Research consistently shows that youth of color are more likely to be suspended from school than their White counterparts, yet the role of students' prior suspension experiences in this relationship remains unclear. Corresponding with a labeling framework, disciplinary histories might serve as an intervening mechanism that partially explains racial/ethnic disparities in later suspension, as previously suspended youth can be subjected to heightened surveillance and scrutiny. Similarly, a previous suspension could be interpreted as congruent with racialized expectations, resulting in especially pronounced inequalities among students with disciplinary histories. The current study explores these lines of inquiry using data on a sample of public middle and high school students from the 2022 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey (N = 47,572). The findings reveal that approximately 20% of the Black-White difference in past-year school suspension is indirect through earlier suspension, and racial inequalities in suspension are greater for youth who were previously disciplined.

The Dark Web has emerged as an important topic of study given that the platform can facilitate criminal behavior. Recently, social scientists have started to examine the behavioral and psychosocial profiles of individuals who access the Dark Web and how they differ from those who do not. Yet, further development of this line of inquiry is warranted given the limited number of criminolgically oriented studies examining the traits, social relationships, and attitudes that may drive self-selection onto the Dark Web. To this end, we analyzed survey data collected on a national sample of U.S. adults (N = 1,750) to investigate whether prior criminal behavior, low self-control, deviant peers, and criminal attitudes are associated with self-reported Dark Web access. In support of our hypotheses, a series of bivariate and multivariate analyses revealed that individuals who report accessing the Dark Web are statistically significantly more likely to have a criminal history, be lower in self-control, associate with more peers who engage in cyber deviance, and hold attitudes more favorable toward larceny, violence, and cyber deviance. Considering these findings, criminologists are encouraged to bring the study of the Dark Web out of the periphery and prioritize it as a research focus.

Abundant prior research has shown that patterns of criminal sentencing often vary according to the characteristics of defendants and court communities, even under presumptive guidelines systems that are intended to reduce these inconsistencies and inequalities. Moreover, there is also some evidence that seemingly irrelevant events such as bad weather, the outcomes of local sporting events, and the clock change to daylight saving time can influence judicial decision-making and result in harsher punishments. Building on this body of work, the current study examines variation in sentencing severity by calendar date, with a specific focus on the possibility of increased leniency during Christmastime. Analyses of data on felony cases disposed in Minnesota district courts between 1991 and 2022 (N = 428,745) reveal that defendants who were sentenced on December 24, 26, and 27 were slightly more likely to receive a “stay of imposition”—a highly advantageous sanction in which the felony conviction is reduced to a misdemeanor upon successful completion of a probation term. Interpreted in light of the concepts of seasonal altruism and the “Scrooge effect,” these findings may suggest that the spirit of the Christmas season softens judges’ hearts and motivates the exercise of discretion.

Prior research has demonstrated that bullying victimization is associated with numerous academic and behavioral consequences, including an increased likelihood of skipping school. However, the extent to which depressive symptoms and suicidality might intervene in the relationship between bullying and school refusal has received insufficient attention, and potential differences between females and males in these pathways remain underexplored. The current study analyzes data from the 2024 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey ( N = 29,748), which was administered to a statewide sample of public middle and high school students. The findings reveal that the influence of more frequent physical, verbal, and cyber bullying victimization on school refusal is partially indirect through internalizing symptoms. Especially noteworthy direct and indirect effects emerge among girls.

Journal Article Sentencing without Guidelines. By Rhys Hester (Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2024, 184 pp. £19.99 pbk) Get access Sentencing without Guidelines. By Rhys Hester (Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2024, 184 pp. £19.99 pbk) Peter S Lehmann Peter S Lehmann Sam Houston State University, USA [email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5345-4343 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The British Journal of Criminology, azaf009, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azaf009 Published: 05 March 2025

Despite the emergence of the dark web more than 20 years ago, little scholarly attention has focused on identifying potential mental health differences between dark web users and surface web users. Yet, given the pseudo-anonymous nature of the dark web and the purported privacy it provides, individuals with mental health vulnerabilities may be inclined to use the dark web. In the present study, we investigate this matter by drawing on survey data collected in 2024 from a national sample of 2,000 U.S. adults. The results of both bivariate and multivariate analyses indicate that dark web users exhibit greater depressive symptoms and have more paranoid thoughts than surface web users. Likewise, dark web users are more likely than surface web users to report suicidal thoughts, nonsuicidal self-injury, and engagement in digital self-harm. Discussion centers on the implications of these findings for practice as well as avenues for future research.

Objectives As the frequency with which youth defendants are transferred from the juvenile justice system to the adult criminal court has declined in recent years, questions remain regarding how transferred juveniles are punished relative to adults in a contemporary sentencing context. Moreover, little prior research on the effects of juvenile status in sentencing has considered potential variations in these patterns according to presumptive sentencing guideline recommendations, which can have notable implications for the exercise of judicial discretion. Methods The current study analyzes data on felony cases disposed under the Minnesota sentencing guidelines between 2011 and 2022 ( N = 189,835). Results The findings reveal that transferred youth are more likely to receive sentences to prison than members of all adult age groups, though limited age-related disparities in sentence length are observed. Further, the differential assignment of prison sentences to juvenile defendants is more pronounced in cases involving upward dispositional departures, and greater juvenile-adult inequalities also emerge among cases with shorter presumptive sentence durations. Conclusions The increased sentencing penalties for transferred youth observed in some prior studies have persisted since the “get tough” era. Additionally, the presumptive severity structures these disparities in ways that align with the expectations of the liberation hypothesis.

