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Journal Article 1: Wallace, L. (2016). Baltimore’s juvenile curfew: Evaluating effectiveness. Criminal Justice Review.

Abstract: Juvenile curfew statutes are used in hundreds of cities across the United States to prevent juvenile offending and victimization. In spite of their popularity, there is disagreement in the existing literature as to whether juvenile curfews are truly effective. The current study assesses the effectiveness of a change in the juvenile curfew statutes in Baltimore, MD. Data consist of police arrest records for the months preceding and following the curfew change. Regression analyses address both change in arrest totals and change in the ratio of youth to adult arrests and the ratio of arrests within curfew hours to outside of curfew hours. Results indicate an increase in the ratio of youth to adult arrests during curfew hours. However, arrest totals were decreasing overall at the time of the curfew change. Implications for further investigation are discussed.

Journal Article 2: Copes, H. & Vieraitis, L. (2009). Understanding identity theft: Offenders’ accounts of their lives and crimes. Criminal Justice Review, 34, 329-349.

Abstract: Researchers typically label acts as “white-collar” based on the respectable status of the offender (populist perspective) or on the characteristics of the offense (patrician perspective). However, some crimes, such as identity theft are not easily classified into either of these categories. The current study is designed to contextualize previous research and to situate the crime of identity theft within these two broad perspectives of white-collar crime. To do this, 59 identity thieves incarcerated in federal prisons were interviewed to offer the offenders’ perspectives on existing research describing characteristics of thieves and the techniques they employ to complete their crimes. Results show that identity thieves are a diverse group in terms of demographic characteristics (age, race, gender, and social class), employment, and criminal histories. They employed a variety of methods to both acquire information and convert it to cash. The most common methods of acquiring information were to buy it from others or to steal it from mailboxes or trashcans. They also used numerous methods to convert these identities into valuable goods, which included accessing existing accounts, applying for new credit, and obtaining loans. Thus, the findings show that identity theft is difficult to classify as white-collar crime.