IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/socsci/v83y2002i3p654-670.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Race, Local Life Circumstances, and Criminal Activity

Author

Listed:
  • Alex R. Piquero
  • John M. MacDonald
  • Karen F. Parker

Abstract

Objective. Life–course researchers suggest that changes in local life circumstances explain changes in criminal activity in adulthood. Although the extent to which local life circumstances propel offenders toward/away from criminal behavior is a subject of considerable debate, the issue of race has largely been ignored. The objective in this research is to incorporate race into a life–course perspective that examines the influence of changes in life circumstances on changes in criminal activity. Methods. This objective is met by using longitudinal data on 524 parolees released from the California Youth Authority (CYA) who were followed for seven consecutive years after release. Results. The results suggest that changes in local life circumstances are related to changes in criminal activity, but do not eliminate the race/crime relationship for violence. At the same time, the effect of local life circumstances on criminal activity appears more similar than different across race, with the exception that common–law marriages are crime–generating among nonwhites as compared to whites. Conclusions. Because race continues to be associated with criminal activity over the life course, future research should increase efforts to better understand how race might condition life circumstances when influencing criminal activity. Implications of these findings for life–course theory are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Alex R. Piquero & John M. MacDonald & Karen F. Parker, 2002. "Race, Local Life Circumstances, and Criminal Activity," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 83(3), pages 654-670, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:83:y:2002:i:3:p:654-670
    DOI: 10.1111/1540-6237.00107
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-6237.00107
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1540-6237.00107?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jennings, Wesley G. & Reingle, Jennifer M., 2012. "On the number and shape of developmental/life-course violence, aggression, and delinquency trajectories: A state-of-the-art review," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 472-489.
    2. Chen, Frances R. & Jaffee, Sara R., 2018. "Using three-group propensity score method to estimate effects of relationship status and quality on men's antisocial behavior," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 88-98.
    3. Maxim N. Massenkoff & Evan K. Rose, 2022. "Family Formation and Crime," NBER Working Papers 30385, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Doherty, Elaine Eggleston & Ensminger, Margaret E., 2014. "Do the adult criminal careers of African Americans fit the “facts”?," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 42(6), pages 517-526.
    5. Torbjørn Skardhamar & Jukka Savolainen, 2012. "Does employment contribute to desistance? Offending trajectories of crime-prone men around the time of job entry," Discussion Papers 716, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    6. O'Connell, Daniel J., 2003. "Investigating latent trait and life course theories as predictors of recidivism among an offender sample," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 455-467.
    7. Gibson, Camille & Roberson, Dominique & Daniel, Angela, 2009. "African American women on the possibilities of a relationship with an ex-offender," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 328-332, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:83:y:2002:i:3:p:654-670. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0038-4941 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.