Community Corrections Professionals\u27 Views of Sex Offenders, Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification and Residency Restrictions

The article discusses a study which explained the views of corrections professionals on sex offender registration and community notification (SORN) policies. The researchers focused on the examination of attitudes of criminal justice officials who are charged with enforcing such policies by forty three-item survey questionnaire. They found that these professionals are moderately supportive of residency restrictions and believe that both with SORN are effective in preventing sex offenses

Social Control And Deviance, History Of

One of the many founding concepts of contemporary social science that arose during the Enlightenment was the idea that society could control the behavior of its citizens by using formal mechanisms of social control. Theoretically, by manipulating the magnitude of punishment or pain guilty persons would experience for their deviant behavior, society could stop offenders before they acted. More specifically, since offenders acted in their own best interests, they would think about the costs and benefits of their behaviors prior to acting. Through punishment, society could make the costs of deviant or criminal behavior outweigh whatever benefits miscreants might otherwise accrue. Moreover, this would translate to more general societal deterrence if the punishments individuals received were certain, swift, and severe. This article reviews the history of these concepts through to the present day

Binge Drinking Among College Athletes And Non-Athletes

Concerns about incidence, forms, and consequences of alcohol use among college students lack examinations of the lifestyles and predictors of college student athletes. This article, using a sample of student-athletes and non-athletes from four Southern universities, identifies the lifestyle predictors for each population, identifying patterns and sets of predictors of binge drinking behavior. Findings indicate that for both samples, binge drinking behavior is explained by sex, drinking in bars, number of male friends who drink, and cigarette smoking. Student-athletes\u27 binge drinking is explained further by residing on campus. Non-athlete binge drinking is related to race and amount of study time per week. Implications for these findings are also discussed

An Exploration Of Correctional Staff Members\u27Views Of Inmate Amenities: A Scaling Approach

Today, the number of prisons and the prison population is rising. One of the key challenges accompanying these changes is how prison and staff can handle this increasing number of inmates. One of the issues involved is what products, goods, and services are deemed suitable for inmates. Research has addressed this issue, but has yielded no consensus. Methodological variances are central to the disjuncture between samples and beliefs. Using responses from 554 correctional staff, the Rasch model was used to assess whether perceptions of inmate amenities are part of a larger dimension. Results suggest that twenty-items accurately represent correctional staff perceptions of inmate amenities, with boxing as the most difficult to support and books as being the easiest to support. Copyright © 2008

Sports Fan Binge Drinking: An Examination Using Low Self-Control And Peer Association

Research has shown a connection between being a college sports fan and binge drinking; however, no research uses criminological theories when examining this connection. The purpose of the present study is to examine the ability of self-control and differential association theories to determine whether the relationship between college sports fans and binge drinking is individual or group situated. Using self-report data from (n=693) college students from four southern universities, the results show that the connection between being a college sports fan and binge drinking can be accounted for by both low self-control and differential association. These results are discussed and policy implications are presented

Factors Contributing To Perceptions About Policies Regarding The Electronic Monitoring Of Sex Offenders: The Role Of Demographic Characteristics, Victimization Experiences, And Social Disorganization

The purpose of this article is to explore factors contributing to perceptions about electronic monitoring policies governing sex offenders. Guided by Tannenbaum\u27s theory of attribution and Shaw and McKay\u27s theory of social disorganization, the authors examine the influence of demographic characteristics, victimization experiences, and neighborhood characteristics on perceptions about policies regarding the electronic monitoring of sex offenders. Ordinary least squares regression and logistic regression analyses of stratified telephone survey data reveal that factors associated with favorable views on the use of global positioning satellite monitoring for registered sex offenders appear to stem primarily from individuals\u27 demographic characteristics. Experiential and neighborhood factors do provide some influence over individuals\u27 views of electronic monitoring policies for sex offenders. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed. © The Author(s) 2013

Hard Lives, Mean Streets: Violence In The Lives Of Homeless Women

Although homelessness is a serious social problem in the United States, there is little direct information about the actual experiences of violence, past and current, among homeless people. This volume, based on the Florida Four-City Study, brings together interview material from 737 women, including structured quantitative interviews as well as in-depth qualitative interviews. The authors investigate how many homeless women have experienced violence in their lives, either as children or as adults, and then examine factors associated with experiences of violence, the consequences of violence, and types of interactions of homeless people with the justice system. The volume concludes with pragmatic and compassionate policy recommendations. © 2010 Northeastern University. All rights reserved