Deterrence and Juvenile Crime: Results from a National Policy Experiment

137 Pages·1990·3 MB·English

by  Anne L. Schneider (auth.)

Research in Criminology
Series &litors
Alfred Blumstein
David P. Farrington
Research in Criminology
Understanding and Controlling Crime: Toward A New Research Strategy
David P. Farrington, Lloyd E. Ohlin and James Q. Wilson
The Social Ecology of Crime
J.M. Byrne and RJ. Sampson (Eds.)
The Reasoning Criminal: Rational Choice Perspectives on Offending
Derek B. Cornish and Ronald V. Clarke (Eds.)
The Social Contexts of Criminal Sentencing
Martha A. Myers and Susette M. Talarico
Predicting Recidivism Using Survival Models
Peter Schmidt and Ann Dryden Witte
Coping, Behavior, and Adaptation in Prison Inmates
Edward Zamble and Frank J. Porporino
Prison Crowding: A Psychological Perspective
Paul B. Paulus
Off School, In Court: An Experimental and Psychiatric Investigation of
Severe School Attendance Problems
I. Berg, I. Brown and R. Hollin
Policing and Punishing the Drinking Driver:
A Study of General and Specific Deterrence
Ross Homel
Judicial Decision Making, Sentencing Policy, and Numerical Guidance
Austin Lovegrove
Criminal Behavior and the Justice System: Psychological Perspectives
Hermann Wegener, Friedrich LOsel and Jochen Haisch (Eds.)
Male Criminal Activity from Childhood Through Youth:
Multilevel and Developmental Perspectives
Marc Le Blanc and Marcel Frechette
continued after index
Anne L. Schneider
Deterrence
and Juvenile Crime
Results from a National
Policy Experiment
With 12 Illustrations
Springer-Verlag
New York Berlin Heidelberg
London Paris Tokyo Hong Kong
Anne L. Schneider
College of Public Programs, Arizona State University,
Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA
Senior Research Analyst
Laurie H. Ervin
Department of Political Science, Oklahoma State University,
Stillwater, Oklahoma 74074, USA
Series Editors
Alfred Blumstein
School of Urban and Public Affairs, Carnegie-Mellon University,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA
David P. Farrington
Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge,
Cambridge CB3 9DT, England, UK
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schneider, Anne L.
Deterrence and juvenile crime : results from a national policy
experiment / Anne L. Schneider.
p. cm. - (Research in criminology)
Includes index.
Bibliography: p.
ISBN-13:978-1-4613-8927-9 (alk. paper)
J. Juvenile corrections-United States-Evaluation. 2. Juvenile
delinquency-United States-restitution. I.Schneider, Anne L.
II. Title. III. Series.
HV9014.S323 1989
364.3'6'0973-dc20 89-11600
Printed on acid-free paper.
© 1990 by Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1990
All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without
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Typeset by David E. Seham Associates, Inc., Metuchen, New Jersey.
987 6 5 4 3 2
ISBN-13:978-1-4613-8927-9 e-ISBN-13:978-1-4613-8925-5
DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4613-8925-5
Contents
List of Figures ..................................................................... VIII
List of Tables....................................................................... IX
Chapter 1 The Punishment Perspective ................................. .
Introduction................................................................ 1
Purpose ...................................................................... 3
An Overview............................................................... 4
Organization of the Book .............................................. 5
Chapter 2 Policy, Perceptions, and Criminal Behavior .............. 6
General Deterrence Research ......................................... 6
Aggregate Data Studies .............................................. 6
The Methodological Critique ....................................... 9
Macro-level Evaluation Research................................. 9
Recidivism and Specific Deterrence ................................ 10
Deterrence and Labeling ............................................ 10
Restitution Programs .......... ........................ ...... ......... 12
Methodological Issues................................................ 13
Perceptions of Legal Sanctions ........................ ............... 14
One-Wave Perceptual Research ................................... 14
Second Generation Perceptual Research ....................... 15
Sanctions and Perceptions .......................................... 16
Unresolved Issues..... ..... ..... ............................ .......... 17
Chapter 3 Rational Choice and Decision Heuristics .................. 19
Deterrence and Subjective Expected Utility Theory. .......... 19
A Critique ............................................................... 20
Modifying Rational Choice Theory............................... 22
A Decision Heuristics Approach..................................... 22
Decision Heuristics ................................................... 23
The Decision Model .................................................. 27
Chapter 4 Juvenile Offenders: Methods and Measures .............. 29
Introduction................................................................ 29
Sources of Data........................................................... 30
vi Contents
Characteristics of the Interviewed Sample..................... 30
The Juvenile Offender Interviews ................................ 34
The Official Records Check ........................................ 35
Management Information System Data ......................... 36
Offenders and Offense Rates.......................................... 36
Measures of Offense Rates ......................................... 36
Comparing Alternative Measures of Recidivism................. 39
Measuring Prior Offenses .............................................. 46
Perceptions and Values ................................................. 46
Intentions ................................................................ 46
Certainty ................................................................. 50
Severity .................................................................. 50
Good Citizen Self-Image ............................................ 51
Remorse .................................................................. 52
Fairness .................................................................. 52
Experiences in the Juvenile Justice System ...................... 53
Random Assignment.................................................. 53
Restitution and Probation ........................................... 54
Boise, Idaho ............................................................ 55
Washington, D.C. .... ........ ..... ... .......... ..... ...... ....... ..... 55
Clayton County, Georgia............................................ 56
Oklahoma County ..................................................... 56
Ventura, California .................................................... 56
