Thomas J. Bernard

Conceptualizing criminal justice theory

In an attempt to advance the development and generalization of criminal justice theory as a whole, we propose a framework for classifying specific criminal justice theories. We then present an interpretive history of the academic field of criminal justice to demonstrate how the field can be organized within that framework. We conclude by describing some lessons about theory learned in the field of criminology and applying these lessons to the field of criminal justice.

Attachment, masculinity, and self-control: A theory of male crime rates

Attachment theory and research from developmental psychology suggest that disruptions in attachments to primary caregivers in early childhood have long-term negative consequences. Scholars in the emerging field of men’s studies argue that boys disproportionately experience these disruptions of early attachment and that these disruptions are causally related to elements of what is often described as the masculine gender role. These two bodies of theory and research are combined with Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) theory of low self-control in a new theory of disproportionate male offending.

Towards a criminology of crimes against humanity

Criminology has largely ignored the study of crimes against humanity even though the acts involved—genocide, murder, rape, torture, the appropriation or destruction of property and the displacement and enslavement of populations—are criminal under national and international law and more serious than most crimes commonly studied by criminologists. We examine why criminology has neglected these crimes, argue that criminological theorizing will benefit by attending to this substantive area and put forward a theory of crimes against humanity derived from and expanding on existing criminological theory both to offer a basis for new theoretical and empirical work and to illustrate how criminological theories might be modified to provide more powerful accounts of crime. The article draws on a case example of genocidal mass-murder: Jedwabne, Poland, July 1941.

Juvenile crime and the transformation of juvenile justice: Is there a juvenile crime wave?

ABSTRACT Current get-tough juvenile policy reforms are based on an assumption that juvenile crime has been increasing for some time. Official and victimization data on juvenile crime are examined to see whether such a trend can be documented. The data show many conflicting trends, but the article argues that the most consistent interpretation is that juvenile crime, with the exception of homicide, has declined by about one-third over the last twenty years. In addition, the article argues that homicide trends, by themselves, do not justify a wholesale transformation of juvenile justice.

Postmodern criminology in relation to radical and conflict criminology

The literature on postmodern criminology suggests that there is some relationship between it and radical criminology. This relationship apparently is based in part on the ract that both are further related to conflict theory. However, conceptual analyses on these types of theories have not fully explicated whatever similarities and differences exist among them. This essay identifies six core theoretical assertions in conflict criminology and compares them to parallel assertions in radical and postmodern criminology. Such comparison is followed by a discussion on the relevance of conflict and radical theory as conceptual backdrops from which to comprehend postmodern inquiry.

Crime in the waste oil industry

In the late 1970s, a new pattern of criminality appeared: the illegal disposal of toxic wastes by previously legitimate waste oil dealers, especially by selling a mixture of liquid toxic wastes and waste oils as fuel oil. This pattern of crime was caused by changes in the social conditions determining economic self‐interest in the petroleum industry, and by changes in the criminal law regarding the disposal of toxic wastes. Official crime rates have remained low despite widespread criminal behaviors because of the power of affected industries to limit the enforcement of criminal laws.

A critique of Mark Colvin's, crime and coercion: An integrated theory of chronic criminality

Colvin (2000) argues that thepropensity for chronic criminal behaviorresults from developmental andsocialization processes that ultimatelyoriginate in the application of erraticcoercive control. He further argues thatthis process operates at multiple levels(i.e., individual, group, andorganizational). In addition, he arguesthat the relationship between the types ofcontrol and criminal behavior is mediatedthrough intergenerational and developmentaleffects, suggesting that the control typethat has the greatest effect on behavior isone that will be passed on to the nextindividual, group, or organization.In this paper, we critique the theoryproposed by Colvin. First, we summarizethe theory. Second, we categorize it interms of its relationship to other types ofcriminology theories. Third, we criticizeit for failing to sufficiently specify itsempirical assertions in order to facilitateempirical testing, and we suggest sixhypotheses that we think capture at least asmall portion of the theory itself.

Structure and control: Reconsidering Hirschi's concept of commitment

Hirschis concept of commitment confuses the definition and the explanation of conformity, as part of a more general confusion between conformity and legality. The result is tautology—an explanation that merely restates a definition. Commitment is properly conceived as an antecedent variable that measures the role of social structure in the origin of delinquency. As such, it explains legal actions but not conforming actions.

EFFICIENCY AND THE NEW DIFFERENTIAL PROCESSING

ABSTRACT Differences in official crime rates by race, class, and gender are usually explained by the differences in offending behavior and/or the differences in official processing, where differential processing usually is interpreted as resulting from prejudice by criminal justice officials. In recent decades there have been large reductions in prejudice-based differential processing, but we argue that in the same time period new criminal justice policies aimed at the efficient use of scarce resources have produced a new form of differential processing. These policies concentrate scarce criminal justice resources on high crime rate groups and divert them from low crime rate groups. The result is that individuals in high and low crime rate groups may be processed differently even when they engage in identical offending behavior. As with differential processing that may actually be motivated by prejudice, the impact of any particular policy is small, but these impacts accumulate as the person moves through the criminal justice system and can ultimately result in large deleterious effects overall. Given the widespread dissemination of these policies, we conclude that criminal justice researchers and practitioners need to further discuss the unintended consequences of these policies at much greater length.

Steady state respiratory responses to tasks used in Federal testing of self-contained breathing apparatus

A portion of Title 30, Part II, CFR calls for a Man Test, which is a series of regimens performed with a breathing apparatus. The respiratory responses to the tasks in the Man Test were established on coal miners and students. Based on these responses, the minimal metabolic requirements were derived for the use of breathing apparatuses with a service life of 30 minutes or more.