U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Possession and Carrying of Firearms Among a Sample of Inner-City High School Females

NCJ Number
154881
Journal
Journal of Crime and Justice Volume: 18 Issue: 1 Dated: (1995) Pages: 109-128
Author(s)
M D Smith; J F Sheley
Date Published
1995
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This study reports the results of a study of patterns of gun acquisition and gun carrying among a sample of female inner-city high school students in five prominent cities in California, Illinois, Louisiana, and New Jersey.
Abstract
The analyses are based on responses to self-administered questionnaires completed by 825 female students in 10 inner-city high schools in the spring of 1991. Seventy-eight percent of the respondents were African-American; only 2 percent were white. Although the focus of the current analysis is upon females, findings regarding males (previously published elsewhere) are reported parenthetically for purposes of comparison. The findings show that gun possession and carrying were prevalent in the immediate social environment of the respondents. The respondents assumed also that guns were readily available in their neighborhoods. Roughly 1 in 10 of the respondents reported having possessed a gun at some time. A similar percentage reported that they carried guns. In all cases, levels of possession and carrying of firearms were substantially lower than those reported by a corresponding sample of male respondents. 6 tables, 7 notes, and 29 references