Ecological Distribution of Juvenile Delinquency in Metropolitan Lagos

There is a need to investigate Western-based delinquency theories in African societies to assess their cross-cultural applicability. This research investigates the applicability of the U.S.-based delinquency theory which assumes that certain areas of the city characterized by physical deterioration and low social economic status, overcrowding, poor health and sanitary conditions, and extreme poverty are breeding grounds for delinquency. In such an environment, delinquency has become a tradition (Shaw and McKay, 1938 and 1942).

The paper presents the ecology of delinquency in the metropolitan city of Lagos, Nigeria to show where delinquency occurs and among whom. Ecological data are presented on the place of residence of delinquents and the location of their offenses in metropolitan Lagos. The findings are discussed against similar pioneer studies in the United States, and implications are drawn concerning delinquency theories. The data, however, portray no evidence of a “delinquency area” or the cultural transmission of delinquency values. Rather, factors generating delinquency in metropolitan Lagos should be sought in the “family structure” and “family bond” variables. Consequently, the ecological determinism theory of delinquency should be regarded as a culture-specific theory.     

THE CYCLE OF VIOLENCE IN CONTEXT: EXPLORING THE MODERATING ROLES OF NEIGHBORHOOD DISADVANTAGE AND CULTURAL NORMS

Although the cycle of violence theory has received empirical support (Widom, 1989a, 1989b), in reality, not all victims of child physical abuse become involved in violence. Therefore, little is known regarding factors that may moderate the relationship between abuse and subsequent violence, particularly contextual circumstances. The current investigation used longitudinal data from 1,372 youth living in 79 neighborhoods who participated in the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN), and it employed a multivariate, multilevel Rasch model to explore the degree to which neighborhood disadvantage and cultural norms attenuate or strengthen the abuse–violence relationship. The results indicate that the effect of child physical abuse on violence was weaker in more disadvantaged communities. Neighborhood cultural norms regarding tolerance for youth delinquency and fighting among family and friends did not moderate the child abuse–violence relationship, but each had a direct effect on violence, such that residence in neighborhoods more tolerant of delinquency and fighting increased the propensity for violence. These results suggest that the cycle of violence may be contextualized by neighborhood structural and cultural conditions.     

Longitudinal neighborhood profiles in delinquency: The decomposition of change

The methods that traditionally have been used to examine changing spatial distributions of crime and delinquency rates are not able to analyze parsimoniously the full range of within-community variation in these rates over time. In this paper, we present a variant of Bryk and Raudenbush's(Psychol. Bull. 101: 147–158, 1987) hierarchical linear model that can simultaneously examine the full range of within- and between-group variation contained in longitudinal data sets. The method is illustrated through an analysis of the delinquency rates characterizing Chicago's neighborhoods between 1930 and 1970.     

VIOLENT DELINQUENTS AND URBAN YOUTHS*

Violent juvenile crime is disproportionately concentrated in urban neighborhoods, and accordingly an understanding of the sources of serious delinquency is con founded by components of urbanism. These milieus usually have high rates of absolute poverty and relative economic deprivation, as well as weak social institutions. The persistent findings of delinquent peer contributions to delinquency have yet to be tested under conditions where social class and milieu effects are controlled. There is little empirical evidence to determine how adolescents in high-crime neighborhoods avoid delinquency despite frequent contact with delinquent peers. The differences between violent delinquents and other youths from comparable neighborhoods are little understood. This study contrasts a sample of chronically violent male juvenile offenders with the general male adolescent population (students and school dropouts) from inner-city neighborhoods in four cities. Violent delinquents differ from other male adolescents in inner cities in their attachments to school, their perceptions of school safety, their associations with officially delinquent peers, their perceptions of weak maternal authority, and the extent to which they have been victims of crime. Peer delinquency and drug“problems” predict the prevalence of three delinquency offense types for both violent offenders and neighborhood youths. Among violent delinquents, there appear to be different explanatory patterns, with one type better described by internal controls (locus of control), a developmental measure. Overall, there is strong support for integrated theory including control and learning components, and similar associations exist among inner-city youths as in the general adolescent male population. Despite the generally elevated rates of delinquency in inner cities, the explanations of serious and violent delinquency appear the same when subjects are sampled at the extremes of the distribution of behavior.     

Juvenile Delinquency in Nigeria: The Problem of Application of Western Theories

There is no universal theory of delinquency. Cross-cultural studies of delinquency will help in identifying Western theories of delinquency that are culturally specific or culturally universal.

