Temat: Crime - Katalog OPAC zbiorów

Skocz do pozycji: 1.

Tytuł:: International Crime Victim Survey ‘04/05: Polska na tle wybranych krajów Unii Europejskiej
International Crime Victim Survey 2004/2005: Poland and Selected Countries of the European Union
Autorzy:: Siemaszko, Andrzej
Powiązania:: https://bibliotekanauki.pl/articles/698866.pdf
Data publikacji:: 2008
Wydawca:: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Nauk Prawnych PAN
Tematy:: International Crime Victim Survey
międzynarodowe badanie ofiar przestępstw
ocena pracy policji
punitywność
lęk przed przestępczością
ofiary przestępstw
wiktymizacja
victims of crime
fear of crime
victimization
ICVS
Źródło:: Archiwum Kryminologii; 2008, XXIX-XXX; 169-192
0066-6890
2719-4280
Pojawia się w:: Archiwum Kryminologii
Dostawca treści:: Biblioteka Nauki

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Tytuł:: Polskie Badanie Przestępczości (PBP) 2007-2009: analiza wybranych rezultatów
Polish crime study (PBP), 2007-2009: analysis of selected results
Autorzy:: Siemaszko, Andrzej
Powiązania:: https://bibliotekanauki.pl/articles/698480.pdf
Data publikacji:: 2009
Wydawca:: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Nauk Prawnych PAN
Tematy:: Polskie Badanie Przestępczości
metodologia badań kryminologicznych
badania wiktymizacyjne
crime in Poland
Opis:: Polish Crime Study (PBP) carried out between 2007 and 2009 was a joint project of the Police Headquarters and the Institute for Justice. The particular aim of the project, which was carried out in all 16 voivodships of Poland and in the police area of the of the Capital District, was to estimate the level of crime increase and its dark figures, evaluation of police work, and measure of fear of crime - both across the country and in each province. The research was carried out each year in the first half of January of on a random sample of 17 thousand respondents (3 thousands in each province and 3 thousand in the the Warsaw Police Headquarters area) by traditional face to face interview method. Analyzed results include 51 thousand respondents who were surveyed in 2007 - 2009. For the entire sample constructed in this way the measurement error is minimal and is in fact only 0.4% in general and 1.8% for the particular local area tests. It should be emphasised that PBP is the largest victimological study in Poland (surveys of the Institute of Justice in the previous rounds of the ICVS did not usually exceed 5 thousand respondents) and, at the same time, one of the major social surveys in our country.. The questionnaire of Polskie Badanie Przestępczości included questions related to the victimization with the following acts: robbery, assault, burglary, car theft, other theft (pickpocket, mobile phone theft, bicycle theft). The study also included a question concerning the reporting level of abovementioned acts. Much attention was paid to the perception of the police and fear of the crime in the measurement tool (such items were generally modeled on the Polish version of the ICVS questionnaire). The study included a total of 12 positions and 10 measurable questions. Positions related to offenses and their applications were relatively complex and de facto consisted of several questions. PBP results indicate that the intensification of a crime in Poland is still quite considerable. Nearly every fifth inhabitant of our country was a victim of one of the offenses taken into consideration during the analyzed period, almost every eighteenth was a victim of a burglary. Also other thefts (nearly 1,900 cases per 51 thousand respondents), and robberies (nearly 1,500 cases per 51 thousand resondents) happen quite often. The largest (tenfold) diversity in regional reviev concerns the risk of a car theft, white the smallest (2,5 fold) diversity concerns robberies and other theft. Relatively large, (fivefold) differences have also been reported in case of battery. It should be noted that differences in the frequency of the offences taken into consideration voivodship-wise is comparable or even greater than in the individual EU countries taking part in the final round of the ICVS, which is certainly quite a surprise.
Źródło:: Archiwum Kryminologii; 2009, XXXI; 223-264
0066-6890
2719-4280
Pojawia się w:: Archiwum Kryminologii
Dostawca treści:: Biblioteka Nauki

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Tytuł:: Przestępczość nieujawniona. Porównanie polskich rezultatów ICVS '86 i '92
Unreported Crime. Polish Findings of ICVS '86 and '92 Compared
Autorzy:: Siemaszko, Andrzej
Powiązania:: https://bibliotekanauki.pl/articles/698662.pdf
Data publikacji:: 1998
Wydawca:: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Nauk Prawnych PAN
Tematy:: przestępczość nieujawniona
rozbój
przestępstwo seksualne
kradzież
unreported crime
robbery
sexsual offense
theft
Opis:: Poland participated in all the three ICVS series conducted so far, and research was each time carried out by the Law Enforcement Institute. However, due to Poland’s underdeveloped telephone network, only the 1989 (Warsaw) survey used the method of telephone interview. The next two series, of l992 and 1996, examined relative big and carefully selected national samples of households (of assumed over 2 thousand respondents in 1992 and over 4 thousand in 1996), but the traditional face-to-face method was used. The field survey was carried out by renowned opinion survey centers supervised by the Institute. Particularly worth stressing is the fact that Poland was probably the only country involved in ICVS where surveys started exactly on time. It should also be added that we achieved more than satisfactory completion rates: the proportion of refusals was about 5% in 1992 and 14% in 1996, and thus much smaller compared to survey using the CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interview) method. This of course influenced the quality of our findings. In 1995, Polish people most often fell victim to consumer offenses (14.2%) and carbreaking (10.1%). Rather high were also the proportions of interntional car damage (9.6%) and theft of personal property (5.6%). In the remaining cases, victimization coefficients never went beyond 5%. Compared to 1991, victimization structure underwent no greater changes. Of the 13 types of offenses examined, only 5 showed increases or decreases by more than 1% in the proportion of victims; the biggest change was 2.6% which was in practice still within the bounds of measurement error. Generally it seems, therefore, that in l991 and l995 unreported crime became stabilized in Poland as opposed to reported crime which in most cases still shows rather a strong upwards trend. Thus while robbery rate was 1.7 in 1991, the 1995 rate was higher by a mere 0.1% and amounted to 1.8. It should be added, though, that also our findings confirm the thesis as to a growing brutality of robbery and a change in the perpetrators’ modus operandi. For example, the proportion of robberies committed by one person went down from 25.2 to 18.8%. Besides, a larger proportion of respondents said to robbers had been armed. Also the „effectiveness” of robbery went up: a greater proportion (43.6 compared to 37.7%) stated that the robbers had actually managed to steal something. On the other hand, though, which is against expectations, also the proportion of statements as to robbers being armed went down. To our great surprise it appeared, too, that among the 13 countries participating in the survey (where ICVS '96 was carried out on the national sample) Poland had the highest robbery rate. The rate of batterics (attempts) went down from 4.2 in 1991 to 3.7 in 1995, that is by 0.5%. Yet characterization of those acts would be incomplete if we failed to mention that, in that same period, the proportion of batteries by assailants armed with dangerous weapons or firearms went up from 6 to 20.6%, and the weapons or firearms were actually used in 35.2% of cases. The more serious nature of batteries is also manifested by a considerable