Racial minorities and lower class persons are, relative to the general population, overrepresented in our courts, jails, and prisons. Conflict theory asserts that this empirical fact is a result of racial and class discrimination while functionalists claim minorities and less economically advantaged persons commit more crime and, therefore, are more likely to be prosecuted and punished. / This study measured the effect of race and class on five prosecution decisions and several in/out and length of punishment decisions. Some 125 past studies were categorized based on the specific prosecution or punishment measure employed. A host of methodological characteristics and measures of the findings of each study were coded and analyzed in a "meta-analysis" format to determine the overall level of race and class discrimination evidenced in past research. / The analysis of past studies revealed that, when the punishment measures were disaggregated, there was convincing evidence of race or class bias in specific decision points in the state's prosecution and punishment apparatus. The need for more studies with higher levels of methodological rigor was evident from summary statistics indicating the number of studies which have controlled for key variables, the number of cases sampled, etc. / An analysis of two jurisdictions in Florida was conducted in which five prosecution decisions, seven in/out punishment, and eight length of punishment measures were used. The punishment measures were further specified by whether they indicated sentencing to or time served in jail, incarceration, or prison. / Forty hypotheses emanating from conflict theory were empirically tested using two multivariate modeling techniques; probit (in/out decisions), and ordinary least squared regression (length of punishment measures). Ten of the forty hypotheses were supported with the data. Blacks and whites were equally likely to be prosecuted at five different stages. Blacks were significantly more likely to be punished (an "in" decision) in four of the seven probit models. Lower class persons were more likely to have charges pursued against them and to be prosecuted than upper class persons. Four hypotheses predicting an inverse relationship between class and punishment were supported, all of which involved in/out decisions. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-03, Section: A, page: 0751. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether delinquent reading underachievers differ from delinquent reading achievers relative to the types of offenses committed. More specifically the study sought answers to the following research questions: (RQ(,1)) Do delinquents who are reading underachievers differ from other delinquents who are reading achievers with respect to the types of offenses committed? (RQ(,2)) Are delinquent reading underachievers more prone to commit the following offenses than delinquent reading achievers?: (1) status offenses; (2) person offenses; (3) property offenses; (4) drug offenses; (5) alcohol offenses; (6) sex offenses; and (7) other offenses. / A random sample of 300 Virginia training school delinquents was chosen from a population of 1,116 using a table of random numbers. Thirty-eight of the sample were discarded because of mental handicaps (IQs below 90 based on the Kuhlmann-Anderson Intelligence Test). Thus, 262 delinquents were actually involved in the study. / The first step in the treatment of data was to classify each delinquent as a reading achiever or underachiever. Reading underachievers were defined as students who are reading two or more years below their expected potential as measured by the Wide Range Achievement Test (Reading). Forty-one of the 262 delinquents were females. Twenty-eight were classified as reading achievers. The remaining 221 delinquents were males. Of this number, 181 were classified as reading underachievers and 40 were classified as reading achievers. / The second step in the treatment of data retrieved from a central file was the tabulation of offenses committed by both reading achievers and underachievers for each category. / A chi-square test and a test of proportion were used to test the hypotheses generated for this study using a 5 percent significance level. / Results indicated that delinquent reading underachievers differed from delinquent reading achievers relative to property offenses. / The researcher recommends that: (1) Instructors emphasize the relevancy of their subject matter to life situations. (2) Reading failures be given maximum opportunities to succeed through early diagnosis and effective remedial programs. (3) Correctional authorities review current practices to effectuate correctional reform for failures in general and reading failures in particular. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-12, Section: A, page: 4049. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

A common link binding the many derivations of scales of the relative perceived seriousness of offenses has been the failure to test whether their use leads to conclusions any different from those reached with the use of simpler crime indices. The study addresses this neglected issue by investigating the relative utility of a perceptually based offense seriousness scale in predicting judicial sentence decisions. Using either a category or magnitude scaling technique, 109 Florida felony court judges rated the relative seriousness of 74 "macro" level offenses phrased in the terminology found within the Florida statutes. In contrast to the popular seriousness scale of Sellin and Wolfgang (1964) that is premised upon micro level crime descriptions, this type of seriousness measure is readily adaptable to criminal justice statistical data which is often measured in generic legal terminology. Initial analysis revealed the derived seriousness scale to be a reliable measure marked by a significant level of consensual agreement amongst the judges. Using a data base of over 5,000 felony sentencing decisions, the perceived seriousness values along with a number of much simpler seriousness weighting schemes were than independently incorporated into prior record and instant offense information. Analysis revealed that although the modeling of judicial sentence decisions could be markedly improved in some instances by increasing the precision of the offense seriousness weighting scheme, the perceptually based scale did not outperform a much simpler crime severity measure based upon the statutory maximum penalty structure. Overall, the addition of perceptually derived offense seriousness weights to past and present offense variables did not appear to strengthen their ability to model judicial decision-making. This study concludes by suggesting new avenues of research in / this topical area and possible uses for perceptually based scales of the relative seriousness of offenses. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-11, Section: A, page: 3713. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

