Smart Library

Allison, J. A., & Wrightsman, L. S. (1993). Rape: The misunderstood crime. Newbury Park: Sage.

Does Pornography Cause Rape? A Review of Studies: Feminists and conservatives often agree that pornography contributes to sexual violence. Two researchers review the evidence that links images of graphic sex to rape by men.

Sexual Violence and Society: The Characteristics of a Rapist: Which men are more likely to become rapists? Two researchers review sociological studies and conclude that some combination of childhood abuse, negative attitudes toward women, lack of social skills, and general aggressiveness is to blame.

The Roots of Rape: Shedding New Light on Old Stereotypes: Are all rapists maniacs who are easily identified and hence avoidable? Are victims of rape responsible for their fate? Two researchers say that public stereotypes and academic explanations of rape often are flawed.

Anderson, E. (1990). Streetwise: Race, class, and change in an urban community. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

'From Sugar to Shit': Crack Addiction Brings Good People Down: Residents of an inner-city community in Philadelphia describe how addiction to crack cocaine has destroyed their lives or the lives of neighbors and friends.

'We Call 'Em Nazis': Police Tactics in Inner-City Philadelphia: Residents of a poor black neighborhood describe the different tactics taken by local police officers and those from outside the community.

A Tale of Two Communities: Inner-City Gentrification and Decay in Philadelphia: A 14-year-long ethnographic study contrasts social life in a Philadelphia ghetto with a neighboring community undergoing gentrification.

Drug Trade Replaces Lost Jobs, Hastens Urban Decay: A study of a Philadelphia ghetto finds that its underground economy has created a community where poverty, child abuse, and crime are a way of life.

Fighting Back: Ghetto Residents Take Lead in War on Drugs: Older residents of a Philadelphia neighborhood are trying to bridge the generation gap created by the drug culture. One man describes how they have been able to reduce drug dealing and crime in their neighborhood.

Inner-City Residents Trade Civil Rights for Safe Streets: Law-abiding black and white residents of Philadelphia's inner city often endorse a tough "law-and-order" approach to crime. The result is more cooperation with the police and less police harassment.

Just Say No: Strong Families Counter Peer Pressures to 'Get High': Sociologist finds that broken families leave children in a Philadelphia ghetto vulnerable to the lure of drugs and the glamor of the streets. Drug addiction, in turn, can break even strong families apart.

Police See Ghetto Streets in Black and White: A study of Philadelphia finds that police in inner-city neighborhoods often stereotype young black men. These men describe how they avoid becoming the routine target of police work.

Streetwise: How Ghetto Residents Try to Avoid Becoming Victims of Crime: Interviews with residents of an inner-city neighborhood in Philadelphia find that they have learned ingenious ways to outwit would-be thieves.

The Drug Culture: Dealers and Addicts in Philadelphia's Inner City: An urban ethnographer describes the structure of the drug trade and its impact on the community. He finds that the underground economy is a breeding ground for gangs, prostitution, and crime.

Urban Renewal: Education, Drug Rehabilitation, and Jobs: A study of Philadelphia's inner city concludes that the social problems of urban America will only get worse if young people are not given a stake in following society's rules.

Blau, J. R., & Blau, P. M. (1982). The cost of inequality: Metropolitan structure and violent crime. American Sociological Review, 47, 114-117.

Blau and Blau: How Could Economic Inequality Promote Violent Crime?: Two sociologists argue that economic inequality leads to frustration, resentment, and eventually violence when it does not seem justified. Since race is an unjust source of inequality, they say that crime rates should be especially high among urban blacks.

Evidence Suggests that Violent Crime is Due to Inequality: A statistical analysis of the 125 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. supports the idea that economic inequalities between blacks and whites are a source of frustration and lead to violent crime.

Sociologists Have Many Explanations for High Rates of Urban Violent Crime: Two sociologists review theories linking geography, race, poverty, and inequality to urban crime rates.

Blumstein, A. (1995). Youth-violence, guns, and the illicit-drug industry. The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 86, 26-29.

How are Drugs and Crime Related?: How does the drug market cause other types of crime? A researcher suggests 4 ways that drug markets give rise to other kinds of crime.

