Roy Lotz

Sociability, School Experience, and Delinquency

Some adolescents are attracted to hedonistic activities because of their active sociability and negative school experiences. This study examines the effects of these two variables in comparison with variables from labeling theory and control theory. Results show that active sociability is a strong predictor of delinquent behavior for African American and White teenagers. Negative school experience predicts delinquency only among Whites. Labeling and control theories receive tepid support.

Public Support for the Death Penalty

Over the last decade public support for capital punishment has increased. Yet few empirical studies have attempted theoretically to explain this occurrence. Culling rather diverse literature, the seeds of three plausible explanations have emerged. They have been identified as the Rational, the Systems, and the Traditional Values models. Data for the project were derived from survey questionnaire responses of 1149 of 1872 persons (63 percent response rate), via a 4-wave mail survey. The sample was drawn from all available telephone directories in Washington State; both adult male and females were surveyed. The data offered minimal support for either the Rational or Systems models, and provided better support for the Traditional Values explanation. Because the Traditional Values model was the best supported, it was then subjected to a more systematic analysis by focusing on three of its salient dimensions. These included sexual restraint, orderliness, and discipline. Finally, policy implications of the data were addressed, particularly in light of recent United States Supreme Court decisions.

Public Anxiety about Crime

Is anxiety about crime rational, based on personal experience as a criminal victim? Or is it based on something more remote, such as opposition to social change? In the face of conflicting evidence, Furstenberg proposed dividing anxiety into two components: Fear, which tends to have some “rational” basis; and concern, which does not. The present study reexamines the Furstenberg thesis, using different indicators and a quite different sample.

An empirical assessment of the effect of professionalism on cynicism among prison guards

Prison guards have generally escaped social science inquiry. Although the prison guards’ officially prescribed role (custody and security) is straightforward, part of the problem is their isolation from the free society and the danger and uncertainty surrounding their work. One attitude that is potentially emergent in this problematic environment is cynicism. To minimize the effects of cynicism on prison guards, correctional agencies have devised and implemented a plan of professionalization, which is characterized by a concern for higher standards in all areas and improved benefits and working conditions. Our focus was evaluating the effect, if any, professionalism has on cynicism. Analysis of data derived from 144 prison guards showed that the relationship between professionalism and cynicism is complex. Generally, only one professionalism dimension—sense of calling to the field—reduced a prison guards cynicism. Effects of other professionalism dimensions on cynicism ranged from negligible to moderate.

Another Look at the Orthodoxy-Anti-Semitism Nexus

In recent years, social science research on the impact of religious commitment has shown consistently that associations between public religious practice and racial prejudice are negative and that associations between religious orthodoxy and racial prejudice are positive. But the linkage between religiosity and religious prejudice remains problematic. At the center of this controversy lies Glocks and Starks Christian Beliefs and Anti-Semitism. Herein, we examine the most salient criticisms of that monograph and reanalyze the Bay Area data on which it rests, indicating more accurately the strength of the basic relationship, the insignificance of anomia as an intervening variable, and the presence of previously unheeded correlated measurement errors whose removal vitiates the Glock-Stark thesis.1 CHRISTIAN BELIEFS AND

Crime and the American Press.

Foreword Series Foreword Justifying Crime News Crime Over Time Dysfunctions Omissions and Distortions Deviance in the News Columnists on Crime Crimes and Criminals Reporting on the Courts Reporting Life Behind Bars The Critics Selected Bibliography Index