NCJ Number
98970
Date Published
1984
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This chapter examines the validity of the claim that an interest in correlations between race and crime is a form of racism which perpetuates myths and errors. Particular attention is focused on indirect bias associated with conceptual frameworks and theories emphasizing internal and external influences on crime.
Abstract
Although many studies have examined racial variation in delinquency as a function of such variables as IQ and/or academic achievement and various personality traits, they ignore the influence of racial subordination and environmental influences on personality formation. Social disorganization studies have located criminal pathology within the black family structure, but they have failed to explain the causes of this social disorganization and the consequent breakdown of parental and community control. They have not examined the differential ability of blacks to overcome the allegedly disorganizing influence of poverty. While subcultural theories, which view crime as normative within the black community, can explain the continuation of subcultural patterns, they cannot explain their origin. Numerous studies contributing external variables such as differential processing of blacks by the criminal justice system, disparities in opportunity and wealth, the history of slavery and racial subordination, and the capitalist mode of production and associated labor practices. However, these studies cannot explain within-group differences nor the differences among various minority groups experiencing similar deprivations. Overall, the relationship between crime and race has not been adequately explained. A total of 57 reference notes are supplied.