Researcher Suggests that the Crack Cocaine Market was Responsible for the Dramatic Increase in Juvenile Homicides: Why was there a sharp increase in the rate of juvenile homicides in the mid 1980s and early 1990s? One researcher ties the rise in youth murder rates to the development of crack cocaine markets in large U.S. cities.

Blumstein, A., & Rosenfeld, R. (1999). Trends in rates of violence in the U.S.A. Studies On Crime and Crime Prevention, 8, 139-146.

Changes in Teen Murder Rates: What is Behind the Trend?: Murder rates among teens skyrocketed during the 1980s to peak in the early 1990s. Since then the murder rate among teens in the U.S. has dropped. Researchers explain the trend.

Murder Rates Soar Among Older Teens During the Early 1990s: The murder rate in the U.S. rose through the 1980s and peaked in the mid 1990s. The increase in the overall murder rate was due to the dramatic rise in the murder rates among older teens and young adults.

Boggess, S., & Bound, J. (1997). Did criminal activity increase during the 1980s? Comparisons across data sources. Social Science Quarterly, 78, 725-739.

Blame It on Crack: Why Crime Seems to Have Risen in the 1980s: The overall crime rate dropped during the 1980s, but the perception is that it went up. This misperception is caused by 2 trends in the crime rate: murder went up, as did cocaine-related drug arrests. The drug arrests led to a greater prison population.

Did Crime in the U.S. Rise during the 1980s? Data Say Yes and No: Despite the popular belief that crime rose significantly in the 1980s, a comparison of different measures of crime indicates that on the whole crime did not rise over that period of time.

Bursik, R. J., Jr., & Grasmick, H. G. (1993). Economic deprivation and neighborhood crime rates, 1960-1980. Law and Society Review, 27, 263-268.

Chicago Neighborhoods in 1960: Concentration of Deprivation and Disorganization High and on the Rise: A comparison of Chicago in 1960 and 1980 finds that poor neighborhoods suffered both economically and socially during this time. The result is a dramatic increase in the concentration of poverty and social disorganization.

Poverty and Urban Crime: A Direct or Indirect Link?: Two criminologists discuss the history of competing theories of crime. One views crime simply as an alternative method of obtaining resources, while the other says that poverty causes crime through its indirect effect on families and communities.

Sociologists Discuss Problems in Measuring Factors Linked to Urban Crime: The results of research on the relationship among poverty, social disorganization, and crime often vary greatly. The reason may be differences in how both poverty and social disorganization are measured and defined.

Study of Chicago Neighborhoods Finds Link Between Poverty and Youth Crime is Indirect, Not Direct: Two sociologists offer statistical evidence for the idea that economic deprivation produces urban crime by weakening community ties.

Cook, P. J., & Laub, J. H. (1998). The unprecedented epidemic in youth violence. In M. Tonry & M. H. Moore (Eds.), Crime and justice: A review of research (pp. 34-51). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

An Epidemic of Youth Violence? What the Numbers Say: The perception that youth violence increased dramatically during the 1980s and 1990s is misleading. Two researchers find that violent crime among youths grew at the same rate as for older men. However, murder rates show that young criminals became much more violent during this time.

Less Morals or More Guns? Explaining the Rise in Young Killers: The soaring murder rate among juveniles and young adults during the 1980s and 1990s has been explained as either a rise in "moral poverty" or in the availability and use of guns. Two researchers review homicide data and conclude that the epidemic of young killers is due to a change in circumstances rather than character.

Decker, S. H. (1996). Collective and normative features of gang violence. Justice Quarterly, 13, 251-261.

Gangs Need Outside Threats to Define Themselves: What transforms a neighborhood group into a gang? While many things are involved, a researcher identifies the importance of the threat of violence from outside groups as a catalyst to turn a neighborhood group into a gang.

It's All About Violence: Neighborhood Gangs in St. Louis: Based on 3 years studying St. Louis gangs, a researcher claims that violence is at the heart of gangs. He looks at the place of violence in 5 spheres of gang activity.

Feld, B. C. (1999). Bad kids. New York: Oxford University Press.

