Every life is sacred…kind of: Uncovering the sources of seemingly contradictory public attitudes toward abortion and the death penalty

Many scholars have studied public attitudes about abortion and the death penalty, but few have studied the coincidence of strong anti-abortion and pro-death penalty attitudes. What factors best explain how someone can find willful taking of life abhorrent in one context but justified in another? We find that the desire to see criminals punished, combined with a literalist orientation toward the Bible, best predict membership in the pro-life/pro-death penalty group. Policy implications flow directly from these findings. The pro-life/pro-death penalty group likely constitutes approximately 5% of the U.S. population and their literalist, punitive stance toward crime and punishment has ramifications for all crime control policy, not just capital punishment.     

Raising Considerations: Public Opinion and the Fair Application of the Death Penalty*

Objectives. A major justification for capital punishment is its perceived public support, yet common measures of public opinion do not capture the complexity of death penalty attitudes. This research, first, examines the stability of attitudes regarding the fair application of the death penalty when those attitudes are expressed within the context of an enlarged pool of considerations about its administration and, second, evaluates the directional effect of the considerations on those attitudes. Methods. Data from a national telephone survey that capture the complexity of these attitudes are analyzed using ordered probit estimation. Results. These results indicate substantial instability in attitudes regarding the fair application of capital punishment given the context of more pertinent considerations. Furthermore, within this context respondents tend to indicate that the death penalty is less fairly applied. Conclusion. The justification for capital punishment may rest on oversimplified conceptions of attitudes toward the death penalty and its application.     

Race, punishment, and the Michael Vick experience

Objective. The relationship between race and crime has been contentious, focusing primarily on offending and incarceration patterns among minorities. There has been some limited work on public perceptions of criminal punishment, and findings show that while minorities believe in the role and rule of law, they simultaneously perceive the justice system as acting in a biased and/or unfair manner. Two limitations have stalled this literature. First, research has focused mainly on criminal punishments to the neglect of noncriminal punishments. Second, most studies have not examined whether race remains salient after considering other demographic variables or discrimination and legitimacy attitudes.Methods. Using data from 400 adults, we examine how race affects perceptions of criminal punishment and subsequent reinstatement into the National Football League in the case of Michael Vick, a star professional quarterback who pled guilty to charges of operating an illegal dog-fighting ring.Results. Findings show that whites are more likely to view Vick's punishment as too soft and that he should not be reinstated, while nonwhites had the opposite views. Race remained significant after controlling for other variables believed to be related to punishment perceptions.Conclusion. Attitudes toward both criminal punishment and NFL reinstatement vary across race such that there exists important divides in how individuals perceive the system meting out punishment and subsequently reintegrating offenders back into society. These results underscore that white and nonwhites perceive the law and its administration differently.     

Crime,capital punishment,and knowledge: are criminal justice majors better informed than other majors about crime and capital punishment?

Criminal justice agencies increasingly seek better educated employees, who should have greater knowledge of criminal justice issues. This has lead to an increase in the number of students majoring in criminal justice. This study employed a non-random, convenience sampling design of 730 college students of various ranks and majors at a mid-sized, 4-year public university in Michigan to determine what impact a criminal justice education had on knowledge of the death penalty and other criminal justice facts compared to students in other majors. It was found that there was a difference between criminal justice majors and other majors in knowledge about crime and capital punishment; however, the difference was neither widespread nor striking as the authors had hoped.     

Racial Differences in Attitudes Toward Professional Mental Health Treatment: The Mediating Effect of Stigma

Stigma associated with mental illness continues to be a pervasive barrier to mental health treatment, leading to negative attitudes about treatment and deterring appropriate care seeking. Empirical research suggests that the stigma of mental illness may exert an adverse influence on attitudes toward mental health treatment and service utilization patterns by individuals with a mental illness, particularly African Americans. However, little research has examined the impact of stigma on racial differences in attitudes toward seeking mental health treatment. This study examined the hypothesis that stigma partially mediates the relationship between race and attitudes towards mental health treatment in a community-based sample of 101 African American and White older adults. Multiple regression analyses and classic path analysis was utilized to test the partial mediation model. Controlling for socio-demographic factors, African American older adults were more likely to have negative attitudes toward mental health treatment, and they also reported more public and internalized stigma than their White counterparts. As hypothesized, the relationship between race and attitudes toward mental health treatment was partially mediated by internalized stigma, suggesting that internalized stigma may cause older adults to develop negative attitudes about mental health treatment. The partial mediation model was not significant for public stigma, however. Implications for social work research and practice are discussed.     

