The Moderating Effect of Prosocial Peers on the Relationships Between Peer Delinquency, Neutralization, and Violent Offending

The goal of the current investigation was to determine whether prosocial peer associations can serve as protective factors by interacting with key components of the peer influence effect. A moderated mediation analysis performed on 2,474 youth (52% female) from the Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) study (mean age = 12.13 years) revealed that Wave 2 prosocial peer associations moderated the peer delinquency–neutralization relationship. Alternately, Wave 3 prosocial peer associations moderated the neutralization–violent offending relationship. Hence, neutralization beliefs were disproportionately weaker in participants with fewer delinquent peer associations and more prosocial peer associations, whereas the effect of neutralization on delinquency was attenuated, though not eliminated, by strong prosocial peer associations. These results suggest that prosocial peer associations may serve a protective function at different points in the peer influence sequence and that they may be more than simply the converse of peer delinquency.

War Stories? Analyzing Memoirs and Autobiographical Treatments Written by American Correctional Professionals

Over the past century, many American correctional professionals (including correctional officers, wardens, and support staff) have written memoirs and autobiographies that described their experiences working at one or more facilities. Although the number of books of this nature pales in comparison to those that have been written and published by convicts and exconvicts, enough of them have been released in order to warrant a more in-depth analysis. This article presents the results of a content analysis of 30 English language, American based memoirs/autobiographies published between 1996 and 2017, on 14 variables. Not only does this study contextualize these books, but it also provides an analytic framework for their review. The conclusion points out areas where continued scholarship on this topic may be conducted. In particular, the article argues that more first-hand treatments need to be conducted on the prison institution by current or former correctional professionals who have experience working inside correctional institutions.

Mediation in Criminal Misdemeanor Cases

Diversion of criminal misdemeanors to mediation by district attorneys has been practiced since the 1970s, but research on its impact on critical outcomes like recidivism is scant and outdated. This quasi-experimental study compares 78 mediated cases from a county that diverts cases to mediation with 128 cases in a similar neighboring county that does not, using phone surveys and case review to ask whether recidivism in mediated cases differs from cases prosecuted or treated as usual over the subsequent year. Controlling for case factors and attitudes toward conflict, a case that is not mediated was five times more likely to result in judicial action, five times more likely to result in jury trial demand, and ten times more likely to result in supervised probation or jail time, and mediated cases were almost five times less likely to return to criminal court in the subsequent year than those that were not mediated.

Perceptions of Image-Based Sexual Abuse Among the American Public

Image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) involves the sharing or distribution of erotic material without the consent of the subject in the material. A common scenario of IBSA revolves around an individual sharing erotic material of their former intimate partner following the dissolution of the relationship in order to humiliate or harass that former partner for a perceived wrongdoing. This scenario has caused IBSA to be referred to as “revenge porn” in the past, but that phrase does not capture the full breadth of IBSA behaviors and motivations. IBSA is a relatively new phenomenon, having emerged in the last decade, and few studies have examined public perceptions of the activity. In the present study, the attitudes of a national sample (_n_ = 1,023) of Americans were examined on IBSA-related issues. Results of this study showed that the general public largely disapproves of IBSA and supports its criminalization; however, the public also attributes blame to the victims of IBSA. Several factors influence these perceptions including sex, race, age, parental status, political orientation, and sexting history.