Citation

Leeper Piquero N, Sealock MD. Youth Violence Juv. Justice 2010; 8(3): 170-186.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1541204009361174

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A key criminological observation is the over-representation of minorities—especially African Americans—in the criminal justice system. Whether this difference is due to differential enforcement by the criminal justice system, differential participation by individuals, or some combination of these two perspectives is a source of much debate and controversy. Unfortunately, few theories have been developed and/or extended to understand race differences in crime. This article applies Agnew’s General Strain Theory (GST) as one potentially useful framework. Results indicate that GST variables operated as expected across the different models and that significant differences did emerge across racial groups. Theoretical implications and future research directions are highlighted.