Crime & Delinquency 61(3)

Crime & Delinquency, April 2015: Volume 61, Issue 3

Race, Ethnicity, and School-Based Adolescent Victimization
Anthony A. Peguero, Ann Marie Popp, and Dixie J. Koo

Opportunity theory enhances one’s understanding of school-based adolescent victimization. Race and ethnicity plays a significant role in school-based victimization. What is uncertain is how opportunity is linked to the school-based victimization of racial and ethnic minority adolescents. This study explores how race and ethnicity interact with opportunity and victimization. Analyses, which are drawn from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 and employ hierarchal generalized logistic model analyses, suggest some important results. Most notably, the relationships between opportunity and victimization vary across racial and ethnic groups. For instance, athletic extracurricular activity involvement is an insulating factor for White Americans but a potential risk factor for Latino Americans and Asian Americans. Besides discussing the findings of this study, this article underscores the importance of understanding racial and ethnic minority school-based adolescent victimization.

The Impact of Race/Ethnicity and Quality-of-Life Policing on Public Attitudes Toward Racially Biased Policing and Traffic Stops
Jihong Solomon Zhao, Yung-Lien Lai, Ling Ren, and Brian Lawton

This article examines the impact of race/ethnicity and quality-of-life (QOL) policing on citizens’ perceptions of racial bias and traffic stops. Using data obtained from a random-sample telephone survey of Houston citizens, respondents were asked whether they felt that the police treated citizens “equally” based on the race/ethnicity of the citizen as well as the race/ethnicity of the officer. These variables were then recoded to construct a nominal measure ranging from racially biased policing to absence of racially biased policing, with a middle category of “semiracially” biased policing. Results indicated that race/ethnicity was a significant predictor. In addition, the results strongly suggested that QOL policing was significantly associated with a decrease in respondents’ perceptions of racially biased policing. Finally, there was a significant relationship between racially biased policing and expected treatment of traffic stops made by the police.

Examining the Effects of Residential Situations and Residential Mobility on Offender Recidivism
Benjamin Steiner, Matthew D. Makarios, and Lawrence F. Travis III

Drawing from theories of social control, this study involved an examination of the time-varying effects of six different residential situations and residential mobility on offenders’ odds of recidivism during the year immediately following their release from prison. Analyses of data collected on a statewide sample of offenders released under supervision in Ohio generated results favoring a control perspective. Both residential mobility and residential situations such as living with a spouse or parent were relevant for understanding differences among offenders in their odds of recidivism. Stable characteristics of offenders such as gender and prior criminal history were also linked to recidivism.

A Comparison of Chinese Immigrants’ Perceptions of the Police in New York City and Toronto
Doris C. Chu and John Huey-Long Song

During the past several decades, research on immigrant adaptation and incorporation experience within different host societies has proliferated. Nevertheless, studies comparing how immigrants interact with law enforcement in the largest cities, respectively, in the United States and Canada do not seem to exist. In an attempt to bridge the gap in past literature, this study examines the differences of Chinese immigrants’ perceptions of the police in New York City and Toronto. Analyzing data gathered from 444 Chinese immigrants (151 from New York City and 293 from Toronto), this study compared Chinese immigrants’ attitudes toward police efficacy and their overall perceptions in both cities. The findings indicated that Chinese immigrants in Toronto held more positive overall perceptions of the police than did their counterparts in New York City. With regard to police efficacy in dealing with crime, there were no significant attitudinal differences in Chinese immigrants between New York City and Toronto. Policy implications were discussed.

Assessing the Impact of Changes in Gender Equality on Female Homicide Victimization: 1980-2000
Lynne M. Vieraitis, Sarah Britto, and Robert G. Morris

Numerous studies have tested the feminist hypothesis that gender inequality affects homicide rates by analyzing Census and Uniform Crime Report data for a single time period. Although these “snapshot” tests are important, they do not capture the “change” element that is implied by these hypotheses. According to feminist perspectives, gender inequality and gender equality could increase homicide rates, the former increasing the structural disadvantage of women relative to men and the latter representing a “backlash” effect. Women’s absolute status may also be an important predictor of homicide victimization. Furthermore, it is quite possible that this process is dynamic and therefore the change in equality over time may be more important than the actual level of equality at any given time. The present study measures the impact of gender equality and women’s absolute status on female homicide victimization using city-level data from 1980 to 2000. In general, the results suggest that changes in gender equality and women’s absolute status have decreased women’s rate of homicide victimization, and the negative effect of gender equality appears to have grown stronger over time; however, these results are not uniform across victim–offender relationships.

Testing Ecological Theories of Offender Spatial Decision Making Using a Discrete Choice Model
Shane D. Johnson and Lucia Summers

Research demonstrates that crime is spatially concentrated. However, most research relies on information about where crimes occur, without reference to where offenders reside. This study examines how the characteristics of neighborhoods and their proximity to offender home locations affect offender spatial decision making. Using a discrete choice model and data for detected incidents of theft from vehicles (TFV), we test predictions from two theoretical perspectives—crime pattern and social disorganization theories. We demonstrate that offenders favor areas that are low in social cohesion and closer to their home, or other age-related activity nodes. For adult offenders, choices also appear to be influenced by how accessible a neighborhood is via the street network. The implications for criminological theory and crime prevention are discussed.