This study presents a test of Messner and Rosenfeld's theory of institutional anomie. It employs cross- national data on the rates of homicide and theft, as well as a variety of indicators of the economy and of the ineffective- ness of non-economic social institutions. Finally, it examines the degree to which non-economic social institutions mediate and/or moderate the effects of the economy on these cross-national rates of crime. As previous tests of this theory have also found, the level of support our results provide for the theory is dependent upon both the measures employed and the functional forms of the relationships.
Although all jurisdictions with capital punishment currently have at least one statutory aggravating factor for causing the death of a law-enforcement officer, little is currently known about the fate of these persons. There is a common perception that these individuals would be the most likely to receive a death sentence among those convicted of capital crimes; however, this assumption has not been empirically tested. The purpose of this research was to examine this assumption in the state of North Carolina among the population of offenders convicted of capital murder between the years of 1977 and 2009. Quantitative analysis shows that murdering a law-enforcement officer does not increase the likelihood of a death sentence. Additional qualitative analysis of these cases examines the ultimate fate of these offenders and reveals that the death penalty is reserved for those who either specifically seek out law-enforcement officers, brutalize and degrade them, or kill them in an attempt to avoid arrest or to escape that is either unsuccessful or did not require the murder to succeed in these endeavors. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.
ABSTRACT Recent longitudinal analyses of macro-social data indicate that formal sanctions have little, if any, effect on the aggregate supply of crime. It is our contention that the exclusion of other factors which enter into the decision-making processes of potential offenders renders these negative findings suspect. Drawing on insights from utilitarian theories of crime control, the present investigation seeks to extend the previous research by examining the influence of objective measures of monetary gains from crime, the risk of apprehension, and legitimate economic opportunities, on the aggregate supply of economic crime within a large Southwestern city. The ARIMA analyses of monthly data, spanning the years 1975 to 1989, indicate that gains from crime have no effect on the aggregate supply of economic crime. The implications of these findings for utilitarian theory are discussed.
This paper aims to introduce and teach readers step-by-step how to conduct a meta-ethnography within the field of criminology. In order to accomplish this, we purposefully selected a very narrow area of study, professional criminals as presented in well-known classic criminological monographs and then further restricted it to a rational choice perspective, a theoretical rubric easily addressed via the meta-ethnography. These limiting decisions were done so that readers would not get lost in the substance of the meta-ethnography. A search of qualitative research monographs and related online bibliographic databases identified a total of 32 research monographs, 6 of which met the inclusion criteria for the critical appraisal process. Following the methodological approach offered by Noblit and Hare’s (1988) traditional meta-ethnography analytical framework, 24 of the most prevalent rational choice concepts were identified and collapsed into a Line of Argument Synthesis of 11 metaphors highlighting the intrinsic and nuanced connections among taken-for-granted rational choice concepts (e.g., rationality, perceptions of risks/costs/benefits, etc.), criminal decision-making processes, and related lifestyle. The implications of meta-ethnography as a methodological tool for theoretical assessment in criminology and criminal justice are discussed.
There is a dearth of research examining criminal victimization among tourists and travelers. Additionally, with the exception of the routine activities framework, none of the leading criminological perspectives have been applied to study tourism victimization. In this paper, we apply a dominant criminological perspective, self-control theory, and an emerging perspective on tourist personality inventory, the Jackson Tourist Personality Inventory, to examine risks of victimization among a sample of tourists. We also assess whether the adventurer tourist personality inventory influences risks of victimization beyond an individual's self-control. Employing three categories of victimization – personal victimization, property victimization, and other victimization – we found low self-control predicted two types of victimization (property victimization and other victimization) while the adventurer tourist personality type was a significant predictor of one type of victimization (property victimization). We also uncovered that the characteristics of an adventurer tourist were not related to victimization risks after a tourist's self-control has been taken into consideration. Finally, we found that under conditions of very low self-control, the adventurer tourist measure was related to property victimization. Theoretical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Homicides by juvenile offenders have been of great interest to the public and policymakers in the United States for four decades. Despite the concern over young murderers, many analyses have been limited to small clinical samples. Empirical studies using Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) data, a national database maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, have largely concentrated on analyzing basic victim, offender, and offense data or exploring gender differences. Racial differences, when explored with respect to juvenile homicide offenders (JHOs), largely have concentrated on White and Black offenders, given the low percentage involvement of American Indians and Alaskan Natives, and Asian and Pacific Islanders. This article used 37 years of SHR data (1976-2012; n = 52,916) to investigate differences between the four racial groups (White, Black, American Indian/Alaskan Native, and Asian American/Pacific Islander). This article focused on three questions: First, did the offender and offense characteristics of all JHOs arrested during the study period vary by race? Second, did the characteristics of victims, weapons used, crime circumstances, and offender count in incidents in which JHOs killed single victims differ across racial groups? Third, are offender, victim, and offense characteristics predictive of racial classification? Bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted. The findings revealed more similarities than differences across the racial groups. Multinomial regression analyses revealed, however, that several variables were found to distinguish racial groups of JHOs in a predictive way: region, location, White victim, family victim, gun use, and homicide circumstance. Importantly, American Indian/Alaskan Native and Asian/Pacific Islander JHOs significantly differed from White and Black JHOs. In contrast to media depiction, gang-related homicides were significantly more likely to involve Asian/Pacific Islander juveniles than juveniles from the other racial groups. Implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.
One of the biggest challenges facing researchers trying to empirically test structural or institutional anomie theories is the operationalization of the key concept of anomie. This challenge is heightened by the data constraints involved in cross-national research. As a result, researchers have been forced to rely on surrogate or proxy measures of anomie and indirect tests of the theories. The purpose of this study is to examine an innovative and more theoretically sound measure of anomie and to test its ability to make cross-national predictions of serious crime. Our results are supportive of the efficacy of this construct to explain cross-national variations in crime rates. Nations with the highest rates of structural anomie also have the highest predicted rates of homicide.
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