NCJ Number
218902
Journal
Criminology Volume: 45 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2007 Pages: 445-480
Date Published
May 2007
Length
36 pages
Annotation
This analysis of data from the first wave of a multiwave comparative study of crime, danger, and informal social control among youth in three Philadelphia high-crime neighborhoods focused on the youths' reactions to their contacts with police and the strategies the youth proposed for crime reduction in their communities.
Abstract
Findings show that the youth had negative attitudes toward police, based primarily on perceptions of how they had been treated by the police and the criminal justice system. Still, these negative views of police and the justice system did not cause the youth to reject formal social control as a primary means of reducing crime in their neighborhoods. This suggests that the youth see the need for police and a formal structure for the arrest and processing of criminals, but they want the system to be more fair and unbiased in its treatment of those who live in high-crime, disadvantaged, and minority neighborhoods. The sampling strategy was designed to recruit comparable groups of youth in each neighborhood. Qualitative, in-depth interviews and self-report questionnaires were conducted with 153 respondents in the 3 neighborhoods. The sample was 51.7 percent male, 36.4 percent African-American, 28.1 percent Latino, and 32.8 percent White. Almost 30 percent of the sample was classified as officially criminal or delinquent; others had engaged in delinquent and criminal activities but had never been officially convicted. 6 tables and 113 references