Controlling Other People's Children: The Origin of the Juvenile Court: According to law professor Barry Feld, the Juvenile Court in the U.S. was created at a particular point in history with a particular set of ideals in mind in order to address a particular set of problems. Because of the dramatic social and cultural changes that have occurred over the past century, Feld questions whether the juvenile court has outlived its usefulness.

How to Integrate Youthful Criminals into the Existing Criminal Court: There are several alternatives for how to address the problems facing the juvenile court in the U.S. One alternative is to abolish the juvenile court altogether and handle youthful offenders through the criminal court. A legal scholar what would need to be done for this alternative to work.

Is a Juvenile Criminal Court Possible?: A legal scholar says that there are three alternatives to dealing with the problems of the current juvenile court in the U.S. He presents arguments why two of these alternatives are not workable.

What is Wrong with the Juvenile Court? Court Decision Making Gives Rise to Racial Injustice: How can we explain differences in youth sentencing patterns by the juvenile court? The bottom line is that race makes a difference. A legal scholar explains how racial discrimination occurs in the juvenile justice system.

What is Wrong with the Juvenile Court? Legal Scholar Says Reform Attempts Have not Worked: A legal scholar reviews the different efforts that have been made to reform the juvenile court. He says that these attempts have failed.

What is Wrong with the Juvenile Court? Status Jurisdiction Causes Many Problems, Says Legal Scholar: The jurisdiction that juvenile courts exercise over children is the cause of a number of problems, says one legal scholar.

Why the Juvenile Court Cannot Work: A law professor argues that the problems plaguing the juvenile court in the U.S. are not simply a matter of faulty implementation. The problem is a fundamental flaw in the conception of the juvenile court. By trying to make the juvenile court both a social welfare agency as well as an institution to serve justice to criminals, the court is able to do neither.

Hagan, J. (1994). Crime and disrepute. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.

Conflict Theories of Crime: Who Decides Which Actions are Criminal?: Some theories of crime see it as any activity which threatens those who have the power to define it as criminal. The result is that most "criminals" will be young, poor, or a minority.

Disinvestment in American Cities Forces Residents to Turn to Crime: Residential segregation, deindustrialization, and a growing concentration of poverty in inner cities represent a disinvestment in the social, cultural, physical, and human captial that we all need to succeed in life.

Ethnographic Studies of American Cities Support a New Sociological Theory of Crime: A summary of recent ethnographies of poverty and crime provides a picture of distressed communities in which capital disinvestment processes have made economic prospects bleak. Crime has become a short-term adaptive form of recapitalization for youth who have few alternatives.

Sociological Theory Links Crime to Breakdown of Norms and Institutions: Structural-functional theories of crime try to chart the breakdown or strain in institutions and socialization processes that, under normal conditions, produce conformity.

Statistical Research Shows that Poor Urban Communities are Breeding Grounds for Crime: Quantitative studies of crime point to an economic disinvestment in segregated inner-city neighborhoods that has lead to a breakdown in familial and communities ties. The result is a loss of control over both delinquent behavior and its consequences.

Symbolic Interactionism and Deviance: How People Justify their Crimes: Symbolic interactionist theories of crime try to understand how norms or values that are legitimate in one context can be used to justify criminal activity in another.

Harer, M. D., & Steffensmeier, D. (1992). The differing effects of economic inequality on black and white rates of violence. Social Forces, 70, 1035-1054.

Harer and Steffensmeier: How Reliable is Research on Urban Crime?: Two sociologists find that the conclusions of many previous statistical studies fail to hold when crime rates are broken down by race. They present evidence supporting the idea that police tend to tolerate crime in poor black neighborhoods.

Sociologists Question Link Between Economic Inequality and Inner-City Crime: Theory and research suggest that studies linking economic inequality and urban crime have used the wrong measure of inequality. People make comparisons within rather than between racial groups.

Study of U.S. Cities Fails to Link Economic Inequality and Black Violent Crime: Statistical analysis of crime rates broken down by race finds that economic inequality is a cause of violent crime for whites but not for blacks.

Kennedy, D. M., Piehl, A. M., & Braga, A. A. (1996). Youth violence in Boston: Gun markets, serious youth offenders, and a use-reduction strategy. Law and Contemporary Problems, 59, 147-156.

