The current study examines the vaping typology among matched 8th- and 10th-grade adolescents to explore potential connections between vaping and various forms of delinquency, including violent delinquency, property delinquency, and other types of delinquent behavior. The data for this study comes from the 2018-2021 Monitoring the Future 8th- and 10th-grade surveys (Form Two). Propensity score matching was used in the analysis to better examine the link between similarly situated 8th- and 10th-grade adolescents based on five different vaping typologies (vs non-vaping, no nicotine, no marijuana use). Results show that vaping just flavoring or flavoring along with nicotine or marijuana use is generally not a significant predictor for any type of delinquency. Additionally, the route of administration is not as important as the substance that is used being linked with delinquency and that the highest odds in the three types of delinquency were for adolescents who had vaped marijuana. Limitations and future research implications are discussed.

Research has examined how media consumption relates to fear and policy attitudes, with a growing understanding of their potential interconnections. This study focuses on the fear of mass shootings and its role in the relationship between online media consumption (the Internet and social media) and attitudes toward gun policy. Using a multisite sample of mostly young adults, this study examines: (1) the impact of online media consumption on fear of mass shootings, (2) the influence of fear of mass shootings on attitudes toward gun policy, and (3) the indirect effects of online media consumption on gun policy attitudes through fear of mass shootings. Our results reveal a relationship between online media consumption and fear of mass shootings, and that fear of mass shootings is associated with greater support for stricter gun policies. Additionally, exposure to violent crime news on social media indirectly shapes gun policy attitudes through heightened fear of mass shootings. Findings and implications for future research are discussed.

A growing body of research has started to examine the prevalence and consequences of posting negative or offensive content on social media sites. Yet, less attention has been given to understanding why individuals are inclined to post negative content on social media. I argue there is good reason to believe that self-control may influence inappropriate social media posting behaviors. Using a sample of young adults attending a large university, the current study examines whether low self-control is a salient predictor in explaining five different types of negative social media posts: (1) alcohol use, (2) illegal drug use, (3) non-drug-related criminal activity, (4) socially offensive content, and (5) profanity. Results indicate that individuals with low self-control are more likely to post on social media content containing alcohol use, illegal drug use, and profanity, but not offensive or non-drug-related criminal content. Findings and directions for future research and policy are discussed.

Purpose: While the implementation of risk assessment has expanded, the extent to which there are different trajectories of risk/protective factors among adjudicated youth during supervision in the community remains unanswered. The goal of the current study is to identify the distinct trajectories in dynamic risk and protective factors among youth on probation and assess whether different patterns in risk over time are associated with continued offending. Method: Group-based trajectory modeling is used to identify distinct trajectories across multiple domains of risk/ need. The individual- and neighborhood-level factors associated with these trajectories are then explored, prior to examining their relationship to continued delinquency. Results: Results suggest that a sizable combination of risk/needs trajectories exist among youth on probation. These distinct trajectories are differentially associated with individual and neighborhood characteristics. A select number of trajectories also appear to be indicative of continued offending post-completion of community supervision. Conclusions: Information regarding the evolving nature of juvenile risk/needs during supervision is critically important to reduce incarceration, flatten the age-crime curve, and ensure public safety. Findings have implications for the use of dynamic risk assessment among youth on probation as well as juvenile recidivism research more generally.

Although Elijah Anderson’s code of the street thesis has received a great deal of scholarly attention, fewer studies have examined the characteristics associated with its adoption. Existing evidence is supportive of Anderson’s initial observations, however, less is known about the association between personality and emotional characteristics and adopting street code norms. The current study assesses the role of DeLisi and Vaughn’s difficult temperament index in the adoption of the street code among a sample of juvenile justice-involved youth. Results indicated youth with more difficult temperaments, characterized by lower levels of effortful control and higher levels of negative emotionality, were more likely to report greater street code adherence. Implications for juvenile justice policy and future research are discussed.

This study examines the link between ever vaped, vaped just flavoring in the past 30 days, and vaped just flavoring frequently in the past 30 days and violent crime, property crime, marijuana use, and smoking. Using the 2017 Monitoring the Future form two data set and propensity score matching, the researchers are better able to consider the impact of the vaping behavior among similarly situated 12th-grade adolescents. Results illustrate that there are no vaping behaviors linked with violent crime or property crime among similarly situated adolescents. In contrast, results show that adolescents who have ever vaped, vaped just flavoring, or vaped just flavoring frequently are linked with marijuana use and smoking. Limitations and future research implications are discussed.

The intersection of fear of crime and media consumption has been examined in urban environments extensively. However, like many aspects of criminal justice research, much less is known about these concepts in non-urban environments. Further, there is an assumption that the processes of how media will influence fear of crime will work similarly in non-urban environments. This question remains open to empirical examination. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between media consumption and fear of crime in a semi-rural environment. Using data collected via telephone survey, and conducted within a selected non-urban community, we examine the relationship between media consumption and fear of crime while controlling for a host of confounders. Results indicated that media consumption is related to fear of crime among this specialized sample. However, this relationship becomes nonsignificant once perceived disorder is introduced. Findings and implications are discussed.

