Racial Disparities in Arrests: A Race Specific Model Explaining Arrest Rates Across Black and White Young Adults

Three theories attempt to explain the racial disparities in arrest between White and Black Americans: Differential Involvement Hypothesis, Differential Selection and Processing Hypothesis, and Social Disorganization Theory. We tested these hypotheses simultaneously in a multiple-group longitudinal p...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Child & adolescent social work journal 2020-02, Vol.37 (1), p.1-14
Main Authors: Schleiden, Cydney, Soloski, Kristy L., Milstead, Kaitlyn, Rhynehart, Abby
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advocacy
African Americans
Arrests
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Clinical Psychology
Cultural competence
Hypotheses
Personality and Social Psychology
Psychology
Race
Racial differences
Racial inequality
Social disorganization
Social disorganization theory
Social Work Practice with African American Youth
Sociology
Young adults
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Three theories attempt to explain the racial disparities in arrest between White and Black Americans: Differential Involvement Hypothesis, Differential Selection and Processing Hypothesis, and Social Disorganization Theory. We tested these hypotheses simultaneously in a multiple-group longitudinal panel model with the ADD Health dataset (Black n  = 2459, White n  = 7403). After controlling for contextual and behavioral factors, we still found Black young adults were arrested seven times more often than their White counterparts. To maintain cultural competence, it is imperative for clinicians to be aware of these disparities when working with families of different races in order to adjust treatment accordingly, but advocacy for greater systemic change may be more important for some communities than therapy alone.
ISSN:0738-0151
1573-2797
DOI:10.1007/s10560-019-00618-7