Unpacking the Racial Disparity in Crime from a Racialized General Strain Theory Perspective

• In Event: Race, Ethnicity, and Criminal Offending

Abstract

Race scholars of crime, such as Unnever and Gabbidon, argue the rate of African American criminality cannot be fully understood without considering African Americans’ distinctive history and resulting lived experience. Agnew’s racialized general strain theory argues African Americans are more likely to experience strains that are conducive to crime than whites. Due to this unique history and resultant social position, African Americans are more likely to encounter economic strains, familial strains, educational strains, community strains, as well as strains such as prejudice and victimization. African Americans are more likely to view these strains as unjust given their link to discrimination. Furthermore, African Americans are hypothesized to experience increased negative affect, particularly anger, as well as feel an increased sense of injustice due to strains than whites. These propositions are assessed using the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods data. This work adds considerable knowledge on a unique and vital proportion of the American population and their offending behaviors.

Author

• Deena Isom, Emory University