Police chiefs’ and students’ attitudes about the Miranda warnings

Several studies had concluded that the police subculture holds values and attitudes that are distinct from the rest of the population. Among these values is a focus on law and order. While researchers agree that police tend to hold different values, they disagree on the source of the attitudes. Some had argued that the attitudes reflected differences regarding who was recruited for law enforcement careers while others said that the differences reflected changes that occurred to individuals after becoming officers. This study examined whether police officers and students enrolled in criminal justice/sociology classes held similar or different attitudes towards the Miranda warnings. The findings suggested that in some ways, the two groups perceived the warnings in dramatically different ways, while in other ways their differences were simply a matter of degree. Implications are provided.     

Bonding in a High-Risk and a General Sample of Children:Comparison of Measures of Attachment and Their Relationship to Smoking and Drinking

Bonding in parent, peer, and school domains were compared in a general sample of children and a sample of children of methadone-treated parents. Bivariate comparisons revealed that children of methadone-treated parents had lower SES, and were significantly more likely to smoke cigarettes but not more likely to drink alcohol. Several measures of attachment were significantly different between the two samples across parent, peer, and school domains. Multivariate analyses indicated that the children of methadone-treated parents were more likely to smoke, even after accounting for the effects of demographic and attachment variables. For drinking, sample membership was not found to be significant. Attachment to school decreased the odds of both smoking and drinking in both samples. Peer attachment had no effect on the odds of smoking initiation; however,loyalty to best friend did predict increased odds of drinking initiation.     

Monitoring high-risk sex offenders with GPS

In response to media attention and public demand, legislation increasingly mandates more stringent surveillance for sex offenders. This trend towards greater supervision resulted in the lifetime GPS monitoring of high-risk sex offenders (HRSO) in California. This study assesses the impact of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s GPS program for HRSOs by employing a quasi-experimental design. The treatment group was drawn from all HRSO who were released from prison and placed on GPS monitoring in California. To identify comparison individuals likely to have pretreatment risk characteristics similar to those in the treatment group, a propensity score matching procedure was performed. The final sample included 516 subjects equally divided between the treatment and control groups. Data was assessed using Cox proportional hazards survival analysis clustering participants by parole district. Results showed the GPS condition was associated with significantly fewer parole registration and arrest violations, arrests, and convictions. These results are discussed in relation to other electronic monitoring research, the policy implications for the increasing use of this technology, and its effectiveness in reducing crime, prison populations, and ensuring public safety.     

Fear of Crime Revisited: Examining the Direct and Indirect Effects of Disorder,Risk Perception,and Social Capital

Fear of crime has long been considered a significant social problem, spurring decades of academic research and leading to a variety of policy initiatives. Building on prior research, this study investigated the direct and indirect effects of demographic characteristics, social and physical disorder, and prior victimization on fear of crime. Further, it assessed the direct and indirect effects of perceived risk on fear. Finally, the research examined the extent to which social capital mediated the impact of these variables on fear. Using data from a survey of residents in a southeastern city, analyses reveal that victimization and disorder significantly predict fear of crime, and that risk perception and social capital mediate the relationship between disorder and victimization on fear. Further, structural equation models show a number of interesting indirect effects. Policy implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Changing attitudes toward house arrest with electronic monitoring: the impact of a single presentation?

The notion that community support is critical for program success is a consistent theme in the literature on community-based corrections. Unfortunately, many citizens know very little about alternative sanctions, are misinformed about them, and do not view them favorably. At issue is whether information about alternative sanctions affects individuals' attitudes regarding them. To address this question, students in an upper division criminal justice course were surveyed before and after a presentation on electronic monitoring. Following the presentation, students were more likely to agree that electronic monitoring is punitive and that it meets several goals of the justice system. Implications for policy makers and educators are provided.     

Banking Options and Neighborhood Crime: Does Fringe Banking Increase Neighborhood Crime?

In the past few years, scholars interested in neighborhoods and crime have turned their attention to the role of neighborhood organizations. Recently, (Kubrin, Squires, Graves, and Ousey, Criminology & Public Policy, 10(2), 437–466, 2011) examined the impact of payday lenders on neighborhood crime. They found that there is a significant relationship between payday lenders, and both violent and property crime rates. The current research builds upon their work by exploring banking options in the city of Norfolk, Virginia. Findings indicate that the presence of payday lenders is significantly related to property crime in 2010 and violent crime in 2010, though the findings for violent crimes are not robust. Also there is a mild suppression effect predicting violent crime rates once socioeconomic deprivation is controlled. Pawn shops are not significantly related to either property or violent crimes. Interestingly banks are significant positive predictors of both property and violent crimes. The difference between the findings here and those of (Kubrin, Squires, Graves, and Ousey, Criminology & Public Policy, 10(2), 437–466, 2011) are discussed.     

What drives punitive beliefs?: Demographic characteristics and justifications for sentencing

Punitive attitudes of the general public were the focus of a considerable amount of research. Much of the work focused on the demographic correlates of punitive attitudes and only a limited amount of research focused on how punitive attitudes were justified. That is, what does the public want to get out of punishing criminal offenders? In this research, how a sample of Virginia residents recommended sanctioning five different offenses was examined. Multivariate models were used to assess the relationships between demographic and ideological orientations, punishment justifications, and punitive attitudes. Finally, separate models were estimated for males and females, and African Americans and Whites to explore whether these factors operated differently across groups. The results suggested that in comparison to demographic factors, justifications were relatively strongly linked to punitive attitudes. These effects were similar across subgroups, but there was an interaction suggesting that the relationship between general deterrence and punitive attitudes varied across gender and race. Implications of the study are discussed.     

Ancillary consequences of employee theft

The majority of research on employee theft considered the characteristics and predictors of workplace misconduct. When consequences were considered, research centered on the economic losses arising out of workplace offending. This article addresses the ancillary consequences of employee theft. Interviews were conducted with 457 business owners, managers, supervisors, and other employees to assess their experiences with employee theft. By fully understanding the costs, businesses can be prepared to carry out strategies that would offset many of the negative consequences resulting from workplace misconduct.     

Is good-time appropriate for offenders on electronic monitoring?: attitudes of electronic monitoring directors

Since the development of electronic-monitoring programs in the early 80s, questions have surfaced concerning the similarities between institutionalization policies and electronic-monitoring policies. In the Commonwealth of Virginia, recent debate has centered on whether offenders on electronic monitoring should be awarded good-time credits. This article addresses the use of good-time for electronically monitored offenders by content analyzing comments of thirty electronic-monitoring program supervisors surveyed by the Virginia State Crime Commission in 1997. The data suggest that good-time policies can be useful for electronic-monitoring programs in some situations.