Dean A. Dabney

Who actually steals? A study of covertly observed shoplifters

Shoplifting is one of the most common and costly crimes, yet little data exist to determine reliably characteristics of the typical shoplifter or the modus operandi of the crime. It is a crime that has most often been studied using official, secondary data provided by either retail security personnel or law enforcement officers. Reliability issues plague these official data. Continuing the “dark figure of crime” tradition, this study examines shoplifting by covert observation with a camera system installed in a typical suburban retail drug store. A standardized data template was used to record the demographic and behavioral characteristics of shoppers. Significant numbers of shoppers (8.5%) were observed shoplifting. Logistic regression analysis reveals that, while members of some demographic groups shoplifted more often than others, behavioral indicators carried far more predictive power. The methodology and findings are considered within the larger context of the law enforcement and “profiling” literatures.

Observations Regarding Key Operational Realities in a Compstat Model of Policing

Much has been written about the design, implementation, and crime‐related outcomes of the Compstat model of policing. However, there exists a paucity of literature investigating the operational realities of this approach. Drawing on 350 hours of ethnographic work conducted in a single geographic command within a metropolitan police department, this paper seeks to explore how officers orient to and internalize various dimensions of the Compstat model. The results identify a series of potential pitfalls associated with the Compstat model.

The Prominence of Qualitative Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice Scholarship

Most criminologists would agree that the discipline favors quantitative methodologies over qualitative ones. The present study seeks to revisit and expand past assessments on the prominence of qualitative research appearing in criminology and criminal justice (CCJ) publication outlets. Our inquiry is divided into two parts. First we consider the frequency with which empirical studies based upon qualitative methods and analyses were published in top CCJ journals from 2004 to 2008. Second, we add a new avenue of inquiry to the discussion by assessing the frequency with which qualitative methods and analyses are being used in doctoral dissertations produced within the US CCJ PhD programs during the same five‐year timeframe. Overall, our findings support the claim that qualitative research continues to represent only a small proportion of published research in the field. We seek to contextualize this empirical observation within the existing debate on the role of methods and theory in CCJ scholarship.

Examining the Relationship Between Religiosity and Self-Control as Predictors of Prison Deviance

The relationship between religiosity and crime has been the subject of much empirical debate and testing over the past 40 years. Some investigators have argued that observed relationships between religion and crime may be spurious because of self-control, arousal, or social control factors. The present study offers the first investigation of religiosity, self-control, and deviant behavior in the prison context. We use survey data from a sample of 208 recently paroled male inmates to test the impact of religiosity and self-control on prison deviance. The results indicate that two of the three measures of religiosity may be spurious predictors of prison deviance after accounting for self-control. Participation in religious services is the only measure of religiosity to significantly reduce the incidence of prison deviance when controlling for demographic factors, criminal history, and self-control. We conclude with implications for future studies of religiosity, self-control, and deviance in the prison context.

The Impact of Implicit Stereotyping on Offender Profiling Unexpected Results From an Observational Study of Shoplifting

Much debate centers on the use of offender profiling as a technique to differentiate criminals from law-abiding citizens. Profiling advocates argue that it is appropriate to reference past experiences and information about known offenders to identify behavioral and demographic correlates that can then be applied to a given population of offenses or offenders. The viability of this argument rests on the assumption that past experiences and information about known offenders are free of bias. Data from an observational study of shoplifting are analyzed to assess this assumption systematically. Results indicate that trained observers, when allowed to deviate from a clearly specified random selection protocol, oversampled shoppers on the basis of race, gender, and perceived age, thus misrepresenting these factors as predictors of shoplifting behavior. Implications for the training of law enforcement and loss prevention officers are discussed.

The relationship between crime and private security at US shopping centers

This paper uses self-report data from the 1993 National Shopping Center Security Survey to examine the growing problem of crime at shopping centers located in the United States. Security managers from 369 shopping centers provided data on crime incidents, private security measures, and numerous shopping center demographic measures. Data are analyzed via LISREL using bivariate regression modeling. Results show that there is no direct relationship between the private security measures at the shopping center and the occurrence of property, violent, or public order crimes on the premises. Instead, private security presence is shaped by the size of the shopping center. Direct effects were also found between the incidence of crime on the premises and the size of the shopping center and the presence of various “problematic” persons (i.e., gangs and loitering groups of youth). Possible implications for shopping center security are considered.

Freshman Learning Communities in Criminology and Criminal Justice: An Effective Tool for Enhancing Student Recruitment and Learning Outcomes*

Freshmen Learning Communities (FLCs) or Freshmen Interest Groups (FIGs) recently emerged on the landscape of higher education as an innovative means of improving educational outcomes. Building around a cohort‐based pedagogical model, FLCs use thematic foci, block scheduling, and faculty collaboration to ease the transition into the first‐year college experience. This paper outlines the logic and structure of a criminology/criminal justice‐based FLC. It details how pedagogical variations such as writing across the curriculum and web‐based design can be included. A large body of input and output data is considered that measures how students respond to the FLC experience. *The authors wish to thank the administration of Georgia State University, especially the persons in the Office of Undergraduate Studies and Office of Institutional Research who graciously aided in course and data preparation. We also thank the other FLC instructors and students over the years who made this paper possible.

A Qualitative Assessment of Stress Perceptions Among Members of a Homicide Unit

Existing research on stress among police assumes the presence of uniform stressors across job roles and borrows upon generic stress instruments to tap stress types and levels. The present study draws upon interviews with 26 members of a metropolitan homicide unit to provide an inductive vantage point on stress perceptions within a specialized area of policing. We provide evidence that the occupational and organizational forms of stress detailed by these officers are shaped largely by the unique nature of homicide work. Among the unique task-related stressors observed include the complexities of homicide crime scenes, time pressures, cases assignment factors, paperwork demands, and long-term ownership over individual case files. A series of structural issues from both within and outside the police agency are identified as organizational stressors unique to homicide work. We conclude with a proposed theory of homicide investigator stress and implications for future research.

Participation in the Prison Economy and Likelihood of Physical Victimization

Abstract The prison economy provides an outlet for inmates to secure goods and services not formally available to them while incarcerated. While having access is beneficial, participation in the economy may increase peoples chances of being victimized. The current study seeks to elaborate on the linkages between participation in the prison economy and violent victimization by drawing from survey data collected from 208 recently released male parolees in a Midwestern state. The results show that several measures of participation in the prison economy significantly predict violent victimizations, net the effect of other relevant independent variables. These findings suggest that engaging and controlling the prison economy may be effective in reducing the overall amount of violence that occurs in correctional facilities.

Putting a price on prisoner release: The history of bail and a possible future of parole

In this article, we argue that the history of bail foretells the future of parole. Under a plan called the Conditional Post-Conviction Release Bond Act (recently passed into law in three states), US prisoners can secure early release only after posting ‘post-conviction bail’. As with pre-trial bail, the fledgling model would require prisoners to pay a percentage of the bail amount to secure their release under the contractual responsibility of a commercial bail agency. If release conditions are breached, bounty hunters are legally empowered to seize and return the parolee to prison. Our inquiry outlines the origins of this post-conviction bond plan and the research upon which it is based. Drawing on the ‘new penology’ framework, we identify several underlying factors that make for a ripe advocacy environment and set the stage for widespread state-level adoption of this plan in the near future. Post-conviction bail fits squarely within the growing policy trends toward privatization, managerialism, and actuarial justice. Most importantly, though, advocates have the benefit of precedent on their side, as most US states have long relied on a system of commercial bail bonding and private bounty hunting to manage conditional pretrial release.