growth in the number of cases in which the victims needed a doctor: 32.8% in 1995 compared to 22.4% in 1991. As opposed to robbery, though, the battery rate in Poland is among the relatively low. Reduced most among acts with the element of aggression in years under comparison was the number of sex ofenses: from 3.6% in 1991 to 1.5% in 1995, that is by 2,1% (the difference being significant). It should be mentioned, though, that while none of the victims of this kind of act actually called it rape in 1992, the proportion of such persons was as much as 7% in the most recent survey. There was at the same time a rather considerable drop (by over 7%) in the number of victims who called the act ,,indecent assault”. Thus also the structure of this kind of acts underwent a specific change. What can be treated as indirect indication of seriousness of sex offenses are also statements as to criminal nature of the act (,,Do you consider the act an offense?”). Also those statements („Yes” answers) confirm the drop in the number of more serious acts of this kind (from 6.1% in 1992 to 53.5% four years later). Also reduced (by over 10%) was the proportion of statements as to serious or very serious nature of the incident. The relatively small danger of sex offenses in Poland is confirmed by confrontation with international data: in three countries only, the proportion of victims of such acts is smaller than in Poland. The growth of car sales situates Poland among European leaders. It was therefore interesting to find out about the impact of the growing number of cars on offenses ,,against cars”. According to the criminal opportunity theory, a considerable growth in the numer of such offenses could be expected, caused by increased ,,supply”. It appeared, however, that the growing number of cars failed to bring about any significant growth in the number of offenses against cars. Proportions of victims of car theft and intentional car damage (among car owners) went up in the period under analysis by a mere 0.1% (from 1.4% to 1.5% and from 9.5% to 9.6% respectively); in the case of victims of carbreaking, the proportion went down by 0.4% (from 10.5% to 10.1%). From comparison with international data on offenses ,,against cars'' it follows that Poland is among countries with medium-level threat of car theft; instead, the threat of car-breaking and international damage to cars is above the average, Poland ranking second and fourth respectively. Greater changes were found in the cases of one-track vehicles: motor-cycles and bicycles. In both cases, the numer of victims went down: by 1.8% in the case of motorcycle thefts, and by 1.1% in the case of bicycle thefts; it is worth stressing that the drop was significant. In most countries under research, thefts of one-track vehicles, bicycles in particilar, are a much greater problem than in Poland. Among the analyzed acts against property, the greatest drop (by 2.5% which makes the difference significant) was found in the case of the number of victims of theft of personal property. A sub-category of this group was pocket-picking inquired about by a filtering question. Worth stressing here is a drop in proportion of pocket-picking among thefts of personal property: from 83.2% in 1991 to 71.3% four years later, that is by over 10%. However, Poland is stil among countries with the greatest threat of thefts of personal property, pocket-picking included (which is rather understandable the fact considered that most Polish people still carry cash instead of a credit card). There was also a slight downward trend in the proportion of victims of housebreaking, both attempted (by 0.5%) and committed (by 0.1%). The proportions of victims of housebreaking (attempted and committed) situate Poland among countries with a medium-level threat of that type of offense. Compared to the previous survey. There was a considerable growth (by 2.6% which makes the difference significant) in the number of victims of consumer frauds. Instead, the number of victims of corruption of State officials went down by 0.7%. As follows from comparisons with international data, Poland is among the countries with the highest threat of such acts. Particularly alarming is the fact of as high a level of corruption in both post-communist countries included in the sample: in Poland and Czech Republic alike, that level is several times higher compared to the remaining countries. Similar trends can generally be found in a comparison of numbers of offenses per l00 respondents; here, however, differences in dynamics of individual offenses can be noticed with greater clarity. Striking is also a growth in the rate of batteries (attempts): from 6.7 in 1991 to 7.4 in 1995. The general victimization risk index is now 23 in Poland; it was 27 in the previous survey which means a drop by 4 points. From a comparison of that index with its foreign counterparts it follows clearly that the general extent of crime is not too big in Poland. At any rate, Poland is below the average of 11 Western countries of which 3 only (Finland, Austria and North Ireland) have indices lower than the Polish one. Yet underlying this apparent stabilization of unreported crime in the discussed period is a rather considerable growth or drop in the numer of repeated victims. Thus the proportion of repeated victims (respondents who fell victim to a given type of offense on at least two occasions during the last 12 months) went up in the case of car thefts by 9.1; in the case of car-breaking – by as much as 15.1; in the case of international damage to car – by 4.7; in the case of theft of personal property – by 8.2; in the case of burglary - by 4.9; in the case of robbery - by 9.7; and in the case of battery (attempt) – by 8.1. The only proportions that showed a downward trend were those of victims of motorcycle theft (by l0.2); bicycle theft (by 1.1); and sex offences (by 13.2). This is therefore a significant growth in concentration of crime (a greater numbers of acts against those same persons). Interestingly, the direction of the trend is not always the same in the case of one-time and repeated victims. For example, the proportion of victims of car-breaking went down by 0.4 in the period analysis while that of repeated victims went up by over 15. Differences in the dark number between individual offenses are very big. As follows from the findings of the Polish part of ICVS ’96, they range from nearly 100% (in the case of consumer frauds),to under 10% (in the case of car thefts). Besides, against expectations, the dark number was by no means the highest in the case of sex offences (it was very high, though: 88%). Generally it can be stated that the lowest dark number is found in the case of willful taking of property of considerable value, that is car and motor-cycle thefts, burglaries and bicycle thefts (7.2%, 21%, 45.7% and, 55.2% respectively). Seldom reported, instead, are thefts of personal property: the dark number is here nearly 80%. Also robbery and battery have a high dark number of 62.5% and 68.8% respectively. The dark number is definitely the highest (nearly 100%) in the case of the above-mentioned consumer frauds and corruption. As regards the inclination to report an offense, differences between the findings of the 1992 and 1996 survevs were greater but by no means explicit. Generally, there was an increase in the numer of reported aggressive offenses: batteries (by 6.4%); robberies (by 6.1%); and sex offenses (3.6%). The opposite trend was found in the case of reported thefts. The greatest was the drop in reported motor-cycle thefts (by 10.1%) and carbreaking (by 8.6%; here, the difference was significant). The proportion of reported bicycle thefts went down by 2.2%; that of cars – by 0.2%; and that of thefts of personal property remained unchanged. There was, instead, a rather considerable growth in the proportion of reported damages to car (by 3.2%) and burglaries (by 6.1%). The dark number of offenses is still very high in