Keeping Guns Away from Kids: Boston's Illicit Firearms Market: Research on Boston finds that the most violent youth gun crimes are committed by relatively few hardcore gang members. The most popular firearms are "new-in-the-box" semiautomatic pistols that are more likely to come from large gun-running operations and are the easiest to trace.

Keeping Guns Away from Kids: What Can be Done?: Research on Boston finds that youth gun violence may be reduced by targeting hardcore gang members who drive demand and by using traces on the most popular firearms to reduce supply. Results remain to be seen.

Keeping Guns Away from Kids: What We Know and Need to Know: Studies on the illicit gun market have reached some tentative conclusions but more research need to be done. The Boston Gun Project is aimed at reducing youth gun violence by determining what drives the demand for and supply of illicit firearms in one American city.

LaFree, G., Drass, K. A., & O'Day, P. (1992). Race and crime in postwar America: Determinants of African-American and white rates, 1957-1988. Criminology, 30, 166-85.

Race and Crime: Effects of Income, Education, and Family Structure Differ for Whites and Blacks: Crime data from 1957 to 1988 shows that increasing economic and educational opportunities reduces crime among whites but increases crime among blacks. The reason may be that a black urban underclass is being left behind.

Race and the American Dream: Does Increasing Opportunity Always Reduce Crime?: Research has not been able consistently to link economic well-being, educational opportunity, and family structure to urban crime. The reason may be the failure to take the unique experiences of poor, inner-city blacks into account.

Land, K. C., McCall, P. L., & Cohen, L. E. (1990). Structural covariates of homicide rates: Are there any invariances across time and social space? American Journal of Sociology, 95, 922-963.

Are Sociological Theories of Homicide Dead?: Sociologists have several well-defined theories of violent crime, but a review of 21 statistical studies fails to find any consistent empirical support for any theory of homicide in the U.S.

Making Sociological Theories of Homicide Fit the Facts: A model of homicide finds the expected link to general levels of impoverishment in U.S. cities, metropolitan areas, and states by combining correlated factors such as levels of poverty, income inequality, and single-parent households into a single variable.

Sociologists say that Research on Crime Suffers from a Host of Ills: The failure of statistical studies to find a consistent link between poverty, unemployment, broken families, and violent crime may result from methodological problems such as limited samples, misspecificed models, and invalid results.

Messner, S. F., & Rosenfeld, R. (1994). Crime and the American dream. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.

Conservative Public Policy: Losing the 'War on Crime': Statistics show that conservative "get tough" policies have overcrowded prisons without having any appreciable effect on crime. Two sociologists explain why.

Crime and the American Dream: Cultural Change Needed to Wake from Urban Nightmare: The American Dream's embrace of individualism and materialism has produced crime by denying the importance of social obligations and by deemphasizing the worth of nonmonetary goals.

Fundamental Changes in Social Institutions Needed to Control Crime in America: Two sociologists claim that pro-family policies, different educational goals, alternatives to jail, and a mixed economy would reduce crime by emphasizing goals other than monetary success.

Liberal Crime-Control Policies Fail to Get at the Source: Efforts to expand economic opportunities for minorities and the poor merely reinforce America's monetary definition of success. Poverty was reduced in the 60s and 70s while crime continued to grow.

Messner and Rosenfeld: Has the American Dream Succeeded in Creating Crime?: Two sociologists argue that the aspects of American culture that make it unique also are at the root of America's long history of problems with crime.

Messner, S. F., & Sampson, R. J. (1991). The sex ratio, family disruption, and rates of violent crime. Social Forces, 69, 693-713.

Race, Sex, and Crime: Does More Men Mean More Urban Violence?: A statistical study shows that past research has failed to find a link between crime and the ratio of men to women in a community because having more men, who commit more crime than women, also decreases crime by reducing the level of family disruption. This effect is stronger for blacks than whites.

Pattillo, M. E. (1998). Sweet mothers and gangbangers: Managing crime in a black middle-class neighborhood. Social Forces, 76, 765-770.

'They Live Here Too': Gangbangers In a Middle-Class Black Neighborhood: Most researchers focus on crime in poor black neighborhoods. However, gang members in middle-class black communities often team up with law-abiding residents to keep crime down.

