Christopher J. Schreck

“I Ain't Gonna Let No One Disrespect Me” Does the Code of the Street Reduce or Increase Violent Victimization among African American Adolescents?

The authors extended Elijah Andersons “code of the street” thesis to explain victimization among a longitudinal sample of 720 African American adolescents from 259 neighborhoods. Specifically, the authors assessed whether the street code promotes greater safety or aggravates the risk for victimization. Anderson portrayed the code of the street, which encourages individuals to appear aggressive and tough, as an adaptation necessary for safely functioning in a disadvantaged, high-crime community. He theorized that adopting the street code promotes respect among ones peers and would-be attackers, thereby increasing ones safety against victimization. The authors found no support for the idea that adopting the street code reduces victimization. Instead, their findings suggest that individuals who adopt the street code have higher levels of victimization. Furthermore, adopting the street code exacerbates the risk for victimization beyond what would be the case from living in a dangerous and disorganized neighborhood.

Specifying the Influence of Family and Peers on Violent Victimization Extending Routine Activities and Lifestyles Theories

The fact that crime and victimization share similar correlates suggests that family and peer contexts are potentially useful for explaining individual differences in violent victimization. In this research, we used routine activities and lifestyles frameworks to reveal how strong bonds of family attachment can promote more effective guardianship while simultaneously making children less attractive as targets and limiting their exposure to motivated offenders. Conversely, the routine activities perspective suggests that exposure to delinquent peers will enhance risk. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we found that family and peer context variables do correspond with a higher risk of violent victimization among teenagers, net controls for unstructured and unsupervised activities and demographic characteristics. The role of family and peer group characteristics in predicting victimization risk suggests new theoretical directions for victimization research.

Danger on the Streets Marginality and Victimization Among Homeless People

Data from a national survey are used to examine the relationship between marginality and criminal victimization among the homeless. The results show that homeless people are victimized disproportionately often both in absolute and relative terms (i.e., compared to members of the domiciled population)and that the modal pattern entails multiple forms of victimization. Conventional demographic antecedents of victimization receive little support in the analysis. However, measures representing different dimensions of marginality—disaffiliation, health problems, traumatic events, and lifestyle-exposure—all significantly increase the odds of being victimized, as hypothesized. The failure of the lifestyle-exposure variables to mediate the effects of the other predictors suggests that distal factors should be considered along with proximate ones if the vulnerability of disadvantaged groups to crime is to be adequately understood. Implications of the present research for the victim-offender relationship and the meaning of victimization are also discussed.

Distress and Violent Victimization among Young Adolescents Early Puberty and the Social Interactionist Explanation

This article explores the empirical validity of the Social Interactionist (SI) perspective as an explanation of violent victimization. An additional goal is to explain why early puberty among adolescents is connected to violent victimization. Using SI, we theorize that early puberty creates unusually high levels of distress for adolescents (more so for girls than boys), causing them to behave in ways that create grievances with others and provoke victimization. The research hypotheses were tested using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a nationally representative data set of teenagers attending school in the United States. We found that measures of distress significantly increase violent victimization among members of the sample. Furthermore, the SI measures partially mediated the relationship between early puberty and violent victimization for boys and fully mediated this relationship for girls.

He Sends Rain Upon the Wicked A Panel Study of the Influence of Religiosity on Violent Victimization

This research investigates low religiosity as a predictor of violent victimization. The theoretical framework the authors present here posits that religiosity should help structure daily activities in such a way as to (a) limit exposure to offenders by encouraging contact with peers who are less deviant, (b) lessen ones target suitability by inhibiting grievance-causing delinquent activity, and (c) enhance guardianship by fostering stronger bonds with parents and school. Thus, although researchers expect religion to be a bivariate predictor of violent victimization, its influence should be indirect. The authors investigate these claims using two waves from the public-use version of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). The results indicate that religiosity is a correlate of violent victimization. Consistent with these theoretical claims, the effect of religiosity is not direct, but instead occurs indirectly primarily through its influence on self-reported delinquency and peer deviance.

