CONVICTED MURDERERS' ACCOUNTS OF THEIR CRIMES: A STUDY OF HOMICIDE IN SMALL COMMUNITIES

In-depth interviews were conducted with a sample of 25 persons recently convicted of homicide in a largely rural, midwestern state. The primary focus of the study was the definition of the situation, particularly the vocabulary of motives, employed by the respondents at the time of their crime. The results showed that the vast majority of the respondents cited motives involving excuses (e.g., it was an accident, judgment impaired by alcohol/drugs, not oneself because of severe stress). These excuses assumed, or appealed to, conventional moral views of violence. Six of the individuals provided motives that they felt justified their actions. However, these justifications tended to be based upon a plea of self-defense and demonstrated a commitment to conventional morality rather than to the norms of a violent subculture. There was no evidence that the respondents viewed their behavior as part of a character contest. In most instances, they were unemployed or underemployed persons, living rather dead-end lives, who in the course of mounting life stress struck out at someone, usually while intoxicated. Frequently they were depressed, and in some cases suicidal, at the time of the act, and the victim was usually a relative or friend. In half of the cases it appeared that the homicide would not have taken place if a handgun has not been present.     

Dimensions of Adolescent Employment

Work during adolescence, including part-time work during the school year, has been viewed as vocational behavior with mixed effects on other behaviors and attitudes. Using two different samples (West Point cadets and high school seniors who qualified for ROTC membership), we examined possible positive and negative correlates of adolescent work as a function of work dimensions, and both concurrent and subsequent performance criteria. Results indicated that concurrent costs and benefits of adolescent employment may depend on dimensions of work as well as adolescent characteristics. Similarly, adolescent employment was found to be generally related to subsequent work motivation and nonacademic performance.     

Group technology,cells and flow-lines

The similarities between the Group Technology (GT) Cell system and flow-line production are explored, with particular reference to the nature of the production systems, and worker organization. Several factors are identified which not only distinguish flow-line and GT cell design, but also give rise to the relative inefficiency of GT cell systems. The nature of the work-group provided in a GT cell is contrasted with functional work-groups of the type advocated for flow-line working, the benefits of the latter being found to be available in, but not necessarily provided by, the cell system.