high levels of social integration.     

BUSINESS CYCLES AND STREET CRIME

This study examines the influence of business cycle fluctuations on street crime in the conceptual framework of Cantor and Land's(1985) seminal work distinguishing between opportunity and motivation effects. The analysis contributes to the literature three ways. First, we use cross‐section/time series data, which has several important advantages over simple time‐series or cross‐section data of previous studies. Second, it introduces a new and broader measure of business cycle conditions, one that more faithfully captures the logic of Cantor and Land's framework than previous measures do. Third, it focuses on the large decline in street crime of the 1990s, a central issue facing criminologists. Statistical models indicate that the strong economy of the 1990s reduced all four index property crimes and robbery by reducing criminal motivation. Business cycle growth produced no significant opportunity effect for any of the crimes studied.     

Reclaiming Futures: A Model for Judicial Leadership in Community Responses to Juvenile Substance Abuse

Juvenile courts across the country have become the leading service delivery system for youths with substance abuse problems, not by choice, but by necessity. At 10 communities around the nation, judges and project staff are in their fifth year of pioneering changes to the way the juvenile justice system helps teens in trouble with drugs, alcohol, and crime. These judges are part of Reclaiming Futures, an initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and they are working with local leaders to re‐invent the way law enforcement, courts, probation, detention facilities, treatment providers, families, schools, and the community work together to help troubled youths succeed. Together, they have written a guide for judges, court administrators, government entities, community leaders, and interested citizens to share the knowledge and experience they have gained from the nationwide Reclaiming Futures initiative. Their goal is to encourage and motivate others to launch similar projects in their communities, and to provide a blueprint for judges and others striving to undertake this level of collaboration.     

A THEORY OF HOMICIDAL BEHAVIOR AMONG WOMEN*

This theory explains the homicidal behavior of women in a variety of settings. Structural, social, and cultural conditions of modern societies generate strain for all women, which produces negative affect. Women tend to internalize negative affect as guilt and hurt rather than externalize it as anger directed at a target. This results in a situation analogous to overcontrolled personality, and results in low overall rates of deviance punctuated by occasional instances of extreme violence. The conditions found in long-term abusive relationships and pre- or post-partum environments are more likely to produce this result, but the theory is not limited to explaining female homicide in these settings.     

HEREDITY AND CRIME: BAD GENES OR BAD RESEARCH?*

This review of the research literature on the heritability of criminal behavior organizes the studies by four basic research methodologies: family studies, twin studies, adoption studies, and gene-environment interaction studies. Interpretation of the relationships observed in these studies is made ambiguous and problematic by critical methodological inadequacies in the research itself: The methodological Jaws notwithstanding, the research evidence does seem to suggest the existence of a fairly consistent relationship between heredity and criminal behavior. Recommendations concerning the future direction of research in this area are discussed.     

THE IMPACT OF STATE MENTAL HOSPITAL DEINSTITUTIONALIZATION ON COMMITMENTS FOR INCOMPETENCY TO STAND TRIAL*

Previous studies have reported that state mental hospital deinstitutional-ization has resulted in the criminalization of the mentally ill. Utilizing two samples of defendants found incompetent to stand trial (IST) pre- and post-deinstitutionalization, selected from three states, this study examines the correlation between the rate of deinstitutionalization and increases in the frequency of incompetency commitments, as well as changes in the characteristics of incompetent defendants. These data suggest that increases in IST commitments and the mental health histories of the post-deinstitutional cohort are positively related to deinstitutionalization. Contrary to the criminalization hypothesis, there is no evidence that incompetent defendants are now being arrested for less serious offenses.