Search

Lecturing has been criticized for fostering a passive learning environment, emphasizing a one-way flow of information, and not adequately engaging students. In contrast, active-learning approaches, such as team-based learning (TBL), prioritize student interaction and engagement and create multidirectional flows of information. This paper presents an exploratory analysis of whether lecturing or TBL was better for teaching content; developing skills, such as critical thinking; and creating an enjoyable learning environment in a sociology course. Results showed few differences in these outcomes between groups taught with the two different methods, although TBL students thought they improved their oral communication and creative thinking skills more than the lecture students, and they reported getting to know their professor and classmates more than did the lecture students.

This study uses geospatial and regression analyses to examine the relationships among social disorganization, collective efficacy, social control, residence restrictions, spatial autocorrelation, and the neighborhood distribution of registered sex offenders (RSOs) in Chicago. RSOs were concentrated in neighborhoods that had higher levels of social disorganization and lower levels of collective efficacy, offered greater anonymity, and were near other neighborhoods with high concentrations of RSOs. Furthermore, social control mechanisms mediated some of the effects of structural disorganization. The neighborhoods where RSOs were likely to live did not exhibit characteristics that would support the informal social control of such offenders, as RSO legislation assumes. (Contains 13 notes, 1 figure, and 3 tables.)

This article examines whether correlates of cross-national homicide variation tested with data from highly developed, predominantly Western nations could also explain homicide rates in East-Central Europe. Using pooled time-series analyses of data from nine countries from 1990 through 2003, this study found that homicide rates were negatively related to GDP/capita and positively related to ethnic diversity and population density. They were also negatively related to the percentage of young people and not significantly related to income inequality or divorce rates. This article also investigates whether conditions specific to the post-communist transformations contributed to homicide variation. Findings indicate that progressive reforms toward democratization and marketization decreased homicide rates. The discussion uses the socio-historical context of the nations to explain these results. (Contains 5 tables and 1 note.)

Globally, firearms are the most frequent means of committing homicide and young males are most likely to be victimized with guns. However, females' risk of lethal gun violence rises significantly within the context of intimate partner and family violence. Some countries have addressed the gendered nature of gun violence in the private sphere by regulating access to guns based on the risk of domestic or family violence. There has been little research conducted on the extent to which such policies have been adopted around the world and their effectiveness for protecting females against gun violence. This quantitative, cross-national study tested the effects of gun availability and gun policies on levels of lethal violence against women in a relatively large sample of countries, controlling for other structural and cultural predictors of macro-level homicide rates. We found that the civilian gun ownership rate was positively associated with lethal gun violence against women. However, the relationship between gun policies to protect against domestic and family violence did not have a direct effect on female homicide rates. Instead, domestic violence background checks for gun permits only had a moderate negative effect on female homicides in countries with large numbers of private firearms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to assess whether four key theoretical perspectives on female criminality—emancipation, economic marginalisation, net-widening, and modernisation—explain female representation in the criminal justice system equally well for both developed and developing countries and to assess whether the same factors that can explain women's levels of criminal offending can also explain their representation in subsequent stages of criminal justice processing. Analyzing pooled data for 37 highly developed and 38 less developed countries from 2003 to 2013, the results provide support for modernisation, emancipation, and net-widening theories, but not for economic marginalisation theory. Emancipation and net-widening theories have more explanatory power for more developed countries than less and they can explain women's representation at different levels of criminal justice processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Examines patterns of Twitter data related to the Michael Brown case in Missouri. • 12% of census tracts had any Twitter activity related to Michael Brown case. • Wealthier neighborhoods w/more black residents were more likely to tweet about case. • A higher volume of related tweets were found in more disadvantaged neighborhoods. Following the shooting of Michael Brown in 2014, a series of social protests on the streets and social media were ignited. The current research draws upon social disorganization theory to explore the geospatial patterns of Twitter activity related to the Michael Brown case across the state of Missouri. Geotagged Twitter data and census tract level American Community Survey data were used to determine if neighborhoods with greater social disadvantage were more represented in political discourse regarding police brutality. Results indicated wealthier neighborhoods with a higher percentage of black residents were more likely to engage in Twitter activity related to the Michael Brown case. A higher volume of activity was found, however, in more disadvantaged neighborhoods with little effect as to the percentage of black residents. Within a social disorganization framework, findings support the potential for future research to examine the idea that marginalized neighborhoods use social media as an outlet for their concerns about criminal justice practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study utilized a fairly new measure of gender equality from the European Union to dissect the relationship between gender-specific homicide victimization rates and different forms of gender equality across a sample of European countries. Results showed support for a curvilinear relationship between financial equality and female and male homicide victimization, providing support for amelioration and backlash theories, but no support for absolute economic marginalization. While there were some similarities between the female and male models, there were enough differences to warrant further investigations of gendered theories of violent victimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this article was to assess the extent to which major changes in the political and economic systems of Central and Eastern European countries after the fall of communism contributed to variations in property crime rates, controlling for other structural predictors. Data for 17 countries from 1990–2003 were collected for three types of property crimes: total theft; motor vehicle theft; and domestic burglary. Traditional predictors derived from modernization and routine activities theories produced inconsistent results, but political and economic changes due to the post-communist transformations were significant predictors of property crime variation. Economic changes toward liberalization, marketization, and privatization were strongly, positively related to higher property crime rates across all three types. Political changes toward democratization were only positively related to higher domestic burglary rates. The control variables were weak and inconsistent predictors of all three property crimes. The article discusses some of the implications of these findings for updating macro-level crime theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the extent to which variations in homicide rates across Europe, particularly differences between Western and Eastern Europe, can be explained by democratic cultural values. Prior studies have shown that individualism and egalitarianism promoted by democratic regimes are usually associated with lower levels of interpersonal violence. This study tests this relationship on a sample of 33 countries circa 2010. Not only does this relationship hold, but further analysis also shows that democratic values have both a direct and indirect effect on homicide rates as they are mediated by the strength of democratic institutions and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-national criminology is naturally embedded in spatial and historical contexts, but cross-national crime researchers rarely employ data visualization techniques to illustrate relationships built in time and space. In this paper, the author argues that data visualization techniques, if employed following sound principles of analytical design, can facilitate data analysis, causal reasoning, and theoretical development. This paper reanalyzes data from a cross-national analysis of homicide rates in 34 nations from 1956–1998 in order to demonstrate the value of data visualization for cross-national criminology. Using two data visualization techniques – mapping and sparklines – the author argues that how we see the data affects how we think about data. This re-presentation of data shows new patterns that were not apparent in the original analysis and encourages further theoretical thinking. The author concludes that data visualization techniques provide additional tools for cross-national crime researchers to better incorporate space and time in their analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]