Poland, much higher than in the West. There, the average proportion of reported offences in the groups of six acts under analysis amounts to 50; in Poland, it is merely 34. This means that police data on crime in Poland are not too reliable as they say very little about its actual extent. Compared to the previous survey, the people's feeting of safety increased rather considerably which may also indirectly confirm the thesis that generally, there is no actual growth in crime in Poland. There was a growth by 11 points in the proportion of respondents who said they felt safe strolling in their neighborhood after dark; the proportion of those who said they avoided specific streets for reasons of safety dropped by one-third; and the proportion of persons who considered it highly probable that they would fall victim to burglary during the next 12 months was reduced by half. Despite the rather explicit growth in the Poles' feeling of safety, there was also a most considerable growth in their critical opinions on police work. Thus the proportion of respondents who consider police actions to control crime ineffective went up by a half. Respondents also spoke of fewer policemen patrolling the streets: the proportion of those who said that a police patrol turned up in their neighborhood at least once a day went down from 27.5 top 23.3. Mentioned more often among reasons for not reporting an offense was idleness of the police. Persons dissatisfied with the treatment they received from the police prevailed among those of the victims who had reported the last offense against them. The proportion of the satisfied was the highest among victims of reported battery: 40%. Among victims of reported robbery, instead, the proportion of those satisfied with the treatment they received from the police was somewhat under 30%. Worth mentioning in this context is also a considerable drop in effectiveness of police work as regards regaining of stolen cars. While the 1992 findings indicated a satisfactory effectiveness in this respect (in 77.4% of cases, the owners got their stolen car back) there were a mere 45.l% of such cases in the 1996 survey. Crowning this definitely unfavorable appraisal of police work is the nearly three times' growth in the number of persons who mentioned police officers among officials demanding a bribe (31.9% compared to previous 11.4%). It appears, therefore, that stable crime and growing feeling of safety is not accompanied - as one might expect – by more favorable appraisals of police work. This results probably from the fact that the people's expectations in this respect went even higher up since 1992.
Źródło:: Archiwum Kryminologii; 1998, XXIII-XXIV; 45-74
0066-6890
2719-4280
Pojawia się w:: Archiwum Kryminologii
Dostawca treści:: Biblioteka Nauki

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Tytuł:: Przestępczość i polityka karna w krajach postkomunistycznych: spojrzenie laika
Crime and Penal Policy in Post-Communist States: a Layman’s Perspective
Autorzy:: Siemaszko, Andrzej
Powiązania:: https://bibliotekanauki.pl/articles/699122.pdf
Data publikacji:: 2006
Wydawca:: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Nauk Prawnych PAN
Tematy:: przestępczość
polityka karna
państwa postkomunistyczne
kara
polityka kryminalna
badania wiktymizacyjne
crime
penal policy
post-communist states
punishment
criminal policy
victim study
Opis:: Can we seriously analyse penal policy trends in the post-communist states if we have no idea on the penal legislation in these countries, on trends in crime combat and prevention or the current shape of the penal policy, including in particular penal code reforms that are being developed or implemented? We would naturally say no. The author, however, attempts to prove that such an analysis is possible provided one has access to relevant statistical data. The data are contained mainly in three publications: European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics, Penological Information Bulletin and Atlas przestępczości w Polsce [Overview of Crime in Poland]. For the purposes of this paper, the data were significantly modified not to include some of the post-communist states. For various reasons, mainly due to the data credibility and completeness, the author focussed only on ten such states, i.e. Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary. Some comparisons also include Bulgaria. Firstly, an analysis of the data shows that the common characteristics of the post-communist states under discussion are their high crime levels, both in terms of dynamics and prevalence. An exceptionally high level of crime risk is also displayed in the victimological research results. Secondly, a comparison of crime reporting levels clearly shows that the crime level in our region is actually much higher than police statistics might suggest. This is also confirmed by the results of nationwide Polish research held every four years within the International Crime Survey. We usually are one of the last countries in terms of crime reporting levels. It seems that people in our region are generally quite reluctant to report crime (due to our mistrust in police effectiveness), which makes our official crime statistics extremely unreliable. Therefore, while victimological research in the Western European countries may be treated as an interesting alternative to police statistics (and we actually could do without the latter), in our region, such research is a must. Thirdly, due to the extremely unreliable police statistics, it is essential to initiate victimological research in the countries of our region, and ideally to include them in the International Crime Survey. Without reliable victimological studies, we will have to rely on the police data that sometimes seem to be a tactless joke. The author's analysis, although not aimed at establishing any general rules, but rather at clearly describing the facts, naturally brings some obvious conclusions. The first conclusion is that all the former Soviet bloc countries were characterised by high crime levels at the turn of the 21st century. And the times are not conducive to softening penal repressions, which makes it obvious that most states under discussion continued their rather harsh penal policy compared to the Western countries. Poland was an interesting exception with its new and extremely liberal penal legislation having been introduced in the period of an extremely sharp crime growth. However, the author underlines that these developments had fortunately little influence on the judicial practice, all the more so since the main legislative and judicial changes to ease penal repressions had been introduced earlier. In other words, already before 1997 when the new penal codification was adopted, we had reached a dead end in crime policy liberalisation and there was no space left for more such changes for fear of mass protests and riots. The fact that the new and much more liberal penal code did not bring significant changes in the judicial practice proves the advantage of the judicial opinion over penal code solutions. This means and is clearly confirmed in the Polish experience that the form of penal legislation is much less important (though not unimportant) than specific judicial practice. All the states under analysis still show a disastrous structure of the length of unsuspended prison sentences. On the one hand, the shortest terms (up to one year, or even six months) are used too rarely, and on the other, too seldom are also the relatively long terms of ten and more years of prison. That makes sentence diversification seem insufficient. In all the states under discussion, the dominating group of imprisonment sentences are those from one to three years, which is inefficient from the criminology perspective, quite costly, and leads to the overpopulation of prisons. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that all these countries have such high imprisonment rates per 100,000 inhabitants.
