Mark T. Berg

Gang Members, Career Criminals and Prison Violence: Further Specification of the Importation Model of Inmate Behavior

The importation model posits that inmate behavior is primarily an extension of the assorted antisocial behaviors that criminal offenders develop in the community. Persons involved in gangs are viewed as especially at‐risk for prison misconduct. Using the official infraction records of 831 male inmates sampled from the southwestern USA, this study explored the prison violence records of inmates involved in street gangs, prison gangs and both types of gangs vis‐à‐vis chronic offenders. Negative binomial regression models indicated that gang variables were significantly predictive of prison violence only in the full model when various types of gang membership (e.g. street, prison or both) were considered. Overall, the effects of gang membership were smaller than some of the risk factors related to chronic offending, such as history of violence and prior confinement, and other controls such as race. Although investigations of prison violence and misconduct are rightfully and importantly moving toward explanations that integrate importation, deprivation, and situational effects, we conclude that further specification of the importation model is needed.

Men, Women, and Postrelease Offending An Examination of the Nature of the Link Between Relational Ties and Recidivism

Numerous studies have examined the postrelease behaviors of men and women, highlighting the importance of social bonds in understanding positive reentry. However, there is evidence that the effect of social bonds on recidivism may vary by gender. Furthermore, research suggests that an individual’s propensity for criminality, including prior criminal history, may hinder the development and maintenance of positive social bonds and subsequently affect reentry transitions. The current study extends previous research in two ways. First, the authors examine gender differences in the sources of recidivism and focus on the role of social ties and criminal history in shaping recidivism risk. Next, the authors consider if the influence of parolees’ ties to their parents and intimate partners is conditioned by their criminal history. The results reinforce the importance of social ties, particularly to parents, for parolees; however, the results also suggest that male relationships with parents and intimate partners may be influenced by prior criminal involvement.

Examining the Sources of Variation in Risk for Recidivism

This research explores the correlates of desistance and recidivism among a modern cohort of men released from prison. Using eight years of follow‐up data, we estimate a series of multivariate models to differentiate offenders who recidivate in the short term from men who failed after an extended period or who do not return to criminal behavior at all. Consistent with research of this type, the odds of recidivism increased sharply after release and leveled off over time. In addition, younger men with more extensive criminal histories were the least likely to desist and failed early in the release period. The results also reveal heterogeneity in patterns of recidivism over the short and long term, and highlight the importance of post‐release context in understanding prisoner reentry.

Young Men Who Kill A Prospective Longitudinal Examination From Childhood

Prior research has revealed important insights about some factors which increase the probability that individuals will commit murder; however, existing studies rely on retrospective data from institutional samples and have not examined homicide offending using data collected before the murder was committed. We use prospective longitudinal data from the Pittsburgh Youth Study to examine homicide using factors from multiple informants and developmental periods. Early risk scores showed whether homicide offenders could be predicted at an early age. The study reveals early-life factors that increase risk for perpetrating lethal violence and yields information on the dose-response relationships between predictors and homicide.

Rethinking Community Organization and Robbery: Considering Illicit Market Dynamics

Research indicates that socially integrated communities experience lower rates of violent crime. However, we have a limited understanding of the specific neighborhood‐level processes accounting for this pattern. In particular, we know little about the convergence of informal control mechanisms and other contextual processes such as drug market activity. This paper addresses this issue by assessing the mediating role of drug markets and informal social control in the relationship between levels of violence and social structural characteristics of neighborhoods. Three research questions are examined: Do drug markets account for the relationship between social structural factors and robbery? Does informal social control mediate the link between social structural factors and drug market activity? Is informal social control directly related to robbery or indirectly through drug market activity? Results indicate that drug markets mediate the relationship between structural factors and robbery. After including drug markets in our models, the relationship between informal social control and robbery was no longer significant, suggesting that prosocial regulatory mechanisms reduce drug market activity, which in turn is associated with less violence.

The Starkweather Syndrome: exploring criminal history antecedents of homicidal crime sprees 1

Little is known about the criminal backgrounds of offenders who commit homicidal crime sprees. Based on data from a purposive sample of 654 convicted murderers selected from eight states, this study compared the offense and criminal history of offenders who committed homicides during crime sprees and those who did not. Offenders who murdered during a crime spree were significantly more violent and criminally versatile than other homicide offenders during their instant homicide event. Offenders with prior convictions for robbery, child molestation, and multiple probation sentences were significantly at risk for homicidal spree offending. Implications of the findings and directions for future research are offered.