Scholars have long argued that behaviors and objects associated with criminally stereotyped minority groups can themselves become stereotyped and criminalized, leading to increased punitiveness. Yet, this extended criminalization hypothesis requires theoretical development and direct empirical investigation. To address this issue, we seek to test the concept of extended criminalization, which posits that behaviors associated with racial and ethnic groups accentuate and aggrandize perceived threat of minority groups through a reinforcing process. We examine the extended criminalization hypothesis in the context of breed-specific legislation (BSL). Using data from a survey-based experiment conducted with a sample of young adults from two universities ( N = 525), we test the effects of racial priming on support for laws banning pit bulls. Findings from the experimental manipulation are supplemented with observational findings using measures of racial stereotypes of pit bull owners and breeders. Respondents in the treatment and control groups did not significantly differ in their likelihood of supporting BSL, and the same was true when analyzing Whites separately. The observational findings were consistent with the experimental findings. The findings do not support the extended criminalization hypotheses. Neither racial priming nor stereotypes of pit bull owners and breeders were associated with support for BSL. We outline additional avenues for research on the extended criminalization hypothesis.

Purpose: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are linked to a multitude of deleterious outcomes including, but not limited to, persistent mental and physical health problems, increased justice system involvement, and chronic delinquency. Using a statewide multiyear sample of youth completing long-term juvenile justice residential placement, this study extends prior work by assessing the association between childhood aversity, the pre-scription of psychotropic medication, and continued delinquency. We additionally explore whether these asso-ciations vary across race/ethnicity and sex.Methods: Binary logistic regression and structural equation modeling are used to assess the relationship of cu-mulative ACEs with psychotropic medication prescription. Logistic regression models are used to assess which covariates, including cumulative ACEs and psychotropic medication, are associated with continued offending. Lastly, we examine the moderating effect of race/ethnicity and sex on the association between the prescription of psychotropic medication and continued delinquency.Results: ACE exposure increases mental health indicators, which then increase the likelihood of psychotropic medication prescription. ACEs increase reoffending; however, psychotropic medication prescription is unrelated to recidivism. The ACE effect and non-significance of psychotropic medication on recidivism was consistent across sex and race/ethnicity.Conclusion: ACEs are related to both psychotropic medication prescription during placement and subsequent recidivism, yielding juvenile justice policy implications.

BACKGROUND:Research has shown independent attention in the role of self-control and health/risk perceptions toward vaping in predicting vaping use among youth and young adults. Yet, there are good theoretical notions to believe that low self-control, perceptions toward vaping, and self-reported vaping are intertwined.OBJECTIVES:To examine whether three different health/risk perceptions toward vaping mediate the effect of low self-control on vaping use among young adults.METHODS:A survey was administered to 325 undergraduate students attending a large university in the Midwest (Mean age = 19.5; 60.4% female; 73.1% White). Single and multiple mediation modeling strategies were used to assess the mediation hypothesis.RESULTS:Logistic regression results indicate that individuals with low self-control are more likely to vape (O.R. = 1.041, p < .05). Further, when health/risk perceptions are included in the models individually and simultaneously, it reduces the effect of low self-control on vaping between 15% and 37.5%, and renders low self-control to become non-significant.CONCLUSIONS:Findings suggest the impact that harm/risk perceptions toward vaping have in engaging in this behavior. Thus, preventative efforts should target potential sources, such as media and advertisements, that may shape young adults' perceptions toward vaping.

In early 2020, the world faced a rapid, life-changing, public health crisis in the form of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The pandemic and its associated social-distancing measures collided with a period of social unrest following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police and persisted for nearly two years following its emergence. The current study adds to existing research by examining the effect of these events on the incidence of violence (shootings and assaults) in New York City (NYC) over a longer period of time, both in the city as a whole and at the borough-level. To accomplish this, the current study draws from publicly available data using series of analytical techniques to account for underlying trends, seasonality, and temperature while also estimating borough-specific effects. Results indicate that the prevalence of COVID-19 cases, associated social-distancing mandates, and the period of social unrest following Floyd's murder were associated with violence in NYC. Further, findings suggest while a number of the factors explored had consistent effects across each of NYC's five boroughs there was some evidence of heterogeneity. The implications for future research on the COVID-19 pandemic are discussed.

Do people think about offending risk in verbal or numerical terms? Does the elicitation method affect reported subjective probabilities? Rational choice models require potential outcomes (e.g., benefits/costs) to be weighted by their probability of occurrence. Indeed, the subjective likelihood of being apprehended is the central construct in criminological deterrence theory—the so-called certainty principle. Yet, extant literature has measured the construct inconsistently and with little attention to potential consequences. Using a series of randomized experiments conducted with nationwide samples of American adults (aged 18 and over), this study examines the degree of correspondence between verbal and numeric measures of apprehension risk, assesses the durability of numeric estimates specifically, and attempts to elicit how respondents naturally think about apprehension risk. The findings suggest that laypeople are somewhat inconsistent in their use of both verbal and numeric descriptors of probability, their numeric estimates of probability are unlikely to be precise or durable, and many seem to prefer thinking of risk in verbal terms (compared to numeric terms). Researchers should consider including both verbal and numeric measures of probability and explore alternative measurement strategies, including anchoring vignettes, which have been valuable in standardizing verbal responses in other disciplines.

