James D. Wright - Böcker

Armed and Considered Dangerous is a book about "bad guys" and their guns. But Wright and Rossi contend that for every suspected criminal who owns and abuses a firearm, a hundred or more average citizens own guns for sport, for recreation, for self-protection, and for other reasons generally regarded as appropriate or legitimate. Armed and Considered Dangerous is the most ambitious survey ever undertaken of criminal acquisition, possession, and use of guns.There are vast differences between the average gun owner and the average gun-abusing felon, but the analyses reported here do not suggest any obvious way to translate these differences into gun control policies. Most policy implications drawn from the book are negative in character: this will not work for this reason, that will not work for that reason, and so on. When experts are asked, "Okay, then what will work?" they usually fall back on the old warhorses of poverty, the drug problem, or the inadequate resources of the criminal justice system, and otherwise have little to say. This is not a failure of social science. It simply asks more of the data than the data were ever intended to provide.Several of Wright and Rossi's findings have become "coin of the realm" in the gun control debate, cited frequently by persons who have long since forgotten where the data came from or what their limitations are. Several other findings, including many that are important, have been largely ignored. Still other findings have been superseded by better and more recent data or rendered anachronistic by intervening events. With the inclusion of a new introduction detailing recent statistics and updated information this new edition of Armed and Considered Dangerous is a rich source of information for all interested in learning about weapon behavior and ownership in America.

Armed and Considered Dangerous is a book about "bad guys" and their guns. But Wright and Rossi contend that for every suspected criminal who owns and abuses a firearm, a hundred or more average citizens own guns for sport, for recreation, for self-protection, and for other reasons generally regarded as appropriate or legitimate. Armed and Considered Dangerous is the most ambitious survey ever undertaken of criminal acquisition, possession, and use of guns.There are vast differences between the average gun owner and the average gun-abusing felon, but the analyses reported here do not suggest any obvious way to translate these differences into gun control policies. Most policy implications drawn from the book are negative in character: this will not work for this reason, that will not work for that reason, and so on. When experts are asked, "Okay, then what will work?" they usually fall back on the old warhorses of poverty, the drug problem, or the inadequate resources of the criminal justice system, and otherwise have little to say. This is not a failure of social science. It simply asks more of the data than the data were ever intended to provide.Several of Wright and Rossi's findings have become "coin of the realm" in the gun control debate, cited frequently by persons who have long since forgotten where the data came from or what their limitations are. Several other findings, including many that are important, have been largely ignored. Still other findings have been superseded by better and more recent data or rendered anachronistic by intervening events. With the inclusion of a new introduction detailing recent statistics and updated information this new edition of Armed and Considered Dangerous is a rich source of information for all interested in learning about weapon behavior and ownership in America.

"Homelessness is not one problem, but many different kinds of problems involving many different kinds of people, each of them homeless for different reasons or who have become homeless in different ways… Among the homeless of today are men, women, children, and whole families; victims of domestic violence and male abandonment; young, middle-aged, and elderly; veterans; illegal immigrants; persons of every ethnic description; people who are homeless for strictly economic reasons; others who are homeless because they drink and drug too much; the lucid and the deranged; and on through a long list…."

 

                                                James Wright

                                                University of Central Florida

 

Bringing together international perspectives from sociology, political science, public policy, criminology, urban studies, adolescent research, and social work, this fascinating April 2005 issue of American Behavioral Scientist (ABS), entitled Homelessness and the Politics of Social Exclusion focuses on pioneering research about how the homeless are marginalized in societies around the world and the consequences of this social exclusion. 

 

Based on presentations at the American Sociological Association's 2003 Annual Meeting, the authors of this unique volume discuss:

 

Why the characteristics of both Los Angeles and Berlin homeless populations are similar despite different welfare systems and public policies (von Mahs) How staff create, sustain, and escalate conflict in a drop-in center for street kids (Joniak) Structural changes in Japanese society and the recent growth of homelessness (Hasegawa) The risks and conditions of semipermanent makeshift housing such as RVs (Wakin) Whether the presence of homeless persons near or in residential areas is a mark of encroaching urban disorder that undermines neighborhood quality and engenders fear among neighborhood residents (Farrell) Marginality and criminal victimization among homeless people (Lee and Schreck) The complex relationships between homeless women and their intimate partners (Wesley and Wright) How peer networks affect substance abuse among newly homeless adolescents (Rice, Milburn, Rotherham-Borus, Mallett, and Rosenthal) Negotiating rules, power and social control within an emergency youth shelter (Armaline) 

Whether the original cause of a person's homelessness is economic, social, cultural or political, homelessness carries a stigma  This absorbing issue of American Behavioral Scientist offers new ways of observing this global social problem and should be included in every sociology, social work, and political science library!

 

The research reported in this volume was designed to provide estimates of the extent of damages and injuries from certain natu­ ral hazards inflicted on households in the United States. In addi­ tion, it reports on sources of aid proffered to households and the extent to which there are differences among households in the receipt of help. This volume represents the latest installment in a series of monographs stemming from the Social and Demographic Re­ search Institute's (SADRI) program of research on the effects of natural hazard events in the United States. The first volume in our series (Wright, Rossi, Wright, & Weber-Burdin, 1979) reported on the long-range effects of natural hazards on the population and housing stocks of neighborhoods and communities. The second volume (Rossi et aI. , 1982) assessed the support for hazard mitiga­ tion policies existing among local and state political elites in a sample of states and local communities in the United States. The main findings of these two monographs can be summarized as follows. First, long-range effects (up to 10 years postevent) of nat­ ural hazard events are minimal: Local communities and neighbor­ hoods that have been impacted by floods, tornadoes, or hurricanes appear to be no different in their population and housing growth patterns over the period 1960 to 1970 than comparable commu­ nities that went unscathed. Apparently, household and communi­ ty resources plus outside aid were sufficient ordinarily to restore impacted areas to normal growth patterns.