NCJ Number
227817
Journal
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 46 Issue: 3 Dated: August 2009 Pages: 327-352
Date Published
August 2009
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This study examined a cross-canceling, mediated model of the effect of race on crime.
Abstract
Results found evidence of positive mediators, those that increase crime among African-Americans, and negative mediators, those that decrease it. Significant positive mediators included: less education, less marriage, broken homes, unconventional means, lower social class, approval of crime, and poor neighborhood quality. Negative mediators included: religiosity, family ties, value of education and employment, moral beliefs, and alcohol use. Findings have various implications for this study of crime; they identify an issue in need of more research, including, finding the factors that lead racial minorities to commit fewer crime than Whites. Using individual-level data, this issue should be analyzed more broadly, considering cultural or macro-social conditions that likewise decrease crime by African-Americans. This analysis could also be applied to other racial and ethnic groups which exhibit similar mediated linkages to criminal behavior. Data were collected from the National Youth Survey (NYS) collected in its first, sixth, and seventh waves on 1,314 respondents aged 11 to 27. Tables, figure, appendix, and references