Who Doesn’t Know Someone in Jail? The Impact of Exposure to Prison on Attitudes Toward Formal and Informal Controls

• DOI: 10.1177/0032885504265079
• Author: Dina R. Rose,Todd R. Clear
• Date: 01 June 2004
• Published date: 01 June 2004
• Subject Matter: Journal Article

10.1177/0032885504265079THE PRISON JOURNAL / June 2004Rose, Clear / FORMAL AND INFORMAL CONTROLS

WHO DOESN’T KNOW SOMEONE IN JAIL?

THE IMPACT OF EXPOSURE TO PRISON

ON ATTITUDES TOWARD FORMAL

AND INFORMAL CONTROLS

DINA R. ROSE

TODD R. CLEAR

John Jay College of Criminal Justice

This paper examines how experience with the criminal justice system contextualizes

the relationship between people’s attitudes toward informal and formal social con-

trols.In a survey of residentsof Leon County, Florida, we asked respondents whether

or not they knew someone who had been incarcerated. We also asked about their

assessment of informal controlsin their neighborhoods and about public control with

questions about police, judges, and the criminal justice system as a whole. We find

that knowing someone who has been incarcerated makes people with a low assess-

ment of formal control also have a low opinion of informal control. Blacksare more

likely than nonblacks to have a low opinion of informal social controlonly if they have

not been exposed to incarceration. Knowing someone who has been incarcerated

makes blacks and nonblacks just as likely to hold a negative assessment of informal

social control.

Keywords: informal social controls; formal social controls; incarcera-

tion; neighborhood

Attitudes toward social controls have been the focus of criminological

attention for some time. Surveys such as the annual General Social Survey

(GSS) and others (see also Hagan & Albonetti, 1982; Sprott & Doob, 1997;

Wortley, Macmillan, & Hagan, 1997) traditionally have asked respondents

their opinions about formal social controls. More recently, researchers have

Special thanks to Calvin Grissett for research assistance. A previous version of this article

was presented at the 1998 annual meeting of the Southern Sociological Society,Atlanta, Geor-

gia, April 2 to 4, 1998. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dina R.

Rose, Department of Sociology,John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 899 Tenth Avenue, New

York, NY 10019.

THE PRISON JOURNAL, Vol. 84 No. 2, June 2004 228-247

DOI: 10.1177/0032885504265079

© 2004 Sage Publications

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been interested in finding out about attitudes toward informal social controls

too (e.g., Elliott et al., 1996). In general, studies analyzing these data have

assessed the impact of demographic factors on attitudes toward controls

(Albrecht & Green, 1977; Cullen, Cao, Frank, & Langworthy, 1996; Peek,

Lowe, & Alston, 1981; Smith & Hawkins, 1973; Welch, Combs, Sigelman,

& Bledsoe, 1996) or the impact of these attitudes on crime (Hirschi, 1969;

Tyler,1990). Although attitudes toward social controls serve as an important

foundation for the impact of social controls, surprisingly little research has

been done on how attitudes toward formal and informal social controls are

related. Black (1976) was one of the first to suggest a relationship between

formal and informal controls. His argument was that as informal social con-

trols deteriorate, formal controls increase, and empirical tests of his thesis

have focused on the use and effectiveness of these controls rather on the

underlying attitudes that support them.

In this article, we explore the relationship between people’s assessments

of informal and formal social controls and how this relationship is condi-

tioned by their exposure to incarceration. Our study tested two broad suppo-

sitions: first, that the determinants of each form of control are linked so that

people’s attitudes about one type of social control affect their attitudes about

the other; and second, that experience with formal social controls, by either

having been incarcerated or knowing someone who has, influences that pat-

tern of linkages. Specifically, we investigated how exposure to incarceration

(regardless of how that exposure is assessed) directly influences people’s

assessments of both forms of social control and how attitudes about formal

controls influence people’s assessments of informal social controls. Addi-

tionally, although extant studies have consistently shown a correlation

between race and attitudes toward social controls (Browning, Cullen, Cao,

Kopache, & Stevenson, 1994; Cao, Frank, & Cullen, 1996; but see also

Sampson & Bartusch, 1998), we extend this literature by investigating the

hypothesis that the linkage between demographics and attitudes can be par-

tially explained by the differential exposure to incarceration experienced by

these groups.

INCARCERATION AND SOCIAL CONTROLS

Studies have shown that positive attitudes toward public social control

agencies are related to conforming behavior in adults and adolescents.

Hirschi (1969) was one of the first to show how belief in the legitimacyof the

law is an important component of a person’s bond to society and a factor in

preventing delinquency.Those testing his theory (for a review, see Hawkins

Rose, Clear / FORMAL AND INFORMAL CONTROLS 229