James Hawdon
Biographic Data
| ID | 3936995 |
|---|---|
| NAME | James Hawdon |
| GIVEN NAMES | James |
| FAMILY NAME | Hawdon |
| SIGNATURE | HAWDON J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Virginia Tech |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0273-2227 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 49 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 267 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 48 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1996 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
Was Sutherland right? An analysis of cryptocurrency offenders
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the applicability of conventional criminological theories to white-collar offenders involved in cryptocurrency-related market manipulation, specifically pump-and-dump schemes. Using Sutherland’s differential association (DA) framework as a theoretical foundation, this research tests whether demographic and theoretical factors – such as self-control, DA, anomie and strain – predict illegal financial…
Cross-country comparison analysis of individual and institutional factors of anomie and online offending
This article addresses the gap in the literature by empirically assessing a cross-national comparison of institutional anomie theory (IAT) and self-reported cyberoffending. We used survey data from Finland, Hungary, and the United States to examine the relationship between institutional anomie and cybercrime. Each country represents different types of societies, which makes them interesting cases for cross-national comparison. With Hungary repres…
Facilitating Feeling: The Relationship between Memorials and Emotions
This article explores if and how national memorials impact collective emotions among local residents, focusing on the National Memorial for Peace and Justice (NMPJ) in Montgomery, Alabama. This understudied question is of sociological importance given the change in federal policy regarding public memorials, particularly the removal of references to oppression and violence that racialized minority groups experienced. To answer the question, we ass…
Is the Past Present? Localized Effects of Memorializing Lynching Victims on Intra- and Intergroup Attitudes
This manuscript explores if memorials to collective violence can promote healing and reconciliation vis-à-vis changes in intra- and intergroup attitudes. The paper focuses on a case study: the National Memorial for Peace and Justice—the first national large-scale memorial to victims of lynching—in Montgomery, Alabama. Using data collected before and after the memorial’s 2018 opening, we assess the differential individual and community effects of …
Cheating with ChatGPT and Techniques of Neutralization
Covid-19 Compliance and Media Consumption: A Longitudinal Study of Finland and the US During the First Year of Covid-19
The article examines media consumption and compliance with health-protective measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two-wave, longitudinal surveys were conducted in Finland and the United States in April 2020 and October 2020, with a total of 1,380 participants (N = 1,380). The variables analyzed included daily consumption of different media channels (broadcast, print, and social media), health-protective behavior, and COVID-19 self-efficacy. The…
Defending Others Online: The Influence of Observing Formal and Informal Social Control on One’s Willingness to Defend Cyberhate Victims
This paper examines factors correlated with online self-help-an informal form of social control vis-à-vis intervention-upon witnessing a cyberhate attack. Using online surveys from 18- to 26-year-old respondents in the United States, we explore the roles of various types of online and offline formal and informal social control mechanisms on the enactment of self-help through the use of descriptive statistics and ordinal logistic regression. The r…
Measuring Hate: Does a Definition Affect Self-Reported Levels of Perpetration and Exposure to Online Hate in Surveys
The purpose of this research is to test the validity of commonly used measures of exposure to and production of online extremism. Specifically, we investigate if a definition of hate influences survey responses about the production of and exposure to online hate. To explore the effects of a definition, we used a split experimental design on a sample of 18 to 25-year-old Americans where half of the respondents were exposed to the European Union’s …
Factors Associated with Online Hate Acceptance: A Cross-National Six-Country Study among Young Adults
The Internet, specifically social media, is among the most common settings where young people encounter hate speech. Understanding their attitudes toward the phenomenon is crucial for combatting it because acceptance of such content could contribute to furthering the spread of hate speech as well as ideology contamination. The present study, theoretically grounded in the General Aggression Model (GAM), investigates factors associated with online …
Utilizing criminological theories to predict involvement in cyberviolence among the iGeneration
