Mark Warr
Biographic Data
| ID | 3697885 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mark Warr |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mark |
| FAMILY NAME | Warr |
| SIGNATURE | WARR M |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Texas at Austin |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 26 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 967 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 26 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1980 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| H-INDEX | 13 |
Crime and the Life Course
The introduction of the life‐course perspective to criminology brought about a conceptual realignment of the field. After recounting this history, we describe emerging research in criminology, point to some nagging unanswered questions, and suggest some new avenues for future research.
Data Bases and Statistical Systems: Crime and Delinquency
The Tangled Web: Delinquency, Deception, and Parental Attachment
Making Delinquent Friends: Adult Supervision and Children's Affiliations
Although having delinquent friends is one of the strongest known correlates of delinquent behavior, criminologists have been curiously silent as to why some adolescents acquire delinquent friends and others do not. Analysis of data from the national Survey of Parents and Children reveals a strong association between forms of direct and indirect parental supervision and the kinds of friends that adolescents make. Parents who closely monitor their …
Companions in Crime: The Social Aspects of Criminal Conduct
Criminologists often allude to 'peer influence' in explanations of crime and delinquency, but the meaning of that concept rarely receives careful attention. Companions in Crime organizes the extensive literature on peer influence and group delinquency into a coherent form for the first time. Chapters focus on the role of peers over the life course, the group nature of delinquent behavior, and the applicability of peer influence for explaining the…
Rethinking Social Reactions to Crime: Personal and Altruistic Fear in Family Households
Research on fear of crime in the United States has concentrated on personal fear while overlooking the fear that people have for others in their lives—children, spouses, friends—whose safety they value. Sample survey data reveal that altruistic fear (fear for others) has a distinctive structure in family households and is more common and often more intense than personal fear. Many of the everyday precautions practiced by Americans and conventiona…
Explaining the Gender Gap in Delinquency: Peer Influence and Moral Evaluations of Behavior
Gender is one of the strongest correlates of delinquent behavior, but gender differences in delinquency have proven difficult to explain. Some analysts have called for gender-specific theories of delinquency, whereas others argue that males and females are differentially exposed to or differentially affected by the same criminogenic conditions. Building on the latter approach, this article draws on Sutherland's theory of differential association …
Life‐course Transitions and Desistance From Crime
Sampson and Laub (1993) provided a major contribution to the study of criminal careers by linking criminal behavior to life‐course transitions, such as marriage, employment, and entry into the military. To interpret their findings, these investigators relied exclusively on control theory. In a sharp departure from that position, this study offers evidence that life‐course transitions affect criminal behavior by altering relations with delinquent …
Organization and Instigation in Delinquent Groups
The group character of delinquency has been recognized for more than 60 years, but the nature of delinquent groups remains poorly understood. Data from the National Survey of Youth are used to examine delinquent groups, with special attention to the identity and role of instigators in those groups. Delinquent groups are small and transitory, but offenders commonly belong to multiple groups and thus have a larger network or pool of accomplices. Gr…
Poll Trends: Public Opinion on Crime and Punishment
Journal Article PUBLIC OPINION ON CRIME AND PUNISHMENT Get access MARK WARR MARK WARR professor, Department of Sociology, at the University of Texas at Austin Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Public Opinion Quarterly, Volume 59, Issue 2, Summer 1995, Pages 296–310, https://doi.org/10.1086/269474 Published: 01 January 1995
A Reconceptualization of General and Specific Deterrence
The distinction between general and specific deterrence is widely recognized and accepted by deterrence researchers, and is used commonly to classify deterrence studies. However, the logical and empirical grounds for the distinction are not as clear as they might appear, and the conventional conception has done more to obfuscate than to clarify the deterrence process. Following a discussion of these issues, the authors propose a reconceptualizati…
Age, Peers, and Delinquency
