NONSOCIAL REINFORCEMENT AND HABITUAL CRIMINAL CONDUCT: AN EXTENSION OF LEARNING THEORY *

Drawing on a diverse literature, we explain how criminal behavior is maintained through a process of nonsocial reinforcement, and show that some persons find criminal behavior particularly rewarding. We test our assumptions using surveys of 295 incarcerated adult felons and 150 male college students and intensive focus groups with 40 habitual offenders currently serving time. Results suggest that the experience of committing nonviolent and, particularly, violent crime is intrinsically rewarding and tends to reinforce such behavior among habitual criminals. The endogenous rewards identified center on (1) the neurophysiological high such acts produce and (2) the symbolic meaning of the behavior as it relates to self-concept and identity formation. Findings from the surveys and the focus groups suggest that habitual criminality is sustained partly through the positive sensations (physiological and psychological) those crimes activate within the offender and that those sensations are instrumental in the maintenance and reinforcement of criminal careers. Based on what is known in the literature and what has been learned from our research, it seems that an effective way of integrating this knowledge lies in the direction of a nonsocial reinforcement arm of learning theory.     

UNEMPLOYMENT AND PUNISHMENT: AN EMPIRICAL ASSESSMENT*

Evidence for a relationship between unemployment and imprisonment has been regarded as “elusive” and “conflicting.” Such conclusions have been based primarily on aggregate-level data. Individual-level data have provided only indirect evidence for this relationship. This research considers prosecution, incarceration, and length of incarceration outcomes for 1,970 criminal defendants arrested in 1982. Multivariate logit and OLS estimates show a significant, strong, and independent impact of unemployment on pretrial and postsentencing incarceration. The interaction of race and unemployment shows that the greatest likelihood of incarceration is for unemployed black defendants, especially those who are young males or charged with violent and public order crimes. Theoretical implications for the control and punishment of “dangerous classes” are discussed.     

JUVENILE COURTS AND DUE PROCESS OF LAW

The following remarks were delivered at the Northwest Regional Conference of the Child Welfare League of America on April 28, 1968 at Portland, Oregon.     

LABORATORY ORGANIZATIONAL EXPERIMENTS FOR CORRECTIONS An Alternative Method

The methodology of laboratory organizational experiments has seldom been applied to corrections. Its advantages of flexibility, experimental control, ability to replicate theoretically important but naturally rare occurrences, and its potential for cross-validation of other research are shown to be of both practical and theoretical relevance to corrections. The problems of realism, generalizability, practicality, and ethics are examined and a remedy proposed: the sociodramatic simulation of correctional organizations to contrast the effects of theoretically important structural properties and correctional approaches, This remedy synthesizes the realistic and the symbolic approaches to organizational simulation. It is practical, and it resolves many of the ethical problems.     

PROBLEM-ORIENTED POLICING IN VIOLENT CRIME PLACES: A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED EXPERIMENT*

Over the past decade, problem-oriented policing has become a central strategy for policing. In a number of studies, problem-oriented policing has been found to be effective in reducing crime and disorder. However, very little is known about the value of problem-oriented interventions in controlling violent street crime. The National Academy of Sciences' Panel on the Understanding and Control of Violent Behavior suggests that sustained research on problem-oriented policing initiatives that modify places, routine activities, and situations that promote violence could contribute much to the understanding and control of violence. This study evaluates the effects of problem-oriented policing interventions on urban violent crime problems in Jersey City, New Jersey. Twenty-four high-activity, violent crime places were matched into 12 pairs and one member of each pair was allocated to treatment conditions in a randomized block field experiment. The results of the impact evaluation support the growing body of research that asserts focused police efforts can reduce crime and disorder at problem places without causing crime problems to displace to surrounding areas.