The people or the place? An analysis of the protective factors of hate crime in multiethnic neighbourhoods in Australia

Hate crime creates significant problems for individual victims and the social fabric of a community more broadly. Victimisation is most likely to occur around the victim's own neighbourhood, yet few studies examine how the neighbourhood context influences hate crime. This study uses data from the Australian Community Capacity Study involving 4,400 participants in 148 neighbourhoods in Brisbane. It examines whether it is characteristics of place (such as attitudes toward diversity, place attachment and social cohesion) that reduce hate crime, or whether it is interactions with fellow residents (such as frequency of neighbourly exchanges, number of friends, and number of acquaintances in the neighbourhood) that shelter residents from hate crime. Results demonstrate that characteristics of a place provide important protective factors against hate crime in the neighbourhood, rather than the number of social‐interactions between residents.     

Political and Civic Participation Among Disadvantaged Urban Mothers: The Role of Neighborhood Poverty*

Objective. This article explores the relationship between neighborhood economic conditions and mothers' political and civic participation, examining whether this relationship is conditioned on mothers' individual characteristics. Methods. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Well‐Being Study, it tests specifically whether neighborhood poverty influences mothers' voting and voluntary behavior differently depending on their income, education, race/ethnicity, and relationship status. Results. The results suggest that the relationship between neighborhood poverty and voting behavior depends on mothers' education level and relationship status, whereas the relationship between neighborhood poverty and mothers' volunteer work varies by race and relationship status. Conclusions. The results are in accordance with what some qualitative research has long suggested: that the relationship between neighborhood conditions and individual outcomes varies from person to person and group to group. Future research on “neighborhood effects” should continue to move beyond homogeneous explanations for how neighborhoods influence behavior and instead seek to determine the specific conditions under which neighborhoods exert influence on individual outcomes.     

A Tale of Two Border Cities: Community Context,Ethnicity, and Homicide*

Objective. Using Poisson‐based negative binomial regression, we estimate the effect of neighborhood factors on homicides in two cities (San Antonio, Texas and San Diego, California) that have large Mexican‐origin populations. Methods. Three independent data sources (official homicide police reports, medical examiner records, and the U.S. Census) are used to construct the dependent homicide, and independent neighborhood, variables. Census tracts represent the unit of analysis, which serve as a proxy for neighborhoods. Given the spatial nature of the data, spatial estimation procedures were also modeled. Results. Spatial proximity to violence, neighborhood disadvantage, and affluence (in San Antonio) consistently buffered homicide across neighborhoods, even in heavily populated Latino neighborhoods. Conclusions. Spatial embeddedness and neighborhood characteristics are important for improving our understanding about ethnic neighborhood variations in levels of violence. Comparative approaches across places, namely, Latino‐dominated cities, can yield considerable insight into how the local context intersects race/ethnicity and violent crime.     

Opposition to the Legitimacy of Hate Crime Laws: The Role of Argument Acceptance, Knowledge, Individual Differences, and Peer Influence

Hate crime laws are a highly controversial legal approach in society's response to intergroup violence. Argument acceptance, knowledge, and individual differences were examined in relationship to attitudes about these laws. These variables were also considered in terms of efforts to influence a peer's beliefs about hate crime laws. One-hundred and sixty-seven participants completed a measure of knowledge of human rights laws, Gough's Pr scale, the Selznick and Steinberg anti-Semitism scale, and Cuellar's Machismo scale. Hate crime attitudes were measured on an affect rating scale and six statements reflecting arguments favoring and opposing hate crime laws. Peer influence was examined on Interpersonal Power Inventory (IPI). Results showed that while most participants endorsed positive attitudes about hate crime laws, men—and both women and men who endorsed machismo attitudes—were more likely to agree with media distortion and identity politics arguments opposing hate crime laws. The Pr and machismo scales predicted greater effort on the IPI to influence peer attitudes about hate crime laws, after controlling for demographic differences of the participants. These findings indicate that more explicitly biased individuals were more effortful in trying to change the attitudes of peers concerning the legitimacy of hate crime laws.     

