We examine what types of violent offenses tend to be planned using self-report data from a nationally representative sample of state and federal inmates. We find mixed support for the idea that predatory offenses are more likely to be planned than dispute-related offenses. As expected, robbery offenders are much more likely to report that they…

Research in legal decision making has demonstrated the tendency to blame the victim and exonerate the perpetrator of sexual assault. This study examined the hypothesis of a special leniency bias in rape cases by comparing them to cases of robbery. N = 288 participants received descriptions of rape and robbery of a female victim by a male…

Discusses studies of utopian communities conducted by Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Hugh Gardner. The studies found that mortification and transcendence are effective methods of social control. Studies of utopian theory and practice provide insights into the causes and control of deviance. Topics for further investigation are suggested. (AM)

Most dominant theories of crime and criminality underscore the saliency of the family in the etiology of offending behaviors. Recently, a small pool of research has suggested that elements of the family, especially parents, do not have a lasting impact on children. This line of inquiry argues that once the effects that the child has on the family…

Security personnel can help administrators develop ways to combat the ill effects crime has on education programs. (Author)

Criminosynthesis theory includes internal inhibition as one of six factors relating to criminal behavior. An investigator constructed measure of internal inhibition found significantly less internal inhibition among four of five samples of incarcerated convicted criminals than among two samples of male and female college students. (DB)

Describes biological influences on criminality. Illustrative data suggest a biological sex difference in criminality and heritable differences in this trait among individuals. Methods of isolating environmental influences are described. Author notes that using environment-friendly behavior genetic research designs is not only proper but would…

Reports on the discovery of a positive correlation between the rates for parricide and criminal violence in Canada. Claims that this data confirms that factors influencing homicides that involve immediate family members (parricide, fratricide, and filicide) appear to similarly affect criminal violence, disputing some earlier studies. (RJM)

This article reviews longitudinal research within criminology and the health sciences on the relationship between reading and criminal, delinquent, or antisocial behavior. Longitudinal research in criminology, medicine, and psychology examines the role of reading within a broad set of interactive processes, connecting literacy to public health via…

Although both genetic and situational factors are implicated in criminality, the thesis here is that the latter may well be more important and more frequently encountered than many criminologists have acknowledged to date. (JB)

Assessed the actual recidivism rate of offenders who commit sexual assaults. Found the majority of the offenders had been convicted more than once and admitted to having committed sex crimes for which they were not apprehended. Results suggest recidivism is not a dependable measure of rehabilitation. (Author/JAC)

The most salient characteristic of the psychopath is the propensity to engage in maladaptive and inappropriate behavior of all sorts, including antisocial and criminal actions. Consequently, there is considerable interest--particularly in the field of criminology--in determining what sorts of treatment interventions are likely to be effective in…

Reviews nature of criminal activity in libraries in context of two criminological theoretical groupings: psychological theories (encompasses criminological attention to individual psychological traits), and sociological theories (examines ways in which societies are structured and how structures might generate crime). Some strategies of prevention…

Research on rural delinquency is far from prolific and tends to focus on non-trend comparisons with the urban sector (see, for example, Clinard, 1942 and Lentz, 1956). The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a trend study of rural delinquents (N=3,347 non-traffic cases) based on the 1965 through 1974 juvenile court records of nine…