FEAR OF CRIME AND VICTIMIZATION AMONG THE ELDERLY IN DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMMUNITIES*

The central issue examined here is the effect that community setting, relative to other factors, has on victimization and fear of crime among the elderly. Findings are from 1,410 in-home interviews in two retirement communities (age homogeneous) and two age-heterogeneous communities. Victimization of elderly is low in all communities, and although nearly half of the respondents have some fear of crime, the percentage reporting great fear of crime is low. Victimization and fear of crime are only weakly related to one another, and the regression model for each does not account for much variance. But both are significantly related to the type of community, and fear of crime is also related to other variables. The greater the age density of the community (greater concentration of elderly), the less crime and less fear of crime. Living arrangements, sociodemographic variables, and health status of the elderly as indicators of personal vulnerability to crime are not related to victimization, but are related to fear of crime, and effects of community setting on fear of crime are reduced when these other variables are taken into account. Suggestions for other, unmeasured, sources of variations and implications for future research are presented.     

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.     

PERCEPTIONS OF RACIAL PROFILING: RACE,CLASS, AND PERSONAL EXPERIENCE*

Racial profiling by the police has become an increasingly controversial issue in recent years, but we know little about the extent of the problem and even less about public perceptions of profiling. This article analyzes recent national survey data on citizens' views of racial profiling. We find that both race and personal experience with profiling are strong predictors of attitudes toward profiling and that, among blacks, social class affects views of the prevalence and acceptability of the practice. The findings on social class point to the need for further investigation and explanation of class influences on evaluations of the police.     

Aquatic Crime: A New Horizon in Criminal Justice Research

This article focuses upon a relatively unexplored area of criminal activity, namely, aquatic or water based criminal activity. The specific concern is the need to focus upon the vast domain of water, engulfing over two-thirds of the earth's surface, in understanding and expaining many forms of intranational and international criminality. Emphasis is placed upon the need for comprehensive research in order to fill a void in criminological theory and to generate a better understanding of the potential of aquatic environments in promoting and concealing criminal activity. Moreover, comprehensive research is essential in order to promote a realistic assessment of the nature and extent of aquatic crime and to improve our ability to effectively combat such activity.