This paper investigates the applicability of Western theories of delinquency to Nigerian conditions. The paper concludes the family-based theories [family attachment, poor parental characteristics, parent-child relationship, parental supervision, parental support, parental physical punishment (Glueck and Glueck, 1950, 1968; Nye, 1958; Gold, 1963; Reiss, 1975; Empey and Lubeck, 1971; Sutherland and Cressey, 1960, 1966; Hirschi, 1969; Jensen, 1972, and Grove and Crutchfield, 1982)], differential association (Sutherland 1939), urban conditions (Shaw and McKay, 1942), economic conditions (Bonger, 1916), social control (Hirschi, 1969), and culture conflict (Sellin, 1938) are the most applicable western theories of delinquency to Nigeria. Furthermore, theories such as poverty, broken-home, labeling, and gang membership are found to be inapt to explaining delinquency in Nigeria. Additionally, obstacles to delinquency studies in Nigerian are delineated.     

DECOMPOSING THE PEER EFFECT ON ADOLESCENT SUBSTANCE USE: MEDIATION,NONLINEARITY, AND DIFFERENTIAL NONLINEARITY*

Although the correlation between peer delinquency and delinquency is one of the most consistently demonstrated findings in delinquency research, researchers have focused primarily on the direct, linear, and additive effects of peers in statistical models, rather than on empirically modeling mediating, nonlinear, and moderating processes that are specified by theory. To address these issues, we measure respondent delinquency and peer delinquency with illegal substance use and then decompose the effect of peer substance use on self‐reported substance use. Logistic hierarchical models on a sample of adolescents from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) indicate that the effect of peer substance use on self‐reported substance use is partially mediated by perceptions of the health risks of substance use. In addition, the direct statistical effect of peers is nonlinear: On average, the peer effect decreases at higher values of peer substance use, which is consistent with a “saturation” effect. We also find that the functional form of the peer substance use/substance use relationship is dependent on the neighborhood context. In neighborhoods with more opportunities for crime, the peer effect is initially strong but decreases as peer substance use increases, which is consistent with a saturation effect. Conversely, in neighborhoods with fewer opportunities for crime, the effect of peers is initially small, but as delinquent peer associations increase, the peer effect increases multiplicatively.     

DELINQUENCY AND GENDER MODERATION IN THE MOVING TO OPPORTUNITY INTERVENTION: THE ROLE OF EXTENDED NEIGHBORHOODS

A long history of research has indicated that neighborhood poverty increases youth's risk taking and delinquency. This literature predominantly has treated neighborhoods as independent of their surroundings despite rapidly growing ecological evidence on the geographic clustering of crime that suggests otherwise. This study proposes that to understand neighborhood effects, investigating youth's wider surroundings holds theoretical and empirical value. By revisiting longitudinal data on more than 1500 low‐income youth who participated in the Moving to Opportunity (MTO) randomized intervention, this article explores the importance of extended neighborhoods (neighborhoods and surroundings) and different concentrated disadvantage configurations in shaping gender differences in risk taking and delinquency. The results from two‐stage, least‐squares analyses suggest that the extended neighborhoods matter and they matter differently by gender. Among girls, extended neighborhoods without concentrated disadvantage were associated with lower risk‐taking prevalence than extended neighborhoods with concentrated disadvantage. In contrast, among boys, localized concentration of disadvantage was associated with the highest prevalence of risk taking and delinquency. Interactions between the immediate and surrounding neighborhoods were similarly associated with differential opportunity and social disorganization mediators. Among the more critical potential mediators of the link between localized disadvantage and boys’ risk taking were delinquent network ties, strain, and perceived absence of legitimate opportunities for success.     

Crime,social disorganization,and social structure: A research note on the use of interurban ecological models

The social disorganization perspective, as set forth by Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay, has enjoyed renewed interest in criminological explanations of crime and delinquency. This paper extends this perspective beyond the traditional intraurban focus of the neighborhood to a more encompassing interurban model, using 682 SMSA counties. The results using these counties were generally consistent with neighborhood studies, demonstrating the robustness of the social disorganization model.     

Do individual factors and neighborhood context explain ethnic differences in juvenile delinquency?

Individually measured factors and neighborhood context were related to juvenile delinquency in a community sample of 506 urban, public-school boys. Neighborhood context was measured with an objective, census-based score that classified neighborhoods as underclass or not underclass. When African American youths and white youths were compared without regard to neighborhood context, African American youths were more frequently and more seriously delinquent than white youths. When African American youths didnot live in underclass neighborhoods, their delinquent behavior was similar to that of the white youths. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that boys' hyperactivity and parental supervision were the strongest correlates of delinquency. Single-parent status and poverty/welfare use were not related to delinquent behavior. Once individually measured factors were accounted for, residence in underclass neighborhoods was significantly related to delinquent behavior while ethnicity was not. This study points to the importance of including the neighborhood context when addressing the social problems of African American youths.     

