DO MORAL COMMUNITIES PLAY A ROLE IN CRIMINAL SENTENCING? Evidence from Pennsylvania

Religion and social control have been a sociological concern since Durkheim and Weber, and the relationship between religion and punishment has long been the subject of speculation. However, surprisingly little empirical research exists on the role of religion or religious context in criminal justice, and almost no research on the role of religious context on actual sentencing practices. We conceptualize the potential relationships between religious context and sentencing severity by drawing from the focal concerns and court community perspectives in the sentencing literature and from the moral communities theory developed by Rodney Stark. We suspect that Christian moral communities might shape notions of perceived blameworthiness for court community actors. Such moral communities might also affect notions of community protection—affecting perceptions of dangerousness, or perhaps rehabilitation, and might influence practical constraints/consequences (e.g., local political ramifications of harsh or lenient sentences). We examine these questions with a set of hierarchical models using sentencing data from Pennsylvania county courts and data on the religious composition of Pennsylvania counties from the Associated Religion Data Archives. We find that county Christian religious homogeneity increases the likelihood of incarceration. In addition, Christian homogeneity, as well as the prevalence of civically engaged denominations in a county condition the effects of important legally relevant determinants of incarceration. Furthermore, we find evidence that Christian homogeneity activates the effect of local Republican electoral dominance on incarceration. We argue that Christian homogeneity affects sentencing practices primarily through local political processes that shape the election of judges and prosecutors.     

The Role of Probation Officers in Determining Gender Differences in Sentencing Severity*

This study examines the relationship between gender and sentencing severity in the criminal justice system. Analysis focuses (1) on the extent to which gender influences sentencing and (2) on the part played by probation officers' presentence investigations in accounting for these differences. We find males are more likely than females to receive harsh sentences. The gender effect is diminished, but not ellmnished, in multivariate analyses, when controls are introduced for other sociodemographic and legal variables. The length of pretrial detention and the amount of charge reduction also have little impact on the magnitude of this relationship. Presentence recommendations by probation officers, however, have a major effect. Independent of other potential influences, being female greatly increases the likelihood of receiving a non-incarceration sentence recommendation which, in turn, is the primary predictor of final criminal court dispositions. A large portion of the gender effect in sentencing enters during the presentence stage, apparently because probation officers (the court officials who prepare the presentence reports) are influenced by traditional ideas about gender roles. Qualitative data suggest that they believe the sources of crime are different for women and men and that imprisonment is more appropriate as a treatment for men.     

Experiencing and writing Indigeneity, rurality and gender: Australian reflections

This paper has two interrelated aims. The first is to contribute to knowledge about rurality, gender and Indigeneity. This is undertaken by the first author, Bebe Ramzan, an Indigenous woman living in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. Bebe shows similarities across rural and remote areas in Australia and details her knowledge and experience of home, rurality, rural communities, land and gender. The second aim of the paper is to examine issues surrounding the involvement of academic white women in Indigenous research. Writing from the position of feminist white women Barbara Pini and Lia Bryant reflect on theories of whiteness as cultural practice and in this paper contest representations of rurality in rural studies as white.     

Variations in the conceptualization and measurement of rurality: Conflicting findings on the elderly widowed

This paper argues that the nature of any observed distinctions between the rural and urban aged are a function of whether rurality is conceptualized in ecological or socio-cultural terms. Four measures of rurality are contrasted. Two measures, based primarily on ecological criteria, define rurality in terms of (1) current residence, and (2) duration of community residence. Two additional measures, based primarily on socio-cultural criteria, define rurality in terms of (3) place of residence at age 16, and (4) a self-definition as rural. While different kinds of rural populations are identified by each measure, a self-definition of rurality seems to capture proportionally more of those who are also rural on the other criteria. However, this is not the case when urbanity is defined using the same criteria. The practice of classifying elderly populations as urban or rural based on current residence alone identifies ‘urban’ individuals who are in fact largely urban on both ecological and socio-cultural criteria; a significant proportion of those identified as rural by ecological criteria do not, however, fit the socio-cultural definition. The implications of these findings are discussed in reference to a sample of 151 elderly widowed men and women. Very different patterns of variability between rural and urban widowed elderly emerge, depending on which definition of rurality is used.     

