Serious and Violent Offending, by Race and Ethnicity
Official Data1 Data from the 1998 UCR indicate that differential rates of arrest for crime are related to race (see Snyder, 1999). Arrests of white juveniles (under age 18) constituted 71 percent of all juvenile arrests compared with 26 percent for black youth. American Indian or Alaska Native and Asian or Pacific Islanders account for 1 and 2 percent, respectively (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1999). Black youth were overrepresented, given the fact that they make up 15 percent of the juvenile population compared with 79 percent white and 5 percent other races. The distribution by index crime type varies, however. Black youth accounted for 42 percent of arrests for violent crime compared with 55 percent for white youth (3 percent were youth of other races). Black youth, when compared with white youth, were most overrepresented in arrests for robbery (54 percent and 43 percent, respectively) and murder and nonnegligent manslaughter (49 percent and 47 percent, respectively). Black youth were least disproportionately involved in arson arrests (18 percent and 80 percent, respectively) (Snyder, 1999; Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1999).
Juvenile involvement in crime by race has
been generally consistent over the past several decades (LaFree,
1995). However, the racial gap in rates of homicide widened
dramatically between 1986 and 1994. Black youth were responsible for
the majority of the increase in homicides by juveniles in these
years "and for the majority of the decline thereafter" (Snyder and
Sickmund, 1999).
If all serious crime is considered, a more complex picture emerges. Between 1983 and 1992, the juvenile arrest rates for all types of violent crimes increased 82 percent among white youth and 43 percent among black youth (Snyder and Sickmund, 1995). The pattern of change was greatest for robbery and homicide arrest rates. In 1983, black youth were approximately five times more likely to be arrested for homicide than were white youth; in 1992, that ratio was more than seven to one.
What is the meaning of these race-specific trends in violence? Blumstein (1995) attributed the growth of youth homicide to illicit drug markets into which youth had been recruited. Juveniles working in these markets armed themselves, and so the use of guns was "diffused" to other teenagers in the community. The notion of gun diffusion is supported by the concomitant increase in the homicide rate among black juveniles from 1986 to 1994 but has not been supported by other research (Howell, 1997).More comparative research is needed to understand racial and ethnic differences in rates of offending. In this area of research, a number of case studies were conducted in several U.S. cities in the 1980's among youth of Hispanic ancestry. Between 1980 and 1985, homicide arrest rates for 10- to 17-year-old Hispanics in New York City were more than twice those of whites (Rodriguez, 1988). In southern California, the homicide death rate for 15- to 24-year-old Latino males during 1980 was more than four times the rate for white Anglo males (Valdez, Nourjah, and Nourjah, 1988). At the same time in Chicago, Latino males between ages 15 and 19 were homicide victims 4½ times more often than non-Latino white males (Block, 1988). These findings suggest the importance of taking ethnicity into consideration when examining youth violence data.
Another factor to consider when interpreting racial and ethnic differences is the length of time and degree to which youth are involved in serious crime. UCR data are not helpful in this regard. However, a few longitudinal studies have shed some light on this issue using official data. Relying on police data from a 1945 Philadelphia cohort, Wolfgang, Figlio, and Sellin (1972) found that race and socioeconomic status were related to the frequency and seriousness of offenses. These findings were confirmed using the 1958 Philadelphia cohort (Tracy, Wolfgang, and Figlio, 1985). However, more data are needed to fully understand the relationship between race and chronic offending. Alternative Data Sources Self-report studies using broader measures of delinquency, such as the National Youth Survey (NYS), show inconclusive patterns of racial differences in the rates of delinquency for blacks and whites. Two studies using NYS data showed that serious and violent juvenile offenders were disproportionately black males. However, one study showed that black males were more likely to report involvement in more serious crimes (Elliott and Ageton, 1980), whereas the other found no statistically significant differences in the rates of reporting violent offending by race (Elliott, Huizinga, and Morse, 1986). Elliott (1994) found that, at the peak age of offending (17 years), 36 percent of black males and 25 percent of white males reported that they had committed one or more serious violent offenses, a differential that is far less than that found in studies using official records (Wolfgang, Figlio, and Sellin, 1972). Elliott (1994) also found that nearly twice as many blacks as whites continued violent offending into early adulthood, a difference borne out in the official data. Elliott argues that even though racial differences are small, race becomes especially salient in the transition from adolescence to adulthood. In a tight labor market, young blacks have been more likely to have fewer economic opportunities and become dependent on gang crime and other illegal economies for income. Data from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's (OJJDP's) Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency add to this picture of serious offending. In Denver, CO, Hispanics had lower prevalence rates for street crimes than African Americans but higher rates than whites (Huizinga, Loeber, and Thornberry, 1994). In Denver, Pittsburgh, PA, and Rochester, NY, whites committed fewer street crimes than other racial groups. Analyses of racial differences in victimization survey data show patterns that are generally consistent with those of official records. Laub (1987) found that the ratio of reported juvenile offenses for rape, robbery, assault, and personal larceny committed by blacks to those committed by whites was 4.5 to 1. More recent NCVS data reveal that victims of personal crime (e.g., rape, personal robbery, aggravated assault) reported that 51 percent of juvenile offenders were white and 41 percent were black (Snyder and Sickmund, 1995). Blacks, as offenders, are overrepresented in NCVS data relative to their proportion in the general population (as in official arrest data and self-report data).1. These data have been updated from the data found in Hawkins, Laub, and Lauritsen, 1998, on which this Bulletin is based.
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| Race, Ethnicity, and Serious and Violent Juvenile Offending | Juvenile Justice Bulletin • June 2000 |