Faith in Trump and the willingness to punish white-collar crime: Chinese Americans as an out-group.

Objectives: The first goal of the study was to investigate the willingness of former President Trump's supporters to punish a particular form of white-collar crime (i.e., bank fraud). The second objective was to test whether the race of the person who committed the bank fraud influenced Trump supporters' willingness to punish. Methods: This study used data from factorial vignettes that were administered to a national sample of adults in 2021 (N = 1509). A 2 (race of the individual who committed bank fraud) × 2 (prior criminal record) × 2 (COVID-19 related fraud) between-subject experimental design was used. Multivariate techniques were used to regress the dependent variables (e.g., length of prison sentence) onto the faith in Trump scale, the experimental conditions, and other variables. Results: Participants who expressed a strong faith in Trump were less likely to support sending an adult male who committed bank fraud to prison, but they were more supportive of deporting the individual to another country. The effect of faith in Trump changed when the race of the person who committed bank fraud was manipulated. Specifically, participants who expressed greater faith in Trump were more likely to view bank fraud as harmful and wrong, more likely to support the use of prison and recommend longer prison sentences, and expressed greater support for deporting the individual when he was depicted as Chinese American. Conclusions: Allegiance to the former president likely increased the targeting of Chinese Americans as out-group members in need of greater social control. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11292-022-09528-8.

Sex-Based Differences in Criminal Victimization of Adolescents: A Meta-Analysis.

While general criminological theories, including low self-control, social bonds, routine activities, and risky lifestyles are increasingly used to explain criminal victimization, there is some evidence these theories may omit important sex differences. To date, the empirical evidence remains mixed, which may be an artifact of methodological differences. This study used three-level meta-analytic methods to assess the use of various predictors derived from criminological theory on a variety of criminal victimization types, sample characteristics, and differences in research design. In a total sample of 166,650 females and 129,988 males in 115 studies using 95 unique datasets of adolescents (average age = 10-19), the meta-analysis revealed that elements of risky lifestyles are largely sex-neutral, while some sex-specific effects of bonds, routine activities, and prior victimization are observed. Implications for criminological theory, developmental and life course research on adolescent victimization, and avenues for prevention are discussed.

Perceptions of Legal Authorities in a Longitudinal Study of Adjudicated Youth.

While perceptions of the legitimacy of formal authority have been found to influence offending, little is known about the extent to which such perceptions influence the related outcome of victimization. This study addressed this gap by examining how changes in legitimacy affected victimization both within- and between-individuals. This study used 7 waves of the Pathways to Desistance data (n = 1310; 13.85% female; age range 14-22). Youth who have committed serious offenses were surveyed at 6-month intervals during the transition from adolescence to young adulthood. In the full sample, the effects of legitimacy on both victimization and offending remained largely stable over time within individuals. Sensitivity analyses revealed that more positive perceptions of legitimacy significantly reduce offending for boys and reduce victimization for girls during the developmental period under study. Consistent with prior research, between-individual differences appear to be more important than within-individual change for explaining both offending and victimization. The implications of the results for theory, future research, and early intervention for high-risk youth are discussed.

Integrating General Strain Theory and Trauma-Informed Principles into the Study of Older Adult Victimization.

Prevalence rates for late life victimization are well-documented. The literature has expanded, in part due to the identification of elder justice as a key priority for federal funding. The interdisciplinary field of criminology has begun addressing elder victimization and its consequences, informed by General Strain Theory (GST). It is challenging to connect the findings from this research to evidence-based interventions for older victims. Trauma-informed principles (TIP) - when linked with GST - offer a means for doing so. The current review contributes to the extant literature by examining connections between these perspectives, with the goal of encouraging future research, and ultimately informing treatment for older adult victims.

Gender and mental health: An examination of procedural justice in a specialized court context.

The procedural justice framework has been applied in the criminal justice contexts of policing, corrections, and courts. According to this perspective, fair treatment, respectful dialogue and being given a proper voice will contribute to citizens' positive views of authority figures. While this literature has grown immensely, several questions remain unanswered. Do males and females perceive similar levels of procedural justice? Does mental health status influence perceptions of fair treatment? Whether procedural justice is a general perspective that can be applied across social groupings has important implications for correctional treatment in that programs that truly "work" for all are more cost-effective. Toward that end, the current study investigates the relationships among procedural justice perceptions, gender, and mental health status in specialized drug courts, a context that has received little empirical attention. We do so using secondary data originally collected between 2003 and 2009 for Rossman, Roman, Zweig, Rempel and Lindquist's Multisite Adult Drug Court Evaluation (MADCE). Results from a full-sample analysis reveal that women report higher levels of procedural justice; that drug court participation significantly influences procedural justice perceptions; and that depressive symptomology is a significant predictor of procedural justice perceptions. In male- and female-specific subsamples, drug court participation exerts similar effects for males and females, as does depressive symptomology. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.

The victim-offender overlap in late adulthood.

This study contributes to the general knowledge of the victim-offender overlap by determining whether the phenomenon exists among older adults and whether known correlates of crime and victimization explain the relationship. Cross-sectional survey data from telephone interviews conducted with individuals 60 years and older (N = 2,000) residing in Arizona and Florida are used to estimate confirmatory factor models for both victimization and criminal offending. The results from a series of multivariate regression models show that victimization is associated with criminal offending. While factors such as low self-control, depression, and spending time in commercial drinking establishments partially attenuate the victimization-crime link, the statistically significant relationship persists in a multivariate context. Further testing indicates that the observed findings are robust across measurement and modeling strategies. Coupled with prior research, the results support the argument that the victim-offender overlap exists (and is difficult to explain) over the life course.

