Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper examines neighborhood-level predictors of ethnic-specific intimate and non-intimate aggravated assaults. In particular, social disorganization theory, including the role of recent immigration, is used to examine community counts of disaggregated aggravated assaults that were reported to the police in the city of Miami, Florida. Neighborhood predictors (based on 2000 Census data) of ethnic-specific counts of intimate (i.e., between a current or previously sexually intimate partner) and non-intimate (i.e., other offenses) aggravated assaults are examined and compared for African Americans, Latinos, and Haitians residing in Miami.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: An extensive research literature examines the dynamics of intimate partner (IP) homicide in the United States. However, our understanding of sentencing patterns for this offense is somewhat is limited by research designs that analyze outcomes only for defendants accused of IP homicide, often focusing only on women convicted of this offense. Some research comparing male and female offenders indicates that women are sentenced more harshly, despite substantial of evidence of abuse and “victim precipitation” in a majority of IP homicide cases involving a female perpetrator and a male victim. While these findings are puzzling on one hand, several theoretical perspectives – such as those that focus on structural gender inequality and victim status, as well as the relative rarity of women’s violence - exist to coherently explain such a pattern of harsher sentences for women convicted of IP homicide. Case information from a sample of 1137 adjudicated guilty homicide defendants in Philadelphia is analyzed to compare patterns of sentencing disparity in intimate and non-intimate homicides, and to determine whether different theoretical models are needed to explain disparity in intimate and non-intimate homicide sentencing. It is also hoped that this analysis will contribute to the development of theory as regards the social meaning and consequences of women’s violence and how it relates to sanctioning.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Why do family and friends take each other to court, what happens when they get there, and how does the litigation affect their ongoing relationship? Based on interviews and observations of pro se small-claims litigants in a mid-sized New England city, this paper argues that multiple motivations drive "intimate litigants" into court, and that these litigants consequently deploy irreducibly interwoven logics of rationality and morality when presenting their cases. While intimate litigants are, like most litigants, instrumentally interested in securing a favorable verdict, they also seek to address an increasingly intractable, emotionally and morally laden disagreement. For this reason, despite their disagreement over the dispute's substance, intimate litigants actually cooperate with each other in the courtroom to maintain a shared sense among themselves and among court personnel of the case's high-stakes moral dimension. The closer the relationship, the more important is this dimension of the case and the more fully intertwined are the argumentative logics.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This study focuses on sentencing patterns in a set of capital punishment eligible cases in the state of North Carolina. Victim-offender relationship is of particular interest. A series of logistic regression models are compared to determine the predictors of jury-imposed punishments for cases involving intimate partners and cases involving non-intimate partners (family, acquaintances, and strangers), while controlling for a variety of others factors that influence that decision. The first model shows that the covariates that predict a death sentence are operating differently for intimate partner homicides compared to non-intimate partner homicides. To partial out the effects, another logistic regression model is estimated that includes the family, acquaintance, and stranger relationship as separate dummy variables and the intimate partner relationship as the reference category. Analysis reveals that intimate partners are not treated more leniently than other offenders; however, death sentencing among intimate partners is predicted by different factors than death sentencing for other victim-offender relationships. To further analyze these indicators four logistic regression models are compared to determine the covariates that predict a death sentence for each victim-offender relationship. Results show that the covariates operate differently for each victim-offender relationship.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper examines normative expectations of parenting and cohabitation as they effect family violence. Drawing on theory and research by Hoschild (1997; 1989), Hays (1998), Doucet (2000), and LaRossa (1986), among others, measures of normative expectations of parenting and cohabitation (including marriage) with intimate partners were taken from over 500 college students enrolled in classes at two universities located in the southwestern region of the United States were collected on individual beliefs, self-perceptions, and activities surrounding parenting and cohabitation. Also measured were attitudes toward others’ parenting practices, both generally (as in expectations of what constitutes good parenting) and specifically (experience with a cohabiting intimate partner). The first phase of the analysis examines parenting and cohabitation expectations as they vary by gender, race/ethnicity, education, income, religion, number of children, and marital status. Preliminary findings indicate there are gendered effects on 1) the division of labor of household and childcare responsibilities; 2) the social construction of expectations of parenting 3) perceptions of self-sacrifice due to being in an intimate relationship; and 4) expectations of fathers. There are no gendered effects on perceptions of sacrifice due to cohabitation and childcare or expectations of mothering. The second phase examines the effects of expectations of cohabitation and parenting on family violence. Preliminary findings indicate these expectations are related to moderate and severe violence.

Doucet, A. (2000). Community, Work & Family 3(2)
Hays, S. (1998). The Cultural Contradictions of Motherhood
Hochschild, A. (1997). The Time Bind; (1989). The Second Shift
LaRossa, R. (1986). Becoming a Parent.