Michael Rocque
Biographic Data
| ID | 136601 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michael Rocque |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michael |
| FAMILY NAME | Rocque |
| SIGNATURE | ROCQUE M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Bates College |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4190-0825 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 38 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 203 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 38 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 9 |
Women Who Kill
Early Developmental Crime Prevention and Social Impact over the Life Course
Preventing the development of criminal potential in young people is an important component of broader crime reduction strategies. A key feature of developmental crime prevention is a comprehensive effort to improve the life chances of at-risk children and families, and there is evidence that doing so improves long-term life-course outcomes like physical health, mental health, education, and employment. We assess available research evidence from 1…
Estimating the Global Prevalence of Mass Public Shootings
Previous studies have yielded widely divergent conclusions about the percentage of all mass public shootings globally that take place in the US, ranging from a low of 3% to a high of 36%. Because of documented underreporting of lower-severity attacks involving fewer than 10 victim fatalities in US cases in these studies, it is reasonable to assume that this underreporting issue also applies to their measurement of mass public shootings outside th…
Criminology's future is in its past
Rethinking self-control and crime
Traditionally, criminological research on impulsivity and crime assumes impulsivity is a uniform construct that is positively related to deviant behavior. However, psychological research on impulsivity indicates that the construct may have multiple forms, which vary in their relationship to antisocial behavior. One possibility that few studies have examined is whether some forms of impulsivity are unrelated, or negatively related, to antisocial b…
Forecasting the Severity of Mass Public Shootings in the United States
The relation between state gun laws and the incidence and severity of mass public shootings in the United States, 1976–2018
OBJECTIVE: In this study, we analyzed the relationship between state firearm laws and the incidence and severity (i.e., number of victims) of mass public shootings in the United States during the period 1976-2018. HYPOTHESES: We hypothesized that states requiring permits to purchase firearms would have a lower incidence of mass public shootings than states not requiring permits. We also hypothesized that states banning large-capacity ammunition m…
Changing self‐control
Researchers have long known that self-control, or impulse control, is important for a variety of life outcomes, including health, education, and behavior. In criminology, the most popular perspective on self-control argues that it is a multidimensional trait that is relatively stable after about age 8. Some work, however, has shown that in fact, self-control may not be as stable as originally thought. This article examines the evidence on interve…
Maturation beyond Age
Health and criminal justice system involvement among African American siblings
This study provided preliminary evidence that some of the association between a criminal record and poor health is confounded by family factors. Though more research is needed to support these results, the study suggests that criminal involvement may not be associated with the surfeit of health problems observed among African Americans. The criminal justice system, nonetheless, could be used to decrease the health disparity
The Predictive Performance of Risk Assessment in Real Life
Using multiple performance metrics, this study externally validates the Minnesota Screening Tool Assessing Recidivism Risk (MnSTARR) among a sample of 3,985 inmates released from Minnesota prisons in 2014. While the Minnesota Department of Corrections implemented a fully-automated risk assessment (MnSTARR 2.0) in 2016, the original MnSTARR was a manually-scored, gender-specific recidivism risk assessment that predicted multiple types of recidivis…
Psychosocial Maturation, Race, and Desistance from Crime
Development of impulsivity and risk‐seeking
In Gottfredson and Hirschi's self‐control theory, introduced in 1990, they contend that self‐control is a unidimensional construct that develops early in childhood and remains stable throughout the life span. According to findings reported in recent research, however, these arguments are now being challenged, with scholars pointing to ways in which self‐control may be multidimensional in nature and may change beyond the period of alleged stabiliz…
Great Debates in Criminology
This book explores the role of theory and research in criminology. Adopting a unique and refreshing approach to criminological theory, it focuses on the great debates in criminology from its inception as a field to the present day. It explores the debates that have motivated criminological thought, that have represented turning points in theoretical and empirical trajectories, that have offered mini-paradigm shifts, and that have moved the field …
The new disciplinology
Socioeconomic Status and Racism as Fundamental Causes of Street Criminality
The Importance of School Attendance
School dropout has been extensively studied in the literature as a correlate of negative life outcomes. A precursor to school dropout is truancy, the unexcused or illegitimate student absence from school. Few studies have examined the relationship between truancy and involvement in crime and adjustment more generally over the life-course. This study extends previous work by exploring whether truancy at age 12 to 14 is related to later life outcom…
Handbook of Crime Prevention and Community Safety
