Mark S. Hamm

Ethnography at the Edge: Crime, Deviance, and Field Research

In This Provocative Work, pioneering criminologists and sociologists vividly recount the personal and professional tribulations of conducting field research with deviant and criminal subcultures. The candid, first-person accounts of their experiences, especially in illegal, immoral, and dangerous situations, reveal the horrors, perils, and joys of ethnographic research. The methodological, theoretical, and political implications of field work are also thoroughly discussed. Describing their deep involvement with such diverse groups as skinheads, phone sex workers, drag dealers, graffiti artists, and the homeless, many of the authors confess to their own episodes of illegal drag use, drunk driving, weapons violations, assault at gunpoint, obstruction of justice, and arrest while engaged in ethnographic studies.Although field research is seldom safe, convenient, or above professional criticism, this volume demonstrates that it is vital for providing a fuller understanding of deviant and criminal populations.

The Conditions of Effective Implementation A Guide to Accomplishing Rehabilitative Objectives in Corrections

Over the past twenty years, a remarkable concentration of energy and talent has been devoted to finding and testing rehabilitation programs in corrections. Relatively ignored in this research has been the behavior of public officials who are responsible for implementing treatment policies. The present study attempts to examine the conditions under which the successful implementation of treatment programs is most likely to occur. Based on survey data, the study reveals that public officials demonstrate little opposition to the rehabilitative ideal. However, contemporary research also indicates that the complexity of correctional bureaucracy foreshadows the effort to cure criminal offenders. Therefore, an alternative implementation strategy is suggested for modern-day professionals who are seriously dedicated to rehabilitation. Finally, personal implications of the alternative model are discussed.

Apocalyptic Violence:: The Seduction of Terrorist Subcultures

This article critically examines the concept of apocalyptic violence. Drawing on a wide range of methods, the study examines the social histories of some 40 neo-Nazi males. The network of knowledge that gives meaning to terrorist subcultures is examined in two case studies, showing a great diversity in the human conditions that adapt people to the subcultural products that makes terrorism possible. Yet the outcome is the same: terrorists use their products to reach for the same star that has attracted American terrorists since Jesse James and John Wilkes Booth—celebrity.

The Role of Offender Rehabilitation in Family Violence Policy: The Batterers Anonymous Experiment

Perhaps the most tenacious belief about family violence is that arrest and swift incarceration are the most effective means of deterring future assaults in the home. This paper presents and examines three types of data in an attempt to examine this hypothesis critically. First, the finding of a content analysis of 19 studies on the effectiveness of spouse abuse treatment programs are used to create a stochastic background against which the effects of simple arrest and incarceration may be evaluated. Next, program evaluation and recidivism data are provided for 166 arrested spouse abuse who were court-ordered to attend a domestic violence counseling group called Batterers Anonymous. Finally, the recidivism rates of the arrested and treated spouse abusers are compared with those of 245 spouse abusers who were arrested only. By this means, an attempt is made to estimate the relative social value of rehabilitation for contemporary research And policy making.

Singing across the scars of wrong: Johnny Cash and his struggle for social justice

The life and music of Johnny Cash are explored in this article as we detail his commitment to social justice. Situating his politics and biography within a cultural criminology orientation, we show that Cash’s lived politics and edgy music reflect his concerns with the working class, the dispossessed, the rebellious, the American Indian, and above all, the convict. A pusher of social causes, Cash advocated for prison reform through decades of social activism and public and private politics.

Book Review: After September 11

While this sort of criticism has re-surfaced in criminology from time to time over the years (e.g. Ross, 1988; Smith, 1999), it has taken on new urgency since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. Black (2002), for one, argues that the identification of ‘terrorism structures’ in society (cultural and organizational factors) is nearly impossible because criminologists rarely study them. Taking the criticism a step further, Kennedy and Lum contend that criminologists ‘have generally remained silent about the issue of terrorism’ (2003: 1–2). The study of terrorism, they write, ‘remains unrefined in criminology . . . with little specification of the subject matter to be explored, the knowledge base, or the methodologies that can be used’. LaFree (2002) goes so far as to describe the data supporting criminological studies of terrorism as the equivalent of ‘junk food’. In perhaps the most stirring complaint published in criminology since 9/11, Rosenfeld asks: ‘Why haven’t we embraced the study of terrorism? . . . It is our fault,’ he confesses, ‘our poverty of intellectual imagination, that prevents us from studying terrorism right alongside other forms of predatory or justice-oriented violence’ (2002: 1–3). The post-9/11 verdict on criminology’s contribution to terrorism research is, therefore, quite dreadful. Because they have either failed to

Domestic Violence: Legislative Attitudes Toward a Coherent Public Policy

Abstract This article examines legislative attitudes toward domestic violence policy. Legislative attitudes were examined through a survey of the Indiana General Assembly approximately one year after it enacted a new law that increased the authority of police to arrest in domestic violence cases. Despite this increase in police authority, substantial legislative support for a statewide domestic violence policy continued to exist. A multiple regression analysis of the relationship between legislative characteristics and support for a statewide domestic violence policy revealed that a geographical variable was most consistently related to legislative positions on the proposed policy. Findings are then discussed within the broader contexts of criminal justice policy making and domestic violence reform.

Legislator Attitudes toward Policies to Reduce Prison Crowding

This paper examines legislative attitudes toward policies to reduce prison crowding in a state (Indiana) that has a serious prison overcrowding problem. Legislative attitudes were studied through mail surveys of all members of the Indiana General Assembly. A high level of legislative support for the expansion of community corrections and prison construction was found. On the other hand, a return to shorter sentences received little support among the lawmakers. A rudimentary regression analysis of the relationship between legislative characteristics and support for the various strategies to control prison crowding revealed that a variable measuring criminal justice ideology was most strongly associated with legislative attitudes toward prison policy. These findings are also discussed within the present research.

Value judgments and institutional confinement: A study of decision‐making among juvenile parole board members

This study examines a question that continues to perplex criminologists, criminal justice practitioners, and juvenile delinquents involved with parole from a correctional institution–on what factors are release decisions based? Data drawn from a survey of juvenile parole board members are used to discern whether value judgments concerning crime seriousness are related to length of institutional confinement. Findings indicate that while there is some variance in the value judgments of parole board members, this variance does not account for the disparity in decisons to release juveniles from state custody.

Drug Policy and Applied Research: A Study of Users, Abusers and Politicians

Abstract Criminologists often refer to official drug use statistics as an “iccbcrg.” At issue are the methods used by federal agencies to collect, interpret, and present official figures to the public. This paper argues that these methods introduce certain distortions into official statistics which can never be fully corrected, and other distortions that may be partially corrected. Drawing from the “criminal career” research, the present analysis offers a defensible method and estimate of drug abuse that attempts to control for certain distortions inherent in official studies. Moreover, it is suggested that a longitudinal research design can explain the chronicity and persistence of drug use, and this information has significance for public policy.