An experimental study of a therapeutic boot camp: Impact on impulses, attitudes and recidivism

Two hundred thirty four adult male inmates entering prison were randomly assigned to an early release program in either a correctional boot camp or a large, traditional prison in the Maryland state correctional system. Boot camp releasees had marginally lower recidivism compared to those released from the traditional prison. A pre-test, post-test self report survey indicated the boot camp program had little impact on criminogenic characteristics except for a lowering of self control. In contrast, inmates in prison became more antisocial, lower in self control, worse in anger management, and reported more criminal tendencies by the end of their time in prison. Criminogenic attitudes and impulses were significantly associated with recidivism. The impact of the boot camp diminished to non-significance when antisocial attitudes or anger management problems were added to the models predicting recidivism. Implications for jurisdictions considering whether to operate correctional boot camps are discussed.     

Developmental trends of delinquent attitudes and behaviors: replications and synthesis across domains, time, and samples

Inconsistent findings of attitude-behavior relations are commonly attributed to uncontrolled domain, time, or situational factors. Without integrative work, studies accounting for these factors may further complicate research by introducing potentially numerous third variables and render a coherent understanding of the attitude-behavior relationship even more difficult to achieve. In this paper, a developmental perspective is taken and the attitude-behavior relationship in delinquency is examined using three modes of investigation: multivariate patterns of attitude-behavior associations, their mutual predictability, and their developmental trajectories. Three grade cohorts of public school boys (n=1517 of the first, seventh, and tenth grades, initially) were followed over a period of 4 years, with an average age span of 7–16 years. Correspondence analyses suggested that adolescent boys with a tolerant attitude toward theft or violence were more deviant than those who had actual behavior of theft or violence. Stronger attitude effect on subsequent behavior, relative to behavior effect on subsequent attitudes, was found among boys aged 10–12 years. While mean scores of tolerant attitudes to serious theft and violence increased linearly with their behavior counterparts between 6 and 17 years of age, ages 11 and 14 were two turning points at which most delinquent attitudes and behaviors escalated at a higher speed. In general, delinquent attitudes and behaviors were related to each other in various patterns, and age was a defining factor that provided much of the explanation for the inconsistencies in research findings.     

Black Cities/White Cities: Evaluating the Police

It is well known that African Americans and whites hold different views of the police, but nearly all of the previous research has been conducted in majority white settings. This research examines the relationship between race and evaluations of the police in majority black versus majority white contexts. Social dominance theory and the research on racial threat predict that when the racial majority changes, the relationship between race and attitudes toward police will change. We find that, in majority black contexts, the traditional relationship between being black and having negative evaluations of the police disappears, and it disappears because whites' evaluations of the police become more negative. Black evaluations of the police are relatively consistent across racial contexts. Also, white racial attitudes affect police evaluations in majority black contexts, but not in white contexts, while African American racial attitudes are inconsequential in both contexts. Furthermore, if a white citizen is victimized by crime in a black city, it has greater ramifications for evaluations of the police than if the victimization had occurred in a white city. All of this suggests that whites' views of the police may be more racialized than the views of African Americans.     

Race and the City: Neighborhood Context and the Development of Generalized Trust

Previous research has indicated that socio-economic and racial characteristics of an individual's environment influence not only group consciousness and solidarity, but also affect his or her views toward minority or majority groups. Missing from this research is a consideration of how context, social interaction, and interracial experiences combine to shape more general psychological orientations such as generalized trust. In this study we address this gap in the literature by conducting a neighborhood-level analysis that examines how race, racial attitudes, social interactions, and residential patterns affect generalized trust. Our findings suggest not only that the neighborhood context plays an important role in shaping civic orientations, but that the diversity of interaction settings is a key condition for the development of generalized trust.     

Children’s attitudes towards animal cruelty: Exploration of predictors and socio-demographic variations

ABSTRACT

Assessing the risk for animal cruelty is imperative, yet understudied and problematic due to the sensitivity of the topic. Early prevention is critical, yet very little research examines cruelty when it first appears in childhood. The aim of this study was to explore children’s attitudes towards types of animal cruelty, to investigate potential demographic differences, and to examine potential associations between acceptance of cruelty and cognitive and affective factors that place children ‘at-risk’ for cruelty perpetration. Questionnaire data was collected from 1127 children in schools. The results indicate that cruelty attitudes are predicted by some demographic variables such as urban living, being male, younger age and not having pets, but depend on the type of animal cruelty. Acceptance of cruelty predicted low compassion and low reported humane behaviour towards animals. Acceptance of cruelty was predicted by negative attitudes towards animals, lower beliefs in animal minds and low attachment to pets, signifying the importance of targeting such variables in future prevention programmes. This study is an original contribution to research into childhood animal cruelty in the general population, with implications for designing and implementing early prevention programmes that tackle problematic attitudes to cruelty.     