We begin by setting out the rationale for targeting offenders, victims, and settings. For this purpose we draw primarily on Eck’s (2003) crime triangle, which proposes a motivated offender, a suitable target, and a conducive location, as the three basic prerequisites for any crime to occur. We then summarise research findings concerning sexual offenders, their victims, and the settings in which various kinds of sexual offences occur. Next we outl…
Desistance from Crime
This book represents a brief treatise on the theory and research behind the concept of desistance from crime. This ever-growing field has become increasingly relevant as questions of serious issues re
The Prison School
Criminological research is replete with metaphors. “Mass incarceration,” “Court-room Focal Concerns,” “Age-crime Curve,” are just some examples. One of the more recent is the “school-to-prison pipe
Effects of Automating Recidivism Risk Assessment on Reliability, Predictive Validity, and Return on Investment (ROI)
Research Summary The relationship between reliability and validity is an important but often overlooked topic of research on risk assessment tools in the criminal justice system. By using data from the Minnesota Screening Tool Assessing Recidivism Risk (MnSTARR), a risk assessment instrument the Minnesota Department of Corrections (MnDOC) developed and began using in 2013, we evaluated the impact of inter‐rater reliability (IRR) on predictive per…
Paradigm shift or normal science? The future of (biosocial) criminology
For much of the history of criminology, tension has existed between sociologically oriented and biologically oriented perspectives. In recent years, a new, more nuanced approach has emerged which attempts to take both perspectives seriously and integrate them into a biosocial criminology. Yet, it remains, in large part, a fringe field of study. We argue that this is due, primarily, to critical as well as supportive scholars’ views that the ‘bioso…
Delinquency prevention for individual change
A Jack of All Trades But a Master of None? Evaluating the Performance of the Level of Service Inventory–Revised (LSI-R) in the Assessment of Risk and Need
We evaluate the performance of the LSI-R in assessing risk and need among 26,001 offenders released from Minnesota prisons between 2003 and 2011. Using multiple performance metrics, the results reveal the LSI-R incorrectly classified 41 percent of the offenders, and its area under the curve (AUC) was 0.628. Drawing on the extensive program evaluation research conducted on Minnesota prisoners over the last decade, we evaluated the LSI-R’s assessme…
The Criminal Brain, Second Edition
Office Discipline and Student Behavior
Previous research has consistently found a relationship between student race and discipline. For example, African Americans are more likely than whites to be sent to the office or suspended. However, much of this work is limited by a lack of student behavior and school‐level variables. This study examined the effect of student race on office referrals in 45 elementary schools while controlling for ratings of student behavior and using a fixed eff…
Development of impulsivity and risk‐seeking
In Gottfredson and Hirschi's self‐control theory, introduced in 1990, they contend that self‐control is a unidimensional construct that develops early in childhood and remains stable throughout the life span. According to findings reported in recent research, however, these arguments are now being challenged, with scholars pointing to ways in which self‐control may be multidimensional in nature and may change beyond the period of alleged stabiliz…
Exploring school rampage shootings
This paper examines US school rampage shootings, focusing on the period from the late 20th century to the present. School rampage shootings are thought to be distinct from other forms of violence because of the relatively safe rural setting in which most of these events occur, the lack of specified individual targets, and the number of deaths involved. While this type of violence seems to have spiked in the mid-1990s, school violence in general a…
Biosocial criminology and modern crime prevention
The Importance of Parenting in the Development of Self-Control in Boys and Girls
The lost concept
Research on desistance or the process of ceasing criminal behavior has increased in recent years. This work has revealed a large number of factors that are related to desistance. To date, these explanations have been generally perceived as mutually exclusive and/or competitive. Interestingly, while research on desistance from crime has been a recent focus, certain work had examined crime over the life-course as far back as the early 20th century.…
Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System and Perceptions of Legitimacy
Historically, research has shown that minorities, especially Blacks, are more likely to be arrested and sentenced to prison terms than their White counterparts. Explanations of these findings range from those claiming that minorities differentially engage in deviant and criminal behavior, to those claiming that the criminal justice system (CJS) treats minorities differently. A related line of work has shown that minorities tend to view the CJS as…
The new disciplinology
Effects of Automating Recidivism Risk Assessment on Reliability, Predictive Validity, and Return on Investment (ROI)
Research Summary The relationship between reliability and validity is an important but often overlooked topic of research on risk assessment tools in the criminal justice system. By using data from the Minnesota Screening Tool Assessing Recidivism Risk (MnSTARR), a risk assessment instrument the Minnesota Department of Corrections (MnDOC) developed and began using in 2013, we evaluated the impact of inter‐rater reliability (IRR) on predictive per…
Measuring Up
Gottfredson and Hirschi's self-control theory is one of the most empirically tested explanations of criminal behavior. Yet questions remain about the operationalization of self-control. Researchers have examined the relationship between self-control and crime predominantly with the Grasmick et al. (1993 Grasmick , Harold G. , Charles R. Tittle , Robert Bursik , and Bruce Arneklev . 1993 . "Testing the Core Empirical Implications of Gottfredson an…