Hirschi and Gottfredson (1983; Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990) have argued that the age distribution of crime cannot be explained by any known variables. and they point specifically to the failure of sociological theories to explain this phenomenon. This paper examines a quintessentially sociological theory of crime—differential association—and evaluates its ability to explain the age distribution of crime. Analysis of data from the National Youth…
Parents, Peers, and Delinquency
The Influence of Delinquent Peers: What They Think or What They Do
Although the association between delinquent friends and delinquent behavior is well established, the mechanism by which delinquency is socially transmitted remains unclear. Sutherlands theory of differential association holds that delinquency is a consequence of attitudes favorable to the violation of the law, attitudes that are acquired through intimate social interaction with peers. An analysis of data from the National Youth Survey indicates t…
Crime and Victimization of the Elderly
Dangerous Situations: Social Context and Fear of Victimization
Journal Article Dangerous Situations: Social Context and Fear of Victimization Get access Mark Warr Mark Warr University of Texas at Austin Direct correspondence to the author at the Department of Sociology, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Social Forces, Volume 68, Issue 3, March 1990, Pages 891–907, https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/68.3.891 Published: 01 March 1990
Four Theories of Rape in American Society: A State-Level Analysis.Larry Baron , Murray Straus
What Is the Perceived Seriousness of Crimes
Although criminologists have measured the perceived seriousness of offenses for decades, there is no consensus on the meaning of seriousness, nor is there clear evidence as to what individuals have in mind when they rate the seriousness of crimes. Seriousness judgments could reflect normative evaluations of offenses (i.e., their wrongfulness) or factual judgments about their harmfulness to victims. Survey data from Dallas residents show that the …
Styles of Urban Policing: Organization, Environment, and Police Styles in Selected American Cities
Fear of victimization and sensitivity to risk
Fear of Rape among Urban Women
Sample survey data from Seattle are used to examine fear of rape among urban women. The magnitude and prevalence of such fear are striking, particularly among younger women, who fear rape more than any other crime. The high fear attached to rape stems from the fact that it is perceived to be both extremely serious and relatively likely; and from the fact that it is closely associated with other serious offenses such as homicide and robbery. Fear …
Fear of Victimization: A Look at the Proximate Causes
Research on fear of victimization continues to overlook the proximate causes of fear, relying instead on tacit and untested assumptions about those causes. For example, it is widely accepted that Americans are most afraid of violent or personal crimes, as if the perceived seriousness of offenses were the only determinant of fear. Were that true, fear would almost certainly be immutable (how does one reduce the perceived seriousness of crimes?). D…
Norms, Theories of Punishment, and Publicly Preferred Penalties for Crimes
Despite growing interest in publicly preferred punishments for criminal offenses, investigators have paid relatively little attention to the criteria used by the public to determine appropriate punishments for different offenses. Classical theories of punishment and sociological conceptions of norms suggest two possible criteria: the perceived frequency and seriousness of offenses. Data from four independent sample surveys of the adult residents …
The Accuracy of Public Beliefs about Crime Further Evidence
Criminologists largely agree that public beliefs about crime are inaccurate, and some seem willing to abandon crime reduction as a policy goal in favor of strategies which directly affect public perceptions of crime. Yet direct tests of the accuracy of public beliefs about crime are rare. In a sample survey of Tucson adults, respondents were asked to estimate the percentage of Tucson juveniles who had committed each of fifteen offenses (i.e., the…
Which Norms of Justice? A Commentary on Hamilton and Rytina
Life‐course Transitions and Desistance From Crime
Sampson and Laub (1993) provided a major contribution to the study of criminal careers by linking criminal behavior to life‐course transitions, such as marriage, employment, and entry into the military. To interpret their findings, these investigators relied exclusively on control theory. In a sharp departure from that position, this study offers evidence that life‐course transitions affect criminal behavior by altering relations with delinquent …
The Influence of Delinquent Peers: What They Think or What They Do
Although the association between delinquent friends and delinquent behavior is well established, the mechanism by which delinquency is socially transmitted remains unclear. Sutherlands theory of differential association holds that delinquency is a consequence of attitudes favorable to the violation of the law, attitudes that are acquired through intimate social interaction with peers. An analysis of data from the National Youth Survey indicates t…
