James W. Marquart

In Between Adolescence and Adulthood Recidivism Outcomes of a Cohort of State Delinquents

This research examines the recidivism outcomes of 2,436 serious, violent, and chronic youth released from a juvenile correctional system. This group of state delinquents was followed for 5 years after their release to parole as they made the transition to young adulthood. Results of the analysis revealed that 85% of state delinquents were rearrested at least once in the follow-up period, and nearly 80% were rearrested for a felony. Generally, males, those younger at first contact with the juvenile justice system, those with a greater number of felony adjudications, gang members, institutional dangers, those in poverty, and those with mental health issues were significantly more likely to recidivate. The analyses indicate that the factors that would explain recidivism for male state delinquents may differ for female state delinquents. This article concludes with a discussion of policy implications specific to this highly select but disproportionately problematic group of delinquent offenders.

Factors related to killings of felons by police officers: A test of the community violence and conflict hypotheses

This paper tests two perspectives on the use of deadly force by police officers: the “community violence” and the “conflict” hypotheses. From descriptive data on felons killed in the Supplemental Homicide Reports it appears that police-caused homicides are predictable responses to acts or threatened acts of violence. An examination of the largest U.S. cities revealed a strong relationship between levels of economic inequality and the rate of felon killing by police officers as well as a weaker, yet consistent relationship between percent black and felon killing, supporting the conflict hypothesis. A relationship exists between violent crime rates and felon killing, but violent crime most often plays an intervening role between other social factors and the rate of felon killing. Our findings suggest that economic inequality should be included in any macro-level explanation of police-caused homicide.

Exploring the Relationship Between Alcohol Use, Childhood Maltreatment, and Treatment Needs Among Female Prisoners

Objective. This study examined the relationship between child maltreatment and adult alcohol dependency among a sample of newly incarcerated female prisoners. Method. This secondary data analysis utilized information gathered through face-to-face interviews with female inmates at intake (N = 1198) within the Texas prison system from 1998 to 1999. Results. Using DSM-IV criteria we found that, among women who reported drinking at least 10 drinks in the last year, 40% scored as alcohol dependent. Bivariate findings revealed that women who were alcohol dependent were also more likely to have grown up in disorganized family situations, including parental drug and alcohol use-related problems, childhood neglect, and childhood physical and sexual abuse. As adults, these women were far more likely to have utilized mental health services and substance user treatment programs. Supportive of Widom and colleagues (), multivariate analyses revealed that childhood neglect (not physical or sexual abuse) was a significant predictor of alcohol dependency. Finally, among the alcohol dependent group, 62% indicated a willingness to participate in substance user treatment programs. Conclusions. These findings emphasize that childhood neglect is related to long-term negative consequences in the form of alcohol use related problems in adulthood. Our findings strongly point to the need for improved screening, assessment procedures, and programming for women prisoners.

A Large-Scale Multidimensional Test of the Effect of Prison Education Programs on Offenders' Behavior

This study examined the prison behavior and postrelease recidivism of more than 14,000 inmates released from Texas prisons in 1991 and 1992. Comparisons were made between participants and nonparticipants in prison education programs on a variety of behavioral outcomes. The findings suggest that these programs may be most effective when intensive efforts are focused on the most educationally disadvantaged prisoners. Implications for correctional education policy and correctional program research are discussed.

Institutional Misconduct, Delinquent Background, and Rearrest Frequency Among Serious and Violent Delinquent Offenders

This study examines the relationship of institutional misconduct to postrelease rearrest, controlling for a battery of preincarceration variables typically found to influence recidivism among institutionalized delinquent offenders. Based on data from 1,804 serious and violent male delinquents released from a large southern juvenile correctional system, this research found limited support for institutional misconduct as a determinant of recidivism. Of all measures of misconduct, only the rate of total misconduct infractions was related to postrelease rearrest, and this effect was generally small and found only in the rearrest frequency model, not the dichotomous rearrest model. Implications for research and practice are explored.