Stability and Change in Female and Male Violence across Rural and Urban Counties, 1981–2006

Two durable criminological patterns have been higher violence rates in urban compared to rural areas and by males compared to females. To derive and evaluate hypotheses related to correspondence across place and sex groups in changes in violence trends, we draw on a spatial‐inequality perspective that attends to the geographic distribution of inequalities at the subnational scale, as well as to recent extensions of social‐disorganization theory to variation in rural and female violence rates. Our study's focus is on systematically delineating the extent and timing of change in female and male violence trends, the rural‐urban violence gap, and the gender gap. We apply epidemiological joinpoint techniques to Uniform Crime Reports arrest data from completely rural to highly urbanized settings for several violent offenses (homicide, robbery, aggravated assault, and misdemeanor assault) between 1981 and 2006. Female and male violence rates in rural to urban settings generally followed the same course over 25 years. Analyses generally indicated parallel violence trends of rural and urban females and males and only subtle changes in the rural‐urban and gender gaps in serious violence. Serious violence became somewhat less concentrated in urban centers owing to more sizable urban rate declines after the mid‐1990s. In all contexts, the gender gap in assault arrests narrowed, but the female share of serious violence (homicide, robbery) remained much the same; this result suggests change in the social control of minor violence by females across rural and urban settings.     

Too Strict or Too Lenient?: Examining The Role of School Strictness With Educational and Juvenile Justice Outcomes

Abstract

Although there is research exploring how school punishment practices are influencing academic and juvenile justice outcomes, how strict or lenient school punishment practices are related to aspects of education such as grade retention and dropping out, as well as juvenile justice contact, remains unknown. This study draws from the Texas Education Agency’s Public Education Information Management System to investigate the relationship between strict and lenient school punishment practices, academic progress or failure, and juvenile justice contact. Results indicate that schools with more strict punishment practices can contribute to higher grade retention and juvenile justice referral rates; however, it also appears that lenient punishment practices also exacerbate these same outcomes as well as higher referral rates. The importance of fair, just, and balanced school punishment practices is discussed.     

Crime and Punishment in Canada: A Statistical Test of the “Conventional Wisdom”*

Trois propositions fondamentales qui traduisent les impressions populaires sur le crime et ses chatiments sont mises a l'epreuve dans une analyse regressive a l'aide des moindres carres. Voici les resultats obtenus: (a) le taux general de criminalite n'a pas augmente durant les annees 1950-66 si on met de cote les infractions mineures; (b) durant la meme periode les jugements ne furent pas moins severes et les disparites dans les sentences ne se sont pas amenuisees; (c) 1'augmentation du taux des offenses mineures est directement associee a l'accroissement de la force policiere. On cherche a expliquer pourquoi les croyances populaires persistent meme si elles sont refutees par les faits. Three propositions which express the conventional wisdom about crime and punishment are tested with least squares regression analysis. The results are that the over-all crime rate has not increased between 1950 and 1966 (except for trivial infractions); sentences have not become more lenient, nor have disparities in sentencing decreased throughout the same period. Increases in the rates for the less serious offences are positively correlated with increases in the size of the police force. Reasons for the persistence of belief in the conventional wisdom in the face of contradictory evidence are offered.     

Juvenile or adult? Negotiating and contesting childhood in the courtroom

Legislative changes during the 1980s and 1990s made it easier to treat juveniles as adults in the U.S. justice system. Research on the sentencing outcomes of juveniles in the criminal court has been somewhat mixed, with some studies showing that they receive severe or long sentences and others showing that many young people receive probation or relatively short jail or prison sentences. Less attention has been placed on the process through which these cases move through the criminal court and the ways in which the labels of “juvenile” and “adult” are negotiated and contested by legal actors. Using both qualitative and quantitative data, this article examines the negotiation of these labels. While it finds that legal rules are important in establishing the potential outcomes in a case, the power of specific actors and the context of specific courtrooms are also important in shaping the negotiations and contestations over these labels. The article provides a framework to understand outcomes and presents ways that advocates can become involved in helping to shape the outcomes of these cases.     

Local Economic Development in an Age of Devolution: The Question of Rural Localities*

Abstract There is limited recent research on the strategies that rural local governments are employing in the face of changing intergovernmental relationships, especially in relation to local economic development. This paper draws on data from a survey of local governments in the Ohio River Valley Region that includes a mix of localities on the urban‐rural continuum, to empirically address three issues. First, we examined the extent to which county governments have undertaken local economic development initiatives as well as other, extra‐economic activities designed to improve community well‐being. Second, we assessed the extent to which rural county governments vary from urban counties in their activities and available resources. Finally, we employed logistic regression models of factors associated with use of development strategies to determine the relationship between rurality and local development policy activities. The results show that rural counties are less likely than urban counties to undertake various economic development activities, with observed urban‐rural differences largely attributable to county socioeconomic disadvantages, such as poverty and education.     

