The Effect of Incarceration and Neighborhoods on Attitudes Toward the Criminal Justice System

This study looks at the impact of experience with the criminal justice system and attitudes towards the criminal justice system. It is the fist study to incorporate incarceration in one's neighborhood with race, concentrated disadvantage, victimization and perception of neighborhood problems in...

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Bibliographic Details
Other Authors: Scully, Kristen L. (authoraut)
Format: Others
Language:English
English
Published: Florida State University
Subjects:
Online Access:http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-1966
Description
Summary:This study looks at the impact of experience with the criminal justice system and attitudes towards the criminal justice system. It is the fist study to incorporate incarceration in one's neighborhood with race, concentrated disadvantage, victimization and perception of neighborhood problems in the explanation of attitudes toward the criminal justice system. To do this I use data from a community survey, crimes reported to the police, department of corrections data and census data all of which have been previously collected for Tallahassee, Florida. Using a proportional grab technique I am able to give each individual a unique score on the neighborhood-level variables of crime, incarceration, concentrated disadvantage and mobility. With this I run an ordinary least squares regression finding that race, perception of neighborhood problems and percent of individuals incarcerated in one's neighborhood impact attitudes toward the criminal justice system. The most significant finding is that incarcerating individuals from a person's neighborhood generally leads to more positive attitudes. However, when a neighborhood has a very high level of incarceration, it can actually have a negative impact on person's attitudes toward the criminal justice system. This finding suggests that formal agents of control can have negative effects at the community level. === A Dissertation Submitted to the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. === Fall Semester, 2005. === September 30, 2005. === Incarceration, Neighborhoods, Attitudes === Includes bibliographical references. === Ted Chiricos, Professor Directing Dissertation; David Rasmussen, Outside Committee Member; Todd Clear, Committee Member.