Theodore R Curry
Biographic Data
| ID | 99833 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Theodore R Curry |
| GIVEN NAMES | Theodore R |
| FAMILY NAME | Curry |
| SIGNATURE | CURRY T R |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Texas at El Paso |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4219-4547 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 191 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1996 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Is Differential Coercion and Social Support Theory Useful for Cybercrime? A Test of Direct and Indirect Associations
Differential coercion and social support (DCSS) theory has not been applied to cybercrime, which is the most prevalent form of crime in industrial societies and for which theoretical development is limited. The purpose of this study is to provide a broad assessment of the ability of DCSS theory to explain a wide range of cybercrime behaviors, with survey questions asking respondents to assess the future probability of committing a given act if th…
Immigrant Culture and Neighborhood Perceived Violent Crime and Violent Victimization
Research on neighborhood immigration and crime rarely tests cultural explanations for the null or inverse associations typically found. We examine if support for the code of the street and measures of immigrant culture (acculturation and enculturation) mediate this relationship. We employ multilevel path modeling and survey data from neighborhoods in El Paso County, Texas, merged with census data. Supporting predictions, enculturation is inversel…
Criminogenic risk factors among immigrants in the U.S.–México border region
Differential Coercion and Social Support Theory
Immigrant status and the desire for a low profile from police
Research into immigrant behaviors continues to expand as scholarship explores mechanisms surrounding the immigrant-crime paradox. An important and underexplored area in quantitative research surrounds low profile behaviors. The term "low profile" refers to a set of behaviors that immigrants and immigrant groups adopt to reduce or mitigate exposure to a variety of risky environments and institutional threats, particularly the police. This study ex…
Immigration and Physical Discipline of Children
This research examines whether physical punishment towards children in Méxican immigrant and native‐born Latinx families of Mexican heritage households varies across immigrant generational status and if physical punishment is associated with important measures of culture: familismo, traditional machismo, acculturation to the United States and enculturation to México. Data from a sample of households in El Paso County, Texas, are analysed using Fi…
Citizenship profiling and diminishing procedural justice
The U.S. has witnessed increases in the local policing of federal immigration law. This practice raises concerns about citizenship profiling, where local law enforcement questions individuals on suspicion of being undocumented and, in turn, its influence on police legitimacy. We examine whether citizenship profiling influences two measures tapping into legitimacy, perceptions of trust in police effectiveness and cooperation with local police, amo…
Explaining the Cultural Retention–Delinquency Relationship Using Differential Support and Coercion Theory
Objective Although immigrants tend to have lower involvement in delinquency, increasing levels of acculturation to American society may lead to higher levels of delinquency. Conversely, cultural retention typically reduces such behavior. To explain these findings, this study employs differential coercion and support theory to predict that cultural retention is inversely associated with delinquency through associations with greater social support …
The role of religious coping on problematic alcohol consumption by police officers
Problematic alcohol consumption by police officers is well documented in the literature. It also shows that critical incident stress is correlated with this behavior. A separate body of research indicates that religious coping exerts a moderate protective effect on various types of problematic behavior, including problematic alcohol consumption. We merge these literatures in an effort to determine if religious coping reduces problematic alcohol c…
Why is Family Violence Lower Among Mexican Immigrants? The Protective Features of Mexican Culture
Variations in Citizenship Profiling by Generational Status
Homicide and Social Disorganization on the Border
Objective We advance social disorganization theory by examining homicides disaggregated by motive and gang relation and by using data from El Paso, Texas—a predominantly Latino city with high levels of immigration and poverty. Methods We analyze homicide data from the El Paso Police Department's detective logs, 1985–1995, as well as data from the 1990 U.S. Decennial Census. Results Key measures of social disorganization tend to be associated with…
The relevance of social and cultural contexts
