Leanne Fiftal Alarid

Gender and Crime among Felony Offenders: Assessing the Generality of Social Control and Differential Association Theories

Although often tested empirically on high school samples, differential association and social control theories have only infrequently been used to explain offending by felons. Based on a sample of 1,153 newly incarcerated felons, the authors examine the ability of differential association and social control theories to explain self-reported offending across types of crime and gender groups. Overall, the analyses lend support to both perspectives and suggest that they are “general” theories of crime. It also appears, however, that differential association theory has more consistent effects, especially for men. Parental attachment is a significantly stronger predictor of female than male participation in violent crime. These results indicate that future studies of criminal behavior risk being misspecified if they do not include measures of these “traditional” theories of crime.

Sexual Assault and Coercion among Incarcerated Women Prisoners: Excerpts from Prison Letters

There are few existing studies that address sexual misconduct of women offenders toward other women prisoners. This qualitative study examined themes of sexual coercion and sexual assault among women offenders that surfaced in letters sent by one woman offender from prison during a period of 5 years. Four themes emerged from the data: (a) female apathy toward sexual coercion and sexual assault, (b) the femme as the sexual aggressor, (c) insight into one female rape situation, and (d) institutional factors contributing to sexual coercion. To prevent incidences of sexual assault by other offenders, policy suggestions specific to the study included a staff focus on identifying and consistently curbing sexual coercion and installing monitored cameras in restriction dorms.

Factors Associated With Recidivism Among Offenders With Mental Illness

This study examined factors that explained or predicted recidivism of offenders who were mentally impaired and were under various correctional interventions. Offenders in a residential treatment program and specialized probation group, specialized probation alone, and mentally ill offenders who had served time in jail were examined. In comparison to the other two groups, the residential treatment offenders had a more extensive criminal history and were thus more likely to fail on supervision as well as to recidivate after supervision ended. Offenders with an alcohol problem were more likely to recidivate earlier and be rearrested for a violent offense than offenders without an alcohol problem.

School Bullying, Low Self-Control, and Opportunity

The theory of low self-control has been shown to be a valid predictor of a wide variety of criminal and deviant behaviors. However, a limited number of studies were conducted to understand the relationship between low self-control and bullying and the effects of opportunity factors (i.e., parental supervision, association with other bullies, negative school environment, and disciplinary measures used by teachers) on bullying in the context of low self-control theory. The present study, using a sample of nearly 300 youths, examined the effects of low self-control and opportunity factors on various types of bullying behaviors. Results indicated that youths with low self-control were likely to physically and psychologically bully, consistent with the theory’s prediction. When opportunity measures were introduced, they were stronger explanations of bullying than low self-control, especially association with other bullies and youth who experienced disciplinary measures by their teacher. Negative school environment was a significant predictor of psychological bullying but not for physical bullying. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.

Sexual Orientation Perspectives of Incarcerated Bisexual and Gay Men: The County Jail Protective Custody Experience:

This study examined sexual identity and perceptions of treatment by other prisoners and staff of incarcerated bisexual and gay men in special housing. Eigenbergs social constructionist model guided theoretical inquiry, and questions were derived from Wooden and Parkers survey. Although all inmates surveyed felt safer in protective custody than in general population, gay men were more likely to pressure bisexual and/or heterosexual offenders for sex while in protective custody. Bisexual offenders who preferred women to men more often sought protection from another inmate, reported more pressure from others to have sex, and felt less safe in jail than gay or bisexual men who preferred men over women. Sexual patterns tended to be indistinct for bisexuals, a factor that contributed to lower institutional adjustment and less satisfaction with regard to their sexual identity.

The significance of the victim advocate for domestic violence victims in municipal court

Previous research has examined factors that influence felony case prosecution in domestic violence cases, but few have analyzed how victim participation, or lack thereof, may affect the defendant’s case outcome in misdemeanors. This study used 384 municipal cases from a specialized domestic violence court to examine the role of the victim advocate and variables that had an impact on victim participation with prosecution and case disposition. To ensure that decisions in all cases were consistent, all decision makers in the sample involved the same group: the court advocate, prosecutor, and judge. The analysis found that victim cooperation after arrest coupled with services provided by shelter court advocates were a strong predictor of victim cooperation at disposition and case outcome.

Juvenile probation and police partnerships as loosely coupled systems: A qualitative analysis

Most organizational theories assume that agency partnerships within a system are seamless and tightly fit. Through qualitative interviews with program personnel, this study measured the extent to which juvenile probation and police partnerships were characterized as a ‘‘loosely coupled system.’’ Loosely coupled systems were measured by each agency’s willingness to share information, willingness to share power, flexibility in decision making, open communication without fear of reprisal, valuing diverse backgrounds of outside agencies, and degree of mutual commitment toward a common goal. Evidence to support the existence of a loosely coupled system was the willingness of officers to expand and broaden their traditional roles and appropriately share power, such that there was no mission distortion and role confusion observed. Information sharing efforts had a significant impact on dissolving old ways of thinking about traditional roles and instead built a new sense of trust, improved morale, and greater access to information.

Examining Racial Disparity of Male Property Offenders in the Missouri Juvenile Justice System

Using juvenile court data of 4,284 cases, this study examined to what extent racial disparity and discrimination existed for male property offenders within six counties in Missouri. Logistic regression analyses tested probabilities of juveniles being processed in the system at four decision-making points: referral, detention, adjudication, and disposition when available legal factors and county type were controlled. The authors found evidence of contextual racial discrimination in some jurisdictions during selected decision points in the juvenile justice system. In all counties combined, Black youths were more likely to be formally referred and detained before adjudication, whereas White youths were more likely to be adjudicated.

Law Enforcement Departments as Learning Organizations: Argyris's Theory as a Framework for Implementing Community-Oriented Policing

Over the past 45 years, Argyris contributed significantly to human relations and organizational learning theory by recognizing the power of individuals to induce change within their work environment. Through an interdisciplinary approach to effective problem solving using double-loop learning, Argyris believed that individuals and organizations could eventually overcome defensive reasoning. A sample of Argyriss books and articles were compared by content analysis to explore two theoretical issues-personality within the organization and organizational leaming-for use as a framework for police agencies implementing department-wide community policing.

The Effect of Parental Support on Juvenile Drug Court Completion and Postprogram Recidivism

Juvenile drug courts (JDCs) have grown exponentially in the last 15 years. JDCs typically require more parental participation than do other community correctional options as a source of social support for juveniles. Using official data and offender case files, this study examined client behavior and parental support through various phases to determine factors that contribute toward successful program completion and postprogram recidivism reduction. Family support was a significant predictor of both graduation and of postsupervision rearrest. Time spent in the drug court program and client age were additional predictors of rearrest, while less prior adjudications were an additional predictor of whether a youth would complete the drug court program. Policy implications to increase parental support are discussed.