Factors Influencing Gun Carrying Among Young Urban Males Over the Adolescent-Young Adult Life Course

• NCJ Number: 185103
• Journal: Criminology Volume: 38 Issue: 3 Dated: August 2000 Pages: 811-834
• Author(s): Alan J. Lizotte; Marvin D. Krohn; James C. Howell; Kimberly Tobin; Gregory J. Howard
• Date Published: August 2000
• Length: 24 pages
• Grant Number(s): 96-MU-FX-0014; 5 R01 DA05512-07
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP); National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article examines the causes and correlates of hidden gun carrying among young urban males.

Abstract

Analysis addressed the changing impact of gang membership, drug sales, and peer gun ownership for protection on gun carrying at nine separate points over the early adolescent to young adult life course. In early adolescence, gang membership was a strong motivation for gun carrying. At somewhat older ages, drug dealing--particularly high drug sales and illegal peer gun ownership--replaced gang membership as the primary determinants of illegal gun carrying. Gun carrying is a response to the situational imperatives faced by youth. The constellation of situations in which they encounter other illegal gun carriers is so large that the probability of their carrying becomes high. The many vicious cycles of contagion come and go over the adolescent life course to produce the milieu of gun carrying that produces homicide among young males. Notes, tables, references