Cyberviolence is a growing concern, leading researchers to explore why some users engage in harmful acts online. This study uses leading criminological theories—the general theory of crime/self-control theory, social control/bonding theory, social learning theory, and general strain theory—to explore why 15–18-year-old American adolescents join ongoing acts of cyberviolence. Additionally, we examine the role of socio-demographic traits and online…
The Role of Collaboration in Complying With Covid-19 Health Protective Behaviors: A Cross-National Study
On March 11, 2020 COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. As the virus spread, governments called on citizens to comply with handwashing and social distancing behaviors. We use survey data from Finland and the United States to examine whether collaborative dimensions help predict compliance with health protective behaviors related to combatting COVID-19. We also investigate whether these factors’ influence on compliance varies between a market regime s…
Institutional Anomie Theory and Cybercrime—Cybercrime and the American Dream, Now Available Online
As the world becomes increasingly connected and interdependent upon technology, crimes are moving online. Research on cybercrime is beginning to test the applicability of traditional criminological theories for understanding crime in this new medium. Using a national sample of 215 self-admitted cybercriminals, we examine Messner and Rosenfeld’s institutional anomie theory. Negative binomial regressions reveal that expressed levels of institutiona…
Viewing anti-immigrant hate online: An application of routine activity and Social Structure-Social Learning Theory
Institutionalizing partnerships: A mixed methods approach to identifying trends and perceptions of community policing and multi-agency task forces
Cooperation with citizens and community agencies is fundamental to successful community policing. Considerable scholarship has documented cooperation between police and residents; however, cooperation among police agencies at the local, state, and federal level is also important. We use a variety of methods to investigate if such multi-agency partnerships in the United States have become more common and, if so, why such cooperation occurs. In int…
Hate Knows No Boundaries: Online Hate in Six Nations
This paper examines cross-national commonalities and differences in online hate speech content, exposure, and emotional reaction. Using online surveys from 18 to 25-year-old respondents in six countries, we find a majority of respondents were exposed to online hate in the preceding 3 months. Commonalities across countries are the platform where the respondents were exposed and how they arrived at such content. Unique national cultures of hate spe…
Preconditions for guardianship interventions in cyberbullying: Incident interpretation, collective and automated efficacy, and relative popularity of bullies
The Enthymemes of Supporting President Trump: Explaining the Association Between Structural Location, Supporting the President, and Agreeing With Online Extremism
Does hateful rhetoric appeal to supporters of President Trump? Prior studies link sexism, racism, Islamophobia, anti-immigrant sentiment, and intolerant forms of Christianity to supporting or voting for President Trump. We extend this literature by examining whether individuals who approve of President Trump’s job performance are more accepting of the hateful rhetoric and imagery they encounter online. We do so using online survey data ( N = 465)…
Predictors of Viewing Online Extremism Among America's Youth
Exposure to hate material is related to a host of negative outcomes. Young people might be especially vulnerable to the deleterious effects of such exposure. With that in mind, this article examines factors associated with the frequency that youth and young adults, ages 15 to 24, see material online that expresses negative views toward a social group. We use an online survey of individuals recruited from a demographically balanced sample of Ameri…
Cyber-Routines, Political Attitudes, and Exposure to Violence-Advocating Online Extremism
The Internet’s relatively unfettered transmission of information risks exposing individuals to extremist content. Using online survey data (N = 768) of American youth and young adults, we examine factors that bring individuals into contact with online material advocating violence. Combining aspects of social structure-social learning theory with insights from routine activity theory, we find that exposure to violence-advocating materials is posit…
Social Group Identity and Perceptions of Online Hate
Why do some people find online hate material more disturbing than others? We use a random sample of Americans between the ages 15 and 36 to address this question. Descriptive results indicate that a majority of respondents surveyed find online hate material very or extremely disturbing, while smaller shares find it moderately, slightly, or not at all disturbing. We utilize an ordinal logistic regression to explore factors associated with these va…
We don't like your type around here: Regional and residential differences in exposure to online hate material targeting sexuality
What factors are related to online targeting of hate material based to sexual orientation? This study addresses that question, utilizing a sample of 968 Internet users aged 15–36. Employing a logistic regression analysis, we find that social network usage, online antagonism, informal online social control, and a lack of online anonymity increase the likelihood of being targeted. Moreover, individuals living in the southern region of the United St…