SPECIAL ISSUE： EXAMINING THE DEATH PENALTY IN CHINA Abolition or retention： rethinking the death penalty in China

死刑废止论正在成为一种为刑法学界所广泛接受的理念,废止死刑目前也被当作是一项目标而不再根据现实国情和罪情去思考。促进此种理论共识形成的诸多因素之中,极为重要的原因之一,是废止死刑国家的数量统计,以及建立在这一数量统计基础上的“废除死刑是一种世界性潮流和趋势”臆想性认识。客观地看待废止死刑国家的真实数量,反思已经被法学界全面认可的统计数字的非科学性,并深入思索死刑存废的国际现状,对于立足中国国情去理性地思考死刑的存与废,并警惕学术研究中的数字陷阱和数字诱导,意义重大。从中国的历史阶段和整体情况来看,死刑在中国不宜立即废除。     

Race, Local Life Circumstances, and Criminal Activity

Objective . Life–course researchers suggest that changes in local life circumstances explain changes in criminal activity in adulthood. Although the extent to which local life circumstances propel offenders toward/away from criminal behavior is a subject of considerable debate, the issue of race has largely been ignored. The objective in this research is to incorporate race into a life–course perspective that examines the influence of changes in life circumstances on changes in criminal activity. Methods . This objective is met by using longitudinal data on 524 parolees released from the California Youth Authority (CYA) who were followed for seven consecutive years after release. Results . The results suggest that changes in local life circumstances are related to changes in criminal activity, but do not eliminate the race/crime relationship for violence. At the same time, the effect of local life circumstances on criminal activity appears more similar than different across race, with the exception that common–law marriages are crime–generating among nonwhites as compared to whites. Conclusions . Because race continues to be associated with criminal activity over the life course, future research should increase efforts to better understand how race might condition life circumstances when influencing criminal activity. Implications of these findings for life–course theory are discussed.     

拐卖儿童罪：设刑与动刑--兼论“轻处”倾向的背后因素

针对拐卖儿童罪的重刑吁请,从设刑上,中国《刑法》已为该罪配置了足够重的法定刑,在与100个具有代表性的法域针对该行为的法定刑设置对比上,中国为本罪配置的法定刑仍属重刑之列;从动刑上,司法实践中对于拐卖儿童罪绝对重刑的比值虽然较高,但在本罪与其同罪异体的拐卖妇女罪以及盗窃、诈骗、绑架罪等11个犯罪相对重刑的对比中,发现法官群体针对本罪存在相对“轻处”的倾向,而隐藏于背后的父母同意情况下犯罪人拐卖儿童罪的高比重情况,可以对此倾向予以解释。     

Why Did Poverty Become Less Geographically Concentrated in the 1990s?*

Objective. After increasing sharply in the 1970s and 1980s, the number of high‐poverty neighborhoods in the United States unexpectedly and dramatically declined in the 1990s. This article examines the roles that residential and income mobility played in this decline. Methods. Using geocoded data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this study analyzes changes during the 1990s and early 2000s in: (1) patterns of residential mobility between high‐poverty and lower‐poverty neighborhoods; and (2) patterns of income mobility for residents who remained in high‐poverty neighborhoods. Results. Both patterns of residential and income mobility changed in the 1990s and early 2000s. While patterns of residential migration to high‐poverty neighborhoods were largely unchanged over this period, patterns of residential migration from high‐poverty neighborhoods changed significantly, with poor individuals—especially poor blacks—becoming more likely to relocate from high‐poverty to lower‐poverty neighborhoods. Patterns of income mobility for residents who remained in high‐poverty neighborhoods also changed significantly, with nonpoor residents becoming less likely to become poor and poor residents becoming more likely to exit poverty. Conclusion. Poverty rates in high‐poverty neighborhoods fell primarily because of the net upward income mobility of residents who remained in these neighborhoods.     