Crime and the Black Middle Class: An Overlooked Problem: Most researchers focus on crime in poor blacks neighborhoods. But how much do we really know about how middle-class blacks live in U.S. cities?

Knitting a Community Together on Chicago's South Side: Most researchers focus on crime in poor black neighborhoods. But what features ensure the stability of middle-class black communities in U.S. cities?

Policing a Middle-Class Black Community without the Police: Most researchers focus on crime in poor black neighborhoods. But how do middle-class blacks control crime in their communities?

Prothrow-Stith, D. (1991). Deadly consequences. New York: HarperCollins.

Not All Gangs are the Same: Types of Youth Gangs: The media presents a distorted view of youth gangs, says former Massachusetts commissioner of public health, Deborah Prothrow-Stith, M.D. Dr. Prothrow-Stith examines research on gangs and finds that reality is more complex than the going stereotypes of gangs.

Why Kids Join Gangs: Kids join gangs because gangs meet common adolescent needs. A noted physician and Harvard University dean explains the attraction that some youth find to gangs.

Sampson, R. J. (1993). The community context of violent crime. In W. J. Wilson (Eds.), Sociology and the public agenda (pp. 274-279). Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

Government: The Solution to Inner-City Violence or its Cause?: Government policies such as the location of freeways and public housing, lax code enforcement, and urban renewal have had the unintended effect of increasing urban crime by creating pockets of extreme poverty. A sociologist calls for a more enlightened approach.

Social Research Links Broken Communities to Violent Crime: A community controls crime by having stable families, extended friendship networks, and local organizations such as schools and churches that offer alternatives to gangs. A disorganized community risks developing a subculture of violence and crime.

Sociologist Claims that Studies of Violent Crime Have Many Flaws: Statistical studies of crime usually fail to uncover the variables that social theory says intervene between community traits and violent crime. The solution is more community-based research.

Sociologists Look to Community Traits to Explain Crime: A review of sociological research during the 1970s and 1980s finds 5 different social factors that have been linked to urban crime in America.

Sampson, R. J. (1987). Urban black violence: The effect of male joblessness and family disruption. American Journal of Sociology, 93, 348-382.

Race and Violent Crime -- What's the Connection?: Liberals often blame crime in black ghettos on poverty, while some conservatives point to the high number of single-parent households. A sociologist argues for the more complicated position that poverty leads to broken families, then crime.

Sociologist Ties Persistent Male Unemployment to Urban Black Crime: Statistical analysis of census data for 156 American cities finds that the lack of employed males in inner cities accounts for the rise in female-headed households. The researcher cites 3 reasons why family disruption might lead to more crime.

Study Finds that Poverty and Joblessness Break Up Families: Analysis of 1980 census data shows that high rates of male unemployment is the reason why there are so many female-headed households in some black communities.

Unemployment Leads to Broken Families, Then Crime: Statistical analysis of census and crime data for 156 American cities finds that unemployment affects robbery and homicide rates by disrupting families. Welfare and race do not appear to have any significant relationship to urban crime.

Sampson, R. J., & Wilson, W. J. (1991). Toward a theory of race, crime, and inequality. Paper presented at the 50th annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology.

Race, Crime and Social Breakdown: The Role of Community Culture: Young people in impoverished communities often view mainstream values as unviable or are not exposed to them at all. The result may be the development of deviant values that promote crime.

Race, Crime, and Social Breakdown: The Role of Community Structures: Factors that break down the formal and informal networks of interactions between residents may create more crime by decreasing the ability of a community to monitor itself. Certain public policies have had this effect.

Researchers Reluctant to Discuss Link Between Race and Crime: Although the statistics show a disproportionate amount of crime in blacks communities, research has failed to explain this link between race and crime. Two sociologists explain why.

Sociologists Claim that Broken Communities Create a Link Between Race and Crime: Two sociologists argue that researchers should look at the communities where crime occurs, not at the individuals who commit them. They say that this approach may be able to explain why crime rates are so high in some urban black neighborhoods.

Snyder, H., & Sickmund, M (1999). Juvenile offenders and victims: 1999 national report. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Retrieved October 16, 2002 from www.ncjrs.org/html/ojjdp/nationalreport99/index.html.

