Analysis of Serious Crime by Young Black Women

• NCJ Number: 100386
• Journal: Criminology Volume: 23 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1985) Pages: 81-98
• Author(s): J H Laub; M J McDermott
• Date Published: 1985
• Length: 18 pages
• Grant Number(s): 82-JN-AX-0005
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Revised version of a paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology, November 1983, Denver, Colorado.

Annotation

This research focuses on a relatively unexplored phenomenon -- black female juvenile offenders.

Abstract

Both theoretical and research work are weak or nonexistent regarding these offenders. This paper seeks to fill some of these gaps. In addition, this research effort draws on a source of data that has infrequently been adapted to study offenders, National Crime Survey (NCS) victimization data. Utilizing NCS data from 1973 through 1981, a comparative analysis of NCS rates of juvenile offenses by black females, black males, white females, and white males is presented and discussed. A number of propositions which are found in the literature regarding black female offenders are examined. Trends in offending by black females compared with trends in offending for other age-race-sex subgroups are also presented and analyzed. Finally, some implications for future theoretical and research efforts are presented. (Publisher abstract)