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Contributions of Victimization to Delinquency in Inner Cities

NCJ Number
109760
Journal
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume: 78 Issue: 3 Dated: (Fall 1987) Pages: 586-613
Author(s)
J Fagen; E S Piper; Y Cheng
Date Published
1987
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This article examines the prevalence and incidence of victimization and offending in a general youth population in four high-crime neighborhoods.
Abstract
The central hypothesis tested is that the populations of victims and offenders are isomorphic and that the social psychological correlates of victimization resemble the correlates of offending within the sample. The theoretical framework is an integration of control and social learning theories. A general urban youth sample was drawn from students in four inner city, high-crime neighborhoods. Students were chosen from randomly selected classrooms from all grades in each school. The survey questionnaire -- including demographic items, delinquency measures, victimization items, and attitudinal measures -- was administered in the spring of 1983 and the fall of 1984 to 342 male students and 324 female students. Findings indicate that although the characteristics of offenders and victims overlap, the social processes which produce offending and victimization are not identical. The isomorphism between victims and offenders may be due to the aggregate characteristics of the neighborhoods where each group concentrates, or to normative social processes among inner city youth. Victimization is apparently a significant factor associated with delinquency severity, but the direction of this relationship is uncertain. Victimization rates are high in inner cities, but victimization does not explain delinquency rates. 6 tables, appended data, and 63 footnotes.