Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nmvwc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-05T16:17:31.639Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Paradoxical Impact of Criminal Sanctions: Some Microstructural Findings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Sheldon Ekland-Olson ,
John Lieb  and
Louis Zurcher
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Field data from a longitudinal study of drug dealing reveal the importance of interpersonal networks in determining the impact of criminal sanctions. The level of perceived sanction severity was in large measure dependent on the degree of disruption created in interpersonal relations and on the resilience of these relations in adapting to the sanctioning process. Perceived certainty of sanctions was likewise dependent on characteristics of interpersonal interactions. Perceived certainty and severity of sanctions combined to define the level of fear. Sanction-induced fear increased network density and closure. These network properties were largely responsible for the paradoxical impact of sanctions. The relevance of these findings for deterrence research is noted throughout.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , 1984 , pp. 159 - 178
Copyright
Copyright © 1984 by The Law and Society Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

This research was supported in part by a grant from the Hogg Foundation, University of Texas, Austin. Suggestions from Richard Lempert and an anonymous reviewer have helped clarify our argument. We are grateful for both the support and the suggestions.

References

AKERS, Ronald L., KROHN, Marvin D., LANZA-KADUCE, Lonn and Marcia, RODOSEVICH (1979) “Social Learning and Deviant Behavior: A Specific Test of a General Theory,” 44 American Sociological Review 636.Google Scholar
ANDERSON, Linda S., CHIRICOS, Theodore G. and Gordon P., WALDO (1977) “Formal and Informal Sanctions: A Comparison of Deterrent Effects,” 25 Social Problems 103.Google Scholar
BEAN, Frank D. and Robert G., CUSHING (1971) “Criminal Homicide, Punishment, and Deterrence: Methodological and Substantive Reconsiderations,” 52 Social Science Quarterly 277.Google Scholar
BOWERS, William J. and Glenn L., PIERCE (1975) “The Illusion of Deterrence in Isaac Ehrlich's Research on Capital Punishment,” 85 Yale Law Journal 187.Google Scholar
COOK, Philip J. (1980) “Research in Criminal Deterrence: Laying the Groundwork for the Second Decade,” in Morris, N. and Tonry, M. (eds.), Crime and Justice: An Annual Review of Research, Vol. 2. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
EHRLICH, Isaac (1975) “The Deterrent Effect of Capital Punishment: A Question of Life and Death,” 65 American Economic Review 397.Google Scholar
EKLAND-OLSON, Sheldon (1982) “Deviance, Social Control and Social Networks,” in Spitzer, S. and Simon, R. (eds.), Research in Law, Deviance and Social Control, Vol. 4. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press Inc..Google Scholar
Simon, R. (1984) “Social Control and Relational Disturbance: A Microstructural Paradigm,” in Black, D. (ed.), Toward a General Theory of Social Control, Vol. 2. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
ERICKSON, Maynard L. and Jack P., GIBBS (1979) “On the Perceived Severity of Legal Penalties,” 70 The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 102.Google Scholar
ERICKSON, Maynard L., GIBBS, Jack P. and Gary F., JENSEN (1977) “The Deterrence Doctrine and the Perceived Certainty of Legal Punishments,” 42 American Sociological Review 305.Google Scholar
FEELEY, Malcolm M. (1979) The Process is the Punishment: Handling Cases in a Lower Criminal Court. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
FELD, Scott L. (1981) “The Focused Organization of Social Ties,” 86 American Journal of Sociology 1015.Google Scholar
GEIS, Gilbert (1972) “Criminal Penalties for Corporate Criminals,” 8 Criminal Law Bulletin 377.Google Scholar
GEERKEN, Michael R. and Walter R., GOVE (1975) “Deterrence: Some Theoretical Considerations,” 9 Law & Society Review 497.Google Scholar
GIBBS, Jack P. (1968) “Crime, Punishment and Deterrence,” 48 Social Science Quarterly 515.Google Scholar
GIBBS, Jack P. (1975) Crime, Punishment and Deterrence. New York: Elsevier.Google Scholar
GRANOVETTER, Mark S. (1973) “The Strength of Weak Ties,” 78 American Journal of Sociology 1360.Google Scholar
GRASMICK, Harold G. and Donald E., GREEN (1981) “Deterrence and the Morally Committed,” 22 The Sociological Quarterly 1.Google Scholar
GREENBERG, David F. and Ronald C., KESSLER (1982) “The Effect of Arrests on Crime: A Multivariate Panel Analysis,” 60 Social Forces 771.Google Scholar
HAZELRIGG, Lawrence E. (1969) “A Reexamination of Simmel's The Secret and the Secret Society': Nine Propositions,” 47 Social Forces 323.Google Scholar
JENSEN, Gary F. and Maynard L., ERICKSON (1978) “The Social Meaning of Sanctions,” in Krohn, M. and Akers, R. (eds.), Crime, Law and Sanctions: Theoretical Perspectives. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
LEMPERT, Richard (1982) “Organizing for Deterrence: Lessons from a Study of Child Support,” 16 Law & Society Review 513.Google Scholar
LESIEUR, Henry (1976) The Chase: Career of the Compulsive Gambler. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books.Google Scholar
LOFLAND, John and Rodney, STARK (1965) “Becoming a World-Saver: A Theory of Conversion to a Deviant Perspective,” 30 American Sociological Review 862.Google Scholar
LOGAN, Charles H. (1975) “Arrest Rates and Deterrence,” 56 Social Science Quarterly 376.Google Scholar
MEIER, Robert F. and Weldon T., JOHNSON (1977) “Deterrence as Social Control: The Legal and Extralegal Production of Conformity,” 42 American Sociological Review 292.Google Scholar
MITCHELL, Roger E. and Edison J., TRICKETT (1980) “Task Force Report: Social Networks as Mediators of Social Support: An Analysis of the Effects and Determinants of Social Networks,” 16 Community Health Journal 27.Google Scholar
SCHUR, Edwin M. (1971) Labeling Deviant Behavior: Its Sociological Implications. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
SIMMEL, Georg (1950) “The Secret Society,” in K.H. Wolff (trans. and ed.), The Sociology of Georg Simmel. Glencoe, IL: The Free Press.Google Scholar
SNOW, David A. and Cynthia L., PHILLIPS (1980) “The Lofland-Stark Conversion Model: A Critical Reassessment,” 27 Social Problems 430.Google Scholar
TITTLE, Charles R. (1977) “Sanction Fear and the Maintenance of Social Order,” 55 Social Forces 579.Google Scholar
TITTLE, Charles R. (1980) Sanctions and Social Deviance: The Question of Deterrence. New York: Praeger Publishers.Google Scholar
WALDO, Gordon P. and Theodore G., CHIRICOS (1972) “Perceived Penal Sanction and Self-Reported Criminality: A Neglected Approach to Deterrence Research,” 19 Social Problems 522.Google Scholar