Psychosocial Maturation, Race, and Desistance from Crime
Maturation beyond Age
Socioeconomic Status and Racism as Fundamental Causes of Street Criminality
The Gun Debate
State and Regional Suicide Rates
U.S. suicide rates vary across the states and are higher in the American West than in other regions. Reasons for these patterns have eluded social scientists. This research note examines whether residential stability and population density as ecological contexts for social integration help explain the patterns. Reflecting Durkheimian reasoning, results suggest that residential stability helps explain both the high Western suicide rate and state s…
One Scale Fits All? Assessing Racial Differences in the Measurement of Attitudes Toward the Police
Research consistently shows that minorities have less confidence in the police and perceive less procedural justice during encounters than Whites. This work generally concludes that the differences in perceptions by race are due to actual differences in attitudes, then proceeds to explore the origins of these differences. However, scholarly work has not yet explored the possibility that this finding is related to how members of different racial g…
Early Developmental Crime Prevention and Social Impact over the Life Course
Preventing the development of criminal potential in young people is an important component of broader crime reduction strategies. A key feature of developmental crime prevention is a comprehensive effort to improve the life chances of at-risk children and families, and there is evidence that doing so improves long-term life-course outcomes like physical health, mental health, education, and employment. We assess available research evidence from 1…
Criminology's future is in its past
Paradigm shift or normal science? The future of (biosocial) criminology
For much of the history of criminology, tension has existed between sociologically oriented and biologically oriented perspectives. In recent years, a new, more nuanced approach has emerged which attempts to take both perspectives seriously and integrate them into a biosocial criminology. Yet, it remains, in large part, a fringe field of study. We argue that this is due, primarily, to critical as well as supportive scholars’ views that the ‘bioso…
A Jack of All Trades But a Master of None? Evaluating the Performance of the Level of Service Inventory–Revised (LSI-R) in the Assessment of Risk and Need
We evaluate the performance of the LSI-R in assessing risk and need among 26,001 offenders released from Minnesota prisons between 2003 and 2011. Using multiple performance metrics, the results reveal the LSI-R incorrectly classified 41 percent of the offenders, and its area under the curve (AUC) was 0.628. Drawing on the extensive program evaluation research conducted on Minnesota prisoners over the last decade, we evaluated the LSI-R’s assessme…
The effects of binge and problem drinking on problem behavior and adjustment over the life course
The Predictive Performance of Risk Assessment in Real Life
Using multiple performance metrics, this study externally validates the Minnesota Screening Tool Assessing Recidivism Risk (MnSTARR) among a sample of 3,985 inmates released from Minnesota prisons in 2014. While the Minnesota Department of Corrections implemented a fully-automated risk assessment (MnSTARR 2.0) in 2016, the original MnSTARR was a manually-scored, gender-specific recidivism risk assessment that predicted multiple types of recidivis…
Delinquency prevention for individual change
Office Discipline and Student Behavior
Previous research has consistently found a relationship between student race and discipline. For example, African Americans are more likely than whites to be sent to the office or suspended. However, much of this work is limited by a lack of student behavior and school‐level variables. This study examined the effect of student race on office referrals in 45 elementary schools while controlling for ratings of student behavior and using a fixed eff…
Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System and Perceptions of Legitimacy
Historically, research has shown that minorities, especially Blacks, are more likely to be arrested and sentenced to prison terms than their White counterparts. Explanations of these findings range from those claiming that minorities differentially engage in deviant and criminal behavior, to those claiming that the criminal justice system (CJS) treats minorities differently. A related line of work has shown that minorities tend to view the CJS as…
Exploring school rampage shootings
This paper examines US school rampage shootings, focusing on the period from the late 20th century to the present. School rampage shootings are thought to be distinct from other forms of violence because of the relatively safe rural setting in which most of these events occur, the lack of specified individual targets, and the number of deaths involved. While this type of violence seems to have spiked in the mid-1990s, school violence in general a…
Biosocial criminology and modern crime prevention
Experimental Criminology
Experimental criminology is a part of a larger and increasingly expanding scientific research and evidence-based movement in social policy. The essays in this volume report on new and innovative contributions that experimental criminology is making to basic scientific knowledge and public policy. Contributors explore cutting-edge experimental and quasi-experimental methods and their application to important and topical issues in criminology and c…
State and Regional Suicide Rates
U.S. suicide rates vary across the states and are higher in the American West than in other regions. Reasons for these patterns have eluded social scientists. This research note examines whether residential stability and population density as ecological contexts for social integration help explain the patterns. Reflecting Durkheimian reasoning, results suggest that residential stability helps explain both the high Western suicide rate and state s…
