NCJ Number
153870
Journal
Criminology Volume: 33 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1995) Pages: 47-82
Date Published
1995
Length
36 pages
Annotation
This article offers some feminist theoretical and empirical insight into the ways in which criminal involvement may be modified by gender and racial differences.
Abstract
Theories that examine the relationship between inequality and crime typically privilege one system of stratification over others. In criminology, the system most often assumed to be primary is social class, but other approaches may emphasize gender or racial oppression to account for observed differences in offending patterns. Few, however, systematically link gender and racial oppression as moderating etiological variables in the study of crime. In examining this issue, this paper first briefly reviews relevant criminological theory by focusing on approaches that are sensitive to structural inequities based in gender or race. This shows how the problem is currently conceptualized and points out flaws in these approaches. Second, drawing upon empirical research, the study shows how factors predictive of criminality (e.g., family and peer influences, school experiences) are modified by gender and racial divisions. Third, using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and Chow tests for significant interactions between full models and those broken down by gender and race, the author examines whether factors related to violent and property delinquency operate in similar ways for males and females as well as for blacks and whites. Findings indicate that only white females and black males exhibit higher rates of offending among the disenfranchised. It could be that exclusion from paid labor creates resentment and criminality in those who expect better treatment than they are getting. 75 references and appended methodological information