Gender,Power, and Reproduction: Rural‐Urban Differences in the Relationship Between Fertility Goals and Contraceptive Use in Kenya*

Abstract Rural‐urban variances in fertility‐related phenomena traditionally are explained by differences in access to contraception and by spatial variations in reproductive goals. As a corollary, changes in existing supply‐ and demand‐side inequities should enable rural women to attain their reproductive goals to the same extent as their urban counterparts. We find, however, that reproductive decisions in rural areas reflect entrenched male dominance, such that the gender inequality in decision making must be redressed if rural women are to realize their fertility goals as fully as urban women.     

The Work of Rural Professionals: Doing the Gemeinschaft‐Gesellschaft Gavotte

Abstract This paper considers how rurality affects the work of professionals. Sociologists have paid little attention to possible rural‐urban differences in work styles and no study exists which compares the rural experience of those in different professions. I review the literature describing the work of various rural professionals and examine interview data from rural clergy to see whether rural professionals differentiate their work from that of their urban peers. The comparison across occupations reveals several common concerns, including the need to do similar work with fewer resources, the necessity of adapting protocols and codes of conduct to rural settings, and the challenge of dealing with dual relationships. I argue that conventional standards of professional behavior reflect an urban bias and that rural life problematizes the notion of professionalism. Those who work in rural places are caught trying to dance between the “tunes” of gemeinschaft and gesellschaft society.     

Case Management in Rural Australia: Arguments for Improved Practice Understandings

Abstract

This article is principally concerned with case management and rurality in the Australian context. While there is substantial literature exploring case management across disciplines and across contexts, there remains a substantial gap in knowledge in relation to the role played by rurality in case management practice in Australia. An emerging body of knowledge associated with human service delivery in rural Australia under the stewardship of authors such as Alston, Cheers, and Lonne, offers valuable links between rurality and human services and draws attention to the specificity of rural work. However, there remains a gap in knowledge about how rural specificity impacts on case management practice in the political, cultural, and socioecological context that makes up rural Australia. Thus, the aim of this paper is to reflect upon contemporary knowledge of rural case management in the light of current literature and emerging trends, and to provoke interest in this topic as an area for further discussion and research.     

Women's fear of crime: A rural perspective

This paper examines women's experience of fear of crime in rural areas. It argues that much existing research on issues of gender, fear and safety have focused on urban areas and that as a result we know relatively little about women's experience of fear in a rural context. As well as arguing that we need to redress the balance and respond to the dearth of knowledge about rural women's fear, the paper asserts the importance of a rural perspective in understanding the relationship between fear and the social and cultural construction of place. The rural in particular provides an important site for such an understanding since, as is argued here, the notion of safety is central to constructions of rurality. The paper presents data on rural women's experience of fear and crime from research carried out in New Zealand and the UK. It draws on work undertaken in four rural communities and begins to identify the extent and nature of women's fears and how these relate to their experience of rurality. The paper shows how while popular constructions of the rural as friendly, safe and largely crime free endure, there is a recognition amongst rural women of the growing problems surrounding personal safety. It also demonstrates the importance of social constructions of the rural community in identifying the relevance of the ‘stranger’ and the marginalised ‘other’ to women's feelings of fear.     

Children's understandings of rurality: exploring the interrelationship between experience and understanding

Prompted by current debates within rural studies, this paper explores children's understandings of rural New Zealand. Previous research has focused on children as “doers” rather than “thinkers”. This paper reverses this emphasis by exploring children's material and discursive experiences and the ways these are negotiated to develop their understandings of rurality. While it highlights common constructions of rurality based on experiences of agriculture, nature, and recreation, it also illustrates children's varied experiences and understandings of rurality from each other and from adults. This heterogeneity becomes apparent through the examination of individual children's biographies. These reinforce the importance of making room to consider children individually and with regard to their own personal context—that is, to enable the complication of academic/adult understandings of rurality.     