Although research shows an inverse relationship between religiosity and delinquency, this association is not well understood. Scholars have attempted to explicate these findings in a number of ways, including arguments that: (1) the religiosity–delinquency relationship is limited to certain types of delinquency, (2) other theoretical variables explain or interpret the relationship, and (3) the relationship is stronger in the context of what are t…
The conditional effects of victim and offender ethnicity and victim gender on sentences for non-capital cases
An extensive body of research shows that capital sentences tend to be more likely for Blacks who kill Whites, while more recent studies point to a higher likelihood of capital sentences for killers of White females. The present research broadens these areas of scholarship by including Hispanics and considering sentences for other types of violent crimes. Supporting theory are findings that longer sentences are meted out to offenders who victimize…
Sentencing young minority males for drug offenses
Using a random sample of Texas felony drug offenders sentenced during the height of the US War on Drugs, results from the present research show main and conditional effects of race/ethnicity, gender and age on sentence severity. The probability of receiving prison time was greater and sentences were longer for African Americans, African American males and African American males ages 22—30. The likelihood of going to prison was also higher for His…
The Prevalence and Comorbidity Between Delinquency, Drug Abuse, Suicide Attempts, Physical and Sexual Abuse, and Self-Mutilation Among Delinquent Hispanic Females
Representative data show that drug abuse, delinquency, and suicide attempts are major concerns among adolescent Hispanic females. Although comorbidity research indicates that such problems tend to be related to each other, this research largely neglects Hispanic females. Using data from presentence investigations on 141 Hispanic girls sentenced to probation, the present research assesses the prevalence of drug abuse, delinquency, suicide attempts…
Gender Differences in Criminal Sentencing
Objective. Many studies find that females benefit from their gender in sentencing decisions. Few researchers, however, address whether the gender‐sentencing association might be stronger for some crimes, such as minor nonviolent offending, and weaker for other offenses, such as serious violent crime. Method. Using a large random sample of convicted offenders in Texas drawn from a statewide project on sentencing practices mandated by the 73rd Texa…
Integrating Motivating and Constraining Forces in Deviance Causation
A major innovation in control balance theory is the integration of motivating and constraining forces into a "causal chain" explanation of deviance. To test these relationships, this research presents a parsed model of the causal chain that focuses on the associations among control ratios, deviant motivation, situational provocations, constraint, and deviant behavior. Results from a first-person scenario testing hypotheses from this model show th…
Does Victim Gender Increase Sentence Severity? Further Explorations of Gender Dynamics and Sentencing Outcomes
Theoretical and empirical research pertaining to the influence of gender on sentencing outcomes has focused almost exclusively on the gender of offenders. What this literature has not fully considered is how the gender of crime victims might affect sentencing outcomes. Using data for offenders convicted of three violent crimes in the seven largest metro counties in Texas in 1991, the authors find evidence that offenders who victimized females rec…
Control Ratios and Defiant Acts of Deviance
Control balance theory, couched as an integrated explanation of deviance, has been tested thus far using exclusively a 'scenario' method that assessed respondents' perceived probability of deviance. We build on these efforts with a measure of the frequency of 'defiant' deviance to assess both the additive effects of control ratios and the conditional effects of constraints and impulsivity, identified as key to the larger 'causal process' affectin…
The Homogenization and Differentiation of Hate Crime Law in the United States, 1978 to 1995
We view criminalization as a process of institutionalization that involves the diffusion of legal forms and practices. Conventional approaches to criminalization have been dominated by historical case studies that illuminate the collective action and social structural bases of shifts in crime policy by focusing on the dynamics internal to particular polities. Our event history analysis of U.S. states' adoption of hate crime laws indicates that cr…
Conservative Protestantism and the Perceived Wrongfulness of Crimes
This research addresses the relationship between conservative Protestantism and the perceived wrongfulness of crimes. In a recent study, Warr (1989) identified “nondiscriminators”—people who perceived a wide range of crimes to be equally morally wrong. Although lacking measures of religion, Warr hypothesized, based on their written comments, that the respondents used religious beliefs to assess wrongfulness. Since Protestant theology tends to vie…
The Homogenization and Differentiation of Hate Crime Law in the United States, 1978 to 1995