Violent Conduct and Victimization Risk in the Urban Illicit Drug Economy: A Prospective Examination

A small but growing body of criminological research examines the nature of social control mechanisms in the context of urban illicit drug markets in order to understand patterns of violence. Several studies find that merchants operating in this economy experience relatively high rates of violent victimization. Existing theoretical and empirical research suggests, however, that an aggressive posture serves a deterrent function in the illicit marketplace. Merchants with a violent persona will have significantly lower rates of victimization compared to their less-violent counterparts. Using a within-person design applied to prospective longitudinal data from a sample of urban males, this paper examines the proposition that violent conduct attenuates the relationship between participation in the illicit drug marketplace and risk for violent victimization. Combined, the results offer partial support for this proposition. We discuss the implications of this study for research on violent behavior, illegal drug markets, and victimization.

CYNICAL STREETS: NEIGHBORHOOD SOCIAL PROCESSES AND PERCEPTIONS OF CRIMINAL INJUSTICE*

Studies have found that African Americans are more likely to perceive racial biases in the criminal justice system than are those from other racial groups. There is a limited understanding of how neighborhood social processes affect variation in these perceptions. This study formulates a series of hypotheses focused on whether perceived racial biases in the criminal justice system or perceptions of injustice vary as a function of levels of moral and legal cynicism as well as of adverse police–citizen encounters. These hypotheses are tested with multilevel regression models applied to data from a sample of 689 African Americans located in 39 neighborhoods. Findings from the regression models indicate that the positive association between structural disadvantage and perceptions of injustice is accounted for by moral and legal cynicism. Furthermore, adverse police encounters significantly increase perceptions of injustice; controlling for these encounters reduces the strength of the association between cynicism and injustice perceptions. Finally, the findings reveal that cynicism intensifies the association between adverse police encounters and perceptions of criminal injustice. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for research regarding perceived biases in the criminal justice system and neighborhood social processes.

Fear, Social Interactions, and Violence Mitigation

The fear of crime is generally considered as a social ill that undermines dimensions of individual well-being. Prior research generally specifies the fear of crime as an outcome variable in order to understand its complex etiology. More recently, however, researchers have suggested fear has a deterrence function whereby it reduces individuals’ involvement in violent encounters. This notion could hold important clues to understand the social sources of violence. We examine whether the fear of crime inhibits involvement in violent encounters, both as offender or victim, and if adjustments in routine activities explain these effects. The results suggest fear of crime reduces violence involvement, in part, by constraining routine activities. We conclude that the fear of crime appears to be a mechanism of violence mitigation that, paradoxically, bolsters physical well-being. The results are discussed with regard to their implications for criminological theory and research on interpersonal violence.

Trajectories of Callous-Unemotional Traits in Childhood Predict Different Forms of Peer Victimization in Adolescence

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits (e.g., lack of empathy and guilt) differentiate a group of children at particularly high risk for engaging in aggressive behavior, notably bullying. However, little is known about whether youths with CU traits are at risk for being victimized by their peers. We examined the associations between trajectories of CU traits in childhood (between 7 and 12 years old) and peer victimization in adolescence (14 years old). The participants were drawn from the Twins Early Development Study, a longitudinal population-based study of twins born in England and in Wales. The trajectories of CU traits (i.e., stable high, increasing, decreasing and stable low) were identified through general growth mixture modeling. Four forms of peer victimization were considered: physical victimization, verbal victimization, social manipulation, and attacks on property. We found that youths with stable high levels, increasing levels, and decreasing levels of CU traits in childhood had higher levels of physical victimization in adolescence, not explained by other predictors at age 7 (e.g., conduct problems). Youths with increasing levels of CU traits, compared with the ones with stable low levels, also had higher levels of verbal victimization, social manipulation, and attacks on property. Our findings highlight the importance of distinct trajectories of CU traits in accounting for the experience of different forms of peer victimization. Youths with CU traits may benefit from bullying prevention programs, as they are likely to be the targets of peer victimization.