Evaluating Measures of Campaign Tone

Research on framing effects has demonstrated how elites can influence public opinion by the way they present and interpret political issues. However, these findings overwhelmingly stem from experimental settings that differ from how issues are typically discussed in real-world political situations. This study takes framing research to more realistic contexts by exploiting a natural experiment to examine the neglected role of political parties in framing effects. Examining the effects on public opinion of a sudden shift in how a major political party frames a salient issue, I demonstrate that parties can be powerful in shaping the policy preferences among their supporters. Yet, even strong partisans do not follow the party line uncritically. Rather, they judge the party frame according to their own beliefs about the problems surrounding the issue. Thus, party elites face the challenge of developing frames that resonate with their voters' preexisting beliefs if they want to shape policy preferences, even among their otherwise most loyal supporters. These dynamics have important implications for understanding interactions between political elites and the public.     

Revisiting Broken Windows Theory: Examining the Sources of the Discriminant Validity of Perceived Disorder and Crime

Two lines of critiques have developed in reference to broken windows theory: (1) Concentrated disadvantage appears to be more intricately linked with disorder than the theory allows for; and (2) There is concern that disorder and crime lack discriminant validity in that people do not actually distinguish between the two. The present study integrated these two perspectives by examining whether concentrated disadvantage—including disorder itself—affects the extent to which people view disorder and crime as separate problems. Multivariate models showed that people who believe their neighborhood to be more disorderly were more likely to make distinctions between disorder and crime. Theoretical recommendations for future tests of broken windows theory are presented and the policy implications for order maintenance policing programs are discussed.     

Review essay/confronting liberals on confronting crime

Elliott Currie, Confronting Crime: An American Challenge New York: Pantheon Books, 1985, viii + 326 pp.     

Short‐Term Effects of Sanctioning Reform on Parole Officers' Revocation Decisions

Parole officials have traditionally been afforded considerable discretion when making sanctioning decisions to be able to tailor sanctions according to substantively rational concerns such as individuals' unique needs and situations. However, the application of substantive rationality in sanctioning can also generate unwanted disparities because sanctioning decisions may be based on extralegal factors that parole officials consider relevant. Concerns regarding disparate treatment of offender groups have prompted a number of states to consider adopting administrative violation response policies that emphasize formal rationality and uniformity by restricting parole officers' discretion and structuring sanctioning decisions according to legally relevant criteria. By emphasizing formal rationality in sanctioning, structured sanction policies present a dilemma for parole officers—uniformity versus individualized treatment. In 2005, the state of Ohio implemented an administrative violation response policy designed to reduce parole officers' reliance on revocation hearings and promote uniformity in sanctioning decisions. This study involved an examination of whether Ohio's shift to structured sanctioning coincided with differences in legal and extralegal effects on parole officers' decisions to pursue revocation hearings. Analyses of data collected before and after the implementation of the policy revealed a reduction in the number of revocation hearings officers pursued. Only modest increases in uniformity were observed, however, because there was little disparity resulting from officers' hearing decisions before the policy was put in place. These findings are discussed within perspectives on justice system actors' decision making.     

Community influence on prosecutorial dismissals: A multilevel analysis of case- and county-level factors

Researchers have recently recognized the importance of social context for developing a more complete understanding of the sentencing process where community characteristics help to account for variation in sentencing practices from one legal jurisdiction to the next. Similar developments, however, have been nearly absent in the study of prosecutorial decision making; this is particularly important given the substantial authority afforded prosecutors throughout the criminal justice process. To address this considerable shortcoming, the current study used multilevel modeling to test the effects of several theoretically relevant community-level measures on the prosecutor's decision to dismiss criminal charges. Findings indicated that multiple measures of social context influence prosecutorial decision making, but not always as specified by the examined theoretical frameworks. Implications of the current study are discussed with regard to theory, research, and policy.     

Race and sentencing: A meta-analysis of conflicting empirical research results

This paper employs meta-analytic methodology to evaluate the research results of a number of separate race and sentencing studies in the context of three competing theoretical frameworks (the differential involvement, direct-impact, and interactionist perspectives), and the empirical evidence supporting each. The data indicate that although the effect size of race on sentencing is not statistically significant at this level of aggregation, its relationship to sentencing is significantly conditioned by the measurement techniques employed by researchers. Specifically, this study shows that certain methods of classifying racial groups may mask the true effect of race on sentencing decisions. The implications of this finding for future research are discussed.