Addressing the Race Gap in Incarceration Rates: An Agent Based Model
Using an agent-based model of incarceration, the authors conduct a series of simulation experiments testing the efficacy of policy interventions designed to address racial disparities in incarceration rates. The first experiment eliminates race-based sentencing disparities, and additional experiments eliminate race-based sentencing disparities and disrupt the clustering of incarcerated individuals in their social networks. Findings suggest that e…
Conflict Management Styles and Cybervictimization: Extending Routine Activity Theory
Do online conflict management styles affect the likelihood of cybervictimization? To answer this question, we use an online survey of youth and young adults recruited from a demographically balanced sample of Americans. Using an extended version of routine activity theory, we examine how two conflict resolution styles—self-help and toleration—affect the target suitability of online users and, in turn, their likelihood of being the victim of cyber…
Exposure to Online Hate in Four Nations: A Cross-National Consideration
There is a considerable amount of hate material online, but the degree to which individuals are exposed to these materials vary. Using samples of youth and young adults from four countries, we investigate who is exposed to hate materials. We find support for using routine activity theory to understand exposure at the individual level; however, there is significant cross-national variation in exposure after accounting for individual-level factors.…
Virtually Standing Up or Standing By? Correlates of Enacting Social Control Online
Research has consistently established the robustness of the bystander effect, or the tendency of individuals to not intervene on behalf of others in emergency situations. This study examines the bystander effect in an online setting, focusing on factors that lead individuals to intervene, and therefore enact informal social control, on behalf of others who are being targeted by hate material. To address this question, we use an online survey (N=6…
Exposure to Online Hate in Four Nations: A Cross-National Consideration
There is a considerable amount of hate material online, but the degree to which individuals are exposed to these materials vary. Using samples of youth and young adults from four countries, we investigate who is exposed to hate materials. We find support for using routine activity theory to understand exposure at the individual level; however, there is significant cross-national variation in exposure after accounting for individual-level factors.…
The Role of Presidential Rhetoric in the Creation of a Moral Panic: Reagan, Bush, and the War on Drugs
Although it is known that state initiatives can help produce moral panics, the role policy rhetoric assumes in creating, sustaining, and terminating moral panics has not been theoretically addressed. This article offers a typology of drug policies and illustrates how each is used at varying stages of a moral panic. It is argued that moral panics begin when proactive and punitive statements are used in combination. Moral panics subside when reacti…
Hate Knows No Boundaries: Online Hate in Six Nations
This paper examines cross-national commonalities and differences in online hate speech content, exposure, and emotional reaction. Using online surveys from 18 to 25-year-old respondents in six countries, we find a majority of respondents were exposed to online hate in the preceding 3 months. Commonalities across countries are the platform where the respondents were exposed and how they arrived at such content. Unique national cultures of hate spe…
Crime as a Source of Solidarity: A Research Note Testing Durkheim's Assertion
A basic premise of a functional theory of crime is that heinous crimes can be a source of solidarity. While anecdotal evidence exists to support this crime–solidarity relationship, no systematic studies have tested this assertion. We compare data from a sample of Virginia Tech students collected in 2006 to data from a sample of students collected five months, nine months, and one year after the mass shootings that occurred on campus in April 2007…
Deviant Lifestyles: The Social Control of Daily Routines
Bond theory is one of the most influential theories in criminology. Many researchers, however, have discarded the concept of involvements. This research reconceptualizes this concept. Factor analysis recovers seven routine patterns that measure involvement. These factors are then used in a multiple regression model to predict adolescent marijuana use. The routine patterns are powerful predictors of use, even when other elements of the bond are in…
Confronting Online Extremism: The Effect of Self-Help, Collective Efficacy, and Guardianship on Being a Target for Hate Speech
Who is likely to be a target of online hate and extremism? To answer this question, we use an online survey ( N = 963) of youth and young adults recruited from a demographically balanced sample of Americans. Adapting routine activity theory, we distinguish between actor-initiated social control (i.e., self-help), other-initiated social control (i.e., collective efficacy), and guardianship and show how self-help is positively related to the likeli…