Dane County, Wisconsin............................................ 57
Program Success....................................................... 58
Chapter 5 The Perceptual Basis of Juvenile Crime ................... 59
Intentions to Reoffend .................................................. 60
Correlates of Intentions.............................................. 60
Multivariate Models of Intentions to Reoffend ............... 62
Post-Release Recidivism ................................................ 64
Correlates of Recidivism ............................................ 64
Multivariate Models of Perceptions and Recidivism ........ 64
Decision Making and Recidivism .................................... 68
Methodological Issues................................................ 68
Threshold Effects...................................................... 68
Good Citizen, Deterrence, Interactions......................... 70
Decay Effects........................................................... 71
The "Macho" Explanation ......................................... 72
Curvilinear Effects .................................................... 73
Deterrence and Experienced Offenders ......................... 74
Deterrence and Type of Crime .................................... 75
Discussion .................................................................. 76
Chapter 6 Direct Effects of Programs on Recidivism ................ 77
Suppression Effects...................................................... 78
Program Effects ........................................................ 78
Discussion of Suppression Effects................................ 82
Post-Program Comparisons ............................................ 83
Discussion of Direct Effects........................................... 86
Contents vii
Chapter 7 Experiences, Perceptions, and Recidivism ................ 90
Programs and Perceptions ............................................. 90
Restitution vs. Incarceration....................................... 90
Discussion ............................................................... 92
Linking Program Experiences with Recidivism.................. 93
A Methodological Note.............................................. 93
Restitution vs. Incarceration....................................... 95
Restitution vs. Probation............................................ 96
Programmatic Restitution vs. Ad Hoc Restitution ........... 99
The Pooled Data....................................................... 101
Discussion .................................................................. 103
Chapter 8 Conclusions. .... . ....................... ..... .... .. .... ............ 105
Program Effects on Recidivism....................................... 106
Effect of Perceptions on Recidivism ................................ 108
Program Interventions, Perceptions, and Results ............... 110
References ..................................................................................... 112
Author Index ................................................................................. 119
Subject Index ............ ..... ....... ...... .................... ........ .... ................ ... 123
List of Figures
Figure 3.1. The Decision Model ......................................... . 28
Figure 4.1. Summary of Offense Indicators .......................... . 37
Figure 4.2. Weighting System for Measures of Crime
Seriousness ..................................................... . 38
Figure 5.1. Annual Offense Rate and Certainty of Punishment .. 66
Figure 5.2. Annual Offense Rate and Severity of Punishment ... 66
Figure 6.1a. Incarceration and Restitution: Effect on Recidivism 80
Figure 6.1b. Probation and Restitution: Effect on Recidivism .... . 80
Figure 6.1c. Ad Hoc and Restitution: Effects on Recidivism ..... . 81
Figure 6.1d. Restitution and All Controls: Effects on Recidivism 81
Figure 6.2. Annual Offense Rates of Randomly Assigned Cases 85
Figure 6.3. Percent Reoffending Among Randomly Assigned
Cases ............................................................. . 85
Figure 7.1. Linkage Model: Restitution vs. Incarceration ........ . 95
Figure 7.2. Linkage Model: Restitution vs. Probation ............ . 99
Figure 7.3. Linkage Model: Restitution vs. Ad Hoc Restitution 101
Figure 7.4. Linkage Model: All Cases ................................. . 103
List of Tables
Table 4.1. Characteristics of the Interviewed Sample ............. . 31
Table 4.2. Correlation Matrix of Recidivism Variables ........... . 40
Table 4.3. Operationalizing "Lambda": Alternative Variables .. 43
Table 4.4. Demographics and Alternative Measures of
Subsequents ..................................................... . 44
Table 4.5. Deterrence Variables and Alternative Measures of
Subsequents ..................................................... . 45
Table 4.6. Alternative Measures of Prior Offenses ................. . 46
Table 4.7. Intercorrelation of Alternative Measures of Priors and
Subsequents ..................................................... . 47
Table 4.8. An Overview of Perceptions in the Six Sites .......... . 48
Table 5.1. Zero Order Correlates of Intentions ..................... . 61
Table 5.2. Models of Intentions to Commit Crimes ................ . 63
Table 5.3. Zero Order Correlates of Subsequent Court Contacts 65
Table 5.4. Models of Subsequent Court Contacts .................. . 67
Table 5.5. Threshold Effects: Controlling Severity ................ . 69
Table 5.6. Threshold Effects: Controlling Certainty ............... . 69
Table 5.7. Threshold Effects: Controlling Self-Image ............. . 70
Table 5.8. Immediacy Effects of Certainty and Severity ......... . 71
Table 5.9. "Macho" Explanations ...................................... . 72
Table 5.10. Curvilinear Effects ............................................ . 73
Table 5.11. Naive and Experienced Offenders ........................ . 74
Table 5.12. Deterrence Models for Types of Offenders ............ . 75
Table 6.1. Suppression Effects ........................................... . 79
Table 6.2. Offense Rates and Prevalence Rates for Post-Program
Comparisons .................................................... . 83
Table 6.3. Direct Program Effects on Recidivism, Controlling for
Possible Confounding Variables ........................... . 87
Table 7.1. Program Effects on Perceptions, School, and Jobs
(Zero Order Correlations) .................................. .. 91
Table 7.2. Restitution vs. Incarceration in Boise Idaho:
Multivariate Model ............................................ . 94
x List of Tables
Table 7.3. Restitution vs. Probation: Multivariate Model ......... 98
Table 7.4. Restitution vs. Ad Hoc Restitution: Multivariate
Model .............................................................. 100
Table 7.S. Program Type, Perceptions, and Recidivism:
Multivariate Model for Pooled Sample ................... 102