The Impact of Concentrated Affluence and Disadvantage on the Pre-Adjudication Detention Decision: A Status Characteristics Approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 915-948 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick G. Lowery ◽  
Jessica C. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Attribution Theory ◽  
Probation Officers ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Status Characteristics Theory ◽  
Community Factors ◽  
Focal Concerns ◽  
Status Characteristics ◽  
Virginia Department ◽  
The Impact

Studies of racial disparities in juvenile justice are primarily organized around four theoretical frameworks: focal concerns, racial threat, symbolic threat, and attribution theory. Moreover, juvenile justice research sometimes neglects to pay close attention to the front-end outcome of pre-adjudication detention. Therefore, the present study contends that status characteristics theory may broaden our understanding of how and why disparities in pre-adjudication detention arise. Moreover, the present study seeks to find how juvenile justice disparities in pre-adjudication detention emerge across races, among other social, legal, and community factors. Therefore, the present study focuses on the pre-adjudication detention decisions of judges and probation officers, utilizing quantitative data from the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice and merged with American Community Survey data.

Talking with Me or Talking at Me? The Impact of Status Characteristics on Doctor-Patient Interaction

2011 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 547-567 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Mitchell Peck ◽  
Sonya Conner
Keyword(s):  
Talcott Parsons ◽  
Patient Centered ◽  
Status Characteristics Theory ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Patient Interaction ◽  
Status Characteristics ◽  
The Status ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Status Differences

Over the last two decades, the way doctors and patients interact has changed. There has been a shift away from what Talcott Parsons described as a paternalistic model of interaction to a more collaborative, participatory, patient-centered model of interaction. Yet not all interactions between doctors and patients are collaborative. Using status characteristics theory, the authors hypothesized that medical encounters are more likely to be physician dominated when the status differences between doctors and patients are higher. They tested hypotheses about race, gender, and socioeconomic status differences between doctors and patients. The authors found support for the hypotheses, especially regarding status differences for race and gender. Doctor-patient interactions were most physician-centered when doctors had higher status than patients on race (white versus non-white) and gender (male versus female)

A Critique of Expectation States Theory

1988 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 420-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. David Knottnerus
Keyword(s):  
Attribution Theory ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Status Characteristics Theory ◽  
Expectation States ◽  
Status Characteristics ◽  
Theoretical Assumptions ◽  
Expectation States Theory ◽  
Functionalist Theory ◽  
Information Processing Perspective ◽  
Active Research

Expectation states theory and one of its major branches, status characteristics theory, have been some of the most active research programs within sociological social psychology in recent years. Unfortunately, little attention has been given to the theoretical assumptions underlying these programs and the way social cognition and status generalization are depicted. It is argued that structural functionalist theory and the information processing perspective, especially attribution theory, have exerted major influences on expectation states/status characteristics theory. This has resulted in unique conceptualizations of cognition, generalization, and status stereotypes colored by mechanistic and, in certain cases, rationalistic assumptions concerning the ways actors process information. Consideration of alternative ways of conceptualizing these issues reveals certain limitations in the theory's formulations. The need for further research and theory development is discussed.

Beyond the austerity-driven hypothesis: Political economic theses on penality and the recent prison population decline

2021 ◽  
pp. 147737082110006
Author(s):  
José A. Brandariz
Keyword(s):  
Prison Population ◽  
Population Decline ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
The Past ◽  
Economic Forces ◽  
Global North ◽  
Economic Perspectives ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Spending Cuts

In what might be called the ‘austerity-driven hypothesis’, a consistent strand of literature has sought to explain the prison downsizing witnessed in many jurisdictions of the global north over the past decade by referring to the financial crisis of the late 2000s to early 2010s and its effects in terms of public spending cuts. Since this economic phase is essentially over, whereas the (moderate) decarceration turn is still ongoing, there are good reasons to challenge this hypothesis. This article delves into the non-economic forces that are fostering a prison population decline that, 10 years on, is becoming the new ‘penal normal’. The article thereby aims to spark a dialogue not only with the scholarship exploring the prison downsizing but also with certain theoretical frameworks that have played a key role in examining the punitive turn era. Additionally, the article contributes to the conversation on the need to reframe materialist readings on penality in a ‘non-reductionist’ fashion. By revisiting heterodox theses and scrutinizing the impact of recent penal changes on traditional materialist accounts, the article joins the collective endeavour seeking to update political economic perspectives on punishment and the penal field.