Science, Individualism, and Attitudes Toward Deviance: The Influence of Modernization and Rationalization
Sociologists have long been interested in determinants of deviant behavior. Multiple researchers have concluded that attitudes toward deviance are good predictors of deviant behavior. However, little research has focused on the causes of these attitudes. This research offers an explanation and empirical test of potential causes of tolerant attitudes toward deviant behavior. We hypothesize that a secular worldview and individualism lead to an incr…
Daily Routines and Crime: Using Routine Activities as Measures of Hirschi's Involvement
Since 1969, Travis Hirschi's control theory has been one of the leading explanations of delinquency. The theory has withstood not only the test of time but also rigorous empirical investigations. Although his theory has been generally supported, Hirschi's concept of involvement has been criticized as being, at best, analytically indistinguishable from commitment and, at worst, unrelated to delinquent behavior. However, when reconceptualized as da…
Social Group Identity and Perceptions of Online Hate
Why do some people find online hate material more disturbing than others? We use a random sample of Americans between the ages 15 and 36 to address this question. Descriptive results indicate that a majority of respondents surveyed find online hate material very or extremely disturbing, while smaller shares find it moderately, slightly, or not at all disturbing. We utilize an ordinal logistic regression to explore factors associated with these va…
Media Coverage and Solidarity after Tragedies: The Reporting of School Shootings in Two Nations
Although considerable research analyzes the media coverage of school shootings, there is a lack of cross-national comparative studies. Yet, a cross-national comparison of the media coverage of school shootings can provide insight into how this coverage can affect communities. Our research focuses on the reporting of the school shootings at Virginia Tech in the U.S. and Jokela and Kauhajoki in Finland. Using 491 articles from the New York Times an…
We don't like your type around here: Regional and residential differences in exposure to online hate material targeting sexuality
What factors are related to online targeting of hate material based to sexual orientation? This study addresses that question, utilizing a sample of 968 Internet users aged 15–36. Employing a logistic regression analysis, we find that social network usage, online antagonism, informal online social control, and a lack of online anonymity increase the likelihood of being targeted. Moreover, individuals living in the southern region of the United St…
Instrument Effects of Images in Web Surveys: A Research Note
This research note offers cautionary evidence, indicating just how little we know about how respondents react to and complete Web surveys. Researchers using or contemplating a Web-based approach need to be very clear that the line between the phenomena to be measured and the means of measurement is often quite fuzzy. This note uses data from Survey2001 to illustrate this point. Nearly 30,000 respondents completed part or all of Survey2001, which …
Virtually Standing Up or Standing By? Correlates of Enacting Social Control Online
Research has consistently established the robustness of the bystander effect, or the tendency of individuals to not intervene on behalf of others in emergency situations. This study examines the bystander effect in an online setting, focusing on factors that lead individuals to intervene, and therefore enact informal social control, on behalf of others who are being targeted by hate material. To address this question, we use an online survey (N=6…
Neighborhood Organizations and Resident Assistance to Police 1
Police and scholars note that successful crime fighting requires police and residents to “co‐produce” public safety. However, residents are often reluctant to get involved in policing initiatives or even report crimes they witness. One possible means of stimulating resident involvement in crime‐control activities is through neighborhood organizations. This research, conducted on 1,313 residents of 42 neighborhoods in western South Carolina, inves…
Web Survey Design: Balancing Measurement, Response, and Topical Interest
Using data from Survey2001, we analyze how visual images embedded in a web-based survey can (1) reduce nonresponse in the specific case that a respondent prematurely terminates the survey and (2) preserve measurement validity. Page-by-page progression through the survey is modeled as a survival process with early termination seen as failure. While images had no apparent effect on the termination process, respondent interest in the survey topic wa…
Glamorizing rampage online: School shooting fan communities on YouTube
The Political Economy of Diversity: Diversity Programs in Fortune 500 Companies
Using data from a 1998 SHRM survey, this study examines the prevalence and nature of diversity initiatives in Fortune 500 companies. The rhetoric of diversity in industry suggests that a diverse workforce is good for business. Diversity is typically defined in terms of such demographic factors as race, age, gender, ethnic background, and, to a lessor extent, sexual orientation. Our analysis shows that most Fortune 500 companies have some diversit…
