Racial Socialization and Criminal Offending: Investigating Parenting Plans through the Lens of the Theory of African American Offending

• In Event: Intergenerational Criminology WG Panel 1

Abstract

Racial socialization, the process of Black parents teaching their children about race, identity, and coping mechanisms to deal with discrimination, plays a large role in various aspects of an individual’s behavior, including criminal offending. Extant research identified four types of racial socialization, including cultural socialization, egalitarianism, preparation for bias, and promotion of mistrust, which theorists linked to protection or exacerbation of one’s criminal offending. Drawing on Unnever and Gabbidon’s Theory of African American Offending, this study investigates the relationship between an individual’s criminal offending and their intended racial socialization parenting plans, an understudied area in criminology. To analyze these relationships, the current research examines data from the Woodlawn Study, a longitudinal project which followed a Black first-grade community cohort from Chicago throughout the life course. Preliminary bivariate results indicate that whereas property and violent crimes do not significantly correlate with any type of racial socialization, individuals with a history of drug crimes were significantly less likely to intend the implemention any type of racial socialization within their parenting plans. Multivariate analyses will be conducted to further investigate the relationships and implications will be discussed.

Author

• Erika Feeney, University of Maryland