Selected Publications (in press or published)
Associate Professor of Criminal Justice
Faculty Associate, Partnership for Urban Health Research
Selected Publications (in press or published)
Brezina, T., Tekin, E., & Topalli, V. (2009). “Might not be a tomorrow”: Anticipated early death and youth crime. Criminology (forthcoming) [abstract]; Working Paper, National Bureau of Economic Research (ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/14279.html)
Abstract: A number of researchers point to the anticipation of early death, or a sense of "futurelessness," as a contributing factor to youth crime and violence. Young people who perceive a high probability of early death, it is argued, may have little reason to delay gratification for the promise of future benefits, as the future itself is discounted. Consequently, these young people tend to pursue high-risk behaviors associated with immediate rewards, including crime and violence. Although existing studies lend empirical support to these arguments and show a statistical relationship between anticipated early death and youth crime, this support remains tentative. Moreover, a number of questions remain regarding the interpretation of this relationship, the meanings that offenders attach to the prospect of early death, and the causal mechanisms that link anticipated early death to youth crime. In this paper, we address the limitations of previous studies using a multi-methods approach, involving the analyses of national survey data and in-depth interviews with active street offenders.
Taylor, T.J., Holleran, D., & Topalli, V. (2009). Racial bias in case processing: Does victim race affect police clearance of violent crime incidents? Justice Quarterly (forthcoming).
Abstract: Prior studies have illustrated racial differences in perceptions of police legitimacy. African-Americans’ views, however, appear to be complex, shaped by perceptions of over-enforcement of crimes committed by African-American offenders coupled with under-enforcement of crimes involving African-American victims. Using data from the 2002 National Incident-Based Reporting System, we examine whether victim race (alone, and in combination with offender race) affects police case clearance of four types of violent criminal incidents
(homicide, aggravated assault, rape, and robbery) as a potential explanation of African-Americans’ reduced levels of support for the police. Results suggest that the race of the victim, particularly in combination with the race of the offender, is related to police clearance of violent criminal incidents, but that this relationship is not as strong as those between agency, offense type, and situational characteristics of the incident. Implications for research and policy on police-community relations are discussed.
Taylor, T.J., Holleran, D., & Topalli, V. (2008). Racial bias in case processing: Does victim race affect police clearance of violent crime incidents? Justice Quarterly (forthcoming).
Abstract: Prior studies have illustrated racial differences in perceptions of police legitimacy.
African Americans’ views, however, appear to be complex, shaped by perceptions of overenforcement
of crimes committed by African American offenders coupled with underenforcement
of crimes involving African American victims. Using data from the 2002 National
Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), we examine whether victim race (alone, and in
combination with offender race) affects police case clearance of four types of violent criminal
incidents (homicide, aggravated assault, rape, and robbery) as a potential explanation of African
Americans’ reduced levels of support for the police. Results suggest that the race of the victim,
particularly in combination with the race of the offender, is related to police clearance of violent
criminal incidents, but that this relationship is not as strong as those between agency, offense
type, and situational characteristics of the incident. Implications for research and policy on
police - community relations are discussed.
Baker, S., Vaughn, M.S., & Topalli, V. (2008). A review of the powers of bail bond agents and bounty
hunters: Exploring legalities and illegalities of quasi-criminal justice officials. Aggressive and Violent
Behavior, 13: 124-130.
Abstract: Bail bond agents and bounty hunters are integral figures within the United States criminal
justice system. Their job is to ensure that an individual who has been released from jail on bail
returns to court for his or her scheduled court appearance. This article addresses the legal
environment surrounding bail bond agents and their subcontracted bounty hunters, as well as
the extra-legal violence and constitutional rights violations committed by them. This legal
analysis is developed by examining state court decisions dating back to the nineteenth century.
Historical and contemporary trends in the law are illustrated throughout the article with
respect to bail bond agents and bounty hunters. Using inductive legal research methodology,
the cases are divided into two constitutional areas, outlining the types of issues state courts
litigate: the legitimacy/legality of arrests and bail bond agents entering third-party residences.
The article concludes that although bail agents and bounty hunters have been criticized in the
past for exercising their extra-legal authority, state statutes and state court cases have modified
the bail bond system, rendering it more amenable to the rule of law.
Topalli, V. (2005). The seductive nature of autotelic crime: How Neutralization Theory serves as a boundary condition for understanding hardcore offending. Sociological Inquiry (in press).
