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Affordable Hypothesis: Punitive Beliefs, Violent Beliefs, and Race

NCJ Number
188456
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 29 Issue: 2 Dated: March-April 2001 Pages: 101-106
Author(s)
Matt DeLisi
Date Published
March 2001
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This study introduces and tests the affordable hypothesis in terms of two directly related hypotheses that asserted that white persons were more likely than black persons to harbor violent beliefs in interpersonal situations, and to be punitive and advocate violence by the criminal justice system or the government.
Abstract
The affordable hypothesis also suggested that, conversely, black persons do not foster violent beliefs because their relationship with such violence was substantially more real based on offending and victimization data. This hypothesis was contrary to the thesis of the black subculture of violence. The research used aggregated data for 1972-96 from the GSS conducted by the National Opinion Research Center. Results revealed that white persons were more likely than black people to advocate the use of violence in interpersonal situations. White persons also believed that the relatively minor provocation of interacting with a drunkard and more serious interactions with a spouse and child abuser required violent retaliation. Results also indicated that white persons generally had more punitive beliefs than black persons. Findings indicated the need for future research to determine if the race effects in this study were spurious. Findings also suggested that structural and economic factors best explained racial differentials pertaining to crime and suggested that black persons believed that little use existed in advocating interpersonal or criminal justice system violence because they disproportionately had dealt with problems such as police harassment and brutality. Tables, notes, and 51 references (Author abstract modified)