Perceptions of Sanctions, Informal Controls, and Deterrence - A Longitudinal Analysis

• NCJ Number: 86275
• Author(s): S P Rausch
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 154 pages
• Grant Number(s): 80-IJ-CX-0020
• Sponsoring Agency: University of Connecticut Research Foundation; National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Publication Format: Dissertation/Thesis
• Publication Type: Thesis/Dissertation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: University of Connecticut doctoral dissertation

Annotation

This study examined both the direct and conditional effects of perceptions of sanctions on criminal conduct, using data derived from a larger nationwide study of the Deinstitutionalization of Status Offenders project.

Abstract

A subset, consisting of those youths in Connecticut and Arizona who were given two waves (6-month interval) of an attitude, self-reported behavior, and arrest questionnaire, was used for the study population. Results indicated that neither the sanction fear measures used (perceived arrest certainty and arrest aversion) has a significant direct deterrent impact on any of the offense types examined. The relationship between sanction risk and subsequent delinquency was neither enhanced nor reduced when examined under conditions of weak and strong attachment to conventional others, commitment to conventional goals, and belief in the legitimacy of the criminal justice system; nor was it affected by prior arrest. Overall, study findings provide little support for the deterrence perspective's contention that perceptions of formal sanctions have an impact, either direct or contingent on Hirschi's elements of the social bond, on criminal conduct. Footnotes, 46 tables of study data, and about 70 references are supplied. (Author abstract modified)