NCJ Number
90196
Journal
Western Journal of Black Studies Volume: 5 Issue: 2 Dated: (Summer 1981) Pages: 147-154
Date Published
1981
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study examined victimization and perceived risks of victimization to determine how these factors are related to middle- and lower-class blacks' rating of the seriousness of violent and property crimes.
Abstract
It was hypothesized that there is a low association between middle- and lower-class blacks and how they rate the seriousness of (1) crimes of violence based upon victimization and perceived risks of victimizations and (2) property crimes based upon victimization and perceived risks of victimization. The middle-class sample consisted of 187 black faculty members at a predominantly black college in a South Atlantic State. A total of 100 questionnaires returned were usable. The lower-class sample was composed of first-semester freshman students. Ninety-eight were identified as being from urban lower-class families; 95 completed questionnaires. A scale was used to determine the perceived risk of being victimized in one's neighborhood, and respondents were placed into either 'high risk' or 'low risk' victimization categories. Victimization was measured by asking respondents if they had been a crime victim within the last 5 years. A high degree of agreement on reaction to crimes of violence was found between middle- and lower-class blacks, regardless of whether they had been victimized or perceived their chances of being victimized as being high or low. For property crimes there were different findings. Only in intraclass comparisons between victims and middle-class nonvictims and lower-class victims were high correlations found. All other interclass comparisons between victims and nonvictims revealed variations in reactions. This study adds strength to the theory that persons do not react to crime generally but to types of crimes. Tabular data and 17 notes are provided.