We view criminalization as a process of institutionalization that involves the diffusion of legal forms and practices. Conventional approaches to criminalization have been dominated by historical case studies that illuminate the collective action and social structural bases of shifts in crime policy by focusing on the dynamics internal to particular polities. Our event history analysis of U.S. states' adoption of hate crime laws indicates that cr…
Gender Differences in Criminal Sentencing
Objective. Many studies find that females benefit from their gender in sentencing decisions. Few researchers, however, address whether the gender‐sentencing association might be stronger for some crimes, such as minor nonviolent offending, and weaker for other offenses, such as serious violent crime. Method. Using a large random sample of convicted offenders in Texas drawn from a statewide project on sentencing practices mandated by the 73rd Texa…
Conservative Protestantism and the Perceived Wrongfulness of Crimes
This research addresses the relationship between conservative Protestantism and the perceived wrongfulness of crimes. In a recent study, Warr (1989) identified “nondiscriminators”—people who perceived a wide range of crimes to be equally morally wrong. Although lacking measures of religion, Warr hypothesized, based on their written comments, that the respondents used religious beliefs to assess wrongfulness. Since Protestant theology tends to vie…
Sentencing young minority males for drug offenses
Using a random sample of Texas felony drug offenders sentenced during the height of the US War on Drugs, results from the present research show main and conditional effects of race/ethnicity, gender and age on sentence severity. The probability of receiving prison time was greater and sentences were longer for African Americans, African American males and African American males ages 22—30. The likelihood of going to prison was also higher for His…
The conditional effects of victim and offender ethnicity and victim gender on sentences for non-capital cases
An extensive body of research shows that capital sentences tend to be more likely for Blacks who kill Whites, while more recent studies point to a higher likelihood of capital sentences for killers of White females. The present research broadens these areas of scholarship by including Hispanics and considering sentences for other types of violent crimes. Supporting theory are findings that longer sentences are meted out to offenders who victimize…
Why is Family Violence Lower Among Mexican Immigrants? The Protective Features of Mexican Culture
Control Ratios and Defiant Acts of Deviance
Control balance theory, couched as an integrated explanation of deviance, has been tested thus far using exclusively a 'scenario' method that assessed respondents' perceived probability of deviance. We build on these efforts with a measure of the frequency of 'defiant' deviance to assess both the additive effects of control ratios and the conditional effects of constraints and impulsivity, identified as key to the larger 'causal process' affectin…
Variations in Citizenship Profiling by Generational Status
The Prevalence and Comorbidity Between Delinquency, Drug Abuse, Suicide Attempts, Physical and Sexual Abuse, and Self-Mutilation Among Delinquent Hispanic Females
Representative data show that drug abuse, delinquency, and suicide attempts are major concerns among adolescent Hispanic females. Although comorbidity research indicates that such problems tend to be related to each other, this research largely neglects Hispanic females. Using data from presentence investigations on 141 Hispanic girls sentenced to probation, the present research assesses the prevalence of drug abuse, delinquency, suicide attempts…
Integrating Motivating and Constraining Forces in Deviance Causation
A major innovation in control balance theory is the integration of motivating and constraining forces into a "causal chain" explanation of deviance. To test these relationships, this research presents a parsed model of the causal chain that focuses on the associations among control ratios, deviant motivation, situational provocations, constraint, and deviant behavior. Results from a first-person scenario testing hypotheses from this model show th…
Explaining the Cultural Retention–Delinquency Relationship Using Differential Support and Coercion Theory
Objective Although immigrants tend to have lower involvement in delinquency, increasing levels of acculturation to American society may lead to higher levels of delinquency. Conversely, cultural retention typically reduces such behavior. To explain these findings, this study employs differential coercion and support theory to predict that cultural retention is inversely associated with delinquency through associations with greater social support …
Homicide and Social Disorganization on the Border