scholarly journals Police Stop and Frisk and the Impact of Race: A Focal Concerns Theory Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 230
Author(s):  
Anthony Vito ◽  
George Higgins ◽  
Gennaro Vito
Keyword(s):  
Racial Differences ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Stop And Frisk ◽  
Focal Concerns ◽  
Police Decision Making ◽  
Reasonable Suspicion ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Verbal Threat ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Focal Concerns Theory

The findings of this study outline the racial differences in stop and frisk decisions by Illinois officers in consent searches and those based upon reasonable suspicion within the context of the elements of focal concerns theory. The analysis for this study was performed using propensity score matching (PSM) and allowed the researchers to create a quasi-experimental design to examine the race of the citizen and police decision making. According to our analysis of official Illinois law enforcement data, Black citizens, particularly males, were less likely to give their consent to a stop and frisk search. Black male citizens were also more likely to be stopped and searched due to an assessment of reasonable suspicion by the officer. Elements of focal concerns theory were also factors in pedestrian stops under conditions of consent and reasonable suspicion. Citizens judged as blameworthy were more likely to be stopped and frisked under conditions of consent and reasonable suspicion. The effect of a verbal threat and the officer’s prior knowledge about the citizen had even more significant impacts.

Focal Concerns and Police Decision Making in Sexual Assault Cases: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 152483802199128
Author(s):  
David S. Lapsey ◽  
Bradley A. Campbell ◽  
Bryant T. Plumlee
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Campbell Collaboration ◽  
Focal Concerns ◽  
Police Decision Making ◽  
The Impact

Sexual assault and case attrition at the arrest stage are serious problems in the United States. Focal concerns have increasingly been used to explain police decision making in sexual assault cases. Because of the popularity of the focal concerns perspective and potential to inform evidence-based training, a systematic review and meta-analysis are needed to condense the literature. In this study, we assess the overall strength of the relationship between focal concerns variables and police decisions to arrest in cases of sexual assault. Our assessment of the effects of focal concerns variables on arrest decision making in sexual assault cases followed the systematic review protocols provided by the Campbell Collaboration of Systematic Reviews. Specifically, we used the Campbell Collaboration recommendations to search empirical literature and used meta-analysis to evaluate the size, direction, and strength of the impact of focal concerns variables on arrest decisions. Our search strategy detected 14 eligible studies and 79 effect sizes. The meta-analysis found several robust and statistically significant correlates of arrest. In fact, each focal concerns concept produced at least one robust arrest correlate. Overall, focal concerns offers a strong approach for explaining police decisions in sexual assault cases. Although practical concerns and resource constraints produced the strongest arrest correlates, results show the importance of additional case characteristics in officers’ decision to arrest.

scholarly journals Lay and Professional Judges in Europe’s Labour Courts: Does the Professional Judge Dominate?

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-257
Author(s):  
Susan Corby ◽  
Pete Burgess ◽  
Armin Höland ◽  
Hélène Michel ◽  
Laurent Willemez
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Institutional Context ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Status Characteristics Theory ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Status Characteristics ◽  
Institutional Differences

Abstract Several European countries have a first instance ‘mixed’ labour court, that is a judicial panel comprising a professional judge and two or more lay judges, the latter with experience as employees or employers/managers. The lay judges’ main contribution is their workplace knowledge, but they act in a juridical setting where legal norms prevail, so does the professional judge, despite being in a minority, dominate? This article seeks to address this question by focussing on first instance labour courts in Great Britain, Germany and France. Theories of differential power, particularly status characteristics theory, and previous empirical research indicate that professional judges dominate, but our findings are more nuanced. Based on 177 interviews in three countries, we find that professional judge dominance varies according to the country’s institutional context and the salience of lay judges’ workplace knowledge. These institutional differences, however, are mediated by the attitudes of the judicial actors. Many interviewees noted that some lay judges were more prepared to challenge the professional judge than others, whereas others observed that some professional judges were more inclusive than others.

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