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Race and Youth Crime

Criminologists have devoted much effort to explaining why African American youth have higher rates of serious offending than Whites. But data suggest that African American youth have similar rates of minor offending than Whites and that the large share of African American youth are no more likely to engage in serious crime than Whites. This is the case even though African American youth are much more likely than White youth to be exposed to many of the leading causes of crime, including discrimination, poverty, and residence in very poor communities. This raises a major question that has been neglected by criminologists: Why isn’t the relationship between race and youth crime stronger? Drawing on limited criminological research and several literatures outside criminology, this article describes a range of protective factors that may reduce the likelihood that African American youth respond to discrimination and its negative consequences with crime. These factors fall into four groups: skills in coping, strengths in the face of adversity, social supports, and social controls (the four “S”s).