Violent and Non-violent Offenders and Differences on Recalled Parental Control Practices

Abstract

The present study is an attempt to assess violent and non-violent offenders for differences in recalled parental control practices. Eighty-two trustees in a maximum security prison at McAlester, Oklahoma participated in the study. Of the 82 subjects, 43 had been convicted of violent crimes, while 39 had been convicted of non-violent crimes. The total sample was nearly equal on white and non-white subjects. The two samples are compared by age, race, size of town where the offender lived, and if the offender lived, and if the offender lived with his parents at the time of the first offense. The data was gathered by use of a questionnaire, and contained sections concerning demographics, and a five scale indicator of parental control pactices. The five scales included physical punishment (PPS), home environment (HES), positive rewards (PRS), neighborhood milieu (NMS), and prisoner attitudes (PAS). Data was analyzed using factor analysis, t-test, and analyses of variance.