A vast literature has demonstrated that adolescents who experience exclusionary discipline in school have an increased likelihood of involvement in subsequent delinquency. These patterns correspond closely with the expectations of labeling theory, which posits that stigmatizing punishments can produce secondary deviance by restricting conventional opportunities, weakening prosocial relationships, and facilitating the adoption of a deviant identity. Yet, it remains unclear how the criminogenic consequences of school suspension might be moderated by individual differences in self-control. Specifically, while some prior research suggests that adolescents who have a low offending risk are especially sensitive to the labeling effects of formal interventions, other work finds that official labels amplify and aggravate existing risk factors. Analyses of data from the 2022 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey (N = 47,572) reveal that a previous suspension from school is positively related to delinquency, but this association is stronger among adolescents who have higher levels of self-control.

Purpose: Corresponding with the expectations of labeling theory, much scholarship has observed that justice system contact and exclusionary school punishments can have long-term criminogenic consequences. However, limited work has examined family-related factors that might moderate the effects of formal labeling events. Specifically, exposure to abuse and neglect during childhood represents a key risk factor for offending, but it also is theoretically plausible that child maltreatment can operate as an informal label that further amplifies the crime-producing effects of official interventions. Methods: We use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 14,078) to assess (1) the independent effects of formal labeling in adolescence and child maltreatment on self-reported offending in young adulthood and (2) whether child maltreatment moderates the effects of formal labels. Results: We find that arrest, juvenile court adjudication, expulsion from school, and child maltreatment are independently and positively related to young adult offending. Additionally, the effects of arrest and adjudication, but not school discipline, are strengthened by exposure to child maltreatment. Conclusions: Through the lens of labeling theory, the results suggest that child maltreatment may operate as a type of informal labeling mechanism that aggravates the disadvantages associated with justice system contact.

Much prior research has established an inverse relationship between religiosity and delinquency among adolescents, with particularly noteworthy effects observed for illicit substance use. These patterns correspond with the expectations of social bond theory and situational action theory, which posit that commitment to conventional religious norms can reduce youths' exposure to, and inform their experiences with, delinquent opportunities. However, little empirical attention has been given to youths' beliefs surrounding the nature of morality itself, which are theoretically expected to moderate the protective effects of religious salience. Specifically, while religious salience might have a general controlling influence on adolescents' use of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana, holding beliefs in moral relativism (i.e., the absence of definitive rights and wrongs) or moral contextualism (i.e., that rights and wrongs are fluid and dynamic) might weaken these inhibiting effects. Using data on a nationally representative sample of adolescents from the National Study of Youth and Religion (N = 3,170), this study's analyses reveal that the association between religious salience and substance use is conditioned by moral contextualism but not moral relativism, though this interactive relationship is found only for alcohol use and drunkenness.

An abundance of research has revealed that religious salience is negatively associated with delinquent behavior, including illicit substance use. However, absent from prior work is a consideration of whether youths’ participation in personal religious rituals and acts of devotion might amplify the protective effects of religiosity. Theoretically, it may be expected that these private expressions of belief and identity can strengthen religious commitments and reaffirm membership within specific moral communities. Using data from the National Study of Youth and Religion on a nationally representative sample of adolescents ages 13 to 17 ( N = 3,170), these findings reveal that religious salience inhibits cigarette use, alcohol use, drunkenness, and marijuana use, but only among youth who engage in at least some pious practices.

An extensive body of research suggests that youth of color are more likely to experience an arrest than their White counterparts. Theoretically, these findings have been understood, at least in part, as the result of the differential deployment of law enforcement to areas with higher Black and Hispanic concentrations as well as stereotyped attributions of dangerousness and threat implicitly assigned to these suspects by police before and during encounters. However, previous studies typically have employed conventional racial/ethnic categorizations, which might obscure potential nuances in arrest disparities across subgroups. Using data on a statewide representative sample of adolescents from the 2018 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey (N = 54,611), these analyses reveal that the likelihood of a self-reported arrest is greatest among Haitian, West Indian/Caribbean, Dominican, and non-Hispanic Black youth. Further, Mexican and Puerto Rican adolescents have a higher risk of experiencing an arrest than members of other Hispanic subgroups.

Prior research on the criminal court punishment of transferred youth relative to adult defendants has produced mixed findings; however, these disparities have not been examined in the context of intermediate and alternative sanctions. In Florida, judges have the discretion to assign a split sentence, which involves a mitigated term of imprisonment followed by a sentence to community supervision. Using data on felony cases sentenced under Florida’s Criminal Punishment Code ( N = 704,977), these results provide evidence of a “youth discount,” with juveniles more likely than adults to receive split sentences. However, this pattern is observed regardless of whether a prison sentence is recommended by the guidelines, that is, even among cases in which a split sentence represents an upward departure.

