Attributions, Affect, and Crime: Street Youths' Reactions to Unemployment

• NCJ Number: 169405
• Journal: Criminology Volume: 35 Issue: 3 Dated: (August 1997) Pages: 409-434
• Author(s): S W Baron; T F Hartnagel
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 26 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Canada Solicitor General; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This research examines the role familial, school, labor market, and street factors play in the criminality of 200 homeless male street youths.

Abstract

Of particular interest in this research is the way the youths interpret their labor market experiences and how together those experiences and interpretations influence criminal behavior. Findings reveal that familial and school factors have minimal influence on current criminal behavior. Instead, criminal behavior is influenced by such immediate factors as homelessness, drug and alcohol use, and criminal peers who engage in illegal activities. Further, criminal behavior is influenced by a lack of income, job experiences, and perceptions of a blocked opportunity structure. While labor market conditions and reactions to those conditions have some effect on crime, findings suggest that lengthy unemployment, job experiences, and a lack of income work together with anger and external attributions to increase street youths' criminal activities. Notes, tables, references