The Intersection of Race and Gender: An Examination of Black Feminist Consciousness,Race Consciousness,and Policy Attitudes*

Objective. In this article, we investigate black feminist consciousness, its relationship to race consciousness, and its impact on policy attitudes. Unlike scholars and activists who argue that black feminist consciousness detracts from race consciousness, we argue that the two go hand in hand. Methods. Using confirmatory factor analysis, we examine public opinion survey data from the 1993 National Black Politics Study. Results. We find that both black women and men have fairly high levels of support for black feminist ideals. Also, we provide evidence that black feminist consciousness is positively related to the components of race consciousness and demonstrate the influence of black feminist consciousness on support for abortion rights. Conclusions. Our research is important because it uses a measure of black feminist consciousness true to its theoretical origins.     

Capital Constructions: Newspaper Reporting in Death Penalty Cases

This study evaluates aspects of newspaper reporting about death penalty cases and capital defendants. In a content analysis of newspaper coverage of a representative sample of 26 death penalty-eligible defendants who were brought to trial in California, we found that articles tended to cite primarily from law enforcement and prosecutorial sources, focused very heavily on the characteristics of the crime, and omitted or de-emphasized most other aspects of the case. News coverage generally failed to place the criminal behavior of the defendant in any social historical or contextual framework from which readers (as potential voters and jurors) could grasp the potential mitigating elements of the case. We conclude that newspaper coverage of capital crimes may influence public support for the death penalty, and undermine public appreciation of the role of social contextual factors in crime causation in general. It also may bias the perspective with which potential jurors approach specific capital trials and even contribute to the lack of instructional comprehension that has been found to plague the death sentencing process.     

Indian student concerns about violence: exploring student perceptions

While considerable attention has been given to the spate of attacks on Indian students in Australia in 2009 and 2010, less attention has been paid to how the students who were at the centre of the furore perceived the violence. In this paper we explore the perceptions of Indian postgraduate and undergraduate male students studying in Melbourne, Australia, based on data gathered in focus groups. Analysis revealed four broad themes in students' explanations for the attacks: race hate versus opportunism, intercultural issues, systemic ineffectiveness, and media reporting. Students' perceptions of the reasons for the attacks were divided in some areas and aligned in others. There was divergence among students about whether the attacks were race hate crime or opportunistic, and about intercultural issues. Students' perceptions were aligned on issues of systemic ineffectiveness and media reporting. In the current context of decreased international enrolments from Indian students, in which we seek to better understand them, the findings provide implications for international student policy and planning priorities.     

Environmental Vulnerability in Public Perceptions and Attitudes: The Case of Israel's Urban Centers

Objective. This article investigates how urban environmental vulnerability to hazards reflects in the perceptions and attitudes of the public in three major cities in Israel: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa. Our central argument is that the differences between the residents' perceptions and attitudes toward environmental issues are related mostly to the actual hazard levels of their communities, whereas individual differences in socioeconomic characteristics are of lesser importance in this regard. Methods. The research was based on survey data of representative samples of the adult residents in the three cities. The differences in attitudes and perceptions among the three samples were statistically assessed by means of analysis of variance. Results. We found relatively strong and consistent relationships between actual environmental vulnerability to hazards in the three cities and their residents' attitudes toward environmental issues. The relationships with socioeconomic characteristics, such as education and income, were considerably weaker and less consistent. Conclusions. The results of this research indicate that environmental concern is not exclusive to groups and individuals characterized by postmaterialist values. Rather, the urban public in general is responsive to the environmental vulnerability of its community. This conclusion supports the argument that attitudes toward the environment are mainly affected by instrumental considerations of objective environmental problems rather than by subjective values.     

源于身份的隔阂:人口多样性、社会信任与犯罪

本文以2014年中国劳动力动态调查（CLDS）数据为基础，构建了一个人口多样性指数，并将其与288个城市的数据相匹配，检验了人口多样性与犯罪率之间的关系。实证结果表明，人口多样性是导致城市犯罪率上升的原因之一，且这一发现是稳健的。作用机制检验结果表明，社会信任是一个重要的中介变量，即人口多样性通过削弱社会信任水平导致犯罪率的上升。进一步，从地区制度环境和民生支出水平两个角度展开的实证检验发现，产权保护越完善、民众对法庭越有信心，政府在公共教育和社会保障上的财政支出越高，人口多样性对犯罪率的影响越弱，说明良好的制度和较高的社会福利支出具有显著的犯罪治理效应。本文的发现为城市化进程中我国各级政府的犯罪治理政策选择提供了经验证据，有助于科学把握犯罪治理的着力点。