Purpose: As many states have passed laws increasing the availability of legal marijuana, a growing body of research has explored the consequences of these trends on youths' marijuana-related perceptions and behaviors. However, prior work has been mixed on the effects of county-level variation in marijuana accessibility stemming from ordinances governing dispensary operations, and previous studies have not investigated whether the robust protective effects of attachment to parents on adolescent outcomes are moderated by these contextual factors. Methods: We use individual-level data from the 2022 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey (N = 47,572) merged with information on Florida counties to examine the direct and interactive effects of the presence/ number of marijuana dispensaries and adolescents' attachment to parents on their use of marijuana, beliefs about its perceived wrongfulness, perceived parental approval of marijuana use, and perceived harmlessness of marijuana use. Results: Although attachment to parents was inversely associated with all four outcomes, little evidence of independent or cross-level interaction effects of marijuana dispensaries emerged. Conclusions: Within a state that permits medical marijuana, county-level differences in marijuana access are likely not a salient risk factor for adolescents' marijuana use, beliefs, and perceptions. Effective parenting represents a consistent protective influence across these contexts.

This chapter reviews theory and research on the association between self-control, homicide offending, and homicide victimization. While much attention has been devoted to investigating the link between deficits in self-control and a wide variety of delinquent, criminal, and violent behaviors, far less attention has been devoted to empirical investigations focused on homicide offending and victimization as outcomes, despite strong theoretical rationales. Given this, the chapter also highlights research linking proxies for low self-control to homicide offending and victimization. It concludes by providing recommendations for future researchers to advance this neglected but important area of scholarship related to the nexus between self-control and homicide.

BackgroundAdverse childhood experiences (ACEs) represent a key risk factor for suicidal thoughts and behaviors among adolescents. However, the intervening mechanisms linking ACEs and suicidality, and whether such processes vary by gender, remain underexplored.ObjectiveThe present study examines whether the relationships between ACEs and the likelihood of experiencing suicidal thoughts and attempting suicide are indirect through depressive symptoms and low self-control. This study also investigates whether these direct and indirect paths might be moderated by gender.Participants and settingThe analyses make use of data on a statewide representative sample of students enrolled in public high schools in Florida (N = 23,078) from the 2022 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey (FYSAS).MethodsGeneralized structural equation modeling (GSEM) was used to estimate the direct and indirect effects of ACEs on the likelihood of suicidal thoughts and attempting suicide. The indirect effects were assessed using bootstrapping, and between-gender differences in the coefficients were tested.ResultsACEs has direct associations with depressive symptoms, low self-control, and both suicidality outcomes. The effects of ACEs on suicidal thoughts are indirect through both depressive symptoms and low self-control, and the effects of ACEs on suicide attempts are indirect through depressive symptoms. Limited gender differences in these pathways emerge.ConclusionsFor male and female youth, ACEs are associated with heightened depression symptoms and reduced self-control, and both of these factors partially explain the previously established relationship between ACEs and suicidality.

A substantial body of research has demonstrated that bullying victimization is positively associated with illicit substance use, though whether this relationship is stronger among female or male youth remains unclear. Additionally, while connectedness to school represents a robust protective factor against negative health and behavioral outcomes, limited research has examined if it might weaken the effect of victimization on substance use. Analyses of data from the 2022 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey ( N = 47,572) reveal that bullying victimization is positively related to substance use, especially among female adolescents. Unexpectedly, this positive effect of victimization on substance use is found to be stronger among youth with higher levels of school connectedness, and this latter relationship does not vary by gender.

OBJECTIVE:Prior research consistently demonstrates that defendants convicted at trial are sentenced more harshly than those who plead guilty. Additionally, a vast literature has shown that Black and Hispanic defendants, and especially young minority males, are particularly disadvantaged in sentencing, though these effects may be conditional on various legal and case-processing factors. However, it remains unclear how the mode of conviction might moderate these inequalities according to offenders' combined race/ethnicity, gender, and age.HYPOTHESES:I expected that mode of conviction would moderate the joint effects of race/ethnicity, gender, and age on the imposition of a sentence to prison and on sentence length such that young minority males convicted at trial would receive more severe punishments than members of other subgroups.METHOD:The analyses made use of data on defendants sentenced for noncapital felony crimes in Florida circuit courts over a 12-year period (N = 1,076,500). Hurdle regression models and marginal effects analysis were used.RESULTS:Greater sentencing disparities in absolute as well as relative terms between young minority males and other race/ethnicity, gender, and age subgroups were found among trial cases than among plea cases. Further, Black and Hispanic males were subjected to trial taxes that were substantially larger than those of other subgroups.CONCLUSIONS:These findings suggest that defendants who plead guilty are generally sentenced according to predictable and standardized "going rates" of punishment, whereas the enhanced discretion afforded judges in trial cases as well as racialized "bad facts" about defendants that emerge at trial may drive inequalities in punishment. Thus, extralegal sentencing disparities tied to mode of conviction are an area in which criminal justice reform efforts might be directed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).