One Scale Fits All? Assessing Racial Differences in the Measurement of Attitudes Toward the Police
Research consistently shows that minorities have less confidence in the police and perceive less procedural justice during encounters than Whites. This work generally concludes that the differences in perceptions by race are due to actual differences in attitudes, then proceeds to explore the origins of these differences. However, scholarly work has not yet explored the possibility that this finding is related to how members of different racial g…
Measuring Up
Gottfredson and Hirschi's self-control theory is one of the most empirically tested explanations of criminal behavior. Yet questions remain about the operationalization of self-control. Researchers have examined the relationship between self-control and crime predominantly with the Grasmick et al. (1993 Grasmick , Harold G. , Charles R. Tittle , Robert Bursik , and Bruce Arneklev . 1993 . "Testing the Core Empirical Implications of Gottfredson an…
The lost concept
Research on desistance or the process of ceasing criminal behavior has increased in recent years. This work has revealed a large number of factors that are related to desistance. To date, these explanations have been generally perceived as mutually exclusive and/or competitive. Interestingly, while research on desistance from crime has been a recent focus, certain work had examined crime over the life-course as far back as the early 20th century.…
In the eye of the beholder? An examination of the inter-rater reliability of the LSI-R and YLS/CMI in a correctional agency
The Gun Debate
The Importance of Parenting in the Development of Self-Control in Boys and Girls
The effects of binge and problem drinking on problem behavior and adjustment over the life course
A Jack of All Trades But a Master of None? Evaluating the Performance of the Level of Service Inventory–Revised (LSI-R) in the Assessment of Risk and Need
We evaluate the performance of the LSI-R in assessing risk and need among 26,001 offenders released from Minnesota prisons between 2003 and 2011. Using multiple performance metrics, the results reveal the LSI-R incorrectly classified 41 percent of the offenders, and its area under the curve (AUC) was 0.628. Drawing on the extensive program evaluation research conducted on Minnesota prisoners over the last decade, we evaluated the LSI-R’s assessme…
The Criminal Brain, Second Edition
The Importance of School Attendance
School dropout has been extensively studied in the literature as a correlate of negative life outcomes. A precursor to school dropout is truancy, the unexcused or illegitimate student absence from school. Few studies have examined the relationship between truancy and involvement in crime and adjustment more generally over the life-course. This study extends previous work by exploring whether truancy at age 12 to 14 is related to later life outcom…
Handbook of Crime Prevention and Community Safety
We begin by setting out the rationale for targeting offenders, victims, and settings. For this purpose we draw primarily on Eck’s (2003) crime triangle, which proposes a motivated offender, a suitable target, and a conducive location, as the three basic prerequisites for any crime to occur. We then summarise research findings concerning sexual offenders, their victims, and the settings in which various kinds of sexual offences occur. Next we outl…
Desistance from Crime
This book represents a brief treatise on the theory and research behind the concept of desistance from crime. This ever-growing field has become increasingly relevant as questions of serious issues re
The Prison School
Criminological research is replete with metaphors. “Mass incarceration,” “Court-room Focal Concerns,” “Age-crime Curve,” are just some examples. One of the more recent is the “school-to-prison pipe
Effects of Automating Recidivism Risk Assessment on Reliability, Predictive Validity, and Return on Investment (ROI)
Research Summary The relationship between reliability and validity is an important but often overlooked topic of research on risk assessment tools in the criminal justice system. By using data from the Minnesota Screening Tool Assessing Recidivism Risk (MnSTARR), a risk assessment instrument the Minnesota Department of Corrections (MnDOC) developed and began using in 2013, we evaluated the impact of inter‐rater reliability (IRR) on predictive per…
Paradigm shift or normal science? The future of (biosocial) criminology
For much of the history of criminology, tension has existed between sociologically oriented and biologically oriented perspectives. In recent years, a new, more nuanced approach has emerged which attempts to take both perspectives seriously and integrate them into a biosocial criminology. Yet, it remains, in large part, a fringe field of study. We argue that this is due, primarily, to critical as well as supportive scholars’ views that the ‘bioso…
Delinquency prevention for individual change
Great Debates in Criminology
This book explores the role of theory and research in criminology. Adopting a unique and refreshing approach to criminological theory, it focuses on the great debates in criminology from its inception as a field to the present day. It explores the debates that have motivated criminological thought, that have represented turning points in theoretical and empirical trajectories, that have offered mini-paradigm shifts, and that have moved the field …
The new disciplinology
Socioeconomic Status and Racism as Fundamental Causes of Street Criminality
Psychology (30 works) · Crime Patterns and Interventions (24 works) · Sociology (23 works) · Criminology (21 works) · Political science (14 works) · Developmental psychology (13 works) · Medicine (13 works) · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis (12 works) · Computer Science (9 works) · Demography (9 works)