As juvenile justice attempts to find one effective intervention strategy, the justice sysem continues to ignore the idea of non-intervention. Over 150 years of juvenile institutions, courts, and programs have failed to prevent, deter, or control juvenile misbehaviour. In place of eliminating the ineffective programs, the justice system has initiated new and different programs to supplement those programs already in existence. Non-intervention argues that the juvenile justice system should "leave kids alone whenever possible" based on ineffectiveness and latent functions of the existing system, labeling effects of system contact, minor risk to society, and relief of an overburdened system of social control. Non-interventionists advocate doing nothing until an effective method of intervention is available. Perhaps the major reason non-intervention remains an idle suggestion is a lack of research. In order to implement a non-interventionist strategy the system must identify those juveniles who are proper candidates for non-intervention. The wide variety of delinquent and criminal typologies are of little use for selecting juveniles for non-intervention. The present study attempts to identify patterns of offenses useful in determining which juveniles to leave alone. The study groups are three birth cohorts from Racine, Wisconsin for 1942, 1949, and 1955. The data come from the Police Department and Juvenile Bureau and provide a complete enumeration of all police-juvenile contacts from age six to seventeen. The research submits categories of status, victimless, minor property, major property, and personal offenses to Markov analysis and finds most individuals confining their behaviour to minor offenses. Few subjects venture into major property or personal crimes and two-thirds desist before committing four offenses. A cohort analysis reveals an increasing / offense rate both within and between cohorts which is attributable to predominant period effects. These results support the implementation of non-intervention with minor offenders. The age, period, and cohort analysis points to the advantages of cohort techniques for criminological research and prompts the call for increased use of the approach. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-07, Section: A, page: 2457. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

Criminological thought has relied extensively and at times exclusively on traditional criminological sources (e.g. public opinion polls and simulation studies) for information related to the administration and direction of the criminal justice system. Only recently has attention been given to the possible advantages of actively soliciting the prisoner's perspective as a means of enhancing the criminal justice decision making process. One traditional response for the exclusion of the prisoner's perspective has been the view that prisoners possess distorted and irrational beliefs concerning the criminal justice system as compared to nonprisoners. The social-psychological literature of equity theory, however, posits that most people care deeply about justice for themselves and others and that justice and deserving are paramount in their lives. A further contention is made that even deviants internalize standards of fairness to some extent. If the concepts of justice and deserving are pervasive in society as equity theorists suggest, then it might be possible to view prisoners as not necessarily possessing distorted and irrational views toward the criminal justice system as compared to nonprisoners. / The data do not support the relationship of agreement between prisoners and nonprisoners with regard to appropriate penal sanctions for specific criminal offenses. These results tend to adhere to the generally held belief that prisoners possess attitudes toward the law which are distinctly different from views expressed by nonprisoners. The data, while indicating the lack of agreement between the two groups suggest that in the case of one of the most serious crimes, incest, prisoners' views mirror those of nonprisoners and that a level of agreement exists among prisoners themselves with regard to appropriate levels of penal sanctions for specific criminal acts. / As a secondary aspect of ths study, the concept of legal punishment as a social control mechanism is questioned in terms of the personal ability to assess the appropriate level of preventive or deterrent pain. The hypothesized relationship focuses on punishment as being a function of the individual's identification (empathetic apperception) of himself as a potential recipient of the particular sanction. Past research in the area of attributions has concentrated principally on attributions made by individuals as observers, whereas, in this study, the observers (prisoners) are examining a person similar to themselves. The data indicate that the concept of desirable punishment is unrelated to the individual's identification of himself as a potential recipient of the particular sanction. The data may be interpreted to indicate that individuals appear able to provide an assessment of appropriate levels of penal sanctions regardless of personal biases or possible repercussions. It might be further suggested that if empathetic apperception is not a factor in the selection of penal sanctions, then more credence can be attributed to attitude studies and opinion polls indicating a particular punitive trend. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-02, Section: A, page: 0812. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