Objective We advance social disorganization theory by examining homicides disaggregated by motive and gang relation and by using data from El Paso, Texas—a predominantly Latino city with high levels of immigration and poverty. Methods We analyze homicide data from the El Paso Police Department's detective logs, 1985–1995, as well as data from the 1990 U.S. Decennial Census. Results Key measures of social disorganization tend to be associated with…
Conservative Protestantism and the Perceived Wrongfulness of Crimes
This research addresses the relationship between conservative Protestantism and the perceived wrongfulness of crimes. In a recent study, Warr (1989) identified “nondiscriminators”—people who perceived a wide range of crimes to be equally morally wrong. Although lacking measures of religion, Warr hypothesized, based on their written comments, that the respondents used religious beliefs to assess wrongfulness. Since Protestant theology tends to vie…
The Homogenization and Differentiation of Hate Crime Law in the United States, 1978 to 1995
We view criminalization as a process of institutionalization that involves the diffusion of legal forms and practices. Conventional approaches to criminalization have been dominated by historical case studies that illuminate the collective action and social structural bases of shifts in crime policy by focusing on the dynamics internal to particular polities. Our event history analysis of U.S. states' adoption of hate crime laws indicates that cr…
Control Ratios and Defiant Acts of Deviance
Control balance theory, couched as an integrated explanation of deviance, has been tested thus far using exclusively a 'scenario' method that assessed respondents' perceived probability of deviance. We build on these efforts with a measure of the frequency of 'defiant' deviance to assess both the additive effects of control ratios and the conditional effects of constraints and impulsivity, identified as key to the larger 'causal process' affectin…
Does Victim Gender Increase Sentence Severity? Further Explorations of Gender Dynamics and Sentencing Outcomes
Theoretical and empirical research pertaining to the influence of gender on sentencing outcomes has focused almost exclusively on the gender of offenders. What this literature has not fully considered is how the gender of crime victims might affect sentencing outcomes. Using data for offenders convicted of three violent crimes in the seven largest metro counties in Texas in 1991, the authors find evidence that offenders who victimized females rec…
Integrating Motivating and Constraining Forces in Deviance Causation
A major innovation in control balance theory is the integration of motivating and constraining forces into a "causal chain" explanation of deviance. To test these relationships, this research presents a parsed model of the causal chain that focuses on the associations among control ratios, deviant motivation, situational provocations, constraint, and deviant behavior. Results from a first-person scenario testing hypotheses from this model show th…
Gender Differences in Criminal Sentencing
Objective. Many studies find that females benefit from their gender in sentencing decisions. Few researchers, however, address whether the gender‐sentencing association might be stronger for some crimes, such as minor nonviolent offending, and weaker for other offenses, such as serious violent crime. Method. Using a large random sample of convicted offenders in Texas drawn from a statewide project on sentencing practices mandated by the 73rd Texa…
The Prevalence and Comorbidity Between Delinquency, Drug Abuse, Suicide Attempts, Physical and Sexual Abuse, and Self-Mutilation Among Delinquent Hispanic Females
Representative data show that drug abuse, delinquency, and suicide attempts are major concerns among adolescent Hispanic females. Although comorbidity research indicates that such problems tend to be related to each other, this research largely neglects Hispanic females. Using data from presentence investigations on 141 Hispanic girls sentenced to probation, the present research assesses the prevalence of drug abuse, delinquency, suicide attempts…
Sentencing young minority males for drug offenses
Using a random sample of Texas felony drug offenders sentenced during the height of the US War on Drugs, results from the present research show main and conditional effects of race/ethnicity, gender and age on sentence severity. The probability of receiving prison time was greater and sentences were longer for African Americans, African American males and African American males ages 22—30. The likelihood of going to prison was also higher for His…
The conditional effects of victim and offender ethnicity and victim gender on sentences for non-capital cases
An extensive body of research shows that capital sentences tend to be more likely for Blacks who kill Whites, while more recent studies point to a higher likelihood of capital sentences for killers of White females. The present research broadens these areas of scholarship by including Hispanics and considering sentences for other types of violent crimes. Supporting theory are findings that longer sentences are meted out to offenders who victimize…
The relevance of social and cultural contexts
