Gangster,victim or both? The interdiscursive construction of sameness and difference in self‐presentations

The paper conceptualizes two contradictory discourses, both used by ethnic minority drug dealers in a street drug market in Oslo, Norway. Oppression discourse includes personal narratives of unemployment, racism and psycho-social problems, often combined with stories about the government and city council being unwilling to help. Drug dealers use the discourse to justify drug dealing and violence, both for themselves and in meetings with welfare organizations. Gangster discourse , on the other hand, includes a series of personal narratives emphasizing how hard, smart, and sexually alluring the young men are. Drug dealers use this discourse to gain self-respect and respect from others, and it dominates interactions on the street. An important argument in this paper is that the discursive practice of criminals inspires theoretical perspectives on criminal practice. Oppression and gangster discourses have inspired, respectively, neutralization and subculture theory. When the same people use both discourses, however, the picture becomes more complicated. The 'bilingual' discursive practice of the street drug dealers reflects the ambivalent role of the researcher, and a Scandinavian institutional and social context where street drug dealers have extensive contact with a welfare state apparatus. The paper still suggests that similar interdiscursivity may have been sacrificed in previous research to produce more coherent theoretical frameworks.     

Justice in Genderland: Through a Parole Looking Glass

Based on observations of parole hearings and interviews with participants, this article considers the role of gender in parole decisions. Analysis of these data suggests that male prisoners are expected to accept responsibility for their wrongdoing, while female prisoners may diminish their responsibility by presenting themselves as victims. Therefore, when male bikers present themselves as men who are both responsible for their crimes and for the well‐being of their families, they improve their chances of parole. When male sex offenders shirk their responsibility by portraying themselves as victims of female children, sex trade workers, and prosecutors, they reduce their chances of parole. However, when female drug traffickers present themselves as victims of male drug dealers, they increase their chances of parole. These findings build on and contribute to the scholarship on gendered expectations, gendered biographies, and responsibility as a gendered accomplishment.     

SQUEALER DEALERS: THE MARKET FOR INFORMATION IN FEDERAL DRUG TRAFFICKING PROSECUTIONS

Federal data on drug trafficking sentences are used to determine factors that affect market quantities of providing information against other defendants (i.e., defendant probabilities of receiving testimony‐related sentence reductions) and market prices of information (i.e., the sizes of such sentence reductions). Women and better‐educated defendants experience high demand (higher quantities and prices) for information. Blacks, Hispanics, and non‐U.S. citizens experience low demand. Defendants expecting longer sentences have higher supply of information. Conditional on expected sentence, crack dealers, high‐level dealers, and dealers with long criminal histories experience low demand, while low‐level dealers experience high demand. Women of all races experience high demand for information. (JEL K14, J15, J16)     

A comparison of male and female dually arrested domestic violence offenders

This research provides information on dually arrested female defendants in domestic violence cases. The data comes from all heterosexual domestic violence cases resulting in a dual arrest from one large mid-South city during a 28-month period. Information on matched pairs of dually arrested male and female defendants (N = 317) came from multiple sources, including official criminal justice records (arrest reports and local criminal histories) as well as victim/offender interviews with both the arrestee and his/her partner. Comparisons were made between males and females in terms of their demographics, criminal histories, prior history of domestic violence (as both victim and offender), and behavior during the instant offense. Analyses revealed that these couples had ample contact, whether as victim or offender, with the criminal justice system. While there were no significant differences in partners' reports of minor and severe physical abuse, criminal justice date indicated that male arrestees demonstrated a significantly higher overall level of severity of violence than their female counterparts. Additionally, male arrestees had a more serious history of intimate partner and extrafamilial violence as well as other indicators of an antisocial lifestyle in comparison to female arrestees. To the extent that females in our cohort demonstrated less overall criminality and engaged in less severe domestic aggression, the idea of equivalency of violence between male and female arrestees must remain questionable.     