Age, Peers, and Delinquency
Hirschi and Gottfredson (1983; Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990) have argued that the age distribution of crime cannot be explained by any known variables. and they point specifically to the failure of sociological theories to explain this phenomenon. This paper examines a quintessentially sociological theory of crime—differential association—and evaluates its ability to explain the age distribution of crime. Analysis of data from the National Youth…
Organization and Instigation in Delinquent Groups
The group character of delinquency has been recognized for more than 60 years, but the nature of delinquent groups remains poorly understood. Data from the National Survey of Youth are used to examine delinquent groups, with special attention to the identity and role of instigators in those groups. Delinquent groups are small and transitory, but offenders commonly belong to multiple groups and thus have a larger network or pool of accomplices. Gr…
Fear of Rape among Urban Women
Sample survey data from Seattle are used to examine fear of rape among urban women. The magnitude and prevalence of such fear are striking, particularly among younger women, who fear rape more than any other crime. The high fear attached to rape stems from the fact that it is perceived to be both extremely serious and relatively likely; and from the fact that it is closely associated with other serious offenses such as homicide and robbery. Fear …
Fear of Victimization: A Look at the Proximate Causes
Research on fear of victimization continues to overlook the proximate causes of fear, relying instead on tacit and untested assumptions about those causes. For example, it is widely accepted that Americans are most afraid of violent or personal crimes, as if the perceived seriousness of offenses were the only determinant of fear. Were that true, fear would almost certainly be immutable (how does one reduce the perceived seriousness of crimes?). D…
Poll Trends: Public Opinion on Crime and Punishment
Journal Article PUBLIC OPINION ON CRIME AND PUNISHMENT Get access MARK WARR MARK WARR professor, Department of Sociology, at the University of Texas at Austin Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Public Opinion Quarterly, Volume 59, Issue 2, Summer 1995, Pages 296–310, https://doi.org/10.1086/269474 Published: 01 January 1995
Rethinking Social Reactions to Crime: Personal and Altruistic Fear in Family Households
Research on fear of crime in the United States has concentrated on personal fear while overlooking the fear that people have for others in their lives—children, spouses, friends—whose safety they value. Sample survey data reveal that altruistic fear (fear for others) has a distinctive structure in family households and is more common and often more intense than personal fear. Many of the everyday precautions practiced by Americans and conventiona…
What Is the Perceived Seriousness of Crimes
Although criminologists have measured the perceived seriousness of offenses for decades, there is no consensus on the meaning of seriousness, nor is there clear evidence as to what individuals have in mind when they rate the seriousness of crimes. Seriousness judgments could reflect normative evaluations of offenses (i.e., their wrongfulness) or factual judgments about their harmfulness to victims. Survey data from Dallas residents show that the …
Making Delinquent Friends: Adult Supervision and Children's Affiliations
Although having delinquent friends is one of the strongest known correlates of delinquent behavior, criminologists have been curiously silent as to why some adolescents acquire delinquent friends and others do not. Analysis of data from the national Survey of Parents and Children reveals a strong association between forms of direct and indirect parental supervision and the kinds of friends that adolescents make. Parents who closely monitor their …
Parents, Peers, and Delinquency
Dangerous Situations: Social Context and Fear of Victimization
Journal Article Dangerous Situations: Social Context and Fear of Victimization Get access Mark Warr Mark Warr University of Texas at Austin Direct correspondence to the author at the Department of Sociology, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Social Forces, Volume 68, Issue 3, March 1990, Pages 891–907, https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/68.3.891 Published: 01 March 1990
Norms, Theories of Punishment, and Publicly Preferred Penalties for Crimes
Despite growing interest in publicly preferred punishments for criminal offenses, investigators have paid relatively little attention to the criteria used by the public to determine appropriate punishments for different offenses. Classical theories of punishment and sociological conceptions of norms suggest two possible criteria: the perceived frequency and seriousness of offenses. Data from four independent sample surveys of the adult residents …
The Tangled Web: Delinquency, Deception, and Parental Attachment
The Accuracy of Public Beliefs about Crime Further Evidence
