Craig Wiernik - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
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Papers by Craig Wiernik
Does religion have an impact on a prison inmate’s behavior? This paper reports the results of a s... more Does religion have an impact on a prison inmate’s behavior? This paper reports the results of a study that shows that an inmate’s motivations for appearing to be religious in prison is a better way to understand the association between religion and their future behavior. Using data from a number of prisons in the United States and multinomial-logistic regression, I show that an inmate’s intrinsic motivations for pursuing religion impact the inmate’s behavioral intentions in a variety of social situations in prison, and that this inmate’s actions would “stand out ” from fellow inmates ’ actions in ways that run contrary to the inmate code, when compared to those inmates who pursue religion for the extrinsic benefits.
Does religion have an impact on a prison inmate’s behavior? This paper reports the results of a s... more Does religion have an impact on a prison inmate’s behavior? This paper reports the results of a study that shows that an inmate’s motivations for appearing to be religious in prison is a better way to understand the association between religion and their future behavior. Using data from a number of prisons in the United States and multinomial-logistic regression, I show that an inmate’s intrinsic motivations for pursuing religion impact the inmate’s behavioral intentions in a variety of social situations in prison, and that this inmate’s actions would “stand out” from fellow inmates’ actions in ways that run contrary to the inmate code, when compared to those inmates who pursue religion for the extrinsic benefits.
Crime & Delinquency, 2018
We examine whether economic crimes are committed to fund drug addiction and/or to fund a hedonist... more We examine whether economic crimes are committed to fund drug addiction and/or to fund a hedonistic lifestyle. To address motivation, we estimate reciprocal relationships between economic crime and drug use and between economic crime and hedonistic activity generally. Analyses are based on event calendar data collected from 715 male offenders. Both simultaneous (within-month) relationships and effects involving a 1-month lag are examined. Offenders were more likely to engage in property crime and drug dealing during months in which they used hard drugs, marijuana, and alcohol, and when they engaged in more frequent unstructured socializing. The results from lagged models suggested that hedonistic activities lead to economic crime and economic crime creates opportunities for more frequent hedonistic activity.
Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 2011
We examine whether particular types of stress are related to particular types of crime or whether... more We examine whether particular types of stress are related to particular types of crime or whether all types of stress are related to all types of crime. Our estimates are based on analyses of within-individual change over a 36 month period among recently incarcerated offenders. We find that assault is most strongly related to family stress, suggesting that conflicts between family members lead to assault. Economic crimes (property crimes and selling illicit drugs) are most clearly related to financial stress, suggesting that these crimes often reflect attempts to resolve financial problems. On the other hand, crime is generally unrelated to stress from illness/injury, death, and work. The results support the idea that criminal behavior is a focused response to specific types of problems rather than a general response to stress. They are more consistent with explanations that focus on perceived rewards and costs (e.g., the rational-choice approach) than with explanations that portray negative affect as a generalized impetus toward violence or crime (e.g., frustration aggression approaches).
Does religion have an impact on a prison inmate’s behavior? This paper reports the results of a s... more Does religion have an impact on a prison inmate’s behavior? This paper reports the results of a study that shows that an inmate’s motivations for appearing to be religious in prison is a better way to understand the association between religion and their future behavior. Using data from a number of prisons in the United States and multinomial-logistic regression, I show that an inmate’s intrinsic motivations for pursuing religion impact the inmate’s behavioral intentions in a variety of social situations in prison, and that this inmate’s actions would “stand out ” from fellow inmates ’ actions in ways that run contrary to the inmate code, when compared to those inmates who pursue religion for the extrinsic benefits.
Does religion have an impact on a prison inmate’s behavior? This paper reports the results of a s... more Does religion have an impact on a prison inmate’s behavior? This paper reports the results of a study that shows that an inmate’s motivations for appearing to be religious in prison is a better way to understand the association between religion and their future behavior. Using data from a number of prisons in the United States and multinomial-logistic regression, I show that an inmate’s intrinsic motivations for pursuing religion impact the inmate’s behavioral intentions in a variety of social situations in prison, and that this inmate’s actions would “stand out” from fellow inmates’ actions in ways that run contrary to the inmate code, when compared to those inmates who pursue religion for the extrinsic benefits.
Crime & Delinquency, 2018
We examine whether economic crimes are committed to fund drug addiction and/or to fund a hedonist... more We examine whether economic crimes are committed to fund drug addiction and/or to fund a hedonistic lifestyle. To address motivation, we estimate reciprocal relationships between economic crime and drug use and between economic crime and hedonistic activity generally. Analyses are based on event calendar data collected from 715 male offenders. Both simultaneous (within-month) relationships and effects involving a 1-month lag are examined. Offenders were more likely to engage in property crime and drug dealing during months in which they used hard drugs, marijuana, and alcohol, and when they engaged in more frequent unstructured socializing. The results from lagged models suggested that hedonistic activities lead to economic crime and economic crime creates opportunities for more frequent hedonistic activity.
Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 2011
We examine whether particular types of stress are related to particular types of crime or whether... more We examine whether particular types of stress are related to particular types of crime or whether all types of stress are related to all types of crime. Our estimates are based on analyses of within-individual change over a 36 month period among recently incarcerated offenders. We find that assault is most strongly related to family stress, suggesting that conflicts between family members lead to assault. Economic crimes (property crimes and selling illicit drugs) are most clearly related to financial stress, suggesting that these crimes often reflect attempts to resolve financial problems. On the other hand, crime is generally unrelated to stress from illness/injury, death, and work. The results support the idea that criminal behavior is a focused response to specific types of problems rather than a general response to stress. They are more consistent with explanations that focus on perceived rewards and costs (e.g., the rational-choice approach) than with explanations that portray negative affect as a generalized impetus toward violence or crime (e.g., frustration aggression approaches).