Community-level influences on individuals' social bonds,peer associations,and delinquency: A multilevel analysis

Social disorganization theory is usually considered a macro-level theory, and therefore has been used almost exclusively to explain variation in crime rates. Shaw and McKay, however, also applied their theory to explaining micro-level variation in social bonds, peer associations, and delinquency. Specifically, they argued that social bonds and peer associations actually mediated the influence of social disorganization on delinquency. Little empirical research has focused on this interpretation of their theory. In this study the connections between neighborhood-level social disorganization and individual-level social bonds, peer associations, and delinquency are explicated and tested empirically with multilevel data and hierarchical linear modeling. The results show that social disorganization significantly affects peer associations but not social bonds. In addition, the effect of social disorganization on delinquency is mediated fully by peer associations. Implications for future research on social disorganization theory are discussed.     

RACE, FATHER-ABSENCE, AND FEMALE DELINQUENCY

Discussions of the influence of father-absence on delinquency often show special concern/or the relatively high rate of father-absence among black Americans. However, for the four delinquent offenses studied. father-absence had detrimental effects only on whites. especially girls. The only significant effect among black girls was favorable lo the father-absent girls. Further, contrary to Dates on and Scarpitti (1975). parental control has similar effects on delinquency and on the relationship between father-absence and delinquency for blacks and whites. It appears that policies which reduce the stigma of father-absence for white girls are more likely to succeed in reducing delinquency due to father-absence than policies of economic improvement.     

AUTO THEFT Offender and Offense Characteristics

Few empirical studies describe auto thieves. The most influential and frequently cited research is that by Wittenberg and Blusterier who characterize auto theft as a “favored-group” delinquency. The findings of the present study challenge this conclusion. Although the majority of those arrested for auto theft are white. blacks are disproportionately represented; most thieves come from lower-class neighborhoods: and the distribution of juvenile thieves by fathers’ occupational status does not appear to differ from that of other delinquents. Five types of out theft are suggested; the offender and offense characteristics are empirically examined.     

THE CAUSES OF GIRLS’ DELINQUENCY AND THEIR PROGRAM IMPLICATIONS

This article summarizes some of the literature reviewed by the Girls Study Group, which is a federally funded project aimed at assessing the causes of girls’ delinquency as well as evaluating programs to address it. The literature reveals that a number of factors such as family dysfunction, involvement with antisocial peers, and living in disadvantaged neighborhoods are correlated with delinquency for both boys and girls. Some factors, however, are gender sensitive, meaning that either girls are more exposed to a given risk factor than boys or react somewhat differently to a given risk factor. Girls have higher rates of exposure to sexual assault, which is associated with delinquency and, although more research is needed, they are more affected by the impacts of early puberty, when it is coupled with harsh parenting and disadvantaged neighborhoods. This article discusses some implications of the research on correlates of delinquency for programming for girls and makes recommendations for program selection.     

THE GENDERING OF VIOLENT DELINQUENCY*

This article addresses two issues that have received little attention in empirical research-the mechanisms explaining variation in violent delinquency within gender and variation in levels of violence across gender, or the gender gap. Toward these ends, the article synthesizes arguments from differential association theory, feminist theory, and gender studies. The outcome is a theoretical model of gender and violent delinquency that focuses on the interplay between structural positions and cultural processes. The theoretical model includes a core construct of differential association theory-the learning of definitions favorable to violence-as well as arguments about cultural definitions or meanings of gender and gender differences in the role of familial controls and peer influence, which are derived from feminist theory and gender studies. It then examines how these cultural processes are conditioned by structural positions. One of the key arguments is that the violent delinquency of females is controlled through rather subtle, indirect mechanisms, while the violence of males is controlled in more direct, overt ways. The results of the empirical analysis support the the-oretical arguments, contribute to the limited understanding of the variation in violent offending among females, and explain the sources of the gender gap in violent delinquency. The article thereby allows greater understanding of the broader phenomenon of juvenile violence.     

The Dynamics of Female Delinquency, 1976-1980

This article employs self-report delinquency data from a national probability sample of adolescents to describe the epidemiology and dynamics of female delinquency from 1976 to 1980. Both age and cohort effects are examined, utilizing incidence and prevalence data categorized by race, social class, and place of residence. Within years there are few consistent, significant differences in the incidence of delinquency by any of the demographic variables analyzed. Significant race and social class differentials exist, however, in the prevalence of assaultive crimes among the panel, with substantially higher proportions of black and lower-class females reporting involvement in violent behavior for three of the five years. Strong cohort effects are observed for all delinquency measures. In general, the incidence and prevalence of serious female delinquency appear to decline with age, and the 15-17-year-old females in 1980 are significantly less involved in delinquency than their same-age peers were in 1976.     

