Stacey Nofziger

Perceptions of Police and Safety in a Small Town

This study examines how perceptions of police affect feelings of safety in the community. Using a community survey from a nonmetropolitan area, this study investigates predictors of confidence in police and whether confidence decreases concern with safety. Findings indicate confidence in police is influenced predominantly by impressions that crime has decreased in the community or by having a positive encounter with police. In turn, confidence in police significantly increases feeling safe. These findings suggest that fear of crime can be reduced through positive interactions between police and community residents. Thus, in addition to effectively enforcing the law, efforts to develop good community relations are important for police in smaller town settings, just as for urban police.

Deviant Lifestyles and Violent Victimization at School

This study examines how the lifestyles of juveniles influence violent victimization at school. Using data from the National Survey of Adolescents, this study demonstrates that both indirect victimization, through witnessing violence, and sexual and physical assaults of students are pervasive problems at schools. Although a number of individual and structural characteristics predict the risk of becoming a victim at school, the most consistent predictor of violent victimization is the juveniles own deviant lifestyle. Those who participate in a deviant lifestyle substantially increase their odds of all three forms of victimization. Therefore, even within the relatively controlled setting of schools, juveniles who participate in deviant lifestyles are at a high risk for victimization.

The Impact of Gender on Binge Drinking Behavior Among U.S. College Students Attending a Midwestern University: An Analysis of Two Gender Measures

Using a critical feminist framework, the authors examine the relationship between gender role orientation and binge drinking among college students. Two measures of gender identity are employed: The Bem Sex Role Inventory and the Personal Attributes Questionnaire. The authors test the hypothesis that traditional masculine gender role orientation is predictive of contemporary binge drinking behavior among college students. Gender role orientation, as measured by each scale (independently and combined), has a significant impact on drinking. Masculine gender identity is a significant predictor of binge drinking while controlling for respondent’s sex. Binge drinking and its implications are discussed in the context of alcohol-related crime and victimization.

Bingo!: Hints of Deviance in the Accounts of Sociability and Profit of Bingo Players

This study investigates the social construction of bingo players and bingo playing. Although gambling has largely maintained its deviant reputation, bingo, as a form of gambling, remains untainted by labels of deviance. We undertook a small ethnographic study of bingo playing in a Southwestern town. Because we had very little knowledge of bingo and bingo playing when we entered the field, our original research questions reflected the central concerns of how to play bingo, who plays bingo, and why people begin and continue playing bingo. We found that the bingo world contains a complex web of assumptions and practices surrounding who should win and how to win. Information from our informal interviews suggests that players begin playing and continue playing for the hope of winning and profit and to maintain friendship networks built through playing bingo. Four preliminary domains of analysis emerged from our data: the protocol of bingo playing; and winning; the culture and superstitions of bingo; fun, profit and bingo playing; and hints of deviance among bingo players. Each domain is critical in answering our question: What is bingo?

Victimization and the general theory of crime.

Theories of victimization developed independently of theories of offending, in spite of consistent findings of similarities between offenders and victims of crime. This study examines whether Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) general theory of crime, typically used to predict offending, also has relevance in understanding juvenile victimization. The data for this project are drawn from a sample of over 1,200 middle and high school students. Using structural equation models, the findings suggest that higher self-control does directly decrease victimization and that self-control also affects victimization indirectly though opportunities (peer deviance). Implications for the studies of victimization as well as the general theory of crime are discussed.

Adolescent Sexual Victimization Choice of Confidant and the Failure of Authorities

This study investigates the experience of sexual victimization among American youth. The objective is to determine who adolescents tell of their victimization and whether the choice of confidant influences the likelihood of the offender being arrested. Using data from the 1995 National Survey of Adolescents, the authors found that most adolescents do not turn to official sources but instead tell family members and friends about their sexual victimization. Although only 13% of sexual assault disclosures resulted in an arrest of the offender, arrest was more likely to occur when the assault was initially reported to the victims mother. A much less common choice of confidant was mandatory reporters, professionals in contact with children who are required by law to report suspected and known child abuse. However, when mandatory reporters were informed, they were not consistent in reporting the offense to officials. Therefore, the authors suggest mandatory reporters are not offering the necessary support to adolescent victims of sexual abuse.

COPS AND THE COLLEGE CROWD: YOUNG ADULTS AND PERCEPTIONS OF POLICE IN A COLLEGE TOWN

ABSTRACT Research on attitudes of college students toward police provides an opportunity to explore the relationship among age, subgroup/cultural adaptation, and anti-authority orientation. Using data that allow comparisons between college students and the general community population, this study finds that being in college, not age, diminishes students’ trust in police, and that students are two times more likely than general citizens to report feeling unsafe. Students’ decreased confidence in police, as compared to general citizens, holds for those with and without police contact. However, positive evaluation of contact significantly mediates perceptions of police for whites but not for Blacks. The study demonstrates that even within small, relatively homogeneous communities subgroup identity may inspire or discourage trust and, in turn, diminish feelings of safety. Further, patterns of trust and safety differ for women and men; women report higher confidence in police, but lower feelings of safety, a pattern opposite that for men. The college town provides an instructive case for examining a context in which newcomers and town citizens interact, sometimes with conflicting orientations.

A Gendered Perspective on the Relationship Between Self-Control and Deviance

A consistent finding within criminology is the large sex gap in offending. Although research has examined this phenomenon extensively, the sex gap is still largely unexplained. This study proposes the sex gap in offending can be better understood through exploring the relationship between self-control and gender identity. Using data collected as part of the Tucson Youth Project, this study found gender identity was a crucial link between sex, self-control, and involvement in deviant behavior. Specifically, femininity was associated with greater self-control, and both these variables predicted deviance, even when controlling for sex. In contrast, masculinity had no effect on deviant behavior.

Differential Associations and Daily Smoking of Adolescents: The Importance of Same-Sex Models

This article examines whether the importance of parents, siblings, best friends, and romantic interests are sex-specific in predicting daily juvenile smoking. Juveniles who smoke daily are strongly influenced by prosmoking attitudes and behaviors of same-sex family members. However, peers remain the most important associations in predicting daily smoking. An important finding is that juveniles without same-sex family role models, or close peers, are at higher risk. Policy implications for prevention and cessation programs are discussed.

Predicting Suicidal Tendencies Among High Risk Youth With the General Theory of Crime

ABSTRACT This study examines whether suicidal tendencies among a group of juveniles who have come to the attention of Child Protective Services can be predicted by self-control theory. Using data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, we find that self-control predicts suicidal tendencies. In addition, the effect of self-control remains significant even when controlling for the juveniles’ depression and previously reported suicidal thoughts and behaviors. This study lends further support to the claim that self-control serves as a general explanation for a wide range of problematic outcomes. In addition, these findings provide caseworkers with another tool for assessing the risk of suicide among high risk youth.