Źródło:: Archiwum Kryminologii; 2006, XXVIII; 67-94
0066-6890
2719-4280
Pojawia się w:: Archiwum Kryminologii
Dostawca treści:: Biblioteka Nauki

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Tytuł:: Rozmiary i uwarunkowania zachowań dewiacyjnych młodzieży wiejskiej
Extent and Causes of Deviant Behaviour in the Rural Youth
Autorzy:: Siemaszko, Andrzej
Powiązania:: https://bibliotekanauki.pl/articles/699232.pdf
Data publikacji:: 1986
Wydawca:: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Nauk Prawnych PAN
Tematy:: zachowanie
młodzież
przestępczość
aresztowanie
klasa społeczna
geneza przestępczości
zbiorowość
niesubordynacja
nieuczciwość
statystyka
socjologia
behaviour
youth deviations
delinquency
arrests
social class
genesis of crime
community
insubordination
dishonesty
statistics
sociology
ommunity
Opis:: In the years 1978-1979, a study of the extent and causes of deviant behaviour in older schoolchildren was carried out in Warsaw which included three thousand persons. boys and girls. Since there was a lack of comprehensive studies of the extent and causes of social maladjustment of the rural, youth in Poland' it was decided that this study should be repeated in typically agricultural regions. The study, carried out in late l981, was aimed at the following: to construct a Polish version of the self-report delinquency scale, to estimate the extent of deviant behaviour in the analyzed populations, and to determine the variables particularly closely related to deviant behaviour. The stratified random sample consisted of 2,144 persons (1,7O2 boys and 429 girls). They were students of 86 different grades of various secondary schools, and were aged 14- 19. The study was carried out by an anonymous questionnaire which contained 124 questions; among them. there were 42 questions - about the various types of deviant behaviour, while the remaining ones concerned the separate groups of independent variables. The data on the following groups of independent variables were collected:1. the attitudes towards the family, the past and present and future family situation, and the character of interactions within the family; 2. deviance in the environment; 3. the attitudes towards friends, the character of interactions with friends and the intensity of bonds with the reference groups; 4. the attitudes towards school and the learning progress; 5. attitudes towards the legal norms; 6. the appraisal of life prospects and of the chances for fulfilment of aims and aspirations by means of legitimate methods; 7. the system of values, outlook on life and attitude towards moral norms; 8. engagement in social, cultural and sports activities and the like. A distinct group were the so-called alcohol variables, analyzed separately and the socio-demographic variables. Moreover, the questionnaire contained a ninc-question lye scale. The dependent variable was an index of 42 questions about various types of deviant behaviour. The possible answers to all the questions were indentical: "never", "once or twice", "several times", "a dozen or more times" and "more often". The sum of the respondents' affirmative answers to the questions about deviant behaviour formed the so-called variety scale. The frequency scale resulted from summing up all types of answers to each of the questions. Since the correlation between the scales of variety and frequency exceeded r :0.90, the variety scale was used in the analysis. This was due to its simplicity and a greater easiness of statistical interpretation. Three groups of deviant behaviour were distinguished for the purposes of the analysis. The first of them were manifestations of behaviour given a working term of insubordination. Though not forbidden by the law, such behaviour is improper in consideration of age or represents a challenge to the authority of the parents" guardians. teachers etc. For instance. the following types of behaviour were included here: staying away from home all night without the parents' consent. running away from home, or smoking before the age of 14. The second group were acts of "dishonesty" also not penalized as a rule– e.g. failure to give a lost thing back to its owner, or steadling rides. The third and most important group were acts that bore the character of transgressions or offences. Among others, this category included brawls. beatings and other offences against person. robbery thefts. breaking and entering, receiving stolen property, and other offences against property. The examined young persons committed the following acts, most frequently: smoking before the age of 14. stealing rides. failure to give the change left from shopping back-to the parents (over 80f of affirmative answers), failure to give the change back to a shopkeeper, failure to give back a found object (over 70% of affirmatie answers). misdemeanour at school. beating. participation in a brawl (over 50% of affirmative answers). Most seldom they admited taking drugs, picking public telephones and slipping out of a pub without paying the bill (less than 10%, of the examined persons). Generally, about 35% of the examined boys (i.e. 583 persons) admitted having committed at least once a half of the, 42 acts included in the questionnaire. over 20% of boys had a high, and 7.7% a Very high level of deviance. In the Warsaw study. a very high level of deviance was found in 6.1%, of boys. Therefore, the percentage of boys with a high level of deviance is similar in both studies and nearing other Polish estimates of the extent of social maladjustment of the school youth. In the present study, hypotheses were verified which were derived from some of the most popular theories of deviance: i.a., Sutherland's theory of differential associations, Hirschi's control theory, Merton's aims – means theory, (and the related conceptions of Cloward and Ohlin), Sykes and Matza's theory of neutralization. Also certain hypotheses were verified indirectly that were derived from the Gluecks' multifactor conception and the labeling theory: The major findings were as follows: Family situation Four items of the questionnaire made together the scale of ties with the family. These were the following questions: "Do your parents try to understand your problems?'', "Do your parents trust you?, ,,Do you generally like to discuss your plans with your parents?", "Do you trust your parents?". The scale of family ties revealed a rather high negative correlation with the deviance scale (r = -0.34 for boys and. R = -0.28 for girls). It appeared that the lesser the sense of ties with the parents. the higher the tendency to deviant behaviour. Two questions concerned the general apprasal of the atmosphere at home and the degree of the respondents' identification with their families. A strong interdependence was found between the way of defining the atmosphere- at home and the level of deviance. .The respondents who scored highest on the deviance scale, defined their atmosphere at home as bad several times more frequently, and much more seldom as good or very good, as compared with the others. As regards the question whether the respondents would like their own future families to be similar to their parental homes, the distribution of answers was alike. Among the respondents who would not like it at all or rather would not like it, there were nearly three times more of those who scored highest on the deviance scale. The global index of the attitude towards the family (constructed with the answers to all questions concerning the ties and identification with the family) revealed a negative and rather high correlation with the deviance scale, both in the case of boys (r = -0.30) and of girls (r = -0.26). Thus it appeared that deviant behaviour is inversely related to family ties and identification. Those of the examined persons who