A consistent finding in the research literature on correctional institution escape is that Black inmates have significantly lower escape rates than White inmates. Despite the potential significance of this finding to understanding prison escape behavior and prison behavior in general, no systematic exploration of this phenomenon has been reported. This research study attempted to remedy this deficiency. A problem hampering the study of escape is that no real theoretical perspective on escape behavior has emerged. To overcome this problem, the theoretical framework from the research on "prisonization" was adapted for this study. This framework uses three concepts, importation, deprivation or an interaction between the two, to explain why "prisonization" occurs. / In this research, race plus nine additional independent variables which had shown a fairly consistent relationship with escape were selected for use. Variables established outside the correctional institution to which the inmate was confined were placed into the importational model. Variables established inside the correctional institution were placed into the deprivational model. The combined model was represented by all the independent variables. Specific hypotheses were constructed for each independent variable/escape relationship and were tested in both a bivariate and multivariate format. Results of these testings found escapees to be more frequently White, married, older, convicted of a property crime (nonviolent), in a lower custody status, having had fewer furloughs and with a prior escape history. / Utilizing multiple regression techniques, the second facet of the analysis examined the three models, importational, deprivational and combinational, to see which provided the best explanation of escape. While both the importational and deprivational models provided significant amounts of explained variance in escape, the combinational model provided a significantly better explanation than either the importational or deprivational model. This result suggests that variables established both inside and outside the institution are important when considering escape. The results also indicate that as a group, the imported characteristics carry more weight in terms of escape, but that the inmate's custody level plays a significant role in determining who will escape. / The third portion of the analysis extended the same techniques to examine the differences between White and Black inmates' escape behavior. Results indicated that while all six of the independent variables of the combinational model were significant for Black inmates in terms of escape, two of these variables, marital status and number of furloughs, were not significant for White inmates. Further examination of the independent variable rankings revealed the variables to have a different order of importance to Blacks and Whites in terms of escape. For Black inmates, the most important variable in relation to escape behavior was the type of conviction offense (violent or nonviolent). For White inmates the most important variable was the inmate's prior escape record. The importance of custody level for both groups was emphasized by the fact that it ranked second in importance for Blacks and Whites. Age and conviction offense ranked third and fourth for White inmates, while prior escapes and age ranked third and fourth in importance for Black inmates. The inmate's number of furloughs and marital status ranked fifth and sixth, but were not significant for White inmates. Age and number of furloughs ranked fifth and sixth for Black inmates and were both significant. Results also revealed that what happens inside the institution are more important to White inmates in terms of escape. Possible reasons for these findings were discussed, along with their implications. Recommendations for further study are also given. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-03, Section: A, page: 1325. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

The opportunity structures of the South and non-South are becoming similar because the South is changing with respect to urbanization, industrialization, occupational redistribution, income, education, medical care, and migration. These structural and demographic changes are thought to lead to a convergence of crime rates. Southern homicide rates, however, remain pronounced. It is hypothesized that high homicide rates persist in Southern counties that are remaining relatively unaffected structurally by changes that are transforming the region as a whole. / Multiple regression analysis of data collected from a random sample of 300 Southern counties shows that structural and demographic variables explain less than 10 percent of the variance in county homicide rates in 1960 and 1970. Analysis is discontinued because interaction effects are detected. / It is proposed that the association of certain structural variables and such heretofore unspecified demographic variables as age, sex, and race may account for the failure of structural variables to predict county homicide rates. Structural changes are thought to be producing a relocation of individuals who are demographically prone to commit homicide. It is argued that earlier findings regarding the association of structural variables and state homicide rates may be an artifact of the use of the state as the unit of analysis. The failure of the cultural explanation to specify a learning theory is discussed. Such a theory is tentatively sketched. It is proposed that ecological and behavior approaches may be complementary. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-03, Section: A, page: 1224. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-09, Section: A, page: 5197. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-10, Section: A, page: 5605. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

As a result of the prevailing empirical emphasis of criminological research, there is a paucity of research on the historical development of the criminal justice system. This is unfortunate for a more thorough understanding of the historical development of various components of the criminal justice system would enable criminologists and administrators to more fully appreciate the problems confronting contemporary agencies of social control. / This study addresses this problem by providing a case study of the development, operation, and impact of the New York House of Refuge from 1857 until 1935. The alleged theory of the New York House of Refuge, as specified by administrators and other supporters of the institution, is outlined by examining the institution's annual reports, the daily journals of the superintendent and matron, case histories, reports of various committees, and other data sources in the voluminous collection. Rationalizations for the programs of contract labor, classification, religion, education, discipline, indenture, and later industrial education, military drill, and parole are outlined. / The alleged theory of the New York House of Refuge is contrasted with its actual practice by examining the reports of a number of investigative committees, the reports of former inmates and disgruntled employees, articles appearing in newspapers, and the commentaries of visitors to the institution. The scope of the study is expanded by drawing parallels between the stated theory and actual practice of the New York institution with the rhetoric and reality of other reformatories across the country. / Overall, the findings indicate that the stated purpose concerning the development, operation, and impact of the New York House of Refuge was not consistent with its actual practice. The programs of contract labor, classification, religion, education, discipline, indenture, industrial education, military drill, and parole generally did not fulfill their objectives, and the impact of the institution on the children was not as benevolent as the administrators alleged. Moreover, an examination of the practice of other reformatories suggests that they too failed in their child-saving mission. An explanation of the study's findings is focused upon the general organizational characteristics of the institution and the relationship of the refuge to the broader social structure. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-01, Section: A, page: 0413. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.