Do the adult criminal careers of African Americans fit the “facts”?

A major gap in the criminal career research is our understanding of offending among African Americans, especially beyond early adulthood. In light of this gap, this study describes the criminal career patterns of a cohort of African American males and females. This paper uses official criminal histo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of criminal justice Vol. 42; no. 6; pp. 517 - 526
Main Authors Doherty, Elaine Eggleston, Ensminger, Margaret E.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Elsevier Ltd 01.11.2014
Elsevier Science Ltd
Subjects
Adults
African Americans
Careers
Crime
Crime Rates
Criminal justice
Criminals
Females
Knowledge
Participation
Probability
Urban Crime
Womens History
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Summary:A major gap in the criminal career research is our understanding of offending among African Americans, especially beyond early adulthood. In light of this gap, this study describes the criminal career patterns of a cohort of African American males and females. This paper uses official criminal history data spanning ages 17 to 52 from the Woodlawn Study, a community cohort of 1,242 urban African American males and females. We use basic descriptive statistics as well as group-based modeling to provide a detailed description of the various dimensions of their adult criminal careers. We find cumulative prevalence rates similar to those for African Americans from national probability sample estimates, yet participation in offending extends farther into midlife than expected with a substantial proportion of the cohort still engaged in offending into their 30s. The descriptive analyses contribute to the larger body of knowledge regarding the relationship between age and crime and the unfolding of the criminal career for African American males and females. The applicability of existing life course and developmental theories is discussed in light of the findings. •Rates of participation are similar to national estimates•Gender differences are driven by participation but limited to early adulthood•Violent offending extends beyond expectations based on existing evidence•Violent offenders are responsible for the majority of all arrests for both genders•Average adult career length is between 15 to 18years
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ISSN:0047-2352
1873-6203
DOI:10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2014.09.006