Although research shows an inverse relationship between religiosity and delinquency, this association is not well understood. Scholars have attempted to explicate these findings in a number of ways, including arguments that: (1) the religiosity–delinquency relationship is limited to certain types of delinquency, (2) other theoretical variables explain or interpret the relationship, and (3) the relationship is stronger in the context of what are t…
Homicide and Social Disorganization on the Border
Objective We advance social disorganization theory by examining homicides disaggregated by motive and gang relation and by using data from El Paso, Texas—a predominantly Latino city with high levels of immigration and poverty. Methods We analyze homicide data from the El Paso Police Department's detective logs, 1985–1995, as well as data from the 1990 U.S. Decennial Census. Results Key measures of social disorganization tend to be associated with…
The role of religious coping on problematic alcohol consumption by police officers
Problematic alcohol consumption by police officers is well documented in the literature. It also shows that critical incident stress is correlated with this behavior. A separate body of research indicates that religious coping exerts a moderate protective effect on various types of problematic behavior, including problematic alcohol consumption. We merge these literatures in an effort to determine if religious coping reduces problematic alcohol c…
Why is Family Violence Lower Among Mexican Immigrants? The Protective Features of Mexican Culture
Variations in Citizenship Profiling by Generational Status
Explaining the Cultural Retention–Delinquency Relationship Using Differential Support and Coercion Theory
Objective Although immigrants tend to have lower involvement in delinquency, increasing levels of acculturation to American society may lead to higher levels of delinquency. Conversely, cultural retention typically reduces such behavior. To explain these findings, this study employs differential coercion and support theory to predict that cultural retention is inversely associated with delinquency through associations with greater social support …
Citizenship profiling and diminishing procedural justice
The U.S. has witnessed increases in the local policing of federal immigration law. This practice raises concerns about citizenship profiling, where local law enforcement questions individuals on suspicion of being undocumented and, in turn, its influence on police legitimacy. We examine whether citizenship profiling influences two measures tapping into legitimacy, perceptions of trust in police effectiveness and cooperation with local police, amo…
Immigrant status and the desire for a low profile from police
Research into immigrant behaviors continues to expand as scholarship explores mechanisms surrounding the immigrant-crime paradox. An important and underexplored area in quantitative research surrounds low profile behaviors. The term "low profile" refers to a set of behaviors that immigrants and immigrant groups adopt to reduce or mitigate exposure to a variety of risky environments and institutional threats, particularly the police. This study ex…
Immigration and Physical Discipline of Children
This research examines whether physical punishment towards children in Méxican immigrant and native‐born Latinx families of Mexican heritage households varies across immigrant generational status and if physical punishment is associated with important measures of culture: familismo, traditional machismo, acculturation to the United States and enculturation to México. Data from a sample of households in El Paso County, Texas, are analysed using Fi…
Immigrant Culture and Neighborhood Perceived Violent Crime and Violent Victimization
Research on neighborhood immigration and crime rarely tests cultural explanations for the null or inverse associations typically found. We examine if support for the code of the street and measures of immigrant culture (acculturation and enculturation) mediate this relationship. We employ multilevel path modeling and survey data from neighborhoods in El Paso County, Texas, merged with census data. Supporting predictions, enculturation is inversel…
Criminogenic risk factors among immigrants in the U.S.–México border region
Differential Coercion and Social Support Theory
Is Differential Coercion and Social Support Theory Useful for Cybercrime? A Test of Direct and Indirect Associations
Differential coercion and social support (DCSS) theory has not been applied to cybercrime, which is the most prevalent form of crime in industrial societies and for which theoretical development is limited. The purpose of this study is to provide a broad assessment of the ability of DCSS theory to explain a wide range of cybercrime behaviors, with survey questions asking respondents to assess the future probability of committing a given act if th…
Psychology (18 works) · Crime Patterns and Interventions (17 works) · Criminology (15 works) · Political science (15 works) · Social Psychology (13 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Immigration (9 works) · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis (8 works) · Medicine (7 works)