NEIGHBORHOOD RACIAL CONTEXT AND PERCEPTIONS OF POLICE‐BASED RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AMONG BLACK YOUTH*

Renewed interest has occurred in the United States around racially biased policing. Unfortunately, little is known about the effects of neighborhood social context on black adolescents' experiences with racially biased policing. In the current study, we examined whether perceptions of racially biased policing against black adolescents are a function of neighborhood racial composition, net of other neighborhood‐ and individual‐level factors. Using two waves of data from 763 black adolescents, we found that black adolescents most frequently are discriminated against by the police in predominantly white neighborhoods. This effect especially is pronounced in white neighborhoods that experienced recent growth in the size of the black population. Our results lend support to the “defended” white neighborhood thesis.     

NEIGHBORHOOD AND DELINQUENCY: AN ASSESSMENT OF CONTEXTUAL EFFECTS*

The sociological perspectives which helped formulate the study of delinquency and continue to underlie more specific conceptual frameworks—Social Disorganization, Subculture, and Labeling—point to the importance of contextual effects in the dynamics explaining delinquent and criminal behavior. Yet, systematic examination of such effects has been all but neglected. This paper delineates and empirically assesses neighborhood characteristics postulated to represent contextual factors affecting individual delinquency and criminality. Data were collected from a stratified random sample of adolescent males drawn from 12 New York City neighborhoods. The initial model, designed to refine hypotheses specifying community contextual effects, exhibits a highly satisfactory fit to the data. The framework underscores the importance of considering distinct community contextual effects as well as individual-level effects. Two neighborhood-level factors, the effects of which are quite distinct, are important: the community's level of organizational participation and the extent of disorder and criminal subculture. The indirect and direct effects of these factors are elaborated in relation to three measures of de1inquency—namely, self-reported, officially recorded, and severe self-reported delinquency.     

RACE,CODE OF THE STREET,AND VIOLENT DELINQUENCY: A MULTILEVEL INVESTIGATION OF NEIGHBORHOOD STREET CULTURE AND INDIVIDUAL NORMS OF VIOLENCE*

The study outlined in this article drew on Elijah Anderson's (1999) code of the street perspective to examine the impact of neighborhood street culture on violent delinquency. Using data from more than 700 African American adolescents, we examined 1) whether neighborhood street culture predicts adolescent violence above and beyond an adolescent's own street code values and 2) whether neighborhood street culture moderates individual-level street code values on adolescent violence. Consistent with Anderson's hypotheses, neighborhood street culture significantly predicts violent delinquency independent of individual-level street code effects. Additionally, neighborhood street culture moderates individual-level street code values on violence in neighborhoods where the street culture is widespread. In particular, the effect of street code values on violence is enhanced in neighborhoods where the street culture is endorsed widely.     

Neighborhood Advantage,Relative Status,and Violence Among Foreign-Born Adolescents

Immigrant families and contexts are protective for delinquency, even though recent immigrants are more likely to be poor and reside in disadvantaged settings. Yet it is unclear whether the protective effects of immigrant status depend on the match between family SES and neighborhood advantage. This study examines the interplay among immigrant status, family SES, and neighborhood advantage in predicting adolescent violence. Using multilevel longitudinal data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (N = 1,908), findings show that first-generation adolescents from low-SES families have the highest odds of violence in the most advantaged contexts, exceeding that of even third-generation adolescents. In contrast, high-SES first-generation adolescents have the highest probability of violence in less advantaged contexts, but the lowest in the most advantaged neighborhoods. The results identify conditions under which the protective nature of immigrant status is eroded, and highlight the importance of relative status for understanding violence among foreign-born adolescents.     

Developmental explanations of delinquent behavior among siblings: Common factor vs. transmission mechanisms

We compare the statistical fit of two developmental explanations of delinquent behavior using longitudinal sibling data. The transmission effects model relates future delinquency to prior delinquency, delayed sibling effects, and unique environment. The common-factor effects model adds to these influences a latent variable representing persistent causes shared by siblings. These two models were fit to longitudinal data on 470 sibling pairs interviewed on three occasions. The common-factor effects model fit the data more closely than the transmission model. Nonmutually exclusive interpretations of the common effects model include (a) personality dispositions and (b) unchanging aspects of the social environment such as concurrent sibling effects and siblings' common friends.