NCJ Number
55270
Date Published
1978
Length
120 pages
Annotation
IN A REPLICATION OF KAI ERIKSON'S WORK ON SOCIAL DEVIANCE, CONFLICT AND CRIME IN NORTHERN IRELAND ARE EXAMINED.
Abstract
THIS STUDY REPLICATED RESEARCH BY KAI ERIKSON THAT HELD THAT THE SIZE OF A SOCIETY'S DEVIANT POPULATION TENDS TO REMAIN CONSTANT OVER TIME AND THAT EVERY SOCIETY GENERATES CERTAIN CHARACTERISTIC TYPES OF DEVIANCE WHICH REFLECT THE DOMINANT VALUES OF THAT SOCIETY. IN ADDITION, TWO OTHER HYPOTHESES WERE TESTED, ONE OF WHICH SUGGESTED THAT THE SIZE OF A DEVIANT POPULATION MAY BE IN PART A FUNCTION OF THE RECIDIVISM RATE WITHIN THAT POPULATION, WHILE THE OTHER TESTED THE EFFECTS OF BOTH REPRESSIVE AND RESTRAINED SOCIAL CONTROL SYSTEMS ON THE SIZE OF A DEVIANT POPULATION UNDER CONDITIONS OF WIDESPREAD CIVIL UNREST. DATA FOR THIS RESEARCH WERE GATHERED FROM BOTH PUBLISHED AND UNPUBLISHED MATERIAL MADE AVAILABLE BY OFFICIAL SOURCES. TIME-SERIES ANALYSIS WAS THE PRIMARY RESEARCH METHODOLOGY USED IN THIS STUDY. ANALYSIS OF THE DATA LENDS PARTIAL SUPPORT TO ERIKSON'S EARLIER FINDING THAT A SOCIETY GENERATES CHARACTERISTIC PATTERNS OF DEVIANCE. NO SUPPORT WAS FOUND FOR ERIKSON'S CONSTANCY THEOREM, HOWEVER. WHILE IT WAS FOUND THAT THE RATE OF SERIOUS DEVIANCE INCREASED MARKEDLY DURING RECENT TIMES IN NORTHERN IRELAND, THE SIZE OF THE DEVIANT POPULATION INCREASED AS WELL. MOREOVER, THE RECIDIVISM DATA SUGGEST, IN CONTRAST WITH ERIKSON, THAT FIRST OFFENDERS TENDED TO DISPLACE RECIDIVISTS IN NORTHERN IRELAND PRISONS AFTER THE BEGINNING OF THE MOST RECENT PERIOD OF CIVIL CONFLICT. FINALLY, IT WAS FOUND THAT THE POINT AT WHICH SUBSTANTIAL INCREASES IN THE SIZE OF THE DEVIANT POPULATION OCCURRED WAS MARKED BY A CHANGE IN THE SOCIAL CONTROL SYSTEM FROM A LARGELY RESTRAINED SYSTEM TO ONE MORE CLOSELY APPROXIMATING A REPRESSIVE TYPE. A PARALLEL SYSTEM OF SOCIAL CONTROL IS SUGGESTED. FIGURES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY ARE PROVIDED. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED -- MLC)