journal article
LitStream Collection
Home
Marshall, Ineke Haen; Webb, Vincent J.
doi: 10.1177/088740348700200402pmid: N/A
National Crime Survey (NCS) data on criminal incidents over a ten-year period (1973-1982) were used to examine the correlates of type of self-protective action taken by crime victims. The primary focus of the study is the usefulness of the subculture of violence thesis for the interpretation of victim responses to personal crime. The study also explores the importance of contextual ("neighborhood") characteristics vis-a-vis individual characteristics in explaining victim behavior.
doi: 10.1177/088740348700200403pmid: N/A
This analysis applies routine activity theory to the risk of rape, using 10 years (1973-82) of NCS data. In addition to univariate analysis describing characteristics of the victimization itself, bivariate and multivariate (discriminant) analyses are employed to assess the risk of rape, comparing 762 rape and attempted rape victims with 2,523 randomly selected non-rape victims. Most characteristics concerning the rape incident itself (e.g., time of day and season) were consistent with routine activity theory. However, the place of occurrence was not. Additionally, discriminant analysis showed that marital status, age, family income, and the number of living units per structure appear to be the strongest predictors of the risk of rape. Unlike most prior research, race was not a factor in the risk of rape, although race was correlated with those factors influencing the risk of rape. Given the fundamental level of these predictor variables, the likelihood of affecting the level of rape through policy appears limited.
Uchida, Craig D.; Brooks, Laure W.; Kopers, Christopher S.
doi: 10.1177/088740348700200404pmid: N/A
How dangerous are domestic encounters to police officers? This question, posed by police, policymakers, and researchers, has been answered through anecdotes and assumptions, and more recently by empirical data. But the findings have been mixed. Police training manuals have focused on the danger of family disputes, citing high figures reported by the FBI of law enforcement officers killed. Researchers on family violence (Straus, et al., 1980), violent police-citizen encounters (Lester, 1980), and police response to spouse assaults (Parnas, 1967, and Buchanan and Perry 1986) agree that the domestic disturbance is the most dangerous police activity. Other researchers dispute this contention. Margarita (1980), Konstantin (1984), and Garner and Clemmer (1986) have found that robberies and burglaries are more dangerous than domestic disputes.
Parsonage, William H.; Bushey, W. Conway
doi: 10.1177/088740348700200405pmid: N/A
Concern over the victimization of probation and parole workers in the line of duty has recently resulted in legislative proposals (e.g. , enhanced sentences for assault on workers) and policy initiatives intended to improve their protection. Prior to the research reported here there has been no published information describing the extent and nature of the phenomenon. Our survey revealed that 38% of the total probation/parole workforce in Pennsylvania have been victimized (e.g., assaulted, threatened, intimidated) at least once during their careers. When only probation and parole officers who actively supervise cases were considered, the rate of victimization rose to about 50%. Data generated by the survey demonstrate that the victimization of probation/parole workers in the line of duty is a serious and pervasive occupational health problem about which something needs to be done.
doi: 10.1177/088740348700200406pmid: N/A
This paper addresses unintended victimization which has resulted from the United States government's policy of protecting organized crime witnesses. Forms that unintended victimization take are described in the context of various court cases against the United States of America in which the victims (complainants) identify themselves and state their grievances. These cases demonstrate that criminal justice policy makers should be concerned about the negative consequences of their policy, and especially that their policy does not abrogate the constitutional rights of citizens and hence victimize them. More generally, this study of the government's decision to protect organized crime witnesses demonstrates that criminal justice policy is in a constant state of flux and that policy makers must be confronted with negative consequences of their policy before they react. This study also demonstrates that there are unforeseen and often unintended consequences of criminal justice policy, that we still operate much on a trial and error basis, and that reasonableness is the measuring rod of sound criminal justice policy.
Showing 1 to 10 of 11 Articles