Darrell Steffensmeier

Ethnicity and sentencing outcomes in U.S. Federal Courts : Who is punished more harshly?

Using federal court data collected by the U.S. Sentencing Commission for the years 1993-1996, this study examines racial/ethnic differences-white versus black versus white-Hispanic versus black-Hispanic-in sentencing outcomes and criteria under the federal sentencing guidelines. Regression analyses of incarceration and term-length decisions reveal considerable judicial consistency in the use of sentencing criteria for all defendants; however, important racial/ethnic disparities in sentencing emerge. Consistent with theoretical hypotheses, the authors find that ethnicity has a small to moderate effect on sentencing outcomes that favors white defendants and penalizes Hispanic defendants, black defendants are in an intermediate position. Hispanic drug offenders are most at risk of receiving the harshest penalties, and their harsher treatment is most pronounced in prosecutor-controlled guidelines departure cases. These findings highlight both a classic organizational tension noted by Weber and a fundamental dilemma in policy efforts to structure sentencing processes (formal rationality) while allowing for judicial and prosecutorial discretion (substantive rationality). The findings also broaden our view of the continuing significance of race in American society-as a matter confronting not only blacks but also Hispanics and perhaps other ethnic groups as well

Age and the Distribution of Crime

This paper examines the age/crime distribution to determine whether there is a single pattern that is constant over time and across crime categories. Using arrest data of the FBIs Uniform Crime Reports for the periods of 1940, 1960, and 1980, the article compares parameters including age of maximum criminality, overall shape of the age-crime curve, and rate of decline from the peak age. Not only is there variation by crime type when the age-crime statistics for 1980 are examined; there is considerable change between 1940 and 1980. The most significant change has been the progressive concentration of offending among the young; this suggests increasing discontinuity in the transition from adolescence to adulthood in modern times. Variations found in the age distribution for different crime types support the traditional sociological view that, although crime rates typically decline throughout life after the initial rise in adolescence, certain crimes peak later, or decline more slowly, or both.

Youth, Underemployment, and Property Crime: Differential Effects of Job Availability and Job Quality on Juvenile and Young Adult Arrest Rates.

This paper examines the relationship between employment conditions and property-crime arrest rates of male juveniles and young adults, using age-specific state-level data from 1977-1980, compiled from raw arrest data of the FBIs Uniform Crime Reports and from the Census Bureaus annual March Current Population Survey. The analysis is disaggregated by age and utilizes dimensions of underemployment to provide more sensitive indicators for labor market conditions, including measures of job availability (such as unemployment) and job quality (such as low hours and low wages). Controls are included for criminal opportunity and other variables related to crime and the labor market. Labor market effects on arrest rates differ for juveniles and young adults. Availability of employment produces strong effects on juvenile arrest rates--full-time employment is associated with low arrest rates, unemployment with high arrest rates. Low quality of employment (e.g., inadequate pay and hours) is associated with high arrest rates for young adults. We discuss theoretical and policy implications of our findings. (abstract Adapted from Source: American Sociological Review, 1989. Copyright

National trends in female arrests, 1960–1990: Assessment and recommendations for research

Trends in female criminality from 1960 to 1990 are examined. The main focus is UCR arrest statistics but other sources of evidence are also used. Major findings include the following: (1) relative to males, the profile of the female offender has not changed; and (2) the principal change in the female percentage of arrests involves the overall rise in property crime, especially minor thefts and frauds. The effects of broad-based legal and societal trends on female criminality are discussed and an agenda for research on the issue of female crime trends is proposed.

Gender Gap Trends for Violent Crimes, 1980 to 2003 A UCR-NCVS Comparison

The authors examine 1980 to 2003 trends in female-to-male interpersonal violence reported in Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) arrest statistics and National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) victimization data. Augmented Dickey-Fuller time-series techniques and intuitive plot displays show much overlap yet differences in each source’s portrayal of trends in female violence levels and the gender gap. Both sources show little or no change in the gender gap for homicide and rape/sexual assault, whereas UCR police counts show a sharp rise in female-to-male arrests for criminal assault during the past one to two decades—but that rise is not borne out in NCVS counts. Net-widening policy shifts have apparently escalated the arrest proneness of females for “criminal assault” (e.g., policing physical attacks/threats of marginal seriousness that women in relative terms are more likely to commit); rather than women having become any more violent, official data increasingly mask differences in violent offending by men and women.