Measuring Hate: Does a Definition Affect Self-Reported Levels of Perpetration and Exposure to Online Hate in Surveys
The purpose of this research is to test the validity of commonly used measures of exposure to and production of online extremism. Specifically, we investigate if a definition of hate influences survey responses about the production of and exposure to online hate. To explore the effects of a definition, we used a split experimental design on a sample of 18 to 25-year-old Americans where half of the respondents were exposed to the European Union’s …
Conflict Management Styles and Cybervictimization: Extending Routine Activity Theory
Do online conflict management styles affect the likelihood of cybervictimization? To answer this question, we use an online survey of youth and young adults recruited from a demographically balanced sample of Americans. Using an extended version of routine activity theory, we examine how two conflict resolution styles—self-help and toleration—affect the target suitability of online users and, in turn, their likelihood of being the victim of cyber…
Harm-advocating online content and subjective well-being: A cross-national study of new risks faced by youth
Harm-advocating online content includes pro-eating disorder, pro-self-harm, pro-suicide, and the positive portrayal of the deaths of real people (snuff or death sites). This material is often user-generated and easily accessible for an average online user, therefore offering a potential source of risk for many Internet users. This cross-sectional study examined the association between exposure to harm-advocating online content and users’ subjecti…
Banishment in Public Housing: Testing an Evolution of Broken Windows
Banishment policies grant police the authority to formally ban individuals from entering public housing and arrest them for trespassing if they violate the ban. Despite its widespread use and the social consequences resulting from it, an empirical evaluation of the effectiveness of banishment has not been performed. Understanding banishment enforcement is an evolution of broken windows policing, this study explores how effective bans are at reduc…
Social Solidarity and the Fear of Risk: Examining Worries about the Recurrence of a Mass Tragedy in a Small Community
In November 2007, the Jokela community experienced the first large-scale school shooting in Finland. The paper examines how local residents perceive the risk of school shootings, as an extreme crisis, reoccurring. We are particularly interested in how social solidarity associates with the fear of this type of risk. We use a natural experimental design to see if recurrence of a potential mass tragedy changes the relationship between solidarity and…
Hiding in Plain Sight: Community Organization, Naive Trust and Terrorism
Terrorism is behavior that is both initiated and sustained by actors within a social environment. That social environment may vary along a continuum from supporting and enabling the behavior, to ignoring or being unaware of the behavior, to actively opposing the behavior. This article applies social disorganization theory, social capital theory and Black's work on terrorism to predict community characteristics likely to provide the anonymity requ…
Cheating with ChatGPT and Techniques of Neutralization
The Role of Collaboration in Complying With Covid-19 Health Protective Behaviors: A Cross-National Study
On March 11, 2020 COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. As the virus spread, governments called on citizens to comply with handwashing and social distancing behaviors. We use survey data from Finland and the United States to examine whether collaborative dimensions help predict compliance with health protective behaviors related to combatting COVID-19. We also investigate whether these factors’ influence on compliance varies between a market regime s…
Deviant Lifestyles: The Social Control of Daily Routines
Bond theory is one of the most influential theories in criminology. Many researchers, however, have discarded the concept of involvements. This research reconceptualizes this concept. Factor analysis recovers seven routine patterns that measure involvement. These factors are then used in a multiple regression model to predict adolescent marijuana use. The routine patterns are powerful predictors of use, even when other elements of the bond are in…
Cycles of deviance: Structural change, moral boundaries, and drug use, 1880-1990
This article offers a general explanation for changes in rates of deviant behavior. The rate of drug use in the United States between 1880 and 1990 is used as support for the general argument. Rates of use and social attitudes toward users are understood as functions of social mobility. Evidence is offered that supports the explanation that changing moral definitions and rates of behavior depend on demographic and economic changes in American soc…
Penetrating the Illegal Economy of Crack Dealing: A Review
Daily Routines and Crime: Using Routine Activities as Measures of Hirschi's Involvement
Since 1969, Travis Hirschi's control theory has been one of the leading explanations of delinquency. The theory has withstood not only the test of time but also rigorous empirical investigations. Although his theory has been generally supported, Hirschi's concept of involvement has been criticized as being, at best, analytically indistinguishable from commitment and, at worst, unrelated to delinquent behavior. However, when reconceptualized as da…
