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Recent deadly school crime incidents have caused great concern regarding school safety. From criminal acts to bullying and verbal abuse, school disorder compromises student safety and the learning environment. Using a series of logistic regression analyses and data from the National Crime Victimization Survey’s School Crime Supplement of 2003, this research seeks to identify a combination of individual, family, and school characteristics that can be used to predict student victimization at school. Results indicate that school victimization can be predicted from knowledge of student academic performance, prior victimization experiences, family characteristics, presence of gangs and drugs in the school, and certainty of punishment for school rule breaking. Findings support the need to adopt a multifaceted approach to provide a safer school environment, reduce juvenile offending, and facilitate learning.

Data from four successive yearly cohorts and one special early release cohort of parolees are used to explore the question of whether rapid statewide changes in the administration of criminal justice affected the patterns of recidivism among persons on parole for property offenses. Given the earlier broadly constructed research reported by Ekland–Olson et al. (1993), and their conclusion that variation in shifting policies would have different effects on different types of offenses, we decided to sharpen the focus of the research questions posed by concentrating on recidivism patterns among property offenders. Three alternative explanations—compositional effects, administrative discretion, and deterrence—are explored to interpret the differences found across cohorts While suggestive, these alternative explanations remain open to question given the limitations inherent in quasi‐experimental research. Conclusions related to issues of prison construction policy suggest that more attention be paid to the “replacement factor,” whereby “vacancies” left by incarcerated offenders are rapidly filled by others. If future research supports the rapid replacement hypothesis, increased levels of incarceration will yield a larger, more experienced criminal “work force” and ironically a heightened collective potential for crime.

The day reporting center (DRC) has become an increasingly popular sentencing option in many states that are using more community-based alternatives to jail and prison sentences. To protect the community and improve the likelihood of rehabilitation, improving the quality of risk assessment and classification at the DRC is an essential task. In this regard, with data collected in Nebraska, the study sought to identify significant variables influencing both termination from a DRC program and recidivism. This study found that a number of significant risk and need variables (e.g., education, employment, and relapse prevention) had been overlooked by the current risk assessment. The authors provide an alternative risk assessment and classification scheme by calculating predictive probabilities of a client's termination and recidivism through the use of logistic regression models.

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