The Architecture of Rural Life: The Dangers of Dense Collective Efficacy for At-Risk Girls

Dense ties and acquaintanceship result in small communities that deal with issues on an individual, informal basis. When issues such as sexual assault arise, if a victim is willing to seek services, studies have found that rurality negatively impedes on this process. The current study takes place in a primarily rural state, representing social control mechanisms somewhat different from cityscapes. The project relies heavily on in-depth interviews from incarcerated girls and women, as well as contributions from community actors, to assess collective efficacy in rural communities, influence of gender dynamics, and the impact on at-risk girls. Tracing participants' community roots, the study gathers structural and cultural characteristics of the locale, assessing social control practices as reported by local professionals. Results challenge literature proclaiming solely positive results from high levels of collective efficacy, finding that strong collective efficacy in nonurban areas gathers close insider ties, but “outsiders,” which includes girls identified in this research, are defined quickly and negatively, placing them in significant peril. Policy recommendations include broader cultural shifts coupled with local involvement with school personnel and church-involved patrons serving the needs of families and at-risk girls.     

Rural Runaways: Rurality and its Implications for Services to Children and Young People Who Run Away

This article debates options for service provision to young rural runaways in the UK. Using data drawn from two national surveys and follow‐on qualitative studies, the authors trace urban myths of rurality and their effects on runaway provision. The authors review models of rural refuge, systemic advocacy and mobile services for rural runaways. Evidence suggests that both young runaways’ services and young runaways themselves are particularly at risk of stigmatisation in the rural context. The authors suggest that in this context of high visibility in a rural area, add‐on services to generic provision may offer a solution.     

Hunting and Rural Socialization: Contingent Effects of the Rural Setting on Hunting Participation

Abstract This paper examines the relationship between rural socialization and hunting participation. Assessments of the cultural significance of hunting as a “way of life” in rural areas echo traditional assertions of the importance of rurality, but do not consider the interplay between rural residence and other variables that affect hunting participation. Although previous research has demonstrated that rural residents are more likely to participate in hunting, as are males and those who are influenced by family, the interaction of these variables is poorly understood. A national survey used a socialization framework to explore the more specific conditions under which rural upbringings were associated with increased hunting participation. Rural upbringings fostered an increase in hunting primarily when the socialization relationship between agent and target was unlikely to do so and when participation was consistent with gender norms: rural males whose fathers did not hunt were more likely to hunt than urban males whose fathers did not. In no other cases did rural upbringings result in an increased propensity for hunting. Therefore we suggest that broad statements about the cultural significance of hunting to rural life be made more cautiously, with the effects of other variables taken into account.     

Discourses on rurality in post-socialist news media: The case of Lithuania's leading daily “Lietuvos Rytas” (1991–2004)

The Soviet regime defined rurality as a collective-farm or kolkhoz-based society. Since the late 1980s such a state-imposed definition of rurality was rapidly unraveling under the tensions and conflicts produced by perestroika and post-socialist reforms. In the new politics of the rural, the role that the news media was playing in shaping public opinion on rural matters was of growing importance. The paper analyzes 3827 articles on rural issues published during the post-independence period (1991–2004) in the leading Lithuanian daily “Lietuvos Rytas” (LR). Two types of discourses in rural coverage are discerned. During the 1990s rural coverage in LR was reflective of conflicts and tensions between relatively prosperous urban classes which benefited from post-socialist reforms and pauperized rural population. Rurality was increasingly associated with the failure of “the moral modernization” of the rural population. Rural population was stigmatized as deficient in values and character, remaining in the grips of the Soviet mentality and state dependency and, therefore, unable to take advantage of opportunities created by the reforms. Since the early 2000s when economic situation in the country improved significantly and Lithuania started negotiations on European Union membership, rurality in LR coverage was gradually re-defined in EU terms as a socio-spacial entity shaped by regional, national, and local policies promoting multifunctionality of rural areas, well-being of rural communities, and active citizenship. Factors that influenced changes in rural discourses are analyzed. Impacts of changing discourses on rural identities, rural politics and policies are discussed.     

Popular Images of “Rurality”: Data from a Pennsylvania Survey

Abstract The meaning of rurality from the person-on-the-street perspective was explored using data from a statewide telephone and mail survey of 1,241 Pennsylvania residents. Responses to 35 Likert items were factor analyzed and five factors were delineated: positive images of rural life, negative images of rurality, antiurbanism, agrarianism, and wilderness values. Widespread agreement with the positive images of rural life, antiurbanism, agrarianism, and wilderness values was found. Negative images of rurality were overwhelmingly rejected by the respondents. Rural dwellers were somewhat more positive in their attitudes toward all aspects of rurality than were urban or suburban residents. The relevance of these overall findings for rural development is suggested.