revealed a nelative attitude towards their families scored significantly higher on the scale of deviance as compared with those whose appraisal of their homes was favourable. Deviance of the environment and attitudes towards friends There were four questions that concerned deviance in the environment, one of which ("Has any member of your closest family ever been convicted by the court?'') concerned the perceived intensity of deviance in the family. Both the boys and the girls whose family member had a criminal record had the highest level of deviance. This finding is of a great theoretical as well as practical value since it demonstrates the groundlessness of the frequently accepted assumption that the family is always the source of pro-social patterns of behaviour. Three questions concerned deviance of the environment, their construction aimed at reflecting various aspects of the problem both as regards the subjective and the objective point of view: the different intensity of deviance and range of environment. The questions were: "Did you ever happened to have problems at school, boarding-school or at home because of your friends?'', "Did any of your acquaintances have a case in a juveni1e court or court of general criminal jurisdiction?", "Are there many young persons in your environment who have troubles with the police?". The distribution of answers to these questions markedly differentiated the examined populations in respect to deviance. In the groups distinguished according to their level of deviance significant differences could be found as far as the deviance of the environment is concerned. The respondents whose level of deviance was the highest appeared to move significantly more often with decidedly negative circles. A scale of deviance in the environment was constructed of the above questions. Of all the scales included in the study, this one showed the highest correlation with deviant behaviour, both in the case of boys (r = 0.56) and of girls (r = 0.36). Instead, the distribution of answers to the questions about emotional ties with the reference groups, the degree of identification with these groups and the emotional stability failed to differentiate the examined populations in respect of the degree of deviance; this finding was a surprise. Attitudes towards the law There were three items in the questionnaire that concerned the attitude towards the law: "The law should be observed"; "Most of the acts people term offences actually cause no harm at all to anybody''' and "In order to get a position in life, lawless behaviour is indispensable"; the latter two were at the same time an operationalization of the Sykes and Matza's techniques of neutralization. Opinions denying or aggreeing with the statement concerning the harmlessness of offences were the 1east important in the differentiation of the examined populations in respect to the level of deviance. This variable was also least correlated with the general scale of altitudes towards the law. On the other hand, the remaining two variables of this groups did differentiate the respondents well in respect of the level of deviant behaviour. The most discriminating was the question in what situations the law should be observed. The respondents who were\of opinion that "law should always be observed irrespective of the situation'' appeared to reveal the lowest level of deviance. Instead, among the resolute legal nonconformists (,,you can break the law whenever you are certain that you will escape punishment"), those prevailed who scored highest on the deviance scale. The scale of attitudes towards the law was moderately but significantly correlated with the deviance scale, though the relationship of the presently discussed scale with that of deviance was less marked than it was the case with the scales of deviance of environmental and of the attitudes towards the family. The perceived life-chances and material situation Two of the questions concerned the perceived life prospects that can be fulfilled by legitimate means: "what is your estimation of your life prospects as compared with those of the others?", and "Will you be able to get a good job after school?". The differences in the distributions of answers to the above questions in respect of the level of deviance were not great; however. they were significant. The "worst" respondents somewhatimore often had pessimistic, and the "best" ones - optimistic views. However, the constructed index of legitimate opportunities (which consisted of the above two questions failed to reveal a significant relation to deviant behaviour. This means that the sense of blocked opportunities for promotion and success (operationalized as above) is not related to deviant behaviour. The more so as the question about the respondents' estimation of their family material standing - though it differentiated the answers in respect of the level of deviance - also revealed a very small correlation with the scale of deviance (about 0.10). Perception of life prospects and opportunities was also analyzed from a somewhat different point of view. Namely, the respondents were asked whether in their opinion connections were necessary to get a god job. and whether it was possible to succeed in life through good honest work. These questions composed the variable "illegitimate opportunities". Constructed so as to make it complementary in relation to the variable "legitimate opportunities". An attempt was also made to ascertain to what degree this variable was correlated with the attitude towards the law. The questions about the chances of fulfilment of success goals through illegitimate means differentiated the examined populations in respect of the level of deviance. The "worst" respondents stated significantly more frequently that honest work did not lead to success in life. and that connections were necessary to get a good job. It was interesting to find that the variable "illegitimate opportunities'' was moderately correlated both with the attitude towards the law and with the "legitimate opportunities''. It was a moderately good predictor of deviant behaviour since it was correlated with the deviance scale at about 0.20 for boys as well as for girls. Values, moral principles and outlook on life Values treasured most frequently (love, friendship. happy home - over 75% (of all choices) failed to differentiate the examined populations in respect of their deviance. Of the remaining ten values, deep religious faith was chosen most frequently by the "best'' respondents, and acquiring individuality as well as learning to "be oneself' - by the ,,worst'' ones. The question about the stability of moral principles (three "types" of morality were distinguished: strict, situational and nihilistic) completely failed to differentiate the group of respondents Separated according to their Scores on the scale of deviance. There were among the moral nihilist as many of the "worst" as of the "best" respondents. The possible answers concerning the attitude towards religion ranged from: "I 'm a decided adherent of secular views" to: "I'm deeply religious". Generally speaking. This question provided but a poor differentiation in respect of the level of deviance. Since nearly 90% of the examined persons were at least "not-Church-going believers". Those of the examined persons who were deeply religious were an exception. In this group, the level of deviance of this group was decidedly the lowest. Involvement in conventional activities Of the three questions about activities consistent with the norms (active participation in youth organizations, hobbies, participation in organized leisure activities), none appeared to differentiate the examined group in respect of the level of deviance. Instead, the questions about school achievements ("Are you