Malcolm D. Holmes

Determinants of Charge Reductions and Final Dispositions in Cases of Burglary and Robbery

Despite an extensive literature on differential justice, relatively few studies have examined whether inequities occur in legal decisions that precede sentencing. This becomes a problem given the vast majority of criminal cases prosecuted in the United States are disposed of through guilty pleas to reduced charges. In an effort to address this issue, the current study examined legal, status, and resource determinants of both charge reductions and final dispositions in cases of burglary and robbery in two U.S. jurisdictions. While the analysis showed that social status influenced the acquisition of private counsel and pretrial release, resources that tended to favor defendants at final disposition, the expectation that charge reductions might be especially receptive to status influences was not supported. Only one direct status effect on charge reductions was obtained and no indirect influences appear to have been operating. Further, contrary to the dominant thesis, the direct effects of race/ethnicity on charge reductions and final dispositions point to less severe responses to minorities, responses that we suggest may have been the result of initial overcharging in cases of minority defendants.

Perceptions of abusive police practices in a U.S.-Mexico border community

Abstract Although research has examined relations between minorities and the police, there is a paucity or recent or systematic evidence concerning abusive police practices. This investigation contributes to our knowledge of the issue by comparing perceptions of abusive police practices held by Anglos and Hispanics in a U.S.-Mexico border community. The study was based on a telephone/personal interview survey designed to yield a representative sample of the adult population of El Paso, Texas, a city which ranks among the poorest in the U.S. A four-item abusive police practices index was analyzed using OLS multiple regression. The findings show that the young, males, Hispanics and those residing in the barrio locale were more likely to report having seen abusive police practives, after controlling for general beliefs about police brutality and for various types of contact with the police.

THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF AMERICAN INDIAN DRINKING: Perceptions of American Indian and White Officials

Research has shown that alcohol abuse is a significant problem among American Indians. It has been suggested, however, that American Indians and whites interpret the behavioral pattern differently, which may reflect the distinct symbolic-moral universes of the two groups. Whites are said to stereotypically blame Indians for the alcohol problem, and they favor assimilation to ameliorate it. American Indians purportedly blame the historical incursions of whites for the problem and advocate cultural revitalization to solve it. However, systematic empirical documentation of the competing viewpoints is lacking. Here we compare the perceptions of twelve American Indian and twelve white officials responsible for controlling alcohol abuse and related problems on the Wind River Indian Reservation, Wyoming. Data were collected using in-depth, semistructured interviews. The findings show that the two groups tend to converge in their assessments of the extent of the alcohol abuse problem but clearly diverge in their attributions concerning both its causes and appropriate approaches to controlling it. The discourse of whites and American Indians thus reflects the existence of separate symbolic-moral universes. This investigation redirects attention from the traditional focus on the incidence and etiology of alcohol abuse among American Indians to the politics surrounding the definition and interpretation of the deviant behavior. It also highlights the significance of cultural competition to race relations theories grounded in political economy, which are commonly used to analyze Indian-white contact.

Institutional productivity in criminal justice and criminology: An examination of author affiliation in selected journals

In recent years considerable research has focused on the scholarly activities of criminology and criminal justice educators. These efforts have revealed that the generation of knowledge about crime is a process characterized by diversity and complexity. The investigation described in this article aimed to contribute to the understanding of this process by examining the institutional affiliation of primary authors whose work has appeared in three of the leading journals in criminal justice and criminology. It analyzed all research articles and notes published by academics in the Journal of Criminal Justice and Criminology between 1976 and 1988, inclusive, and Justice Quarterly for its first five years of publication, 1984 through 1988. The analysis explored institutional authorship by journal, and this article provides a composite ranking of universities based on the frequency of first author affiliations across the journals. The findings indicate that schools supporting doctoral programs in criminology and criminal justice are generally well represented in the pages of these leading journals. Additionally, the analysis revealed that several institutions have assumed more prominent positions in the production of criminal justice and criminological knowledge in recent years.

A comparative analysis of research methods in criminology and criminal justice journals

The scientific standing of criminal justice and criminology has been an issue of sometimes heated debate among academics with varying research orientations. In an effort to help delineate the methodological development of the two fields, this study compares seven dimensions of research methods employed in the 966 articles published in Criminology, Journal of Criminal Justice, and Justice Quarterly during the period from 1976 through 1988. The findings show that Criminology papers tend to focus on crime causation, social control, and delinquency. This journal also places a strong emphasis on inductive empiricism; such research typically uses correlational research designs, cross-sectional data, and multivariate statistics. Studies in the criminal justice journals use similar methods but emphasize law enforcement (Journal of Criminal Justice), courts (Justice Quarterly), and corrections. An analysis over time shows a general increase in empirical works that examine relationships among variables and use mult...