Assessing the relationship between child sexual abuse and marginal living conditions on HIV/AIDS-related risk behavior among women prisoners

OBJECTIVE There were two aims in this research. First, to examine the relationships between childhood sexual abuse and HIV drug and sexual risk taking behaviors among female prisoners, and second, to examine the relationship between a marginal adult living context and HIV drug and sexual risk taking behavior among female prisoners. METHOD The data were collected through face-to-face interviews with a random sample of 500 women at admission to prison in 1994. Differences between women who were sexually abused while growing up (n = 130) were compared to women who reported no sexual abuse (n = 370) along various demographic, and HIV drug and sexual risk taking dimensions. RESULTS A history of sexual abuse while growing up was associated with increased sexual risk taking behaviors in adulthood. A marginal adult living situation also emerged as an important factor increasing the risk for HIV infection. Examining the co-occurrence of both childhood sexual abuse and adult marginal living context revealed a strong relationship between these two factors and HIV risk taking activities. CONCLUSIONS The findings indicate that childhood sexual abuse may be a predictor for HIV sexual risk taking behaviors among incarcerated women. The marginal and chaotic adult living style of these women was also associated the extent of their HIV drug and sexual risk taking behaviors. Our research suggests that the co-occurrence of sexual victimization and marginality is a stronger predictor of HIV risk than each variable alone.

Gang Violence in Texas Prisons

For years, the Texas prison system was known for its gang-free institutions. Up until the mid-l970s, while other states were fighting prisoner gangs for control of the institutions, Texas prisons were relatively gang-free. The Black Muslims were the only organized inmate group which appeared in the late 1950s. Throughout the 1960s, the Muslim movement gained members but, contrary to staff expectations and fears, these inmates were not particularly assault prone or disruptive (Price 1975).

Judicial Reform and Prisoner Control: The Impact of Ruiz v. Estelle on a Texas Penitentiary

This article examines the impact of court-ordered structural reforms on a Texas penitentiary. The staffs prisoner control structure is analyzed before, during, and after the reform measures decreed in the complex and sweeping prison reform case Ruiz v. Estelle (1980). Participant observation and inmate disciplinary report data are utilized to examine how legal intervention affected the prison community. Results show that after the court order was inaugurated, inmate-inmate and inmate-guard violence escalated to new plateaus. The final section compares several aspects of the old and new prisoner control structures and discusses the implications of court reforms for prisoner control.

Delinquent Careers Behind Bars

There is an increasing recognition that incarceration time, instead of a period characterized by intermittency or lulls in offending, is for many a period of continued involvement in misconduct and other problematic behaviors. Yet, despite mounting evidence on the offending patterns of incarcerated adults, little research attention has been paid to the institutional behavior of incarcerated delinquents. The current research explored the institutional misconduct careers of 2,520 serious and violent delinquent offenders incarcerated in a large southern juvenile correctional system. Analyses revealed that the study cohort engaged in more than 200,000 instances of minor misconduct behaviors and nearly 19,000 instances of major misconduct behaviors during their incarceration. Multivariate analyses examining the incidence of major, minor, and assaultive institutional misconduct revealed that offenders with more extensive delinquent backgrounds had an increased expected rate of misconduct, net the effects of a number of variables. Implications for research and practice are explored.

Fatal attraction: An analysis of employee boundary violations in a southern prison system, 1995–1998

Prison employees are trained to maintain their distance from prisoners and to do their job professionally without personal entanglements or abuse of prisoners in any way. Efforts are made to ensure that those who enter the correctional service serve honorably; these efforts, however, do not prevent some prison employees from ending their careers in disgrace. Some employees engage in career-ending infractions whereby they are suspended and/or reprimanded; some are terminated for engaging in inappropriate relationships (or boundary violations) with inmates. This paper examines boundary violations among 508 Texas state prison security staff members disciplined between January 1, 1995 and December 31, 1998.