Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 51(6)

Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, November 2014: Volume 51, Issue 6

Social Attachment and Juvenile Attitudes toward the Police in China: Bridging Eastern and Western Wisdom
Hongwei Zhang, Ruohui Zhao, Jihong Solomon Zhao, and Ling Ren

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to examine the correlates of juvenile attitudes toward the police in the Chinese setting. It borrows from the prevailing criminological wisdom developed in the West and Confucian philosophical doctrines to shed light on how attachment to social institutions helps explain variation in juvenile sentiments of the police. Method: The data were collected from a sample of 2,679 high school students in a southwestern Chinese city. A second-order latent variable labeled social attachment is constructed and comprised of three lower order factors representing family attachment, neighborhood attachment, and school attachment. Traditional demographic background, victimization, and contact with the police variables commonly used in U.S. studies are included in the analysis. Structural equation modeling is employed to test hypothesized relationships among explanatory variables and juvenile attitudes toward the police. Results: The findings suggest that the higher order factor social attachment is the most robust predictor of juvenile evaluations of the police in China. Other commonly used demographic, socioeconomic, and police contact factors show limited utility. Conclusion: The findings lend support to propositions derived from the Western criminological theories and the eastern philosophical doctrine to a major extent. Both confirmations of expected findings and noteworthy surprises are discussed.

Partnership Transitions and Antisocial Behavior in Young Adulthood: A Within-person, Multi-Cohort Analysis
Sonja E. Siennick, Jeremy Staff, D. Wayne Osgood, John E. Schulenberg, Jerald G. Bachman, and Matthew VanEseltine

Objectives: This study examines the effects of young adult transitions into marriage and cohabitation on criminal offending and substance use, and whether those effects changed since the 1970s, as marriage rates declined and cohabitation rates rose dramatically. It also examines whether any beneficial effects of cohabitation depend on marriage intentions. Methods: Using multi-cohort national panel data from the Monitoring the Future (N = 15,875) study, the authors estimated fixed effects models relating within-person changes in marriage and cohabitation to changes in criminal offending and substance use. Results: Marriage predicts lower levels of criminal offending and substance use, but the effects of cohabitation are limited to substance use outcomes and to engaged cohabiters. There are no cohort differences in the associations of marriage and cohabitation with criminal offending, and no consistent cohort differences in their associations with substance use. There is little evidence of differences in effects by gender or parenthood. Conclusions: Young adults are increasingly likely to enter romantic partnership statuses that do not appear as effective in reducing antisocial behavior. Although cohabitation itself does not reduce antisocial behavior, engagement might. Future research should examine the mechanisms behind these effects, and why nonmarital partnerships reduce substance use and not crime.

Criminal Trajectories of White-collar Offenders
Joost H. R. van Onna, Victor R. van der Geest, Wim Huisman, and Adriaan J. M. Denkers

Objectives: This article analyzes the criminal development and sociodemographic and criminal profile of a sample of prosecuted white-collar offenders. It identifies trajectory groups and describes their profiles based on crime, sociodemographic, and selection offence characteristics. Methods: The criminal development of 644 prosecuted white-collar offenders in the Netherlands was examined using all registered offences from age 12 onward. In addition, sociodemographic background information was gathered from the Netherlands Internal Revenue Service and Municipal Personal Records Office. Trajectory analysis was conducted to approximate the underlying continuous distribution in criminal development by a discrete number of groups. Results: The criminal career characteristics and sociodemographic profile show a heterogeneous sample of white-collar offenders. Trajectory analysis distinguished four trajectory groups. Two low-frequency offender groups, totaling 78 percent, are characterized by their adult onset. The two high-frequency offender groups, totaling 22 percent, are characterized by their adolescent onset. Distinct and internally consistent offender profiles emerged for the four trajectory groups on the basis of crime, sociodemographic, and selection offence characteristics. Conclusions: The diversity in offence patterns and offender profiles points to different (developmental) causes for white-collar crime and underlines the importance of further longitudinal research on white-collar offending from an integrated white-collar and life-course perspective.

Gender, Family Functioning, and Violence across Immigrant Generations
Stephanie M. DiPietro and Jaclyn Cwick

Objectives: Despite growing empirical and theoretical interest in the role of the family in immigrant offending, gender remains a traditionally overlooked dimension in the study of generational differences in crime. The present study examines the uniquely gendered pathways linking generational status, family functioning, and violence. Methods: Using ordinary least-squares (OLS) regression and overdispersed Poisson regression, the authors examine predictors of family functioning and violence using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods study. Results: Generational status influences family dynamics for both males and females, although the strength and significance of the effects vary by gender. For boys, generational status is a significant predictor of conflict and harsh parenting, net of other factors; for girls, it is associated with religiosity and conflict. Further, family processes attenuate the relationship between generational status and violence for girls only, implying alternative mechanisms for boys. Conclusions: The associations among immigrant generational status, family functioning, and violence differ for males and females, which has implications for intervention strategies aimed at promoting the well-being of immigrant youth. A noted limitation of this work is the inability to consider how gender interacts with ethnicity to impact these patterns.

The Impact of Life Domains on Juvenile Offending in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Direct, Indirect, and Moderating Effects in Agnew’s Integrated General Theory
Lisa R. Muftić, Jonathan A. Grubb, Leana Allen Bouffard, and Almir Maljević

Objectives: Agnew has proposed an integrative theoretical construct composed of the most influential predictors of crime concentrated within multiple life domains, including the self, family, school, peer, and work. Limited research has explored the impact of life domains on offending. This study presents a partial test of the theory using an international sample. Methods: Nationally representative self-reported data are derived from 1,756 juveniles residing in Bosnia and Herzegovina who participated in wave 2 of the International Self Report Delinquency Study. A series of multivariate models were run to examine the impact life domains have on crime directly and indirectly, as well as looking at interaction effects among the life domains. Results: Data showcased varying levels of support for the life domains. Across bivariate and multivariate models, the most significant positive relationships between offending and the life domains were evident in the self and peer domains, with the school and family domains exhibiting a negative impact on offending. Furthermore, significant interactive and indirect effects were discovered, primarily for the self and peer domains. Conclusions: This research discovered a moderate level of support for life domains contained within Agnew’s integrated theory for offending within an international context.