TY - JOUR
AU1 - Saltzman, Linda
AU2 - Paternoster, Raymond
AU3 - Waldo, Gordon P.
AU4 - Chiricos, Theodore G.
AB - This paper reports on the first longitudinal study to consider the relationshipbetween perceptions of legal sanctions and self-reported criminality. The longitudinal design helps to address the problem of interpreting causal order thattraditionally has troubled deterrence researchers using cross-sectional data.Self-reports of unlawful behavior (petty theft, marijuana use, payment usingbad checks) over the past year are correlated both with perceptions of legalsanctions measured a year earlier (Time 1) and with perceptions of sanctions atthe time of the self-reports (Time 2), for a random sample of 300 undergraduates at a large state university. The principal advantage of this method isthat it affords a comparison of "deterrent" effects (perceived sanctions at Time1 and subsequent reported behavior) with what are termed "experiential" effects (reported behavior and subsequent perceived sanctions at Time 2). Thelatter have been consistently treated as deterrent effects by prior researchersusing cross-sectional data. For perceived certainty of arrest for generalized others, the observed deterrent effect was weak and in every instance less than theexperiential effect. However, perceived certainty of one's own arrest producedmodest but consistent deterrent as well as experiential effects. A path analysissuggests that the deterrent effect of perceived certainty (personal or aggregate)is much weaker than once believed and the experiential effect is substantiallystronger. The implications of these findings for an interactive model of de terrence are considered.
TI - Deterrent and Experiential Effects: the Problem of Causal Order in Perceptual Deterrence Research
JF - Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency
DO - 10.1177/002242788201900203
DA - 1982-07-01
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/sage/deterrent-and-experiential-effects-the-problem-of-causal-order-in-dXEiBkwFMt
SP - 172
EP - 189
VL - 19
IS - 2
DP - DeepDyve
ER -