Depression and infrequent participation in social activities among older adults: the moderating role of high-quality familial ties.

OBJECTIVES: The primary objective of this study is to investigate whether depression is associated with reduced participation in social activities among older adults. Additionally, this study assesses whether high-quality familial ties diminish the negative association between depression and social activities. METHODS: Using cross-sectional telephone interview data from a sample of individuals 60 years of age and older in Arizona and Florida (N = 2000), this study estimates a series of linear regression models to assess the relationship between depression and social activities, and test whether this association is conditioned by high-quality familial ties using multiplicative interaction terms. RESULTS: As expected, an inverse relationship between depression and social activities is observed. Delving deeper, the regression models reveal that the depression-inactivity association is weaker among older individuals with strong, positive ties to spouses and children. Additional tests demonstrate the mere of existence of familial bonds provides no meaningful benefit - the quality of such ties matters. CONCLUSION: Findings support the theoretical argument that high-quality familial ties provide supportive coping resources that buffer individuals from the undesirable consequences associated with depression. Moving forward, longitudinal research on the causal links between depression and infrequent participation in social and leisure activities among older adults is warranted.

Toward the development of a perceived IRB violation scale.

This study introduces survey items that can be used to assess the perceived prevalence of specific IRB violations by researchers or to gauge the perceived seriousness of such infractions. Using survey data from tenured and tenure-track faculty at research-intensive universities, the descriptive findings showed that the failure to properly store data and neglecting to maintain project records were perceived to be the most widespread violations by sample members. Although comparatively less definitive, the results also showed that problems with data storage and record keeping were perceived to be relatively serious violations. As for scaling, the results from the exploratory factor analyses showed that the prevalence and seriousness scales were unidimensional. These findings support the practice of providing researchers with services for storing project data and records. Finally, the IRB violation scale developed in this study can be used by research integrity professionals to assess faculty perceptions at their universities.

The Decision to Arrest in Sexual Assault Case Processing: A Test of Black's Theory of the Behavior of Law.

Past research applying Donald Black's theory of the behavior of law to sexual assault case processing has focused on victim decisions to report the crime to the police. This study builds on and extends prior research by examining the next stage of legal mobilization (i.e., arrest). Using secondary data on 310 cases from the 1982-2012 Sexual Assault Kit Backlog Study in Los Angeles, California, the current study explores the effects of victim, offender, and case characteristics on arrest. The results suggest limited support for the theory in this victimization context. Implications for theory, research, and criminal justice practice are discussed.

Assessing the perceived prevalence of research fraud among faculty at research-intensive universities in the USA.

Survey-based studies on research fraud often feature narrow operationalizations of misbehavior and use limited samples. Such factors potentially hinder the development of strategies aimed at reducing the frequency of wrongdoing among researchers. This study asked full-time faculty members in the natural, social, and applied sciences how frequently six types of research fraud (i.e., data fabrication, plagiarism, data falsification, authorship fraud, publication fraud, and grant fraud) occur in their field of study. These data come from mail and online surveys that were administered to a stratified random sample of tenured and tenure-track faculty members (N = 613) at the top 100 research universities in the United States. Factor-analytic modeling demonstrated that the survey items load on the hypothesized latent constructs and also confirmed the presence of a second-order factor. A specific type of authorship fraud - gift authorship - was perceived to be the most prevalent overall. The least common fraud was a form of data fabrication (i.e., creating data from a study that was never actually conducted). The results were largely consistent with previous studies indicating that serious forms of fraud like data fabrication are relatively rare. Future survey-based studies should pay careful attention to the multidimensional nature of research fraud.

Biosocial influences on fraudulent behaviors.

A wealth of empirical research has revealed that antisocial behavioral phenotypes result from genetic and environmental factors working independently and interactively. However, much of this research has focused on traditional forms of antisocial behavior, such as aggression and violence. At the same time, research has been slow to examine whether genetic factors may relate to involvement in fraudulent behaviors. This article addresses this gap in the literature and examines whether a polymorphism in the promoter region of the monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene interacts with exposure to delinquent peers to predict variation in fraudulent behaviors. Analysis of male participants from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (J. R. Udry, 2003) revealed a statistically significant Gene x Environment interaction in which the high-MAOA activity allele increased the odds of fraudulent behaviors, but only among male participants with a high number of delinquent peers.

Risk factors for abusive relationships: a study of Vietnamese American immigrant women.

This study identifies risk factors for Vietnamese American women's abuse. Intensive interviews with 129 Vietnamese women immigrants in a northeastern metropolitan area provided data to examine risk factors for sexual, physical, and verbal abuse. Patriarchal gender arrangements in the family, arguments about fulfilling gender and family roles, and partner's threat that divorce would compromise the participant's immigration status put women at risk for each type of abuse. "Picture brides" were at heightened risk for sexual abuse. For women with limited resources, education and interventions within the ethnic immigrant community are critical to addressing wife abuse.

Low Self-Control and Crime in Late Adulthood.

This study investigates whether low self-control theory explains self-reported criminal activity in late adulthood. Cross-sectional survey data from telephone interviews conducted with individuals aged 60 years and older in Arizona and Florida (N = 2,000) are used. Regression analyses show that low self-control is related to criminal offending. The relationship between low self-control and offending persists after the introduction of potential mediators (e.g., unstructured socializing, negative emotions, and familial ties) and is even observed across different stages of late adulthood (i.e., young-old, old-old, and oldest-old) characterized by declining physical and cognitive abilities. Robustness checks using alternative measurement and modeling strategies also provide empirical support. Although strong causal inferences are limited by the nature of the data, the findings generally support the notion that low self-control theory partially explains criminal offending in late adulthood.