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Building on several recent papers that have brought the study of criminal career lengths back to the attention of criminologists, this study used a sample of serious offenders to examine the length of their official criminal career. This study not only examined overall career length, but it also examined the career length for five categories of offenses (serious, violent, serious violent, property, and drug), the residual career length as a function of age, and the correlates of the average career length. The data used consist of a random sample of 1,957 offenders released from the California Youth Authority in 1981-1982 who were followed into their 30s. The results of the study are interpreted in terms of their implications for theory, public policy, and future research needs. Appended are: (1) Categorization of Offense Types. (Contains 6 tables and 3 figures.)

This paper presents the academic field of criminal justice as an interpretive social science. The opening section discusses academic criminal justice from scientific and interpretive perspectives, arguing that the terminology of 'justice' is essentially contested. The second section presents the key implication of a contested core terminology: that an interpretive approach is the best way to develop the academic field of criminal justice. Section three reviews central elements of the Gadamerian tradition, with an eye towards its application to the field of criminal justice. The fourth section considers two issues pertinent to an interpretive criminal justice-the problem of interpretation in a field where professional practice is destructive to other normative systems, and the contribution of an interpretive criminal justice to public policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most prison systems use quantitative instruments to classify and assign inmates to prison security levels commensurate to their level of risk. Bench and Allen (The Prison Journal 83(4):367-382, ) offer evidence that the assignment to higher security prisons produces elevated levels of misconduct independent of the individual’s propensity to commit misconduct. Chen and Shapiro (American Law and Economics Review, ) demonstrate that assignment to higher security level among inmates with the same classification scores increases post-release recidivism. Underlying both of these claims is the idea that the prison social environment is criminogenic. In this paper we examine the theoretical premises for this claim and present data from the only experiment that has been conducted that randomly assigns inmates to prison security levels and evaluates both prison misconduct and post-release recidivism. The experiment’s results show that inmates with a level III security classification who were randomly assigned to a security level III prison in the California prison system had a hazard rate of returning to prison that was 31% higher than that of their randomly selected counterparts who were assigned to a level I prison. Thus, the offenders’ classification assignments at admission determined their likelihood of returning to prison. There were no differences in the institutional serious misconduct rates of these same prisoners. These results are contradictory to a specific deterrence prediction and more consistent with peer influence and environmental strain theories. These results also raise important policy implications that challenge the way correctional administrators will have to think about the costs and benefits of separating inmates into homogeneous pools based on classification scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Despite the existence of minimum age laws for juvenile justice jurisdiction in 18 US states, California has no explicit law that protects children (i.e. youth less than 12 years old) from being processed in the juvenile justice system. In the absence of a minimum age law, California lags behind other states and international practice and standards. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach In this policy brief, academics across the University of California campuses examine current evidence, theory, and policy related to the minimum age of juvenile justice jurisdiction. Findings Existing evidence suggests that children lack the cognitive maturity to comprehend or benefit from formal juvenile justice processing, and diverting children from the system altogether is likely to be more beneficial for the child and for public safety. Research limitations/implications Based on current evidence and theory, the authors argue that minimum age legislation that protects children from contact with the juvenile justice system and treats them as children in need of services and support, rather than as delinquents or criminals, is an important policy goal for California and for other national and international jurisdictions lacking a minimum age law. Originality/value California has no law specifying a minimum age for juvenile justice jurisdiction, meaning that young children of any age can be processed in the juvenile justice system. This policy brief provides a rationale for a minimum age law in California and other states and jurisdictions without one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have long been concerned with the reasons that lead young people into a life of crime, yet most of this work has focused on the experiences of males and how they end up behind bars or eventually leave a life of crime. Mainstream criminological thought often lacks an inclusive understanding about the experiences that lead girls into the criminal justice system. With this study, the researchers seek to add to the understanding of how girls end up behind bars, specifically exploring the relationship between experiences of abuse and juvenile justice. Using two years of ethnographic research with incarcerated girls at a juvenile detention center in southern California, this article questions the abuse experiences of justice-involved girls and the connection between abuse and juvenile justice involvement for girls. Interviews with the 33 girls in the study were analyzed for disclosures of abuse and mistreatment, yielding the experiences of 14 different girls included in this article's analysis. Our findings demonstrate that prior to being incarcerated, participants experienced multiple forms of abuse, or polyvictimization, both inside and outside of the home. Further, the authors highlight how the experiences of girls contribute to their eventual incarceration. Participants had to negotiate mistreatment across various institutions and by multiple people, with little help from schools, the juvenile justice, or child welfare systems. As a whole this work provides valuable insight into the experiences of girls before they are incarcerated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate and weather have been linked to criminal activity. The connection between climatological conditions and crime is of growing importance as we seek to understand the societal implications of climate change. This study describes the mechanisms theorized to link annual variations in climate to crime in California and examines the effect of drought on statewide crime rates from 2011–2015. California has suffered severe drought since 2011, resulting in intensely dry winters and several of the hottest days on record. It is likely that the drought increased economic stress and shifted routine activities of the population, potentially increasing the likelihood of crime. We used a synthetic control method to estimate the impact of California’s drought on both property and violent crimes. We found a significant increase in property crimes during the drought, but no effect on violent crimes. This result was robust to several sensitivity analyses, including a negative control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article shows that decarceration is a clear possibility in California but not a certain outcome. It says that in this state, the launch of a "parole violation decision-making instrument" is the only policy change that lessen the prison population. It also tackles research on the rise in imprisonment that recommends approaches to lower prison populations. It then looks at how the changes that took effect in the 1960s and early 1970s could be repeated in the penal and governmental scenarios of 2010.

