A Black Criminology Matters

• In Event: Theorizing Race, Crime and Justice

Abstract

The high rates of criminal offending among African Americans continue to garner public, political, and scholarly attention. The prevailing theories of crime posit that African American offending is caused by an overexposure to known criminogenic factors such as strain, social disorganization, weakened social bonds, and low self-control. We contend that the assumptions of the prevailing theories of crime limit their ability to generate a holistic understanding of African American offending. We posit that a full understanding must be grounded in when, how, and why systemic racial oppression is related to African American offending. This holistic grounded approach requires the discipline of criminology to develop and incorporate the tenets of a Black Criminology (Russell, 1992).

Authors

• James Unnever, University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee

• Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, Indiana University