a good, bad or average student?") and about learning motivation ("What is for you the importance of being a good student?") were strongly related to deviance. The "worst" respondents much more often declared themselves to be bad students and admitted not caring about learning. At the same time, the variable of motivation was a much better predictor of deviance (r= -0.27) than the actual learning achievements (r= -0.11). Of the considered models of deviance, the most strongly confirmed was the theory of differential associations. This may be concluded from the following premises. Firstly, the variable of "devince of the environment'' and its separate elements revealed the highest correlation with the deviance scale. The test of significance of the differences of the value of correlation coefficients justifies the rejection of the null hypothesis as to their random character. Both the question about deviance among the closest friends, and those about deviance in a broader surroundings. revealed a much stronger correlation with deviant behaviour than the remaining variables. Also the question about deviance in the family appeared relate to deviant behaviour. In the light of the results obtained, not only a deviant peer group, but also a deviance in the family seem to be conducive to deviance. The adherents of the opinion that deviance precedes deviant associations would find it difficult to argue that it was the deviance in the examined persons that led to deviance in their families. Also the way in which the variable ,, deviance of the environment" is correlated with other variables speaks against the opinion that deviance precedes deviant associations since this variable a also revealed rather high correlation with deviant attitudes, the attitude towards learning at school and towards the family. Moreover, the relationship between the variable "deviance of environment" and ,,deviant behavior” was found to increase with age which is consistent with the known of importance of peer groups in the life of youths and their growing effect. On the other hand the result in question is difficult to interpret in the terms of alternative hypotheses: the "criminal tendencies" or ,.deviant impulses’’ should after all be constant and do not change with time. Still another finding should be mentioned here. In spite of the fact that girls generally have stronger ties with their parents as compared with boys, the correlation of the attitudes towards the family with deviant behaviour was found to be smaller in the group of girls than in the group of boys. Instead, against expectations, the deviance of the environment also revealed the highest correlation with deviant behaviour in the group of girls. Hirschi's control theory was much less confirmed by the findings of the present study. Of the four elements of bonds only the attachment to the, parents were rather strongly supported. On the other hand, hypotheses derived from the remaining elements of Hirschi.s conception were not confirmed at all (e.g. no confirmation at all was found of Hirsci’s argument that high degree of involvement in conventional types of activity is negatively related to deviance) or confirmed but to a small extent (e.g. the relationship between the school achievements and deviance). Besides the attitudes towards the family, only the attitude towards learning at school proved to be consistent with Hirschi's theory. On the other hand, in spite o| the principal hypothesis of the control theory the most isolated respondents failed to reveal a significantly higher level of deviance. Thus the conception of a solitary deviant promoted by Hirschi appears not tanable in the light of the obtained results. To sump up, if one had to decide basing on the findings of the present study which of the discussed theories was confirmed to a greater degree, it could be concluded that the theory of differential associations was confirmed to greater extent than Hirschi's control theory. On the other had, the results of the study do not seem to speak for Merton’s aims-means theory or the conception of differential opportunities of Cloward and Ohlin. Also some of the statements of the labelling approach failed to find confirmation.
In the years 1978-1979, a study of the extent and causes of deviant behaviour in older schoolchildren was carried out in Warsaw which included three thousand persons. boys and girls. Since there was a lack of comprehensive studies of the extent and causes of social maladjustment of the rural, youth in Poland' it was decided that this study should be repeated in typically agricultural regions. The study, carried out in late l981, was aimed at the following: to construct a Polish version of the self-report delinquency scale, to estimate the extent of deviant behaviour in the analyzed populations, and to determine the variables particularly closely related to deviant behaviour. The stratified random sample consisted of 2,144 persons (1,7O2 boys and 429 girls). They were students of 86 different grades of various secondary schools, and were aged 14- 19. The study was carried out by an anonymous questionnaire which contained 124 questions; among them. there were 42 questions - about the various types of deviant behaviour, while the remaining ones concerned the separate groups of independent variables. The data on the following groups of independent variables were collected:1. the attitudes towards the family, the past and present and future family situation, and the character of interactions within the family; 2. deviance in the environment; 3. the attitudes towards friends, the character of interactions with friends and the intensity of bonds with the reference groups; 4. the attitudes towards school and the learning progress; 5. attitudes towards the legal norms; 6. the appraisal of life prospects and of the chances for fulfilment of aims and aspirations by means of legitimate methods; 7. the system of values, outlook on life and attitude towards moral norms; 8. engagement in social, cultural and sports activities and the like. A distinct group were the so-called alcohol variables, analyzed separately and the socio-demographic variables. Moreover, the questionnaire contained a ninc-question lye scale. The dependent variable was an index of 42 questions about various types of deviant behaviour. The possible answers to all the questions were indentical: "never", "once or twice", "several times", "a dozen or more times" and "more often". The sum of the respondents' affirmative answers to the questions about deviant behaviour formed the so-called variety scale. The frequency scale resulted from summing up all types of answers to each of the questions. Since the correlation between the scales of variety and frequency exceeded r :0.90, the variety scale was used in the analysis. This was due to its simplicity and a greater easiness of statistical interpretation. Three groups of deviant behaviour were distinguished for the purposes of the analysis. The first of them were manifestations of behaviour given a working term of insubordination. Though not forbidden by the law, such behaviour is improper in consideration of age or represents a challenge to the authority of the parents" guardians. teachers etc. For instance. the following types of behaviour were included here: staying away from home all night without the parents' consent. running away from home, or smoking before the age of 14. The second group were acts of "dishonesty" also not penalized as a rule– e.g. failure to give a lost thing back to its owner, or steadling rides. The third and most important group were acts that bore the character of transgressions or offences. Among others, this category included brawls. beatings and other offences against person. robbery thefts. breaking and