There are numerous instances in which researchers wish to measure the rate of intra- or inter-group interactions (whether positive or negative). When computing such measures as rates there is great uncertainty regarding the appropriate denominator: we analytically illustrate how the choice of the denominator when calculating such rates is not trivial and that some existing strategies create a built-in relationship between the computed rate and the group composition within the entity. Another strand of prior work only focused on the relative occurrence of intra- versus inter-group events, which does not account for the important theoretical possibility that both types of events might increase in certain social contexts. Our approach provides an advance over these earlier strategies as it allows one to take into account the relative frequency of interaction between members of different groups, but then translates this into per capita rates. We also provide an empirical example using data on inter- and intra-group robbery and aggravated assault events for block groups in a section of the city of Los Angeles to illustrate how our procedure works and to illustrate how other approaches can lead to dramatically different conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociological studies of crime have rarely examined the effects of immigration on aggregate patterns of violent offending, and particularly few studies have examined this relationship across multiple racial/ethnic populations. The current study extends research on immigration and crime by examining this relationship across total and race/ethnicity-disaggregated populations (i.e., White, Black, and Latino) and for homicide offending (rather than homicide victimization) using 1999-2001 arrest data drawn from 328 census places in California. Findings reveal that immigrant concentration has trivial (nonsignificant) effects on overall homicides and Latino homicides, but slightly reduces White and Black homicide offending, net of controls. Implications of these findings are as follows: (a) Immigration does not have violence-generating effects but instead appears to have violence-neutral or perhaps some violence-reducing effects on homicide offending, and (b) This small or null effect is fairly consistent across racial/ethnic populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon literature from developmental criminology and place-based policing, the Redlands, California Police Department developed the Risk-Focused Policing at Places (RFPP) approach to preventing and reducing juvenile delinquency. The RFPP program is a community-oriented policing and problem-solving strategy that targets risk and protective factors related to delinquency and problem behaviors of youths living in census block group areas. We used a matched block randomized experimental design to evaluate the effects of the program on youths living in 26 census block groups in Redlands. We find that the RFPP program did not influence self-reported delinquency, or perceptions of risk and protective factors and police legitimacy. We argue that the primary explanation for the absence of a program effect centers on the unit of analysis used for the program. The census block group is too large a geographic unit of analysis to achieve the kind of targeted and focused interventions that lead to positive crime-prevention outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An empirical study was undertaken in San Diego, California, to test assumptions made by the government and by conservative religious policy advocates that there is a greater incidence of crime in the vicinity of peep show establishments. We asked two questions: (a) Is criminal activity in San Diego particularly acute at peep show establishments compared to surrounding control locations? and (b) Is criminal activity in San Diego disproportionately greater at or near peep show establishments between the hours of 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. compared to other times of the day? The levels of crime activity and the expenditure of police resources were examined by measuring the number of calls-for-service (CFSs) to the police within a 1,000-ft. area on either side of the peep show establishments and comparably-sized control areas beyond the immediate 1,000-foot area. A more focused "late-night" (2 a.m. to 6 a.m.) analysis was also undertaken. The results showed no reliable evidence of differences in crime levels between the control and test areas, nor was there any evidence of disproportionately greater amounts of crime within the 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. time period in the areas surrounding the peep show establishments. We concluded that San Diego does not have a problem with crime at the peep show establishments generally, nor is there a heightened problem with crime during the 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. period. We discuss the implications of assuming that peep show establishments are associated with negative effects in the community and the possibility of viewpoint discrimination against sex communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to community demands, case settlements, and state laws concerning racial profiling, police departments across the nation are collecting data on traffic stops. While the data collection is rapidly moving forward, there are few if any agreed upon methods for analyzing the data. Much of the attention has been on benchmarks for the race distribution of stops and searches. Little empirical work has advanced our understanding of the influence of race in the post-stop activities of police. The present study proposes a propensity score technique to determine the extent to which race bias affects citation rates, search rates, and the duration of the stop. Adjusting for confounding variables using the propensity score offers an alternative to multivariate regression that is more interpretable, less prone to errors in model assumptions, and ultimately easier to present to stakeholders in policing practices. An analysis of traffic stop data from the City of Oakland, California demonstrates the process, presentation, and interpretation of the results that the methodology produces. Ultimately, the study addresses the extent to which race plays a role in officers’ use of discretion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The time required for a case to traverse the criminal justice system is of central importance to participants. Time translates into issues of efficiency and is likely to be closely related to the cost of a case. The role of time has, however, largely been ignored in studies of court processing, though it has a History in the sociology of law. This research uses event-history data from California to model the effects of offense, offender, and processing factors on the time it takes to move a case from entrance into the system at arrest to disposition by guilty plea or trial. A model that mirrors the dynamics of case processing is used to assess the dependencies of inertial forces on case and defendant characteristics. This focus on the processing time to each of the potential outcomes allows for the linking of theories and methods of processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]