Illuminating Individual-Level Sources of Crime for African Americans and Whites: An Examination of Four Theories

This research addresses two important theoretical questions in the sociological study of race and crime: (1) If racial differences exist between African Americans and Whites, can self-control, general strain, social bonding, and social learning theories account for the differences? (i.e., the "racial gap" issue) and (2) Are the processes specified by these theories the same for African Americans and Whites? (i.e., the "racial generality" issue). Using data from randomly selected African American and White adults who live in Wake County, North Carolina, several answers to these questions are suggested. Concerning the "racial gap" issue, this study finds no significant differences in offending between African Americans and Whites. Concerning the "racial generality" issue, the results offer considerable insight into the individual-level sources of crime for both groups. Collectively, the findings offer limited support for social bonding theory and mixed support for self-control, general strain, and social learning theories. The implications of these results, particularly as they pertain to criminological theory and social policy, are also discussed.

Author dc:creator

• Latimore, Traronda

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• William R. Smith, Committee Member
• Ronald Czaja, Committee Member
• Charles R. Tittle, Committee Chair
• Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, Committee Member
• Catherine Zimmer, Committee Member
• Melvin Thomas, Committee Member

• crime
• race

Statement dc:rights

• I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to NC State University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report.

Dc Identifier Other

etd-11022005-215058

OAI record oai:identifier

https://repository.lib.ncsu.edu/server/oai/request?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=dim&identifier=oai%3Arepository.lib.ncsu.edu%3A1840.16%2F4244