John D. Hewitt

Self-reported and observed rule-breaking in prison: A look at disciplinary response

Research on rule-breaking and disciplinary response in correctional institutions usually examines the official record of charges and penalties. This study uses inmate self-reports of rule violations and guard self-reports of observed inmate rule violations as well as the official records. Data come from the Federal Correctional Institution at Fort Worth, Texas, which is distinctive in having large proportions of both sexes constituting its inmate population. Major findings include: (1) Inmates are much more extensively involved in rule-breaking than is usually presumed from official institutional records; (2) Guards claim to observe nearly the same number of violations admitted by inmates; (3) Guards report very few of the violations that they observe; (4) These findings have little relationship to sex or race of inmates. The institutions desire for stable control seems to make guards reluctant to report fully the infractions of inmates for whose conduct they are held responsible; this gives inmates cons...

Discretion and the Determinate Sentence: Its Distribution, Control, and Effect on Time Served

Sentencing reformers have criticized current sentencing practices as abusive and as rooted in untenable assumptions. While many different approaches have been suggested, most reformers agree that changes must (1) reduce or eliminate the discretion available to those responsible for sentencing and (2) reduce or eliminate discrepancies in sentences, while (3) not resulting in an unreasonable increase in prison populations. Recently, the Indiana legislature passed a new penal code which, among other changes, established a determinate sentencing structure. An analysis of this code suggests that the intent of most sentencing reformers may not have been met by this new law. The potential for discretion has not been reduced; in fact, prosecutors may now have more power to manipulate the sanctions imposed. Substantial control over the sentence has been placed in the hands of correctional staff through credit time provisions. And projection of the impact of this penalty scheme indicates that sentences may be almost 50 percent longer for some first-time felony offenders. It is concluded that many of the codes problems could be eliminated by reduc ing the length of prison sentences.

The victim-offender relationship in convicted homicide cases: 1960-1984

In 1958, Wolfgang published his seminal work examining criminal homicide cases that occured in Philadelphia between 1948 and 1952. This work was the beginning of an extensive body of literature focusing on the victim-offender relationship in homicides. Wolfgang and subsequent researchers consistently found that homicides tended to be intra-racial, intra-gender, and occuring overwhelmingly between relatives and friends. However, this body of literature was based largely on data from large cities with very heterogeneous populations and therefore may not be generalizable to smaller American communities. The current research examined all homicides in Delaware County (Muncie, Indiana) that resulted in a conviction for the years 1960 through 1984. Although the demographic characteristics of victims and offenders and their relationships appear consistent with those found in larger cities, noticeable changes were found to have occured over the twenty-five year period.

Police Chiefs, Anomia, and Leadership

This research assesses a potentially harmful condition among police chiefs: anomia. The article analyzes a large (N = 1,120) stratified sample survey of American police chiefs. Nine hypotheses are tested using multiple regressions. Results show relatively little anomia (as defined by Sroles 5-point Likert-type scale) among the respondents. Data analysis reveals little relationship between anomia and the following four variables: age, being a chief in a previous jurisdiction, race/ethnicity, and internal hire. However, the analysis also reveals significant negative relationships between anomia and education, merit selection, and years in law enforcement and between anomia and size of department and tenure as chief. Regression analysis reveals that the posited model explains only a small amount of variance in anomia. Suggestions for future research in the area of upper level policing executives are discussed.

Negotiating Roles and Relationships: Stepping Through the Minefield of Co-Authors and Textbook Publishers

When producing a single-author scholarly monograph that will be self-published, either in print format or digitally online, an author has complete control of the writing process, deadlines, and production of the product. On the other hand, publishing textbooks typically involves a number of interdependent participants, including co-authors and an assortment of publishing-company people (acquisition editors, developmental editors, copy editors, photo editors, marketing specialists, and sometimes more senior managing editors). Co-authors and editors bring unique personalities and egos to the writing project. Sometimes these personalities and egos work like a well-oiled machine; at other times they are significantly uncoordinated. This article examines the array of potentially problematic roles and relationships encountered when pursuing the publication of a co-authored textbook.

