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Research on prayer, even when using measures beyond simple prayer frequency to create typologies, has ignored the dynamic relationship between God as a 'divine other' in interaction with the pray-er. [...]

A heated debate about battered women who kill abusive male partners started in the 1970s. In this study, we tracked the public discourse on battered women who kill by coding 250 newspaper articles published between 1978 and 2002. Using four typifying models, we found that leading explanations for why battered women kill medicalized then criminalized their actions; they were mad then bad. We also found that reporters used quotes from claims makers supporting conventional or medical typifications of battered women to a much greater degree than statements from alternative, feminist sources. In conclusion, simplified, sensational and conventional understandings of crime causation drove the social construction of 'the battered woman who kills'. She may be mad or bad, but rarely has she been portrayed as reasonable. Suggestions for promoting feminist narrative in the media are also provided. Keywords Battered woman syndrome * Battered woman * Domestic violence * Media analysis * Gender and crime DOI 10.1007/s12147-010-9093-9

Sociologists and psychologists have spent several decades attempting to improve our understanding of the factors that influence how people attribute responsibility for outcomes of social action, particularly wrongdoing. Members of two disciplines continue to refine Heider's seminal work in distinct ways, but have not developed a definitive test of attribution of responsibility (AOR) because of the ad hoc nature of existing research. To move towards a definitive test of AOR, we propose an integrated AOR model that is especially well suited to a neglected substantive concern: wrongdoing within organizations. In constructing our integrated model, we synthesize insights from the sociological and psychological research on AOR, while also incorporating concepts from organizational studies. An integrated model has the potential to provide a more stringent test of AOR in cases of organizational wrongdoing, which would move the field beyond its current stagnation and would carry important legal implications.

This article is one of the first to assess the impact of alcohol availability, an important but understudied neighborhood element, and other social disorganization measures for Latino and black aggravated assault and robbery victimizations. Using data from Miami, Florida, for 1996 and 1997, we find that although most predictors have similar effects on the outcomes for both groups, higher alcohol availability rates are associated with more Latino but not black victims. To explain this finding, we relate the criminogenic influence of alcohol to contextual features of Latino and black neighborhoods, thereby integrating qualitative observations and quantitative data. Higher concentrations of recent immigrants are also related to fewer black assault victims, more Latino assault victims, but not to robberies for either group.

The phrase Cold War human radiation experiments has been used by the media to categorize a broad range of research programs involving radiation experiments conducted during the Cold War era. The present study uses vignettes based on 3 widely disseminated 'horror stories' used by the media to frame the radiation experiments as deviant. Both the role of the actor (autonomous or obedient) and the media frame (sensational, counter claim, or control) were manipulated in the vignettes for the purpose of testing their independent effects on attributions of responsibility. Data were collected from 337 undergraduate students enrolled in introductory sociology courses to examine whether role, frame, or both shaped respondents' attributions of responsibility to the individual or organization involved in the experiments. Results indicate that role has a significant effect on how individuals attribute responsibility, but media frames do not.

Does the ethnic and immigrant composition of a community and existence of immigrant enclaves or barrios influence community level drug violence? This study explores the relationship between these and other factors in Miami and San Diego census tracts. We employ data about the distribution of Cubans, Central Americans, Haitians, Mexicans and Southeast Asians, controlling for social and economic influences of drug versus non-drug violence. We also analyze the impact of various waves of immigration and immigrant communities to understand the circumstances under which drug violence occurs or is limited at the census tract level. The findings lend some support to the positive and negative aspects of Portes and Rumbaut's (2001) segmented assimilation hypothesis in Miami and San Diego neighborhoods. The strength of this conclusion varies and is contingent upon ethnic composition, new versus old immigration, and the all-encompassing effects of economic deprivation, In recent years, drug violence has been a source of anxiety in many communities across urban America (Baumer et al., 1998; Blumstein, 1995). This anxiety centers on the fact that [...]

Understanding the complex relationship between immigration and crime was once a core concern of American sociology. Yet the extensive post-1965 wave of immigration to the United States has done little to rekindle scholarly interest in this topic, even as politicians and other public figures advocate public policies to restrict immigration as a means of preventing crime. Although both popular accounts and sociological theory predict that immigration should increase crime in areas where immigrants settle, this study of Miami, El Paso, and San Diego neighborhoods shows that, controlling for other influences, immigration generally does not increase levels of homicide among Latinos and African Americans. Our results not only challenge stereotypes of the 'criminal immigrant' but also the core criminological notion that immigration, as a social process, disorganizes communities and increases crime.

Objective. Although Latinos are fast becoming the largest ethnic minority group, they remain an underresearched population. In this paper we contribute to the nascent field of Latino violence research by conducting an examination of Latino homicides in two U.S. cities. Methods. Direct access to homicide investigations unit files on over 1,800 homicide cases in two predominantly Latino cities (El Paso, Texas, and Miami, Florida) allowed us to collect a unique data set for our analysis of Latino homicide victim and event characteristics. Results. Similarities and differences in homicide patterns relevant to important policy and theoretical debates are discussed. For example, in both cities, homicides were overwhelmingly intra-group, and males comprised the majority of victims in four out of five types of homicide (intimate homicide victims were almost exclusively Latina). Despite similar employment, poverty, and family-structure characteristics for Latinos in both cities, important differences emerged (e.g., Mi ami's homicide rate was almost three times that of El Paso). Conclusions. The intraethnic variations in patterns of homicide we report challenge existing theories of criminal violence and demonstrate the value of using group-disaggregated data to examine both cultural and structural forces affecting violence., Almost seventy years ago, Paul Taylor (1931) presented a compelling strategy of collecting city-level data in an effort to advance knowledge of crime patterns and causation among the Mexican-origin population [...]

By incorporating the direct impact of ethnicity and immigration on crime, this article is the first to use multivariate methods to compare and contrast Mariel to Afro-Caribbean, African American, and non-Mariel Latino homicides in a predominately immigrant city. In the current study, Mariels were overinvolved in acquaintance homicides, but little evidence surfaced that they were disproportionately involved in stranger homicides or were unusually violent, both dominant themes in popular stereotypes. In fact, an analysis of homicide event narratives verified the mundane nature of Mariel homicides, implying that the legacy of Scarface is not the Mariel killer but the Mariel Myth.

We contribute to the field of immigration and crime research by conducting one of the first contemporary examinations of Afro-Caribbean homicides. Despite the growth of immigration across urban America, social [...]

For two decades, the Pinto case has been the 'landmark narrative' used to support the construction of amoral corporate behavior We argue that critical flaws in this narrative flow from a misplaced emphasis on 'decision-makers' in a single organization, and from ignoring organizational, industry, and legal/regulatory contexts. Using original documents and recent interviews, we argue that there never was a 'decision' to market an unsafe vehicle. Instead, the Pinto is better understood as a routine outcome of distinct organizational subunits, embedded in a larger network of interorganizational relationships. We conclude that attention to the network level of analysis can help explain other cases of 'sensible bloodshed' that derive from the routine workings of social institutions.