The Role of Presidential Rhetoric in the Creation of a Moral Panic: Reagan, Bush, and the War on Drugs
Although it is known that state initiatives can help produce moral panics, the role policy rhetoric assumes in creating, sustaining, and terminating moral panics has not been theoretically addressed. This article offers a typology of drug policies and illustrates how each is used at varying stages of a moral panic. It is argued that moral panics begin when proactive and punitive statements are used in combination. Moral panics subside when reacti…
The Political Economy of Diversity: Diversity Programs in Fortune 500 Companies
Using data from a 1998 SHRM survey, this study examines the prevalence and nature of diversity initiatives in Fortune 500 companies. The rhetoric of diversity in industry suggests that a diverse workforce is good for business. Diversity is typically defined in terms of such demographic factors as race, age, gender, ethnic background, and, to a lessor extent, sexual orientation. Our analysis shows that most Fortune 500 companies have some diversit…
Crime, Disorder, and Community Safety
Instrument Effects of Images in Web Surveys: A Research Note
This research note offers cautionary evidence, indicating just how little we know about how respondents react to and complete Web surveys. Researchers using or contemplating a Web-based approach need to be very clear that the line between the phenomena to be measured and the means of measurement is often quite fuzzy. This note uses data from Survey2001 to illustrate this point. Nearly 30,000 respondents completed part or all of Survey2001, which …
Legitimacy, Trust, Social Capital, and Policing Styles: A Theoretical Statement
There currently is no consensus about why attitudes toward police vary by neighborhood. An unexplored explanation is that resident trust of police and perceptions of police legitimacy may depend on neighborhood levels of social capital. This article considers the relationships among trust, legitimacy, procedural justice, social capital, and policing styles. Treating trust and legitimacy as conceptually distinct, how neighborhood levels of social …
Science, Individualism, and Attitudes Toward Deviance: The Influence of Modernization and Rationalization
Sociologists have long been interested in determinants of deviant behavior. Multiple researchers have concluded that attitudes toward deviance are good predictors of deviant behavior. However, little research has focused on the causes of these attitudes. This research offers an explanation and empirical test of potential causes of tolerant attitudes toward deviant behavior. We hypothesize that a secular worldview and individualism lead to an incr…
Web Survey Design: Balancing Measurement, Response, and Topical Interest
Using data from Survey2001, we analyze how visual images embedded in a web-based survey can (1) reduce nonresponse in the specific case that a respondent prematurely terminates the survey and (2) preserve measurement validity. Page-by-page progression through the survey is modeled as a survival process with early termination seen as failure. While images had no apparent effect on the termination process, respondent interest in the survey topic wa…
Hiding in Plain Sight: Community Organization, Naive Trust and Terrorism
Terrorism is behavior that is both initiated and sustained by actors within a social environment. That social environment may vary along a continuum from supporting and enabling the behavior, to ignoring or being unaware of the behavior, to actively opposing the behavior. This article applies social disorganization theory, social capital theory and Black's work on terrorism to predict community characteristics likely to provide the anonymity requ…
Crime as a Source of Solidarity: A Research Note Testing Durkheim's Assertion
A basic premise of a functional theory of crime is that heinous crimes can be a source of solidarity. While anecdotal evidence exists to support this crime–solidarity relationship, no systematic studies have tested this assertion. We compare data from a sample of Virginia Tech students collected in 2006 to data from a sample of students collected five months, nine months, and one year after the mass shootings that occurred on campus in April 2007…
Encyclopedia of Drug Policy: The War on Drugs Past, Present, and Future
In 1971, President Richard M. Nixon declared drugs public enemy number one and waged the War on Drug after tests on returning Vietnam War veterans revealed alarming levels of heroin use. Spanning two volumes of approximately 450 articles in an A-to-Z format, the encyclopedia explores this controversial war through the lens of varied disciplines, and a full spectrum of articles explains topics from Colombian cartels and Mexican kingpins to televis…
Social Relations that Generate and Sustain Solidarity after a Mass Tragedy
Numerous researchers discuss the solidarity-producing effects of crime, natural disasters and mass tragedies; however, there is much we do not understand about the processes involved in the phenomena. We specify the social relationships that generate and sustain solidarity by building on Hunter's descriptions of the private, parochial and public spheres of community. We argue that event-specific parochial and event-specific public activities gene…