Gaughran vs the UK and public acceptability of forensic biometrics retention

This commentary provides a response to the European Court of Human Rights ruling in the case of Gaughran vs the United Kingdom on 13 February 2020. The Court ruled that the indefinite retention of DNA, fingerprints and facial images from all convicted adults was disproportionate. Using data from a survey on public attitudes, we examine the public acceptability of the police retention of forensic biometrics from the population.     

Racial attitudes & political cross-pressures in nationalized elections: The case of the Republican coalition in the Trump era

While scholars have found that Trump was able to capitalize on the racial attitudes of white voters, it is less clear how these racial attitudes influenced vote-choice across partisan and ideological cleavages in the electorate. It is also unclear whether racial attitudes affected voting at the congressional level or electoral outcomes at the aggregate level. Using a novel measure of racial attitudes at the subnational level and survey data, we make three clear findings: (1) Trump and Republican congressional candidates benefited from conservative racial attitudes both at the aggregate level and among white voters, (2) this electoral benefit for Republicans persisted during the 2018 midterm elections, and (3) the effect of attitudes on vote-choice did not significantly vary across partisan and ideological cleavages in the white electorate. Our findings suggest that, even during the era of highly nationalized and partisan elections, racial attitudes are still a mechanism by which Republicans can win significant electoral support among Democrats and relatively liberal voters in the white electorate. These findings have implications for the growing salience of race in the Republican electoral coalition.     

Does it pay to break male gender stereotypes in advertising? A comparison of advertisement effectiveness between the United Kingdom,Poland and South Africa

Advertisers shy away from using non-traditional (vs. traditional) male gender portrayals even though theory suggests they may be more effective cross-nationally. Two main hypotheses were tested cross-nationally for the first time. H1: ‘paternalistic’ male stereotypes (e.g. Househusband) would be more effective than ‘envious’ male stereotypes (e.g. Businessman) across countries confirming the stereotype content model (SCM). H2: the match between initial male gender role attitudes and advertisement type would increase advertisement effectiveness only in countries with relatively low egalitarian norms (i.e. Poland and South Africa). A cross-national study was conducted through the use of student samples following a 3(country: United Kingdom, Poland and South Africa) × 2(advertisement type) × (gender attitude) mixed design (N = 373). A three-way multivariate analysis of variance showed support for H1 and partial support for H2 (i.e. the second hypothesis held on purchase intent and for South Africa). The study provides evidence for the cross-national applicability of the SCM to advertising and the limited predictive value of gender attitudes for purchase intent depending on country. Thus, contrary to mainstream advertising practices, breaking male gender stereotypes does appear to pay cross-nationally. Theoretical and practical implications alongside the potential for change in practices are discussed.     

Contested war remembrance and ethnopolitical identities in Kosovo

This paper examines the relationship between political power and war remembrance by considering the way war remembrance occurs in a divided society. The purpose of this paper is to explore memory of the violent past and its uses as an ongoing arena of disputes between former adversaries and within ethnopolitical groups pushing their distinct versions of memory. Moreover, this paper examines three key aspects of the politics of remembrance: prevalent narratives, arenas of commemoration, and agencies of war remembrance, based on the case study of Kosovo. The postwar narrative and commemoration in Kosovo have evolved along ethnic lines, perpetuating antagonism and conflicting identities. Memorialization in Kosovo raises serious challenges for comprehensive transitional justice and reconciliation between these ethnic groups. The paper concludes that through appropriate civic education, critical inquiry of commemoration practices, and especially through evidence-based adaptation of the history curriculum, there is a chance to promote a culture of shared memory and to establish inclusive politics of remembrance in Kosovo, as crucial components of reconciliation and peace-building.     

Political Trust,Ideology, and Public Support in the United States for Government Spending on Health Care

The U.S. health-care costs have increased at a rapid rate over the last several decades. How much responsibility the government should bear with the increase in health-care costs is one of the main questions that lack consensus among the American people. Utilizing the 2016 General Social Survey data, this study shows that over two-thirds of Americans want to see more or much more spending on health care by the government. An ordered logit regression model shows that political trust and ideology are significant correlates in predicting attitudes toward government spending on health care. The policy implications of the findings are discussed in the “Conclusion” section.