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Slasher films are known for their graphic depictions of sex, brutalization and death. Many argue that these films sexualize and punish female characters. A content analysis of 48 influential slasher films from the 1960s to 2010s was conducted to evaluate the presentation of women in these films. Sexualization (measured via specific acts and total sexualization), strength, flaws, brutalization, and fate were coded for 252 female characters. Results indicate that purity was significantly related to lower brutalization and lower rates of death for all women. Within each role (hero, killer, and potential/actual victim), unique portrayals of sexuality and related repercussions emerge. Female killers were most commonly portrayed having sex, heroes were most sexually dressed, and actual/potential victims were brutalized and killed most for their sexualization. These messages reinforce ideas of gender roles, stereotypes, and relationship expectations by punishing female sexualization and demonizing female sex. Issues of violence against women, toxic masculinity, rape culture, and the normalization of combining violence and sex are discussed as significant concerns.

The present study examines the applicability of routine activities theory to petty theft. Using an experimental field research design, the researchers tested the frequency with which apparently uncounted smaller currency was stolen during full-service car wash cycles. Experimental conditions were varied so that one condition suggested a more deviant driver. A considerable amount of money was removed in thirty percent of all car washes. The number of total thefts and amount of money stolen were higher in the experimental condition in which the driver appeared to be more deviant. Findings suggest that the mere appearance of the victim as more deviant triggers the perception of targets as more suitable, and provide support for social proximity as a suitability criterion.

Regular participants in gaming subcultures do not seem as bound to conventional time and space anchors as other regulars (e.g., barroom habitués). This different type of regular status involves the assumption of identification in a more ethereal subculture, in the context of more rarified time and space anchors. This article examines a specific gaming culture, “Magic: The Gathering,” as an emergent and structured sequence of accomplishments in which individual participants and competitors cooperate to create and maintain specialized forms of competition, interaction, and commerce. One coauthor, assuming the identity of Playa' , observed the assumption and creation of regular identities that provided a foundation for the ongoing competitive and cooperative sequences and accomplishments.

While the process of finding employment in academia has always been a daunting task for the job candidate, in recent years, in the criminal justice discipline, the process of finding an acceptable candidate to fill a university vacancy has become an equally formidable problem for the employer. This research addresses this reality from the perspectives of both potential employers and employees. Job candidates applying for a university position in 2005, and universities soliciting for hires in criminal justice during the same time frame were surveyed in relation to a variety of issues surrounding their respective search procedures. The primary goal of the research was to determine what factors were associated with perceptions of a successful job search. Suggestions about “successful” searching are offered.

Surveys were administered to assess policymaker perceptions on the effectiveness and consequences of, and their commitment to “tough” criminal legislation in California. In relation to this, policymaker reaction to California's 1982 DUI laws was assessed. Results suggest that the populations surveyed recognized that problems were created by “tough” laws, specifically jail crowding. Differences existed, however, between the various populations on the perceptions of the effectiveness of such law changes and their commitment to them. Policy implications drawn from this research are discussed.

We re-examine science fiction films of the 1950s (made during the cold war), and their remakes in the 1970s and 1980s (made in the post-sixties, after Vietnam and Watergate) in conjunction with sto...

This article provides a sociological reading of cult films, in particular, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Cult films are secular documents, celebrated as sacred texts by audiences and used as shared foci to collectively create rituals and belief systems. They differ from popular re-releases, fad films, films with cult qualities, and critical cult films in that they involve typical people in atypical situations, sympathetic deviance, challenges to traditional authority, reflections of societal strains, and paradoxical and interpretable resolutions. Examination of the Rocky Horror text and the cult activities that occur during its viewing, reveal it as a paradoxical indictment and validation of traditional societal arrangements.

This paper examines how public policies are formulated and are applied to the jail overcrowding problem. Strategies of blame avoidance and subscription to myths were found to exert a strong influence on problem definition and policy design. Using an elite interview methodology, we examined the perceptions of 64 key criminal justice policy makers at local and state levels of government. We used statistical data from the California Bureau of Criminal Statistics to supplement the analysis. Policy makers identified eight major themes related to overcrowding: 1) conservative public attitudes, 2) decreased county revenues, 3) resistance to alternatives to incarceration, 4) problems in siting new jails, 5) increased crime, 6) population growth, 7) problems in interagency communication, and 8) general social malaise. Implications for policy design, outcome, and analysis are discussed.

This study assesses key actors’ “worlds of fact” regarding jail overcrowding in California through an examination of their perceptions of causes and effects, support for different solutions, and adherence to major punishment ideologies. How policymakers define and structure a specific problem Gail overcrowding), can influence how policy options are differentially weighed as well as how existing policy processes can be improved. A mail survey was sent to two key decision making groups who largely regulate the intake and outflow of local jails: sheriffs and chief probation officers of the 58 California counties. Group differences in responses were predicted from the perspectives of blame avoidance, domain dissensus, and punishment theory. Relationships were examined among perceived causes, effects, solutions, and punishment ideologies. While both sheriffs and probation chiefs advocated highly similar “control-oriented” punishment ideologies, probation chiefs advocated more “progressive” solutions to jail overcrowding. Perceived causes and effects of jail overcrowding, along with support for deterrence ideology, were strongly related to elite support for three potential solutions: building more institutions, passing tougher laws to deter potential offenders, and using shorter sentences for low-risk offenders. Implications of these results for understanding jail overcrowding and policy processes are discussed.