Perceptions of Police and Street Code Origins: Testing for Racial Invariance

• In Event: Ecological Theories of Crime

Abstract

Since its publication, Anderson (1999)’s The Code of the Street has generated a wealth of scholarly interest and quantitative tests. While criminologists now know about the repercussions of the code for violent offending and victimization (e.g. Berg et al., 2012; Stewart and Simons, 2006; Stewart et al., 2010), we know relatively little about the code’s origins and development, particularly the role of police perceptions and police interactions. Further, only recently have scholars speculated on the racial invariance of the code (Rojas-Gaona, 2017; Taylor et al., 2010), even though the majority of extant work tests hypotheses using the Family and Community Health Survey (FACHS), an all African-American sample. Using several waves from the recently-available data from the Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) program follow-up survey, this study examines the role of the police, both through global perception and individual experience, in affecting individuals’ Code of the Street beliefs as well as whether the path is race-specific or race-invariant.

Author

• Aaron Safer-Lichtenstein, University of Maryland-College Park