Incapable Guardianship and Its Effects on Fighting at College

• In Event: Guardianship and Crime

Abstract

Common wisdom suggests that the presence of witnesses should deter crime or at least minimize its negative impacts. Theory, too, highlights the importance of witnesses or “capable guardians” for reducing crime risk. Yet, in some cases, the presence of witnesses may actually encourage crime, making matters far worse for victims and even motivating offenders. Drawing upon concepts from a routine activities perspective and data from the College Fighting Survey (2013), this paper examines the impact of witness ambivalence and “incapable” guardianship on fighting at college. The study has two objectives. First, it examines the circumstances (e.g., intoxication, location, configuration of fight) that predict witness responses (e.g., discouragement, encouragement). Second, it delineates witness accounts of their responses to fights. Accounts have been well-researched as techniques used by accused offenders to neutralize their culpability and, to a lesser extent, by victims as coping strategies after victimization. But witnesses, too, may use accounts to justify their actions, such as “doing nothing” to stop a fight. Understanding both the effects of witness responses and their accounts may contribute to more effective intervention programs.

Author

• Karen G. Weiss, West Virginia University