Ethnicity, Concentrated Minority Disadvantage, and Perceived Risk of Victimization

Abstract There has been little systematic research on how the characteristics of locales condition the relationship of ethnicity to crime-related attitudes, and none of it has examined southwestern Hispanics. Addressing these issues, this investigation examines the effects of ethnicity and concentrated minority disadvantage on confidence in the police and perceived risk of victimization. Data collected in telephone and personal interviews in El Paso, Texas, were analyzed using OLS multiple regression. The analyses show that Hispanics residing in the locales with the greatest concentrated minority disadvantage expressed less confidence in the police than did Hispanics residing in other areas and, irrespective of locale, Anglos. People residing in areas of concentrated disadvantage perceived greater risk of victimization than did those who resided elsewhere. In addition, confidence in the police was related negatively to perceived risk of victimization. These findings indicate that concentrated minority disadvantage has an important influence on crime-related attitudes.

Economic Segmentation and Worker Earnings in a U.S.-Mexico Border Enclave

This study examines the effects of economic segmentation on worker earnings in El Paso, Texas, a city that is a major enclave on the U.S.-Mexico border. The investigation relies on the dual economy model, which maintains that the U.S. economy is divided into a monopoly and a competitive sector. This distinction is thought to be related to worker remuneration, with poorly paying jobs found primarily in the competitive sector. It is hypothesized that females and minority males are disproportionately located in the competitive sector and, therefore, that their income is negatively influenced. These hypotheses were tested using the 1980 U.S. Census Public Use Microdata file for the El Paso SMSA. In contrast to the dominant hypothesis this research found that women, particularly those of Mexican origin, were disproportionately located in the monopoly sector. However, women gained considerably less by virtue of monopoly sector employment than did males, especially those of Anglo origin. Generally the findings are consistent with the possibility that large monopoly sector firms strategically locate labor-intensive divisions in El Paso (and similar areas) because of the large supply of unskilled minority labor.

Community Characteristics and Methamphetamine Use in a Rural State An Analysis of Preincarceration Usage by Prison Inmates

Social disorganization theory attempts to explain the relationships of community characteristics and patterns of illicit drug use, but methamphetamine poses a problem for this perspective. Methamphetamine use is prevalent in rural areas, where greater community social organization may contribute to its usage, a possibility examined here using data from a highly rural state. Data were collected from a population of prisoners entering Wyoming state correctional facilities from July 2005 to June 2006. Hierarchical linear models estimated the effects of individual- and county-level variables on preincarceration amphetamine/methamphetamine use and severity of use. Results indicate that individual-level variables predict use, whereas county-level variables predict severity of use. The effects of individual-level measures of social control were consistent with the social disorganization model, whereas the effects of county-level variables provided support for the social organization argument. Implications of the findings for a multidimensional, multilevel conceptualization of the social organization/disorganization continuum are discussed.

blowing smoke: Status politics and the Shasta County smoking ban

This study examines the politics underlying the implementation of a smoking ban in public facilities, including restaurants and bars. The analysis is grounded in interviews with the moral entrepreneurs who spearheaded the antismoking crusade and the status quo defenders who opposed it, a content analysis of letters to the editor, and data on the pro‐ and antiban letter writers’ cumulative property values. The findings reveal that moral entrepreneurs and proban letter writers focused on health risks thought to be associated with secondhand smoke; their opponents focused on the individual right to smoke. As expected, status also differentiates the pro‐ and antiban groups, consistent with theorizing about the role of status politics in the creation of deviant types.

Status Inconsistency, Racial Separatism, and Job Satisfaction: A Case Study of the Military

This study examined the effects of status inconsistencies between time in service and rank on attitudes concerning racial separatism and job satisfaction for white males serving in the enlisted ranks of the U.S. military. Although analyses of national survey data often report no attitudinal effects of status inconsistency, such influences were predicted because of the unique status structure of the enlisted ranks. That system is characterized by highly crystallized status configurations and by well-defined congruence rules, both of which are structural properties thought to strengthen individual attitudinal responses to status inconsistency. Consistent with specific hypotheses developed from previous research, white enlisted personnel with relatively long time in service and low rank were found to express greater racial separatism and lower job satisfaction than predicted only by time in service and rank. Also as expected, those with relatively high rank and short time in service reported greater job satisfaction than otherwise predicted.