On the Origins of the Violent Neighborhood: A Study of the Nature and Predictors of Crime‐Type Differentiation across Chicago Neighborhoods

Little of the literature on crime at the neighborhood level examines whether and why some crime types predominate in a given neighborhood over other types. Many macro‐level theories do make predictions about the sort of crimes that occur in some neighborhoods, although they remain largely untested. This study focuses on one of these theories, differential opportunity, and its predictions about the making of violent neighborhoods. Drawing on various data sources, this inquiry determines whether crime profiles differ across Chicago neighborhoods—that is, whether there is significant variation across neighborhoods on ratio of violent crimes to other crime types. Next, it also investigates whether the structural factors implicated in the differential opportunity perspective distinguish these neighborhoods or only predict the incidence of crime. The results reveal significant differences in the distribution of crimes across neighborhoods, as well as show that certain factors identify neighborhoods that favor violence over other crimes.

Gender, Internal Controls, and Academic Dishonesty: Investigating Mediating and Differential Effects

While research has found that males tend to commit more academically dishonest acts than females, we know little about what accounts for the gender differential or whether the same factors can explain academic dishonesty for males and females. This study assesses how internal controls, i.e., self‐control, shame, embarrassment, and moral beliefs, account for the relationship between gender and cheating behavior. Using a sample of students from a southern university in the United States, this study explores three questions. First, do internal controls vary across males and females? Second, can internal controls account for gender differences in test cheating? Third, do internal controls differentially or similarly predict test cheating for males and females? Results show that (a) gender differences among several internal controls as well as cheating behavior, (b) internal controls reduce the gender gap but cannot completely explain why gender differences exist in cheating, and (c) two internal controls, self‐control and moral beliefs, differentially predict male and female test cheating. We discuss limitations of our findings and how research can expand the investigation of gender differences and explanations for engaging in academically dishonest acts.

Reconsidering the Leading Myths of Stranger Child Abduction

This paper addresses the two foremost myths of child abduction: (1) that it is generally committed by strangers; and (2) that the phenomenon is a growing problem. These commonly held views are considered in light of the extant empirical knowledge base, including the recently released NISMART‐2 study. Research indicates that stranger abduction occurs less frequently than family abduction or acquaintance abduction; stereotypical stranger abductions are rarer still, and stereotypical stranger abductions resulting in homicide are extraordinarily rare. There is no evidence of a stranger‐abduction epidemic, and there is no clear evidence for a child abduction epidemic overall. There is, however, strong evidence that parental abduction is widespread. Assessment of the extant knowledge base suggests the need for: (1) national longitudinal studies with consistent typologies and methodologies which could determine the scope and trend of child abduction; (2) increased efforts to verify interview data to avoid overestimation; (3) theoretical construction to predict/explain abduction behaviors; and (4) migration of new elaborated typologies into NIBRS and especially UCR data collection.

Lessons of the Street Code Policy Implications for Reducing Violent Victimization Among Disadvantaged Citizens

Elijah Anderson argued that adoption of the street code should reduce victimization risk for individuals who have to navigate disadvantaged, high-crime neighborhoods. In a recent article, Stewart, Schreck, and Simons (2006) examined whether adopting the street code decreased violent victimization, as Anderson suggested. Stewart et al. found no support for the idea that adopting the street code reduces victimization. Instead, they found that individuals who adopt the street code have higher levels of victimization. In addition, the results highlighted that the street code is related to both violent offending and violent victimization. In this article, the authors focus on the policy implications of Andersons “code of the street” thesis, violent victimization, and offending. They argue that improving police—citizen interactions may be a starting point for restoring legitimacy in the police and criminal justice system, which may in turn reduce violence in street code—dominated areas.

Exploring the Scholarly Output of Academic Organization Leadership in Criminology and Criminal Justice: A Research Note on Publication Productivity

A number of studies analyzing publication productivity of criminology and criminal justice scholars have emerged in recent years. More specifically, this body of literature applies varied cross‐sectional and longitudinal methodological approaches to demonstrate the publication productivity of scholars. Furthermore, these studies often diverge in their operationalization of the key construct of interest (publication productivity); however, one relative consistency is the list of “elite” criminology and criminal justice journals. This study seeks to explore the elite publication productivity among recent executive board members of the American Society of Criminology and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences along with the board members of Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences’ regional affiliate associations. Comparisons are made between and within organizations/associations, and individual board member rankings are also presented. The results of this study indicate that publishing in the elite criminology and criminal justice journals is rare and there is variation across organizations/associations and variation among their respective members in the rate of publishing in these elite journals. Suggestions for future research examining publication productivity are also discussed.