Trends in Juvenile Arrests: Sex, Age and Race Make a Difference: A national report finds that since the mid 1980s the juveniles most likely to be arrested for violent crimes are older adolescents, males and black youth. While the numbers of arrests rose through the mid 1990s, the numbers have declined since then.

Trends in Juvenile Homicide: Race, Sex and Age Make a Difference: According to a national report, African Americans and adolescent males have a higher likelihood of getting killed than other groups.

Trends in Juvenile Homicide: Use of Firearms Rises Dramatically and Then Falls: A 1999 national report on juvenile violence finds a dramatic increase in the number of juvenile murders where a firearm is involved between 1987 and 1993. The numbers have dropped off somewhat after 1993.

Trends in Juvenile Homicide: Who is Killing Who?: Research shows that, in general, most juveniles are killed by adults. However, there are some important differences among different age groups. While younger children are more likely to be killed by parents, older youth are more likely to be killed by older teens and young adults.

Sullivan, M. (1989). "Getting paid": Youth crime and work in the inner city. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

'Getting Over' and 'Getting Paid': Youth Crime in Three Brooklyn Neighborhoods: An anthropologist introduces his study of urban crime. He argues that the relation between poverty and crime can be uncovered by combining the rich detail of ethnographic work with the comparative method of survey and statistical research.

'Getting Paid': Drug Dealing as a Stable Job for Public Housing Youths: Although not without its dangers, drug dealing offers poor inner-city residents a less risky alternative to violent street crime. For many, dealing drugs offers the possibility of a steady career.

Commuter Crimes in New York City: The Chain-Snatching Crime-Wave: A study of a black inner-city community reveals why purse and chain snatching on subways reach epidemic proportions during the summer of 1980 and why it came to an end.

Controlling Youth Crime in a Blue-Collar New York City Neighborhood: An ethnographic study of 3 neighborhoods in Brooklyn uncovers the informal sources of social control over teen criminal activity that poor communities often lack.

Creating Enough Jobs will Cure Inner-City Crime: A study of three Brooklyn neighborhoods concludes that efforts to increase society's control over the criminal activities of youths will fail unless the economic conditions in poor neighborhoods are improved as well. The implication is that reform efforts must be community-wide.

Crime as Business: The Career of Drug Dealer in a Brooklyn Housing Project: A long-time drug dealer reveals the ins and outs of the drug trade, from getting started to daily operations to the problems with finding good honest work.

Culture and Youth Crime: Economy, Society, and Belief: Exposure to the consumerist culture without adult supervision or direction often leaves inner-city youths with the feeling that crime is an acceptible method of obtaining consumer goods. This then affects their view of age, gender, race, and family.

Decades of Research Yields No Good Explanation of Crime and Delinquency: Researchers have turned to biological and psychological factors as sociologists have failed to find a link between poverty and urban crime. An anthropologist argues that field work is needed to find such a link.

From Petty Theft to Armed Robbery: Career Paths of Young Criminals in a New York Housing Project: An ethnographic study of 3 Brooklyn neighborhoods uncovers reasons why the criminal activities of poor boys change as they mature.

Inner City Creates a Haven for Young Criminals: Geography, social isolation, and community tolerance encourage teens in one Hispanic neighborhood in Brooklyn to engage in criminal activities.

Inner-City Youths Follow Unique Pattern of Criminal Involvement: An anthropologist explains why some teens in a Hispanic community in Brooklyn progress from burglarizing factories to armed robbery to on-the-job theft.

Middle-Class Neighborhood Provides Ample Opportunities for Crime: The availability of decent jobs gives residents in a New York City community both legal and illegal alternatives to violent street crime. However, few become career criminals.

Middle-Class Teenage Criminals Graduate to Jobs: An anthropologist compares the pattern of youth crime in a middle-class New York City neighborhood with criminal activity in two poorer communities.

Middle-Class Teens in Brooklyn Evade the Consequences of Crime: An ethnographic study finds that youths in middle-class communities often commit the same crimes as their poorer peers, but that access to good attorneys and connections with politicans and local police officers often enables them to avoid punishment.

