Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 49(1)

Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, February 2012: Volume 49, Issue 1

The Conditional Effects of Race and Politics on Social Control: Black Violent Crime Arrests in Large Cities, 1970 to 1990
Thomas D. Stucky

Numerous studies of the determinants of formal social control of Blacks focus on racial threat arguments, which contain implicit or explicit political elements. Using insights from research on politics and social control more generally, this article argues that the relationship between variation in the racial composition of a city and social control of minorities will be conditional on characteristics of the local political system. Hypotheses are tested using pooled cross-sectional time-series data on 100 large U.S. cities in 1970, 1980, and 1990. Contrary to expectations, Black violent crime arrest rates are curvilinearly negatively associated with larger percentages of Black residents. As predicted, the relationship between the percentage of Black residents and Black violent crime arrest rates is conditional on city political system characteristics (elected mayors, district council elections, and partisan ballots), the race of the mayor, and the percentage of city council members who are Black.

Age Matters: Race Differences in Police Searches of Young and Older Male Drivers
Richard Rosenfeld, Jeff Rojek, and Scott Decker

Prior research on police searches of motorists has consistently found that Black drivers are more likely to be searched than White drivers. The authors argue that race differences in police searches depend on the driver’s age. In logistic regression and propensity-score matching analyses of St. Louis police traffic stops, the authors find that young Black males are subjected to discretionary searches at higher rates than are young White males. By contrast, among drivers age 30 and older, Black males are no more likely, and in some analyses are less likely, than White males to be subjected to a discretionary search. The study findings are consistent with studies of young Black males’ negative experience with and attitudes toward the police. If replicated in future research, however, the findings suggest that it may be difficult to prove that police searches of young Black males result primarily from racial bias or unlawful discrimination.

The Imprisonment Penalty for Young Black and Hispanic Males: A Crime-Specific Analysis
Patricia Warren, Ted Chiricos, and William Bales

In the United States, there are well-known racial, ethnic, age, and sex differences in incarceration rates. Younger offenders are more likely to be sentenced to prison than are older offenders. Black and Hispanic rates of incarceration are six to eight times that of White offenders and males are 14 times as likely as women to be sentenced to prison. This research explores how the combined effects of race, ethnicity, age, and sex, net of legally relevant factors, influence the decision to incarcerate. We examine these effects across nine offense categories. The analysis is based on Florida felony conviction data for the years 2000 to 2006. We find that legally relevant factors significantly influence the incarceration decision. Young Black males are most disadvantaged at the incarceration decision.

The Long-Term Effects of Paternal Imprisonment on Criminal Trajectories of Children
Marieke van de Rakt, Joseph Murray, and Paul Nieuwbeerta

This study investigates the effects of fathers’ imprisonment on criminal convictions of their children (aged 18 to 30). Unique official data of the Criminal Career and Life Course Study (CCLS) are used on a nationally representative sample of Dutch men convicted in 1977. Growth curve analysis is used to establish the influence of paternal imprisonment on the development of criminal careers of children. Special attention is paid to the timing and the duration of the imprisonment. The authors demonstrate an association between fathers’ imprisonment and child convictions, especially when fathers are imprisoned when the child is between 0 and 12 years old. When fathers’ criminal history is controlled for, the influence of paternal imprisonment becomes much weaker, although it remains significant. The dose–response relationship between the length of the father’s imprisonment and children’s convictions disappears after controlling for other variables. In the Netherlands, effects of paternal imprisonment on children are very weak and similar to the effects found in another study in Sweden. More research is needed to adequately test the mechanisms causing the relationship between paternal imprisonment and child crime.

Delinquency Balance and Time Use: A Research Note
Jean Marie McGloin

McGloin (2009) recently demonstrated that an imbalance in delinquency between a subject and his or her best friend predicted within-individual changes in offending behavior. Still, the precise mechanism(s) whereby subjects moved toward delinquency balance remained unclear. It is possible that this process has little to do with the transmission of deviant values, but instead is a reflection of unstructured and unsupervised time spent with peers. The results suggest that an imbalance in time use between peers predicts an imbalance in deviance between peers, but not within-individual change in delinquency. The discussion considers the implication of these findings for theory and research on peer processes.

Are Parrots CRAVED? An Analysis of Parrot Poaching in Mexico
Stephen Pires and Ronald V. Clarke

Poaching significantly contributes to the endangerment of protected wildlife but has rarely been studied by criminologists. This study examines whether CRAVED, a general model of theft choices drawn from routine activity and rational choice theory, can help to explain parrot poaching. It correlates estimates of the numbers poached for the 22 species of Mexican parrots with measures of CRAVED components (concealable, removable, available, valuable, enjoyable, and disposable). Widely available species and those whose chicks are easily removable from the nest are more commonly poached, a pattern suggesting that most poachers are opportunistic villagers. More valuable/disposable and more enjoyable species are rarely taken because few remain in the wild after being heavily poached for export in the 1980s. Apart from helping to explain parrot poaching and consider conservation options, the application of CRAVED suggested a possible contribution to understanding theft choices. This was that “abundant” and “accessible” might replace “available.”