Making Sense of Recent U.S. Crime Trends, 1980 to 1996/1998: Age Composition Effects and Other Explanations:

The authors apply age standardization methods to the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) to assess the effects of age composition changes on long-term (1980 to 1996) and short-term trends (1992 to 1996) in index crimes. Key findings include large age composition effects on crime rates during the 1980s but diminishing effects by the mid-1990s; UCR and NCVS disagree somewhat about long-term trends but agree about short-term trends: UCR shows age-adjusted crime rates rising in the 1980s, with index crime at about the same level today as it was in 1980, whereas the NCVS shows steadily declining rates throughout the 1980 to 1996/1998 period. Both sources show across-the-board declines in crime rates during the Clinton years. The authors interpret the crime trends as due to varied changes in reporting programs as well as basic changes in society and extend the rate adjustment procedures to forecast crime trends into the next century.

Is the Crime Rate Really Falling? An “Aging” U.S. Population and its Impact on the Nation's Crime Rate, 1980-1984

In this article we apply age-standardization methods to the Uniform Crime Reports and the National Crime Survey to determine whether the recent drop in the nations index crime rate is due to changes in the age structure of the population. The major findings are as follows: little change in person crimes but small declines in robbery and larceny rates, and a large drop in burglary rates. Overall, the age adjustment explains about 40% of the drop in the 1980-1984 crude index rate in both the UCR and the NCS statistics. When examined over a longer period, 1976-1984, the UCR and the NCS show opposite trend patterns. The UCR shows rising rates from 1976-1980, while the NCS shows declining rates. Two other national sources of crime data, the National Youth Survey and the Monitoring the Future Study, also report declining rates of crime/delinquency in the late seventies. Thus all three sources of unofficial crime data document that crime rates are falling but that the downward trend began prior to the 1980-1984 period. At the end of the report, we speculate that this downward trend in crime may be due to age effects not considered in this report and we forecast crime trends in the nations crime rate to the year 2000. Also included is a brief summary of 1980-1985 crime trends based on preliminary 1985 figures of UCR and NCS. The 1984-1985 UCR figures rose for most crimes, so that the age-adjusted percentage changes from 1980-1985 show an overall small drop in property crimes but a small rise in personl crimes. On the other hand, the 1985 NCS figures continued their downward trend, so that the age-adjusted percentages show a small drop in person crimes and a moderately large drop in property crimes.

Immigration Effects on Homicide Offending for Total and Race/Ethnicity-Disaggregated Populations (White, Black, and Latino)

Sociological studies of crime have rarely examined the effects of immigration on aggregate patterns of violent offending, and particularly few studies have examined this relationship across multiple racial/ethnic populations. The current study extends research on immigration and crime by examining this relationship across total and race/ ethnicity-disaggregated populations (i.e., White, Black, and Latino) and for homicide offending (rather than homicide victimization) using 1999-2001 arrest data drawn from 328 census places in California. Findings reveal that immigrant concentration has trivial (nonsignificant) effects on overall homicides and Latino homicides, but slightly reduces White and Black homicide offending, net of controls. Implications of these findings are as follows: (a) Immigration does not have violence-generating effects but instead appears to have violence-neutral or perhaps some violence-reducing effects on homicide offending, and (b) This small or null effect is fairly consistent across racial/ ethnic populations.

Gender and Twenty-First-Century Corporate Crime: Female Involvement and the Gender Gap in Enron-Era Corporate Frauds

We extend the scarce research on corporate crime to include gender by developing and testing a gendered focal concerns and crime opportunities framework that predicts minimal and marginal female involvement in corporate criminal networks. Lacking centralized information, we developed a rich database covering 83 corporate frauds involving 436 defendants. We extracted information from indictments and secondary sources on corporate conspiracy networks (e.g., co-conspirator roles, company positions, and distribution of profit). Findings support the gendered paradigm. Typically, women were not part of conspiracy groups. When women were involved, they had more minor roles and made less profit than their male co-conspirators. Two main pathways defined female involvement: relational (close personal relationship with a main male co-conspirator) and utility (occupied a financial-gateway corporate position). Paralleling gendered labor market segmentation processes that limit and shape women’s entry into economic roles, sex segregation in corporate criminality is pervasive, suggesting only subtle shifts in gender socialization and women’s opportunities for significant white-collar crimes. Our findings do not comport with images of highly placed or powerful white-collar female criminals.

Sex differences in reactions to homosexuals: Research continuities and further developments∗

Abstract This study examines several factors affecting reactions to persons identified as homosexual. Reactions are operationalized in terms of expressed rejection of the homosexual as indicated by responses to a social distance scale. The major variables examined are sex of homosexual, sex of reactor, and acceptance of two commonly held stereotypes. These stereotypes—perceived danger and psychological disturbance—both suggest that a sense of threat is associated with rejection of the homosexual. A particularly interesting finding was that male subjects are especially rejecting of male homosexuals. Presumably male subjects tend to view the male homosexual as a sexual failure and to perceive him as personally threatening or dangerous.