Neighborhood Organizations and Resident Assistance to Police 1
Police and scholars note that successful crime fighting requires police and residents to “co‐produce” public safety. However, residents are often reluctant to get involved in policing initiatives or even report crimes they witness. One possible means of stimulating resident involvement in crime‐control activities is through neighborhood organizations. This research, conducted on 1,313 residents of 42 neighborhoods in western South Carolina, inves…
Media Coverage and Solidarity after Tragedies: The Reporting of School Shootings in Two Nations
Although considerable research analyzes the media coverage of school shootings, there is a lack of cross-national comparative studies. Yet, a cross-national comparison of the media coverage of school shootings can provide insight into how this coverage can affect communities. Our research focuses on the reporting of the school shootings at Virginia Tech in the U.S. and Jokela and Kauhajoki in Finland. Using 491 articles from the New York Times an…
Causes and Consequences of Group Violence: From Bullies to Terrorists
The Causes and Consequences of Group Violence: From Bullies to Terrorists offers a transnational and transdisciplinary investigation of the causes and consequences of violence, ranging from bullying and hate crimes to revolutions, genocide, and acts of terrorism. Editors James Hawdon, John Ryan, and Mark Lucht bring together empirical investigations of these specific types of violence as well as theoretical discussions of the underlying similarit…
Glamorizing rampage online: School shooting fan communities on YouTube
Social Solidarity and the Fear of Risk: Examining Worries about the Recurrence of a Mass Tragedy in a Small Community
In November 2007, the Jokela community experienced the first large-scale school shooting in Finland. The paper examines how local residents perceive the risk of school shootings, as an extreme crisis, reoccurring. We are particularly interested in how social solidarity associates with the fear of this type of risk. We use a natural experimental design to see if recurrence of a potential mass tragedy changes the relationship between solidarity and…
Harm-advocating online content and subjective well-being: A cross-national study of new risks faced by youth
Harm-advocating online content includes pro-eating disorder, pro-self-harm, pro-suicide, and the positive portrayal of the deaths of real people (snuff or death sites). This material is often user-generated and easily accessible for an average online user, therefore offering a potential source of risk for many Internet users. This cross-sectional study examined the association between exposure to harm-advocating online content and users’ subjecti…
Virtually Standing Up or Standing By? Correlates of Enacting Social Control Online
Research has consistently established the robustness of the bystander effect, or the tendency of individuals to not intervene on behalf of others in emergency situations. This study examines the bystander effect in an online setting, focusing on factors that lead individuals to intervene, and therefore enact informal social control, on behalf of others who are being targeted by hate material. To address this question, we use an online survey (N=6…
Confronting Online Extremism: The Effect of Self-Help, Collective Efficacy, and Guardianship on Being a Target for Hate Speech
Who is likely to be a target of online hate and extremism? To answer this question, we use an online survey ( N = 963) of youth and young adults recruited from a demographically balanced sample of Americans. Adapting routine activity theory, we distinguish between actor-initiated social control (i.e., self-help), other-initiated social control (i.e., collective efficacy), and guardianship and show how self-help is positively related to the likeli…
Banishment in Public Housing: Testing an Evolution of Broken Windows
Banishment policies grant police the authority to formally ban individuals from entering public housing and arrest them for trespassing if they violate the ban. Despite its widespread use and the social consequences resulting from it, an empirical evaluation of the effectiveness of banishment has not been performed. Understanding banishment enforcement is an evolution of broken windows policing, this study explores how effective bans are at reduc…
Sex, Drugs, and Deception: Deviance in the Hair Salon Industry
The unique organizational structure of the hair salon industry fosters an environment in which multiple factors, including varying levels of status, opportunity, and motivation, can create or constrain possibilities for deviant behavior. Using data from participant observation, personal interviews, and systematic introspection, four categories of deviance emerge: theft, hyper-sexualized interactions, drug/alcohol use, and questionable/illegal bus…
Psychology (38 works) · Social Psychology (32 works) · Political science (30 works) · Sociology (29 works) · Criminology (23 works) · Crime Patterns and Interventions (19 works) · Law (19 works) · Computer Science (18 works) · Social Psychology (17 works) · Politics (13 works)