Gambling Harm and Crime Careers

Incarcerated populations across the world have been found to be consistently and significantly more vulnerable to problem gambling than general populations in the same countries. In an effort to gain a more specific understanding of this vulnerability the present study applied latent class analysis and criminal career theory to gambling data collected from a sample of English and Scottish, male and female prisoners (N = 1057). Theoretical links between gambling and crime were tested through three hypotheses: (1) that prisoners in the UK would have higher rates of problem gambling behaviour than the national population; (2) that if the link between gambling and crime is coincidental, gambling behaviour would be highly prevalent in an offending population, and (3) if connections between gambling behaviour and offending are co-symptomatic a mediating factor would show a strong association. The first of these was supported, the second was not supported and the third was partially supported. Latent class analysis found six gambling behaviour clusters measured by responses to the Problem Gambling Severity Index, primarily distinguished by loss chasing behaviour. Longitudinal offending data drawn from the Police National Computer database found four criminal career types, distinguished by frequency and persistence over time. A significant association was found between higher level loss chasing and high rate offending in criminal careers suggesting that impulse control may be a mediating factor for both gambling harm and criminal careers.     

Art dealers as competitors and community builders: Understanding the overlapping social logics of the contemporary art world

Art dealers are often described as gatekeepers who are focused on their own position as well as the status of their artists and collectors. We argue that this is an incomplete account of art dealing. The goal of this article is to explain how art dealing is a “toolkit” that does not exclusively focus on status building and social capital, but also includes behavior associated with accessing the visual arts field and community development. First, art dealers often have a background that has strong social ties to art, which provides them with intimate knowledge of the art world and social connections with artists, collectors, and other art world actors. For that reason, entry into art dealing reflects intimate knowledge of art practices, what we call “proximate connoisseurship.” Second, art dealerships reflect both competitive and communal factors. Art dealers may choose to work with artists based on their ability to generate income, social capital, and prestige (“competitive logic”), but art dealers may also employ a “communal logic” focused on friendships and creating community. This theory of art dealers is illustrated with excerpts from interviews with 34 dealers randomly selected from the rosters of international art fairs such as Art Basel Miami, EXPO Chicago, Aqua, and the New Art Dealers Alliance show.     

Perceptions of domestic abuse in same-sex relationships and implications for criminal justice and mental health responses

Male and female university students (N = 171) read scenarios describing a domestic abuse incident that systematically varied the sex of victim and perpetrator to produce four between-participants conditions. Results were consistent with and extended previous findings about perceptions of heterosexual domestic abuse to include gay and lesbian domestic abuse. Findings suggest that participant perceptions of abuse in same-sex and heterosexual relationships are similar. Where they differ, the differences have significant implications: (a) participants considered male against female abuse to be more serious than same-sex domestic abuse, (b) participants were more likely to recommend that the victim press charges in male against female abuse than in same-sex domestic abuse, (c) participants perceived same-sex victims to be less believable than heterosexual victims, and (d) victim believability was correlated with sentencing recommendations. Implications for criminal justice and mental health intervention are considered. Directions for future research are outlined.     

Going solo: the social organisation of drug dealing within a London street gang

This paper presents a single case study of one street gang in one London borough. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 gang members, or former gang members, and seven practitioners. The practitioners and gang members/ex-gang members reported different perspectives on how the gang was structured and drug dealing was organised. The gang members/ex-gang members suggested that the gang is a loose social network with little recognisable formal organisation. Although individual gang members sell drugs, the gang should not be viewed as a drug dealing organisation. Rather it is a composition of individual drug dealers who cooperate out of mutual self-interest. Therefore, some gang members are best described as independent entrepreneurs while others are subcontractors looking to ‘go solo’. The seven practitioners, however, tended to describe a more hierarchically structured gang, with formal recruitment processes. This divergence of perspective highlights an important consideration for policy and research.     

Seattle’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD): Program effects on recidivism outcomes

Drug users and dealers frequently cycle through the criminal justice system in what is sometimes referred to as a “revolving door.” Arrest, incarceration and prosecution have not deterred this recidivism. Seattle’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program was established to divert these individuals to case management and supportive services instead of jail and prosecution. A nonrandomized controlled evaluation was conducted to examine LEAD effects on criminal recidivism (i.e., arrests, criminal charges). The sample included 318 people suspected of low-level drug and prostitution activity in downtown Seattle: 203 received LEAD, and 115 experienced the system-as-usual control condition. Analyses were conducted using logistic generalized estimating equation models over both the shorter term (i.e., six months prior and subsequent to evaluation entry) and longer term (i.e., two years prior to the LEAD start date through July 2014). Compared to controls, LEAD participants had 60% lower odds of arrest during the six months subsequent to evaluation entry; and both a 58% lower odds of arrest and 39% lower odds of being charged with a felony over the longer term. These statistically significant differences in arrests and felony charges for LEAD versus control participants indicated positive effects of the LEAD program on recidivism.     

