Hassett-Walker, Connie
Delinquency and the Black Middle Class: An Exploratory Study
Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice 8,4 (October 2010): 266-289.
Also: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15377938.2010.526868
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Keyword(s): Arrests; Black Studies; Black Youth; Criminal Justice System; Delinquency/Gang Activity; Parent-Child Relationship; Peers/Peer influence/Peer relations; Racial Differences; Socioeconomic Factors;

This study addresses the lack of criminal justice research on non-poor African Americans. The author empirically tested ideas from Pattillo-McCoy (1998, 1999) using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. The main research question was what causal factors predict delinquency among middle class Blacks. Having delinquent friends predicted a greater likelihood of future arrest among middle class Blacks but a lesser likelihood among poorer African Americans, suggesting different processes at work. Indicators of parental relationship problems had more of an impact on poor Black and White youth than on middle class youth of either race. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higgins, George E.
Bush, Michael D.
Marcum, Catherine D.
Ricketts, Melissa L.
Kirchner, Emmaleigh E.
Ensnared into Crime: A Preliminary Test of Moffitt's Snares Hypothesis in a National Sample of African Americans
Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice 8,3 (July-September 2010): 181-200.
Also: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15377938.2010.502827
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Keyword(s): Alcohol Use; Black Studies; Black Youth; Crime; Delinquency/Gang Activity;

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relation between alcohol use and individual differences in the desistance process from criminal behavior during young adulthood. This study used Moffitt's (1993) “snares” hypothesis to posit that alcohol use would slow the desistance process of criminal behavior among African Americans. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of the Youth 1997, we conducted dual semiparametric group-based trajectory analysis of criminal behavior and alcohol use among African Americans from ages 16 through 22 (N = 283) using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of the Youth 1997. Results indicate that 3 trajectory groups provided the best representation for the patterns of crime over this period of life. In addition, 4 trajectory groups provided the best representation for the patterns of alcohol use. From our dual-trajectory analysis, we found that African Americans that were desisting slower from crime were using alcohol more often, thus supporting Moffitt's snares hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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