Criminologists largely agree that public beliefs about crime are inaccurate, and some seem willing to abandon crime reduction as a policy goal in favor of strategies which directly affect public perceptions of crime. Yet direct tests of the accuracy of public beliefs about crime are rare. In a sample survey of Tucson adults, respondents were asked to estimate the percentage of Tucson juveniles who had committed each of fifteen offenses (i.e., the…
The Accuracy of Public Beliefs about Crime
Studies of public beliefs about crime often assert that there is a marked discrepancy between public beliefs about crime and objective conditions, a discrepancy at least partially attributable to media coverage of crime. Data from four independent sample surveys of the adult residents of a major Southwestern metropolitan area indicate that any general statement about the accuracy of public beliefs about crime may be premature. Respondents were as…
The Accuracy of Public Beliefs about Crime
Studies of public beliefs about crime often assert that there is a marked discrepancy between public beliefs about crime and objective conditions, a discrepancy at least partially attributable to media coverage of crime. Data from four independent sample surveys of the adult residents of a major Southwestern metropolitan area indicate that any general statement about the accuracy of public beliefs about crime may be premature. Respondents were as…
Which Norms of Justice? A Commentary on Hamilton and Rytina
The Accuracy of Public Beliefs about Crime Further Evidence
Criminologists largely agree that public beliefs about crime are inaccurate, and some seem willing to abandon crime reduction as a policy goal in favor of strategies which directly affect public perceptions of crime. Yet direct tests of the accuracy of public beliefs about crime are rare. In a sample survey of Tucson adults, respondents were asked to estimate the percentage of Tucson juveniles who had committed each of fifteen offenses (i.e., the…
Fear of Victimization: A Look at the Proximate Causes
Research on fear of victimization continues to overlook the proximate causes of fear, relying instead on tacit and untested assumptions about those causes. For example, it is widely accepted that Americans are most afraid of violent or personal crimes, as if the perceived seriousness of offenses were the only determinant of fear. Were that true, fear would almost certainly be immutable (how does one reduce the perceived seriousness of crimes?). D…
Norms, Theories of Punishment, and Publicly Preferred Penalties for Crimes
Despite growing interest in publicly preferred punishments for criminal offenses, investigators have paid relatively little attention to the criteria used by the public to determine appropriate punishments for different offenses. Classical theories of punishment and sociological conceptions of norms suggest two possible criteria: the perceived frequency and seriousness of offenses. Data from four independent sample surveys of the adult residents …
Fear of Rape among Urban Women
Sample survey data from Seattle are used to examine fear of rape among urban women. The magnitude and prevalence of such fear are striking, particularly among younger women, who fear rape more than any other crime. The high fear attached to rape stems from the fact that it is perceived to be both extremely serious and relatively likely; and from the fact that it is closely associated with other serious offenses such as homicide and robbery. Fear …
Fear of victimization and sensitivity to risk
What Is the Perceived Seriousness of Crimes
Although criminologists have measured the perceived seriousness of offenses for decades, there is no consensus on the meaning of seriousness, nor is there clear evidence as to what individuals have in mind when they rate the seriousness of crimes. Seriousness judgments could reflect normative evaluations of offenses (i.e., their wrongfulness) or factual judgments about their harmfulness to victims. Survey data from Dallas residents show that the …
Styles of Urban Policing: Organization, Environment, and Police Styles in Selected American Cities
Crime and Victimization of the Elderly
Dangerous Situations: Social Context and Fear of Victimization
Journal Article Dangerous Situations: Social Context and Fear of Victimization Get access Mark Warr Mark Warr University of Texas at Austin Direct correspondence to the author at the Department of Sociology, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Social Forces, Volume 68, Issue 3, March 1990, Pages 891–907, https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/68.3.891 Published: 01 March 1990
Four Theories of Rape in American Society: A State-Level Analysis.Larry Baron , Murray Straus
The Influence of Delinquent Peers: What They Think or What They Do
Although the association between delinquent friends and delinquent behavior is well established, the mechanism by which delinquency is socially transmitted remains unclear. Sutherlands theory of differential association holds that delinquency is a consequence of attitudes favorable to the violation of the law, attitudes that are acquired through intimate social interaction with peers. An analysis of data from the National Youth Survey indicates t…
A Reconceptualization of General and Specific Deterrence
