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Inter-Racial Offending Models: A Response to Reidpath and Diamond

NCJ Number
174245
Journal
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology Volume: 31 Issue: 2 Dated: August 1998 Pages: 196-211
Author(s)
F Morgan; A Ferrante; R Broadhurst; N Loh
Date Published
1998
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This article critiques a paper on interracial offending authored by Reidpath and Diamond (1998).
Abstract
Reidpath and Diamond recently drew upon and criticized research published in two statistical reports and a book by researchers at the Crime Research Centre (CRC), University of Western Australia (Broadhurst et al, 1993; Broadhurst et al, 1994; Harding et al, 1995). These publications addressed interracial crime in the context of an extended discussion of Aboriginal deaths in custody and the history of Aboriginal involvement with the criminal justice system. Reidpath's and Diamond's critique of this research alleges that it was motivated by a desire to investigate racial "motives" in offending. They claim that the purpose behind the reporting of a statistical difference by the CRC researchers is to infer a racially motivated relationship. They make this claim even though the CRC authors specifically warn readers that racial motives for offending cannot be inferred from the available data or from the kind of analysis undertaken. The CRC research explored interracial and intraracial offending and victimization based on Western Australia Police Service crime victim reports available for the first time in 1992. From a preliminary description of data with respect to inter-racial offenses in 1993 and from successive improvements to measures presented in the 1994 and 1995 CRC research, Reidpath and Diamond infer three "models" of interracial offending. This critique of Reidpath's and Diamond's paper focuses on these models of different ways of generating "expected" values for each racial combination of victim and offender. This paper develops the principle that modeling exercises must be closely linked to substantive explanation and theory if they are to avoid sterility. 12 notes and 9 references