James Hawdon

Legitimacy, Trust, Social Capital, and Policing Styles A Theoretical Statement

There currently is no consensus about why attitudes toward police vary by neighborhood. An unexplored explanation is that resident trust of police and perceptions of police legitimacy may depend on neighborhood levels of social capital. This article considers the relationships among trust, legitimacy, procedural justice, social capital, and policing styles. Treating trust and legitimacy as conceptually distinct, how neighborhood levels of social capital influence these perceptions and the style of policing that is most likely to promote these perceptions are discussed. Issues concerning the measurement of trust and legitimacy are also considered.

Policing Tactics and Perceptions of Police Legitimacy

Community policing has aimed to restore the legitimacy of the police. Not only must the police have legitimacy to win public cooperation, but also a legitimate police institution fosters more widespread obedience of the law itself. Research indicates that community policing can improve citizen perceptions of the police. However, does community policing improve citizen perceptions of the police or is this improvement simply due to increased police visibility? Survey data from 1,347 residents from 41 South Carolina neighborhoods are used to determine whether policing tactics commonly associated with community policing influence resident perceptions of the police. Regression analysis indicates that police visibility results in improved resident perceptions.

the role of presidential rhetoric in the creation of a moral panic: reagan, bush, and the war on drugs

Although it is known that state initiatives can help produce moral panics, the role policy rhetoric assumes in creating, sustaining, and terminating moral panics has not been theoretically addressed. This article offers a typology of drug policies and illustrates how each is used at varying stages of a moral panic. It is argued that moral panics begin when proactive and punitive statements are used in combination. Moral panics subside when reactive and rehabilitative rhetorical statements are issued concurrently. The argument is empirically tested by analyzing the presidential addresses of the Reagan and Bush administrations for drug-related statements. Regression analysis, analysis of variance, and crosstabular analyses are used to test several hypotheses derived from the theoretical discussion. The empirical evidence supports the theoretical discussion and the constructionist perspective of social problems.

Daily Routines and Crime: Using Routine Activities as Measures of Hirschi's Involvement.

Since 1969, Travis Hirschis control theory has been one of the leading explanations of delinquency. The theory has withstood not only the test of time but also rigorous empirical investigations. Although his theory has been generally supported, Hirschis concept of involvement has been criticized as being, at best, analytically indistinguishable from commitment and, at worst, unrelated to delinquent behavior. However, when reconceptualized as daily routine patterns, involvement is a powerful predictor of criminal activity.

Deviant Lifestyles The Social Control of Daily Routines

Bond theory is one of the most influential theories in criminology. Many researchers, however, have discarded the concept of involvements. This research reconceptualizes this concept. Factor analysis recovers seven routine patterns that measure involvement. These factors are then used in a multiple regression model to predict adolescent marijuana use. The routine patterns are powerful predictors of use, even when other elements of the bond are included in the equation.

Social Capital, Social Control, and Changes in Victimization Rates:

A neighborhood-level model of crime that connects the central dimensions of social capital with specific forms of social control is developed. The proposed model is tested using a structural equation model that predicts changes in empirical Bayes log odds of neighborhood victimization rates between 2000 and 2001 in 41 neighborhoods in South Carolina. Results support the integrated model and illustrate the importance of including direct measures of social control in neighborhood models of crime. Although the dimensions of social capital are related to private, parochial, and public controls, the relationships among these concepts are not consistent. Instead, the relationships vary in strength and direction.

From Individual to Community: The "Framing" of 4-16 and the Display of Social Solidarity

On April 16, 2007, a lone gunman killed 32 people at Virginia Tech. In this essay, we discuss what we personally experienced on 4-16 and what we did as faculty members of the sociology department in the first few weeks after 4-16. We place these events in the context of framing theory and the social construction of reality. We then offer insights regarding the surge in community spirit we witnessed immediately after the event. We discuss the well-documented relationship between tragedies and social solidarity. Although the surge in solidarity witnessed at Virginia Tech after the shootings often occurs after tragedies, we argue that social solidarity does not automatically follow tragedy. Instead, the tragedy must meet at least four specific conditions that allow individual interpretations of the event to blend with collective interpretations in a manner that produces a synergistic effect.

Exposure to Online Hate among Young Social Media Users

Abstract Purpose The prevalence of online hate material is a public concern, but few studies have analyzed the extent to which young people are exposed to such material. This study investigated the extent of exposure to and victimization by online hate material among young social media users. Design/methodology/approach The study analyzed data collected from a sample of Finnish Facebook users (n = 723) between the ages of 15 and 18. Analytic strategies were based on descriptive statistics and logistic regression models. Findings A majority (67%) of respondents had been exposed to hate material online, with 21% having also fallen victim to such material. The online hate material primarily focused on sexual orientation, physical appearance, and ethnicity and was most widespread on Facebook and YouTube. Exposure to hate material was associated with high online activity, poor attachment to family, and physical offline victimization. Victims of the hate material engaged in high levels of online activity. Their attachment to family was weaker, and they were more likely to be unhappy. Online victimization was also associated with the physical offline victimization. Social implications While the online world has opened up countless opportunities to expand our experiences and social networks, it has also created new risks and threats. Psychosocial problems that young people confront offline overlap with their negative online experiences. When considering the risks of Internet usage, attention should be paid to the problems young people may encounter offline. Originality This study expands our knowledge about exposure to online hate material among users of the most popular social networking sites. It is the first study to take an in-depth look at the hate materials young people encounter online in terms of the sites where the material was located, how users found the site, the target of the hate material, and how disturbing users considered the material to be.

Crime as a Source of Solidarity: A Research Note Testing Durkheim's Assertion

A basic premise of a functional theory of crime is that heinous crimes can be a source of solidarity. While anecdotal evidence exists to support this crime–solidarity relationship, no systematic studies have tested this assertion. We compare data from a sample of Virginia Tech students collected in 2006 to data from a sample of students collected five months, nine months, and one year after the mass shootings that occurred on campus in April 2007. The results indicate that solidarity significantly increased after the crime and remained elevated for six months. After six months, solidarity began to decrease.

Association between online harassment and exposure to harmful online content

Cross-national survey study on the association between online harassment and exposure to harmful online content.Being a victim of online harassment has a statistically significant association with exposure to harmful online content.In particular, viewing websites relating to eating disorders and how to be thin were significant in both US and Finland.Existing offline societal differences appear to be diminishing in the online context. The key focus in this article study is to examine the association between online harassment and exposure to websites related to self-harm or negative self-image, along with several other independent variables. Our data were collected from two countries, the U.S. and Finland, thus providing a chance for a cross-national comparison regarding these associations. According to the results, significant association between online harassment and most notably exposure to websites relating to eating disorders was found. Furthermore, subjective wellbeing (SWB), age and gender were significantly associated with online harassment. There were only minor differences between U.S. and Finland, indicating certain levels of cultural homogenization regarding the online space.