Abstract: In 1957 Sykes and Matza introduced Neutralization Theory as a response to the prevailing criminological wisdom that offenders engage in crime because they adhere to an oppositional subcultural rule set that values law breaking and violence. Sykes and Matza rejected this perspective arguing that, despite their involvement with offending, delinquents maintain a strong bond to conventional society and want to perceive themselves as “good.” To resolve their contemplated law-breaking with this desired self-identity, they employ neutralization techniques designed to assuage anticipated guilt. Subsequent research indicates that the original formulation of the theory is limited to explaining the behavior of conventionally attached individuals and fails to address the decision-making processes of nonconventionally oriented individuals such as criminally embedded street offenders. The current paper argues that, for a core group of such offenders, guilt is not an issue at all because their crimes are not only considered acceptable, but attractive and desirable. In-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted with 191 active, noninstitutionalized “hardcore” street offenders indicate they discount guilt not through neutralizations but by attaching normative definitions to their crimes (as either mundane, inevitable, or enjoyable) that preclude them from eliciting guilt in the first place. In addition, these interviews detail the manner in which such outlooks develop among hardcore offenders and how they are maintained in a manner that supports further offending.
Topalli, V. (2005). When being good is bad: An expansion of neutralization theory. Criminology (in press).
Abstract: Traditional subcultural theorists have maintained that offenders operate in an environment where an oppositional set of norms, catering to ethics of violence, toughness, and respect, dominates the social landscape. Such individuals actively reject "middle-class" value systems as they operate beyond the boundaries of "decent" society. In their seminal work introducing Neutralization Theory Sykes and Matza (1957) criticized such subcultural perspectives for overemphasizing the extent to which actors reject mainstream values. They maintained that offenders and "delinquents" are aware of conventional values, understand that their offending behavior is wrong, and employ self-talk verbalizations before offending to mitigate the anticipated shame and guilt associated with violating societal norms. The present research seeks to expand this perspective through an analysis of street offender decision-making and behavior. I analyzed interviews conducted with hard-core, active, noninstitutionalized (uncaught) drug dealers, street robbers, and carjackers to determine how they use neutralizations to support their offending. Findings indicate that these hard-core offenders do use neutralization techniques, but that such cognitive strategies are employed to protect a self-image that is consistent with a "code of the streets" orientation rather than a conventional one (i.e., they were forced to neutralize “being good” rather than “being bad”). This suggests that expanding the scope of neutralization theory beyond the confines of conventional value systems will allow the theory to explain the behavior of a larger group of offenders, and takes into account the kinds of real-world contextual forces that currently influence urban crime.
Abstract: Topalli, V. (2004). Criminal expertise and offender decision-making: An experimental Analysis of how offenders and non-offenders differentially perceive social stimuli. The British Journal of Criminology (in press).
Previous research has introduced the notion of “criminal expertise”, specialized cognitive abilities possessed by criminals that increase their motivation and ability to offend. The present study seeks to expand and specify criminal expertise by exploring the extent to which environmental and behavioral experience influences the functioning of one of its key components, perceptual skill. In a quasi-experimental design 44 active, violent offenders (drug dealers, robbers, and carjackers) and non-offenders viewed and judged ambiguous videotaped social stimuli in a laboratory setting. Perceptual judgments were quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed for content related to threat, conflict, law-breaking, and vulnerability. Results indicated significant differences in stimulus interpretation among the participants across these dimensions. The results suggest that criminal expertise is the product of crime-related perceptual and procedural skills which derive from differential environmental and behavioral experiences with crime.
The ambiguous videotaped stimuli mentioned in the above abstract are referred to as Point Light Displays and are a common experimental stimulus for research that Ecological Psychologists conduct. To view one, click here. [video]
Abstract: Dabney, D., Greene, L., and Topalli, V. (2006). Freshman Learning Communities in criminology and criminal justice: An effective tool for enhancing student recruitment and learning outcomes. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 17, 44-67.[pdf]
Freshmen Learning Communities (FLCs) or Freshmen Interest Groups (FIGs) recently emerged on the landscape of higher education as an innovative means of improving educational outcomes. Building around a cohort-based pedagogical model, FLCs use thematic foci, block scheduling, and faculty collaboration to ease the transition into the first-year college experience. This paper outlines the logic and structure of FLCs, details how pedagogical variations such as writing across the curriculum and web-based design can be included, and provides data showing that students enrolling in FLCs achieve higher grade point averages and exhibit better retention rates than other freshmen.
