Paul-Philippe Pare

Gun Cultures or Honor Cultures? Explaining Regional and Race Differences in Weapon Carrying

We use the National Violence against Women (and Men) Survey to examine the effects of region and race on the tendency to carry weapons for protection. We find that Southern and Western whites are much more likely than Northern whites to carry guns for self-protection, controlling for their risk of victimization. The difference between Southern and Northern whites is particularly strong for women. We do not find much evidence for regional/race differences in carrying knives or mace. These findings provide support for the idea that regional differences in weapon carrying reflect a gun culture rather than an honor culture. We see more evidence of an honor culture among blacks: they are more likely than whites to carry knives as well as guns, controlling for their risk of victimization.

Does the Criminal Justice System Treat Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Offenders Leniently

We examine whether men who physically assault their female partners or who commit sexual assault receive more lenient treatment than offenders who commit other types of assaults. Analyses of the National Violence Against Women Survey do not support these hypotheses. Rather, they suggest that women who assault their male partners are particularly likely to avoid arrest. In addition, both men and women who assault partners are more likely to avoid conviction than other offenders. Evidence suggests that there has been an increase over time in rates of arrest and conviction for partner violence.

Income inequality, poverty and crime across nations

We examine the relationship between income inequality, poverty, and different types of crime. Our results are consistent with recent research in showing that inequality is unrelated to homicide rates when poverty is controlled. In our multi-level analyses of the International Crime Victimization Survey we find that inequality is unrelated to assault, robbery, burglary, and theft when poverty is controlled. We argue that there are also theoretical reasons to doubt that the level of income inequality of a country affects the likelihood of criminal behaviour.

The relationship between incarceration and premature adult mortality: gender specific evidence.

We examine the relationship between incarceration and premature mortality for men and women. Analyses using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) reveal strong gender differences. Using two different analytic procedures the results show that women with a history of incarceration are more likely to die than women without such a history, even after controlling for health status and criminal behavior prior to incarceration, the availability of health insurance, and other socio-demographic factors. In contrast, there is no relationship between incarceration and mortality for men after accounting for these factors. The results point to the importance of examining gender differences in the collateral consequences of incarceration. The results also contribute to a rapidly emerging literature linking incarceration to various health hazards. Although men constitute the bulk of inmates, future research should not neglect the special circumstances of female former inmates and their rapidly growing numbers.

Risks of Minor and Serious Violent Victimization in Prison: The Impact of Inmates’ Mental Disorders, Physical Disabilities, and Physical Size

The authors use the Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities 2004, which includes 18,185 respondents, to examine why some inmates are more likely to experience violent victimization in prison, focusing on the effects of mental disorders, physical disabilities, and physical size. The authors test four hypotheses based on patterns of minor versus serious victimization and two mediators for provocative behaviors: verbal abuse and physical assault. (1) The authors do not find much support for the hypothesis that inmates with mental disorders, physical disabilities, or small physical size are stigmatized as being vulnerable. Inmates with symptoms of delusions are the only exception. (2) The authors do not find support for the hypothesis that inmates with mental disorders are labeled as being threatening, but they do find support for inmates with larger physical size. (3) The authors find support for the hypothesis that provocation contributes to the victimization of inmates with some types of mental disorders: personality disorders and paranoid thoughts. The victimization of inmates with other mental disorders is not explained by provocation, however. (4) The authors find tentative support for the hypothesis of reversed causality between some types of physical disabilities and serious violent victimization: Paralysis and brain injuries are probably consequences of serious violent victimization while in prison. In contrast, arthritis is a risk factor for victimization.

Indicators of Police Performance and Their Relationships With Homicide Rates Across 77 Nations

This study provides a first empirical test of the relationship between indicators of police performance and homicide rates in cross-national perspective. Results show that police performance indices are strongly associated with lower homicide rates, controlling for the levels of socioeconomic development, economic problems (poverty–inequality), democracy, and incarceration. They also show that police performance fully mediates the relationship between socioeconomic development and homicide. Thus, richer and more developed nations may have lower homicide rates because they have better police. Overall, results suggest that good policing matters for cross-national criminology, in addition to social and economic factors. Finally, the new police performance index is provided for future research.

Are Inmates With Military Backgrounds “Army Strong?”

We use data from the Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities 2004 to examine the relationship between prior military service and misbehavior for a nationally representative sample of incarcerated inmates. Our regression analyses, based on 18,185 respondents across 326 prisons, suggest that inmates with military backgrounds tend to fare better than others across 12 negative prison outcomes. In contrast, we do not find much support for the argument—implied by violentization and other theories—that inmates with military backgrounds fare worse than others, with the exception of high levels of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and violent victimization. Supplementary analyses also show conditional patterns based on exposure to combat as well as honorable versus dishonorable discharge.

The Impact of Known Criminals on the Proportion and Seriousness of Intimate Partner Violence Incidents

This study examines a hypothesis that has not received adequate scrutiny: that an important proportion of intimate partner violence (IPV) incidents, particularly those that are more serious, involve generalist offenders known to the police. Many criminological theories and empirical studies suggest that offenders are often generalists, yet few IPV studies consider this hypothesis. Based on a sample of 52,149 IPV incidents recorded by police, we found that 31% of IPV incidents involved suspects only with criminal records for non-IPV criminality, 9% involved victims only with criminal records for non-IPV criminality, and 14% involved both suspects and victims with criminal records for non-IPV criminality. Thus, 45% of IPV offenders and 23% of IPV victims had criminal records for non-IPV criminality. Multilevel regression analyses reveal that controlling for prior IPV incidents, community context, and other individual and couple variables, IPV offenders with criminal records are 16% more likely to be involved in more serious incidents, and victims of IPV with criminal records are 17% more likely to be involved in more serious incidents. In addition, IPV incidents for which both suspects and victims had criminal records were 46% more likely to be more serious incidents. These results suggest that generalist criminals known by police have an important impact on the proportion of IPV incidents, particularly the more serious ones.

A Closer Look at the Relationship Between Low Self-Control and Delinquency: The Effects of Identity Styles

We explore how identity processing styles affect the relationship between self-control and delinquency. We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) to examine whether the effects of the diffuse-avoidant, normative, and informational identity styles mediate and interact with the relationship between self-control and delinquency. Our results show that self-control is associated with the three identity styles and that identity styles mediate and moderate the effect of self-control on different types of delinquency. Self-control is partially mediated in predicting different types of delinquency and is fully mediated when predicting heavy marijuana use. In addition, interactive effects of identity styles and self-control are observed for drug and alcohol use but not crimes against persons and property.