Predicting Violent Crime Among Single Parent-headed Households

• In Event: Roundtable: Empirical Tests of Community-Level Theories of Crime

Abstract

Past literature has revealed that the broken African American family has reached chronic idleness, addiction, and increases in violence (Moynihan, 1997). The traces of the Moynihan (1997) have found that the breakdown of the African American family especially the single headed households have highly contributed to violent crime. Since the 1980s and 1990s, incarceration rates among African Americans increased dramatically, especially the black male (Western & Wildeman 2009). The effects of high African American rates led to the broken family, thus contributing to the single headed household. This study intends to reveal that African Americans under a single female headed household have a higher predictability of committing a violent crime. Data from The National Neighborhood CrimeStudy (NNCS), of 2000 will be used for predicting violent crime. A mediated regression model of Black Non-Hispanic (A) mediated by Female headed household (B) to violent crime (C) will be examined. The findings in this study reveal a partial mediation effect of Black Non-Hispanic headed by a female- headed households predicting for violent crime at the census tract data of The National Neighborhood Crime Study from 2000.

Authors

• Miguel Angel Rocha, University of Memphis

• Bert Burraston, University of Memphis