Organized Crime in the Inner City: Mike Concepcion as Car Thief: Car theft by nature requires more organization than other types of street crimes. A Hispanic youth in New York City tells how he got involved in organized auto theft rings.

Projectville: Public Housing Tenants are Targeted by Teens: An ethnographic study of a black high-rise housing project in New York City finds a large number of law-abiding residents living in fear of a handful of teens with little to do.

Theories of Urban Crime Must Consider Individual, Group Influences: A study of three Brooklyn neighborhoods finds that structural factors like schooling or employment opportunities determines which will have high rates of crime, but that individual factors such as family background, intelligence, and age determine which particular boys will engage in criminal activity.

Vaughan, R. D., McCarthy, J. F., Armstrong, B., Walter, H. J., Waterman, P. D., Tiezzi, L. (1996). Carrying and using weapons: A survey of minority junior high school students in New York City. American Journal of Public Health, 86, 568-572.

Carrying and Using Weapons: Researchers Find Alarming Rates among a Group of Hispanic Jr. High School Students: What are patterns of weapon use among Hispanic Jr. High School students? A team of researchers survey over 2000 youth from 3 New York City Jr. High Schools and find some alarming statistics.

Warr, M. (1996). Organization and instigation in delinquent groups. Criminology, 34, 11-26.

What do We Know about Juvenile Delinquency in Groups from Past Research?: What is the relationship between juvenile delinquency and group behavior? A sociologist analyzes past research on juvenile group activity and data from the National Survey of Youth and creates a catalogue of what we know about juvenile delinquency and group dynamics.

Who Instigates Delinquent Behavior in Juvenile Groups?: Research finds that most juvenile delinquent behavior occurs in groups. But, who instigates the deviant behavior? A researcher seeks to create a profile of instigators in groups of offending juveniles.

Wilkinson, D. L., & Fagan, J. (1996). Role of firearms in violence "scripts": The dynamics of gun events among adolescent males. Law and Contemporary Problems, 59, 55-66.

Guns are Symbols of Manhood, Power, and Security on Inner City Streets: Researchers find that inner-city youths value guns much more than simply being tools for crime. Firearms also have value as symbols for social status, self-worth, and personal power. Such symbolic value gives guns a central role in the street's violence "scripts."

Guns Create a Cycle of Violence and Fear in America's Inner Cities: Past and current studies on youth violence suggest that guns play a central role in the cycle of fear that grips inner cities. Two researchers suggest that understanding this role will help us rewrite violence "scripts" that often end in injury or death.

Young Men Act More Violently When Guns are Part of the Script: Theories of violent events suggest that rules and norms govern decisions to carry and use guns. Such decisions become "automatic" for young men in inner cities who learn that guns are valued symbols and tools in the street's violence "script."

Wilson, W. J. (1987). The truly disadvantaged: The inner city, the underclass, and public policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

The Truly Disadvantaged: Crime and Family Disruption in U.S. Cities: Statistics reveal a dramatic increase in crime and out-of-wedlock births in poor black neighborhoods during the 1970s and 1980s. Sociologist says that poverty links race to such urban decay.

Beyond Racism: Economic Changes in the 1970s and 1980s Penalized Inner-City Blacks: Sociologist William Julius Wilson argues that manufacturing jobs in urban centers were replaced by low-paying service jobs. The result is a trend towards chronic unemployment among inner-city black men that will be difficult to reverse.

Inner City Caught in Culture of Poverty, Cycle of Decline: Sociologist William Julius Wilson documents the increasing concentration of poverty in American inner cities and describes its effect on those who live there.

The Plight of the Urban Underclass: More than Racism Is to Blame: Are the problems of the ghetto due to racism? William Julius Wilson argues that past discrimination against blacks in northern cities set the stage for the economic and demographic changes that were to come.

Wollman, N., Yoder, B., Brumbaugh-Smith, J., Brown, D., Gross, H., & Long, B. (2000). National violence index. Retrieved October 17, 2002, from Manchester College Peace Studies Institute Web site: http://www.manchester.edu/academic/programs/departments/Peace_Studies/Files/peace2.htm.

Death Rate in the U.S. from Substance Abuse Rises During the Mid-1990s: Is the death rate from substance abuse on the rise in the U.S.? According to scholars at the Manchester College Peace Studies Institute, the answer is "yes"--at least from 1995 to 1998.