Criminal history and assault of dating partners: the role of type of prior crime, age of onset, and gender

Some studies of assaults on intimate partners have found that most of the perpetrators are not violent outside the family, which suggests a specialized type of crime. However, other studies found domestic violence offenders tend to have extensive criminal histories. To further investigate the extent to which partner assaults are part of a more general pattern of criminal behavior or a specialized type of crime, we studied the dating relationships of 653 university students. Thirty-one percent reported assaulting a partner in the previous 12 months. The rate of assault on partners by females did not differ significantly for males (29%) and females (32%). We also found high rates of other self-reported crime, and much higher rates by males. For example, over one half of the male students and almost one third of the female students reported having stolen money. The male students reported an average of 3.4 crimes committed, and the female students an average of 1.4 crimes. These high crime rates and gender differences are consistent with many previous studies. Logistic regression analysis revealed that a history of prior criminal acts is associated with an increased probability of assaulting a partner. The relationship was greater when there was prior violent crime compared to property crime, when there was early onset of criminal behavior, and when the offender was female. The implications of the findings for understanding partner assaults, criminal careers, and gender differences in the etiology of violence against intimate partners are discussed.     

Predictors of Alcohol Use among College Students in New York State

Abstract

The prevalence and correlates of alcohol and other drug use were determined for students attending colleges in New York State. The New York State Division of Substance Abuse Services selected a representative sample of approximately 7,700 undergraduate students randomly selected from 22 colleges. Students were given a 10-page questionnaire dealing with patterns of alcohol and other drug use. The vast majority of both males and females reported alcohol use in the past 30 days; however, males (28%) were twice as likely as females (15%) to be classified in the heavier drinking category. White college students (25%) are far more likely to be heavier drinkers than are black students (5%) even after other factors are taken into account. Students attending colleges in Upstate New York areas (24%) have higher rates of heavier drinking than do those in New York City (15%). Multivariate statistical analyses were done to determine the relative importance of various social factors in determining drinking behavior.     

Are Businesses Treated Differently? A Comparison of the Individual Victim and the Corporate Victim in the Criminal Courtroom*

Drawing on a number of theories, this paper explores both why and how the capacity for collective action influences deviance processing decisions. Specifically, data for a sample of male and female defendants convicted of both theft and forgery offenses are examined to estimate the effects on criminal processing decisions of (1) the organizational, as opposed to the individual, victim, (2) the organization of individual offenders, as indicated by the presence of co-defendants, and (3) the respective intimacy in the victim-offender relationship on both the organizational and the individual level. While organization on the part of the criminal offenders appears to have no effect on the dispositional process, the presence of an organizational victim ensures longer periods of probationary supervision for the respective offender. Moreover, this relationship remains regardless of whether the defendant was involved with the organization he victimized. Accordingly, this study suggests both that businesses are in fact treated differently from individuals in the criminal courtroom and that the expansion of our analysis of victim attributes in the study of deviance processing decisions is long overdue.     

FAMILY POLICIES IN FRANCE AND GERMANY

Welfare state literature almost always positions France and Germany in the same category, that of conservative–corporative regimes. Family policies, in particular, have much in common: both are explicit and generous in terms of taxation system and family allowance schemes. However, France strongly differs from Germany with regard to childcare policy and public support to mothers’ employment. France, along with the Scandinavian countries, leads the European Union in public childcare provision. In Germany, despite recent changes, there are still considerable gaps, at least where children under three years of age are concerned and the ‘male breadwinner/female part-time carer’ model is being actively promoted. However, there is a growing discordance between the aspirations of young German women with regard to paid work and the norms and values that still govern childcare and caring time policies. Therefore, a host of institutional and cultural factors shape the level and terms of mothers’ labour force participation in both countries. The impact of motherhood has a stronger effect on employment patterns in Germany than in France. French mothers are more frequently employed on a full-time basis and at the same time have more children than their German counterparts.     