entering, receiving stolen property, and other offences against property. The examined young persons committed the following acts, most frequently: smoking before the age of 14. stealing rides. failure to give the change left from shopping back-to the parents (over 80f of affirmative answers), failure to give the change back to a shopkeeper, failure to give back a found object (over 70% of affirmatie answers). misdemeanour at school. beating. participation in a brawl (over 50% of affirmative answers). Most seldom they admited taking drugs, picking public telephones and slipping out of a pub without paying the bill (less than 10%, of the examined persons). Generally, about 35% of the examined boys (i.e. 583 persons) admitted having committed at least once a half of the, 42 acts included in the questionnaire. over 20% of boys had a high, and 7.7% a Very high level of deviance. In the Warsaw study. a very high level of deviance was found in 6.1%, of boys. Therefore, the percentage of boys with a high level of deviance is similar in both studies and nearing other Polish estimates of the extent of social maladjustment of the school youth. In the present study, hypotheses were verified which were derived from some of the most popular theories of deviance: i.a., Sutherland's theory of differential associations, Hirschi's control theory, Merton's aims – means theory, (and the related conceptions of Cloward and Ohlin), Sykes and Matza's theory of neutralization. Also certain hypotheses were verified indirectly that were derived from the Gluecks' multifactor conception and the labeling theory: The major findings were as follows: Family situation Four items of the questionnaire made together the scale of ties with the family. These were the following questions: "Do your parents try to understand your problems?'', "Do your parents trust you?, ,,Do you generally like to discuss your plans with your parents?", "Do you trust your parents?". The scale of family ties revealed a rather high negative correlation with the deviance scale (r = -0.34 for boys and. R = -0.28 for girls). It appeared that the lesser the sense of ties with the parents. the higher the tendency to deviant behaviour. Two questions concerned the general apprasal of the atmosphere at home and the degree of the respondents' identification with their families. A strong interdependence was found between the way of defining the atmosphere- at home and the level of deviance. .The respondents who scored highest on the deviance scale, defined their atmosphere at home as bad several times more frequently, and much more seldom as good or very good, as compared with the others. As regards the question whether the respondents would like their own future families to be similar to their parental homes, the distribution of answers was alike. Among the respondents who would not like it at all or rather would not like it, there were nearly three times more of those who scored highest on the deviance scale. The global index of the attitude towards the family (constructed with the answers to all questions concerning the ties and identification with the family) revealed a negative and rather high correlation with the deviance scale, both in the case of boys (r = -0.30) and of girls (r = -0.26). Thus it appeared that deviant behaviour is inversely related to family ties and identification. Those of the examined persons who revealed a nelative attitude towards their families scored significantly higher on the scale of deviance as compared with those whose appraisal of their homes was favourable. Deviance of the environment and attitudes towards friends There were four questions that concerned deviance in the environment, one of which ("Has any member of your closest family ever been convicted by the court?'') concerned the perceived intensity of deviance in the family. Both the boys and the girls whose family member had a criminal record had the highest level of deviance. This finding is of a great theoretical as well as practical value since it demonstrates the groundlessness of the frequently accepted assumption that the family is always the source of pro-social patterns of behaviour. Three questions concerned deviance of the environment, their construction aimed at reflecting various aspects of the problem both as regards the subjective and the objective point of view: the different intensity of deviance and range of environment. The questions were: "Did you ever happened to have problems at school, boarding-school or at home because of your friends?'', "Did any of your acquaintances have a case in a juveni1e court or court of general criminal jurisdiction?", "Are there many young persons in your environment who have troubles with the police?". The distribution of answers to these questions markedly differentiated the examined populations in respect to deviance. In the groups distinguished according to their level of deviance significant differences could be found as far as the deviance of the environment is concerned. The respondents whose level of deviance was the highest appeared to move significantly more often with decidedly negative circles. A scale of deviance in the environment was constructed of the above questions. Of all the scales included in the study, this one showed the highest correlation with deviant behaviour, both in the case of boys (r = 0.56) and of girls (r = 0.36). Instead, the distribution of answers to the questions about emotional ties with the reference groups, the degree of identification with these groups and the emotional stability failed to differentiate the examined populations in respect of the degree of deviance; this finding was a surprise. Attitudes towards the law There were three items in the questionnaire that concerned the attitude towards the law: "The law should be observed"; "Most of the acts people term offences actually cause no harm at all to anybody''' and "In order to get a position in life, lawless behaviour is indispensable"; the latter two were at the same time an operationalization of the Sykes and Matza's techniques of neutralization. Opinions denying or aggreeing with the statement concerning the harmlessness of offences were the 1east important in the differentiation of the examined populations in respect to the level of deviance. This variable was also least correlated with the general scale of altitudes towards the law. On the other hand, the remaining two variables of this groups did differentiate the respondents well in respect of the level of deviant behaviour. The most discriminating was the question in what situations the law should be observed. The respondents who were\of opinion that "law should always be observed irrespective of the situation'' appeared to reveal the lowest level of deviance. Instead, among the resolute legal nonconformists (,,you can break the law whenever you are certain that you will escape punishment"), those prevailed who scored highest on the deviance scale. The scale of attitudes towards the law was moderately but significantly correlated with the deviance scale, though the relationship of the presently discussed scale with that of deviance was less marked than it was the case with the scales of deviance of environmental and of the attitudes towards the family. The perceived life-chances and material situation Two of the questions concerned the perceived life prospects that can be fulfilled by legitimate means: "what is your estimation of your life prospects as compared with those of the others?", and "Will you be able to get a good job after school?". The differences in the distributions of answers to the above questions in respect of the level of deviance were not great; however. they were significant. The "worst" respondents somewhatimore often had pessimistic, and the "best" ones - optimistic views. However, the constructed index of legitimate opportunities (which consisted of the above two questions failed to reveal a significant relation to deviant behaviour. This means that the sense of blocked opportunities for promotion and success (operationalized as above) is not related to deviant behaviour. The more so as the question about the respondents' estimation of their family material standing - though it differentiated the answers in respect of the level of deviance - also revealed a very small correlation with the scale of deviance (about 0.10). Perception of life prospects and opportunities was also analyzed from a somewhat different point of view. Namely, the respondents were asked whether in their opinion connections were necessary to get a god job. and whether it was possible to succeed in life through good honest work. These questions composed the variable "illegitimate opportunities". Constructed so as to make it complementary in relation to the variable "legitimate opportunities". An attempt was also made to ascertain to what degree this variable was correlated with the attitude towards the law. The questions about the chances of fulfilment of success goals through illegitimate means differentiated the examined populations in respect of the level of deviance. The "worst" respondents stated significantly more frequently that honest work did not lead to success in life. and that connections were necessary to get a good job. It was interesting to find that the variable "illegitimate opportunities'' was moderately correlated both with the attitude towards the law and with the "legitimate opportunities''. It was a moderately good predictor of deviant behaviour since it was correlated with the deviance scale at about 0.20 for boys as well as for girls. Values, moral principles and outlook on life. Values treasured most frequently (love, friendship. happy home - over 75% (of all choices) failed to differentiate the examined populations in respect of their deviance. Of the remaining ten values, deep religious faith was chosen most frequently by the "best'' respondents, and acquiring individuality as well as learning to "be oneself' - by the ,,worst'' ones. The question about the stability of moral principles (three "types" of morality were distinguished: strict, situational and nihilistic) completely failed to differentiate the group of respondents Separated according to their Scores on the scale of deviance. There were among the moral nihilist as many of the "worst" as of the "best" respondents. The possible answers concerning the attitude towards religion ranged from: "I 'm a decided adherent of secular views" to: "I'm deeply religious". Generally speaking. This question provided but a poor differentiation in respect of the level of deviance. Since nearly 90% of the examined persons were at least "not-Church-going believers". Those of the examined persons who were deeply religious were an exception. In this group, the level of deviance of this group was decidedly the lowest. Involvement in conventional activities Of the three questions about activities consistent with the norms (active participation in youth organizations, hobbies, participation in organized leisure activities), none appeared to differentiate the examined group in respect of the level of deviance. Instead, the questions about school achievements ("Are you a good, bad or average student?") and about learning motivation ("What is for you the importance of being a good student?") were strongly related to deviance. The "worst" respondents much more often declared themselves to be bad students and admitted not caring about learning. At the same time, the variable of motivation was a much better predictor of deviance (r= -0.27) than the actual learning achievements (r= -0.11). Of the considered models of deviance, the most strongly confirmed was the theory of differential associations. This may be concluded from the following premises. Firstly, the variable of "devince of the environment'' and its separate elements revealed the highest correlation with the deviance scale. The test of significance of the differences of the value of correlation coefficients justifies the rejection of the null hypothesis as to their random character. Both the question about deviance among the closest friends, and those about deviance in a broader surroundings. revealed a much stronger correlation with deviant behaviour than the remaining variables. Also the question about deviance in the family appeared relate to deviant behaviour. In the light of the results obtained, not only a deviant peer group, but also a deviance in the family seem to be conducive to deviance. The adherents of the opinion that deviance precedes deviant associations would find it difficult to argue that it was the deviance in the examined persons that led to deviance in their families. Also the way in which the variable ,, deviance of the environment" is correlated with other variables speaks against the opinion that deviance precedes deviant associations since this variable a also revealed rather high correlation with deviant attitudes, the attitude towards learning at school and towards the family. Moreover, the relationship between the variable "deviance of environment" and ,,deviant behavior” was found to increase with age which is consistent with the known of importance of peer groups in the life of youths and their growing effect. On the other hand the result in question is difficult to interpret in the terms of alternative hypotheses: the "criminal tendencies" or ,.deviant impulses’’ should after all be constant and do not change with time. Still another finding should be mentioned here. In spite of the fact that girls generally have stronger ties with their parents as compared with boys, the correlation of the attitudes towards the family with deviant behaviour was found to be smaller in the group of girls than in the group of boys. Instead, against expectations, the deviance of the environment also revealed the highest correlation with deviant behaviour in the group of girls. Hirschi's control theory was much less confirmed by the findings of the present study. Of the four elements of bonds only the attachment to the, parents were rather strongly supported. On the other hand, hypotheses derived from the remaining elements of Hirschi.s conception were not confirmed at all (e.g. no confirmation at all was found of Hirsci’s argument that high degree of involvement in conventional types of activity is negatively related to deviance) or confirmed but to a small extent (e.g. the relationship between the school achievements and deviance). Besides the attitudes towards the family, only the attitude towards learning at school proved to be consistent with Hirschi's theory. On the other hand, in spite o| the principal hypothesis of the control theory the most isolated respondents failed to reveal a significantly higher level of deviance. Thus the conception of a solitary deviant promoted by Hirschi appears not tanable in the light of the obtained results. To sump up, if one had to decide basing on the findings of the present study which of the discussed theories was confirmed to a greater degree, it could be concluded that the theory of differential associations was confirmed to greater extent than Hirschi's control theory. On the other had, the results of the study do not seem to speak for Merton’s aims-means theory or the conception of differential opportunities of Cloward and Ohlin. Also some of the statements of the labelling approach failed to find confirmation.
Źródło:: Archiwum Kryminologii; 1986, XIII; 7-108
0066-6890
2719-4280
Pojawia się w:: Archiwum Kryminologii
Dostawca treści:: Biblioteka Nauki

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