Abstract: Jacobs, B. A., Topalli, V., & Wright, R. (2003). Carjacking, Streetlife, and Offender Motivation, British Journal of Criminology, 43, 673-688.
For all of the media attention it has received in the United States, Europe and elsewhere, carjacking remains an under-researched and poorly understood crime. In this article, we explore the decision-making processes of active carjackers in real-life settings and circumstances, focusing on the subjective foreground conditions that move such offenders from an unmotivated state to one in which they are determined to act. Drawing from semi-structured ethnographic interviews with 28 active carjackers in St Louis, Missouri, we argue that while the decision to commit a carjacking stems most directly from a situated interaction between particular sorts of perceived opportunities and particular sorts of perceived needs and desires, this decision is activated, mediated, and shaped by participation in urban street culture.
Abstract: Topalli, V. & O'Neal, E.C. (2003). Retaliatory motivation enhances attributions of hostility when people process ambiguous social stimuli, Aggressive Behavior, 29, 155-172.
We hypothesized that provocation and readiness to aggress (Retaliatory Motivation) would increase the tendency to construe the ambiguous actions of others as reflecting hostile intent. Male undergraduates were either verbally provoked or not provoked by a male experimenter and half were led to believe that they would be allowed to retaliate anonymously against the provoker in the form of a potentially damaging written evaluation. Participants then rated the hostility and aggressive intent of the characters in brief ambiguous scenarios of interpersonal conflict. According to prediction, men who were provoked and anticipated retaliation against their provoker rated the scenarios as containing hostility and aggression to a significantly greater extent than did non-provoked or merely provoked participants. Results are discussed within a motivation-based affective relevance model of perception.
Abstract: Topalli, V., Wright, R. & Fornango, R. (2002). Drug dealers, robbery, and retaliation: Vulnerability, deterrence, and the contagion of violence. The British Journal of Criminology, 42, 337-351.
The notion that informal sanction threats influence criminal decision-making is perhaps the most important contribution to neoclassical theory in the past 15 years. Notably absent from this contribution is an examination of the ways in which the risk of victim retaliation--arguably the ultimate informal sanction--mediates the process. The present paper aims to address this gap, examining how active drug robbers (individuals who take money and drugs from dealers by force or threat of force) perceive and respond to the risk of victim retaliation in real-life settings and circumstances. The data's theoretical implications for deterrence and violence-contagions are explored. Data were drawn from in-depth interviews with 25 currently active drug robbers recruited from the streets of St. Louis, Missouri.
Abstract: Jacobs, B.A., Topalli, V., and Wright, R. (2000). Managing retaliation: Drug robbery and informal social control, Criminology, 38, 171-198.
Because of their illicit status, drug dealers robbed in the course of doing business cannot go to the police. Thus, the deterrent, compensatory, and retributive benefits of formal justice are unavailable to them. Informal avenues of redress represent their only means of obtaining justice. This article, based on interviews with 20 recently-robbed, active drug dealers in St. Louis, Missouri, explores how such victims perceive and respond to the assault. Results indicate that direct retaliation is the preferred response because it serves three important aims: reputation maintenance, loss recovery, and vengeance. When dealer/victims are unable or unwilling to retaliate they resort to less satisfactory alternatives such as robbery displacement and the resumption of selling. The implications of these findings for the spread of drug market violence are discussed.
(homicide, aggravated assault, rape, and robbery) as a potential explanation of African-Americans’ reduced levels of support for the police. Results suggest that the race of the victim, particularly in combination with the race of the offender, is related to police clearance of violent criminal incidents, but that this relationship is not as strong as those between agency, offense type, and situational characteristics of the incident. Implications for research and policy on police-community relations are discussed.
Prior studies have illustrated racial differences in perceptions of police legitimacy. African-Americans’ views, however, appear to be complex, shaped by perceptions of over-enforcement of crimes committed by African-American offenders coupled with under-enforcement of crimes involving African-American victims. Using data from the 2002 National Incident-Based Reporting System, we examine whether victim race (alone, and in combination with offender race) affects police case clearance of four types of violent criminal incidents
(homicide, aggravated assault, rape, and robbery) as a potential explanation of African-Americans’ reduced levels of support for the police. Results suggest that the race of the victim, particularly in combination with the race of the offender, is related to police clearance of violent criminal incidents, but that this relationship is not as strong as those between agency, offense type, and situational characteristics of the incident. Implications for research and policy on police-community relations are discussed.