Evaluations of aggressive women: the effects of gender, socioeconomic status, and level of aggression

Research finds gender differences in aggression and suggests that female violence is viewed differently from male violence. Participants were 94 female and 38 male students from a mid-size public university in the Southeast. Participants read a mock trial and answered questions about their attitudes concerning an aggressor in the scenario. The study was a 2 (male or female) by 2 (high socioeconomic status or low socioeconomic status) by 2 (verbal aggression or physical aggression) between-subjects factorial design. The participants responded to a revised version of the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (Nelson, 1988). As hypothesized aggressive women were evaluated more negatively than aggressive men and participants evaluated the female aggressor who used physical aggression more negatively than the female who used verbal aggression. The hypothesis that the female aggressor would be perceived as more in need of counseling than the male aggressor was not supported. Contrary to another hypothesis, respondents did not evaluate higher socioeconomic status aggressors more negatively than those of lower status. As hypothesized people with traditional views of women evaluated the female aggressor more negatively than people with more liberal views of women, and liberal participants evaluated the male and female aggressors similarly. The more negative evaluation of female aggressors and, in particular, females who use physical aggression, may result in unfair treatment of such females. These social biases may cloud perceptions of aggressive females, suggesting that their actions are more inappropriate than those of a male who committed the same act.     

Respectable Women and the Law*

A defendant's prior criminal record is usually conceived of as a ubiquitous indicator of severity of sanction. Utilizing Black's (1976) conception of prior criminality— respectability—we argue that other, nonlegal indicators of respectability will also affect the sanctions female criminal defendants incur. In addition to prior criminal record, indicators of respectability include prior psychiatric care, previous drug or alcohol abuse, employer censorship, and peer deviance. Estimating a set of multivariate equations for a sample of 1,034 female defendants, we find support for Black's proposition: (1) regardless of the offense, the lower a woman's respectability, the greater the likelihood that she will receive a more severe sentence; and (2) respectability has similar effects on sentencing regardless of whether the indicators are internal or external to the criminal justice system. The degree to which these findings can be construed as sex specific is discussed.     

The Impact of Superior-Subordinate Gender on the Career Advancement of Public Relations Practitioners

Mentoring relationships may affect career advancement opportunities for public relations practitioners, which in turn may impact role enactment and professional growth of practitioners. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to measure differential treatment of men and women in public relations with regard to mentoring and to assess the impact of mentoring on the career advancement of both groups. Findings indicate that subordinates and superiors of the same sex tend to have a more active and intense mentoring relationship than mixed-sex pairings. Female supervisors in public relations offer more active and intense mentoring to their subordinates than do male supervisors. Paradoxically, superior mentoring by female superiors yields fewer career advancement opportunities for their subordinates. Male supervisors seem more effective than female supervisors in providing subordinates career advancement. Practitioners with male mentors, regardless of gender, tend to have greater access to management advancement and have more opportunities to enact the manager role.     

Health behaviors,self-rated health,and quality of life: a study among first-year Swedish university students

The authors conducted a baseline investigation of male and female university students' health behaviors and self-rated health and quality of life (QOL). The study population consisted of all full-time, first-year students registered in a comprehensive study program offered at a Swedish university in autumn 1998. In spring 1999, the researchers sent self-administered questionnaires dealing with health status, lifestyle, and living conditions to the students at their home addresses. Male respondents used tobacco, were frequent drinkers, and engaged in binge drinking in larger proportions than expected by chance. A majority of the respondents rated their physical and psychological health as very good or good, but male students' ratings were higher than those of female students, whereas the males' average scores on self-perceived QOL were lower than those of females. Both male and female students' self-perceived QOL was more strongly associated with self-rated psychological than with physical health.     

Pathological gamblers in methadone treatment: A comparison between men and women

This article uses data from interviews with 462 individuals enrolled in methadone treatment programs in New York City to compare the gambling and gambling-related drug use and criminal activities of those males (N=72) and females (N=27) found to be pathological gamblers. Both the male and female pathological gamblers were and continue to be actively involved in various forms of gambling. A greater proportion of males had engaged in almost all specific types of gambling, although differences between males and females were not all statistically significant. Males and females were very similar in terms of their patterns of drug and alcohol use and the substances they used when gambling. Males and females shared some reasons but also had separate reasons as to why they used heroin when they gambled. Males especially may participate in a variety of criminal and hustling activities to have the money to be able to gamble or to pay gambling debts. The implications of this research are discussed.This study was supported by grant 1RO3-DA08348, Prevalence of Gambling Problems Among Methadone Patients, from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, awarded to National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. Points of view or opinions in this report do not necessarily represent the official opinions or policies of the United States Government, National Development and Research Institutes, Inc., John Jay College of Criminal Justice/CUNY, Illinois State University, or Abt Associates. The authors wish to thank Leila Cahill and Michelle Silverman for their assistance with this research.