This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee. Preface

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• 
  Males commit more street crime than females, in part because of gender role socialization that helps make males more assertive and aggressive.
  
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  Young people commit a disproportionate amount of street crime, in part because of the influence of their peers and their lack of stakes in conformity.
  
• 
  The disproportionate involvement of African Americans and Latinos in street crime arises largely from their poverty and urban residence.
  

FOR YOUR REVIEW

1. 
   If we say that males commit more crime than females, does that imply that we are prejudiced against males? Why or why not?
   
2. 
   Write a brief essay that outlines social class and racial/ethnic differences in street crime and explains the reasons for these differences.
   

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[2] Shoemaker, D. J. (2010). Theories of delinquency: An examination of explanations of delinquent behavior (6th ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

[3] Laub, J. H., Sampson, R. J., & Sweeten, G. A. (2006). Assessing Sampson and Laub’s life-course theory of crime. In F. T. Cullen (Ed.), Taking stock: The status of criminological theory(Vol. 15, pp. 313–333). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.

[4] Harris, A. R., & Shaw, J. A. W. (2000). Looking for patterns: Race, class, and crime. In J. F.Sheley (Ed.), Criminology: A contemporary handbook (3rd ed., pp. 129–163). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

[5] Stark, R. (1987). Deviant places: A theory of the ecology of crime. Criminology, 25, 893–911.

[6] Stark, R. (1987). Deviant places: A theory of the ecology of crime. Criminology, 25, 893–911.

[7] Walker, S., Spohn, C., & DeLone, M. (2012). The color of justice: Race, ethnicity, and crime in America (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

[8] Unnever, J. D., & Gabbidon, S. L. (2011). A theory of African American offending: Race, racism, and crime. New York, NY: Routledge.

[9] McCarthy, B., & Hagan, J. (2003). Sanction effects, violence, and native North American street youth. In D. F. Hawkins (Ed.), Violent crime: Assessing race and ethnic differences (pp. 117–137). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.