Family Violence Indices are Mixed in the U.S. During the Mid-1990s: Scholars at the Manchester College Peace Studies Institute say that, at least from 1995 to 1998, the indices of family violence are mixed. That is, while there does not appear to be any clear pattern in the rates of domestic violence during this period, the rates of child abuse and neglect did show a downward trend.

Hate Crime Index Drops Slightly in the U.S. During the Mid-1990s: Scholars at the Manchester College Peace Studies Institute created a hate crime index, drawing on U.S. government statistics. They find that from the mid to late 1990s, hate crimes appeared to decline slightly in the U.S.

Incarceration for Nonviolent Crimes Rise in the U.S. in the Mid-1990s: Scholars at the Manchester College Peace Studies Institute have used U.S. government statistics to create an index that tracks changes in the incarceration rate for nonviolent crime. The find a rise in the rates of incarceration for nonviolent crime in the U.S. at the end of the 1990s.

Interpersonal Violence in the U.S. Drops in the Mid-1990s: Scholars at the Manchester College Peace Studies Institute find that the rates of interpersonal violence dropped toward the end of the 1990s.

U.S. Poverty Disparity Index Drops Slightly in the Mid-1990s: Drawing on U.S. government statistics, scholars at the Manchester College Peace Studies Institute find that the differences between the wealthiest and poorest Americans declined slightly during the mid-1990s.

What Counts as Violence? Scholars Identify Different Kinds of Violence: Scholars at the Manchester College Peace Studies Institute create an index of different kinds of violence. They define violence to include many kinds of harm. They identify ways to measure the trends in the different kinds of violence.

Zimring, F. E. (1998). American youth violence. New York: Oxford University Press.

How are Adolescent Offenders Transferred from the Juvenile Court into the Criminal Court?: In a political climate where it is chic to "get tough on crime" much of the debate over how to deal with youth violence centers on how to move the most violent or persistent youth offenders out of the juvenile court and into the criminal court. A legal scholar discusses the various ways youth are moved between courts.

Legal Scholar Identifies a Set of Principles to Address Youth Crime in both Juvenile and Criminal Courts: A legal scholar argues that the debate over how to deal with youth crime has not focused on substantive principles but on whether to assign youth to juvenile or criminal courts. The scholar identifies 2 key principles that could apply in both court systems.

Perceptions of Youth Violence in the 1970s and the 1990s: (Almost) the Same Old Answers to the Same Old Questions: A leading researcher on children and crime says that the perception of the problem of youth violence is itself a problem. He looks at the rhetoric surrounding youth violence in the 1970s and 1990s and finds a common logic and a common response.

Regulating Handguns for Youth: What Challenges Lay Ahead?: There is a widespread consensus in the U.S. that youth should not have handguns. But, what challenges face attempts to regulate handguns for youth? A legal scholar discusses approaches and challenges to getting handguns out of the hands of youth.

The Dangers of Predicting Future Trends in Juvenile Violence: A law professor reviews different predictions about future rates of youth violence in the U.S. He points out the fallacies in trying to make these kinds of predictions.

Three Distinguishing Characteristics of U.S. Youth Crime: Violent youth crime is different than violent crime committed by people in other age groups. A leading legal scholar describes what makes violent youth crime different.

Two Policy Perspectives, Two Court Systems, and One Set of Principles for Dealing with Youth Crime: A law professor says that there are two different legal standards for dealing with youth crime: the youth development perspective and the criminal law perspective. He says that the juvenile and criminal courts have been stereotyped to fit only one perspective. The legal scholar suggests developing a single set of principles for dealing with youth crime to apply in both courts.

What Does U.S. Youth Violence Look Like?: A law professor describes some of the characteristics of youth violence in the U.S.. He also describes the different methods that police and social scientists use to find out the patterns of youth violent crime.

Why are Some Youth Transferred from Juvenile Court to Criminal Court?: If the juvenile court in the U.S. is supposed to have jurisdiction over youth when they commit criminal or status offenses, then why would some youth be transferred to the adult criminal court? A legal scholar discusses the reasons behind moving youth out of juvenile court into criminal court.