RESUMEN
What impact does formal punishment have on antisocial conduct-does it deter or promote it? The findings from a long line of research on the labeling tradition indicate formal punishments have the opposite-of-intended consequence of promoting future misbehavior. In another body of work, the results show support for deterrence-based hypotheses that punishment deters future misbehavior. So, which is it? We draw on a nationally representative sample of British adolescent twins from the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study to perform a robust test of the deterrence versus labeling question. We leverage a powerful research design in which twins can serve as the counterfactual for their co-twin, thereby ruling out many sources of confounding that have likely impacted prior studies. The pattern of findings provides support for labeling theory, showing that contact with the justice system-through spending a night in jail/prison, being issued an anti-social behaviour order (ASBO), or having an official record-promotes delinquency. We conclude by discussing the impact these findings may have on criminologists' and practitioners' perspective on the role of the juvenile justice system in society.
RESUMEN
Current traffic law enforcement places an emphasis on reducing accident risk from human factors such as drunk driving and speeding. Among the various strategies implemented, demerit points and license sanction systems have been widely used as punitive and educational measures. Limitations, however, exist in previous studies in terms of estimating the interaction effects of demerit points and license sanctions. To overcome such limitations, this work focused on identifying the interaction effects of demerit points and license sanctions on driver traffic violation behavior. The interaction deterrent effects were assessed by using a Cox's proportional hazard model to provide a more accurate and unbiased estimation. For this purpose, five years of driver conviction data was obtained from the Korea National Police Agency (KNPA). This data included personal characteristics, demerit point accumulation and license sanction status. The analysis showed that accumulated demerit points had specific deterrent effects. Additionally, license revocation showed consistent and significant deterrent effects, greater than those for suspension. Male drivers under their 30s holding a motorcycle license were identified as the most violation-prone driver group, suggesting that stricter testing for the acquisition of a motorcycle driver's license is needed.
Asunto(s)
Accidentes de Tránsito/prevención & control , Conducción de Automóvil/legislación & jurisprudencia , Concesión de Licencias/legislación & jurisprudencia , Femenino , Humanos , Aplicación de la Ley/métodos , Masculino , Modelos de Riesgos Proporcionales , República de Corea , Control Social Formal/métodosRESUMEN
Previous studies about recidivism of offenders have focused primarily on the nature of the sanctions and factors specific to the individual offender. This study addressed both individual and community factors, using a cohort of felony-level, driving while intoxicated (DWI) probationers (N = 370) charged in Harris County, Texas. The study investigated specific deterrent effects of sanctions on success or failure of probationers while controlling for the community contexts to observe how informal social control processes contextualize individual-level predictors. Results of a series of event history analyses tracking probationers for a period of 8 years indicated that severity of punishment, swiftness of punishment, criminal history, and completion of DWI education programs significantly affected the probationer's survival time, whereas no significant influence of community contexts on survival time or success was observed. Reducing the felony charge to a misdemeanor, a shorter period of probation, and past criminal history, combined with an almost immediate guilty plea, were significantly associated with short-term failure on probation.