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This paper investigates using multiple datasets (e.g., the CPS and NSAL) whether the increasing presence of foreign born blacks and their native-born children are obscuring summary estimates of the progress made by third generation and higher African Americans. Three measures of 'black' were created, (1) a third generation and higher blacks, excluding foreign born blacks, (2) a foreign born black community including first and second generation blacks, and (3) a black-alone group, which included foreign born blacks and third generation and higher blacks. Four estimates of progress were analyzed including percent of high school and college completion, labor force participation rates, the percentage of children living with single mothers, and self-reported arrest rates. It was hypothesized that a summary measure that collapses all blacks into one category--the black-alone group--will not accurately assess the well-being of American blacks, the community of foreign born blacks, and third generation and higher blacks. The analyses generated four findings: First, there are significant gender differences between the foreign born community and third generation and higher blacks. Second, the results revealed that there are substantial differences between the black foreign born community and third generation and higher blacks and that these differences generalize across years and gender. Third, the data indicate that the emergence of the foreign born black community impacts summary indicators of the progress for all African Americans. Fourth, the differences between foreign born blacks and third generation and higher blacks are increasing. It was concluded that summary estimates based on the black alone category overestimate the progress of third generation and higher blacks and underestimate the advances made by the foreign born community., Studies published in the last decade provide clear evidence of the increasing numbers and diversity in the black population (Hernandez, 2012; Manuel, Taylor, & Jackson, 2012; Mason, 2014; Thomas, 2012; [...]

The recent wave of corporate wrongdoing has raised the issue of whether the public is concerned about the control of lawlessness in the business world. Using a national probability sample, we explore whether Americans want to enact stricter regulations of the stock market and advocate more punitive criminal sanctions for corporate executives who conceal their company's true financial condition. The findings reveal that Americans generally favor getting tough on corporate illegality. The analysis also indicates, however, that group differences exist in public support for punitive corporate crime control policies. Although liberals and conservatives equally support punishing corporate criminals more harshly, African Americans are more likely than Whites to endorse more restrictive and more punitive policies toward corporate criminals. We conclude that punitive attitudes are socially constructed beliefs that reflect the dynamics of conflicted class and racial relations. Keywords: public opinion; race and political orientation; corporate crime

Using data from the 2000 National Election Study, this research investigates the sources of the racial divide in support for capital punishment with a specific focus on white racism. After delineating a measure of white racism, we explore whether it can account for why a majority of African Americans oppose the death penalty while most whites support it. The results indicate that one-third of the racial divide in support for the death penalty can be attributed to the influence of our measure of white racism. The analyses also revealed that when other factors are controlled, support for capital punishment among nonracist whites is similar to that of African Americans. We examine the implications of these findings for using public opinion to justify the death penalty., The politics of the death penalty provide a lens for studying race relations within the United States. Because the death penalty is the ultimate expression of state power, it is […]

This project investigates the racial divide in support for capital punishment. The authors examine whether race has a direct effect on support for capital punishment and test whether the influence of race varies across class, being a native southerner, confidence in government officials, political orientation, and religious affiliation. Using data drawn from the General Social Survey, they find a substantial racial divide, with African Americans much less likely to support the death penalty. Furthermore, the analysis revealed little support for the 'spurious/social convergence' hypothesis; shared factors that might be expected to bring African Americans and Whites together--class, confidence in government, conservative politics, regional location, and religious fundamentalism--either did not narrow African American-White punishment attitudes or, at best, had only modest effects. The Results suggest that the racial divide in support for capital punishment is likely to remain a point of symbolic contention in African American-White conceptions of criminal injustice in the United States. Keywords: race and capital punishment; death penalty attitudes; racial divide

Few public policy issues have inflamed passions as consistently and as strongly as the debate over capital punishment. Religious denominations have been deeply involved on both sides of the issue, drawing both on teachings and traditions of justice and on those that emphasize the dignity of human life. Scholarly researchers have investigated the role that religious beliefs play in shaping sentiments toward crime control policies, with a particular focus on the relationship between belonging to a Christian fundamentalist denomination and support for the death penalty. Researchers have reasoned that Christian fundamentalists should be more likely to support capital punishment than other more moderate denominations because they hold conservative religious beliefs that justify the use of the death penalty. Using 1998 data from the General Social Survey, the authors initially show that contrary to common views, Christian fundamentalist affiliation is unrelated to support for capital punishment. Subsequent analyses reveal, however, that this null relationship is not straightforward but complex: fundamentalists embrace certain religious beliefs and involvement that both increase and decrease punitiveness. The study thus suggests that understanding the impact of religion on crime control attitudes potentially requires disentangling countervailing effects of different features of religiosity. Keywords: death penalty; Christian fundamentalism; punitiveness

In his recent Crime and Coercion, Colvin contends that individuals exposed to coercive environments develop social-psychological deficits that enhance their probability of engaging in criminal behavior. Using a sample of 2,472 students from six middle schools, the authors test core propositions of Colvin's differential coercion theory. Thus, they assess whether delinquent involvement is related to four coercive environments: parental coercion, peer coercion, a coercive school environment, and a coercive neighborhood environment. The authors also assess whether the influence of these coercive environments on delinquency is mediated by four social-psychological deficits: coercive ideation, anger, school social bonds, and parental social bonds. The analysis revealed fairly consistent support for the core propositions of differential coercion theory. Thus, they found that students exposed to coercive environments develop social-psychological deficits and therefore engage in relatively serious delinquent behavior. Keywords: coercion; coercive ideation; crime

We investigated the influence of low self-control and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) on bullying and bully victimization in a sample of 1,315 middle-school students using a school survey. Students who reported taking medication for ADHD were at increased risk for bullying as well as victimization by bullies. The correlation between ADHD status and bullying could be explained by low self-control, a construct theorized by Gottfredson and Hirschi to be the most important determinant of criminality. In contrast, the correlation between ADHD status and bullying victimization was independent of self-control. Subsequent analyses found that self-control influenced bullying victimization through interactions with student gender and measures of physical size and strength. These findings identify low self-control and ADHD as potential risk factors for bullying and victimization and have implications for research on self-control in young adolescents. Keywords: school bullying; ADHD; low self-control; bully victims