The distinction between general and specific deterrence is widely recognized and accepted by deterrence researchers, and is used commonly to classify deterrence studies. However, the logical and empirical grounds for the distinction are not as clear as they might appear, and the conventional conception has done more to obfuscate than to clarify the deterrence process. Following a discussion of these issues, the authors propose a reconceptualizati…
Age, Peers, and Delinquency
Hirschi and Gottfredson (1983; Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990) have argued that the age distribution of crime cannot be explained by any known variables. and they point specifically to the failure of sociological theories to explain this phenomenon. This paper examines a quintessentially sociological theory of crime—differential association—and evaluates its ability to explain the age distribution of crime. Analysis of data from the National Youth…
Parents, Peers, and Delinquency
Poll Trends: Public Opinion on Crime and Punishment
Journal Article PUBLIC OPINION ON CRIME AND PUNISHMENT Get access MARK WARR MARK WARR professor, Department of Sociology, at the University of Texas at Austin Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Public Opinion Quarterly, Volume 59, Issue 2, Summer 1995, Pages 296–310, https://doi.org/10.1086/269474 Published: 01 January 1995
Organization and Instigation in Delinquent Groups
The group character of delinquency has been recognized for more than 60 years, but the nature of delinquent groups remains poorly understood. Data from the National Survey of Youth are used to examine delinquent groups, with special attention to the identity and role of instigators in those groups. Delinquent groups are small and transitory, but offenders commonly belong to multiple groups and thus have a larger network or pool of accomplices. Gr…
Explaining the Gender Gap in Delinquency: Peer Influence and Moral Evaluations of Behavior
Gender is one of the strongest correlates of delinquent behavior, but gender differences in delinquency have proven difficult to explain. Some analysts have called for gender-specific theories of delinquency, whereas others argue that males and females are differentially exposed to or differentially affected by the same criminogenic conditions. Building on the latter approach, this article draws on Sutherland's theory of differential association …
Life‐course Transitions and Desistance From Crime
Sampson and Laub (1993) provided a major contribution to the study of criminal careers by linking criminal behavior to life‐course transitions, such as marriage, employment, and entry into the military. To interpret their findings, these investigators relied exclusively on control theory. In a sharp departure from that position, this study offers evidence that life‐course transitions affect criminal behavior by altering relations with delinquent …
Rethinking Social Reactions to Crime: Personal and Altruistic Fear in Family Households
Research on fear of crime in the United States has concentrated on personal fear while overlooking the fear that people have for others in their lives—children, spouses, friends—whose safety they value. Sample survey data reveal that altruistic fear (fear for others) has a distinctive structure in family households and is more common and often more intense than personal fear. Many of the everyday precautions practiced by Americans and conventiona…
Companions in Crime: The Social Aspects of Criminal Conduct
Criminologists often allude to 'peer influence' in explanations of crime and delinquency, but the meaning of that concept rarely receives careful attention. Companions in Crime organizes the extensive literature on peer influence and group delinquency into a coherent form for the first time. Chapters focus on the role of peers over the life course, the group nature of delinquent behavior, and the applicability of peer influence for explaining the…
Making Delinquent Friends: Adult Supervision and Children's Affiliations
Although having delinquent friends is one of the strongest known correlates of delinquent behavior, criminologists have been curiously silent as to why some adolescents acquire delinquent friends and others do not. Analysis of data from the national Survey of Parents and Children reveals a strong association between forms of direct and indirect parental supervision and the kinds of friends that adolescents make. Parents who closely monitor their …
The Tangled Web: Delinquency, Deception, and Parental Attachment
Crime and the Life Course
The introduction of the life‐course perspective to criminology brought about a conceptual realignment of the field. After recounting this history, we describe emerging research in criminology, point to some nagging unanswered questions, and suggest some new avenues for future research.
Psychology (24 works) · Crime Patterns and Interventions (21 works) · Criminology (20 works) · Social Psychology (19 works) · Juvenile delinquency (10 works) · Political science (10 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Developmental psychology (8 works) · Social Psychology (8 works) · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis (7 works)