Objectives: Criminologists have long been interested in the relationship between subcultural attitudes and antisocial behavior, with Anderson's street code thesis being the most recent and often researched foray in this area. Relatedly, scholars have begun to investigate the risk factors associated with the anticipation of early death. Extant research, however, has yet to empirically test Anderson's hypothesis that subscription to the street code is predictive of an anticipated early death. This study contributes to the literatures on the street code as well as fatalism by investigating the link between these two constructs. Methods: Using data from a sample of serious youthful offenders, we examine whether street code values are related to the anticipation of a short life span using a number of multivariate regression techniques controlling for a range of individual- and community-level variables. Results: Results show adherence to the street code is significantly associated with an anticipated early death among the sample of delinquent youth. Further, the relationship between street code and anticipated early death holds across race/ethnicity and gender, and results are not sensitive to the measurement of an anticipated early death. Findings from the current research are discussed, along with implications for policy and future research.

The relationship between race and just about any social issue has been and continues to be controversial. Within the context of literature on public opinion regarding sports and social movements, this study considers the intersections between race, business, and athlete activism by examining attitudes related to Nike's controversial advertisement campaign with former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Results obtained from a sample of young adults reveals a deep racial divide between black and non-black respondents. At almost a ratio of 2:1, blacks were more likely to agree with Nike's decision to use the former player in their advertisement, that Nike should address social issues in their ads, and that Nike should contribute to his charity. These race differences remain in models that control for a variety of other correlates, including political orientation, income, discrimination, player protests, and whether they watch the NFL.

Prior research suggests that exposure to adverse news stories involving the police negatively impacts consumers' attitudes toward these actors. Yet, most investigations have neglected to examine contemporary media diets, such as online consumption and engagement, and attitudes toward the police. Using a sample of mostly young adults, the current study contributes to the media effects literature by examining the relationships between online (Internet and social media) consumption and engagement and attitudes toward police legitimacy. Results indicate that consuming negative police stories on the Internet is associated with perceiving the police as less legitimate. Furthermore, this relationship varies by political ideology but not race. Findings and direction for future research are discussed.

This study uses social learning theory to examine whether differential associations with e-cigarette-using peers is related to personal e-cigarette use among youth, and the extent to which this relationship is explained by personal risk perceptions of e-cigarettes. Moreover, this study tests whether the mediation process is moderated by type of e-cigarette user. This study uses a sample of high school seniors from the 2016 Monitoring the Future Study ( N = 2,100), and a subsample of e-cigarette users ( n = 523). Analyses are carried out using OLS and logistic regression. Findings demonstrate that higher levels of peer e-cigarette use are related to higher odds of personal e-cigarette use, but that risk perceptions of e-cigarettes only explain a modest portion of that relationship (about 10%). Furthermore, the mediation process does not appear to vary by type of e-cigarette user. Future directions and policy implications are discussed.

Broken windows or zero‐tolerance policing is an aggressive policing strategy focused on enforcing minor crimes and public order offenses. Most commonly associated with the New York Police Department (NYPD), zero‐tolerance policing is often credited for the dramatic drop in serious crime that occurred in New York City during the 1990s. This entry begins by reviewing the theoretical propositions underlying this policing approach to crime and disorder. Next, the empirical findings related to the impact of zero‐tolerance policing on rates of crime are discussed. Following this, the potential for aggressive policing strategies to have unintended yet harmful consequences for both individuals and communities is summarized. The current entry ends with a discussion of future directions for policing more generally.

Although the deleterious impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on offending has been established, less is known about the possible protective factors that may buffer this relationship. Using a sample of over 28,000 adjudicated delinquents from a large southern state, the current study investigated the role of substance (non)use on the relationship between ACEs and recidivism and whether these results differed by race/ethnicity and sex. Results illustrate that ACEs increase the likelihood of recidivism among youth who engaged in moderate-to-high substance use. However, this effect was not found among youth who reported little-to-no substance use. Furthermore, these effects were largely consistent across race/ethnicity and sex. Policy implications of this buffering effect are discussed as well as limitations and directions for future research.

Risk factors (or criminogenic needs) have been broadly defined as individual traits or environmental conditions, if present, that increase the youth’s likelihood of engaging in delinquent or criminal behaviors. This study was consisted of 2,335 youths who were adjudicated to Indiana juvenile correctional facilities during the period of January 1, 2012- February, 2015. Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC) Division of Youth Services (DYS) has employed the Indiana Youth Assessment System (IYAS) to determine the youth’s risk level during the in-take process, which contains thirty-three (33) survey questions across seven (7) risk factor domains. This study found that all seven (7) assessment domains were influential predictors to the overall risk assessment and the “substance abuse, mental health, and personality” risk domain exerted the most influential effect on the youth’s overall risk assessment.