Local modernization and crime

This paper examines the impact of industrialization and urbanization on criminal behavior in Middletown during the period between 1845 and 1910. It was this period which demonstrated the most rapid growth and change in the community and which turned Middletown from a pioneer settlement to a modest industrial city. The authors test five hypotheses relating to the relationship of the modermization process to changes in the rates of crime. Data for this study were drawn from official records of the county and city courts with criminal jurisdiction.

Examining the research underlying the sentencing guidelines concept in Denver, Colorado: A partial replication of a reform effort

Abstract This paper examines the empirical basis for the criminal sentencing guidelines developed in Denver, Colorado. Unlike many other sentencing reforms, such guidelines have generally been developed out of an empirical analysis of past sentencing decisions, which identifies those variables most predictive of sentence. Empirical arguments, as a part of a reform effort, are often more persuasive than nonempirical arguments. However, when the analysis is inadequate or faulty, the resultant reform effort may be called into question. Presented in this paper is a reanalysis of the original data used to develop the Denver guidelines. Questions are raised regarding implications of extensive missing observations across cases and the resulting shrinkage of cases available for multivariate analyses. The original data is reanalyzed in both its original form and in a more complete form by estimating the missing data through a complex regression technique. Our analyses suggest that there are serious methodological weaknesses in the original study. The implications of these weaknesses are discussed.

A Comparison of Death Penalty Opinion Among University Students in the United States and Taiwan(superscript

While American opinion about the death penalty has been extensively studied, there have been remarkably few such studies carried out in Taiwan, a country that saw a dramatic increase in executions during the late 1980s and early 1990s, but that is now debating the possible abolishment of capital punishment. Using data from samples drawn from university students in Denver, Colorado and Taipei, Taiwan, the researchers compared expressed reasons for death penalty attitudes, factors that aggravated and mitigated that support, and opinions regarding who should be sentenced to death. The findings suggest support for the death penalty runs rampant in Taiwan, leading to the puzzling question: Why is Taiwan on the verge of abolishing it? The authors suggest the current government movement in Taiwan to abolish the death penalty is tied to it foreign policy objectives.

Youth Gangs in American Society

This paper provides an overview of the history, nature and extent, and efforts to control youth gangs in the United States. In the process of reporting this information we raise and answer important questions related to the creation, maintenance, and regulation of youth gangs in Taiwan and elsewhere. For example, regardless of what country they live in: (1) Are children more likely to violate norms and laws when they are with their friends? (2) Are juvenile gangs simply more formal and violent expressions of more normal school and neighborhood peer groups? (3) Why do juveniles form gangs in the first place? (4) How do the cultural experiences of different and competing racial and ethnic groups affect the development and transmission of juvenile gangs within and between cultures? In society, juvenile gangs are distinguishable from other groupings of children. For instance, while youth gangs in America have varied widely over time, from city to city, and even within cities, characteristic of gangs is an organizational structure that controls the flow of information, a clearly defined hierarchy of leadership, a turf or area of the city a gang has assumed ownership of, a solid, strong sense of cohesion among the members, and a purpose, such as selling illegal drugs or operating a prostitution ring. While these characteristics have remained constant over time, there are two significant differences between American gangs today and gangs in the past. Contemporary gangs in the United States are (1) much more violent than gangs of earlier decades and (2) much of the violence occurs within school settings. We conclude the paper with a discussion of the variety of different strategies that have been employed in the United States for responding to the problem of youth gangs over the past seven decades. Some of these include neighborhood mobilization approaches, social intervention programs, creating social and economic opportunities for estranged youth, the emergence of suppression efforts, and a variety of intervention and treatment strategies. Our hope is that others will learn from our failures.

Organized Crime Theories: a New Perspective

Images of crime tend to become altered over time and our definitions of crime and the criminal are influenced by current beliefs and understandings generated by social scientific research and studies. The current beliefs and understandings surrounding organized crime are, as with crime in general, very much dependent upon historical conceptions of the &dquo;problem&dquo; of organized crime and the descriptive and analytical research undertaken to study this particular phenomenon. Our paper focuses on the framework in which current theories about organized crimes have developed and the implications this has for these theories and their application.