Exploring Fear of General and Gang Crimes among Juveniles on Probation

• Author: Jodi Lane
• DOI: 10.1177/1541204005282311
• Published date: 01 January 2006
• Date: 01 January 2006
• Subject Matter: Articles

10.1177/1541204005282311Youth Violence and Juvenile JusticeLane / IMPACTS OF DELINQUENT BEHAVIORS

EXPLORING FEAR OF GENERAL AND GANG

CRIMES AMONG JUVENILES ON PROBATION

The Impacts of Delinquent Behaviors

Jodi Lane

University of Florida

This exploratory study examines fear of general and gang-related crime among juvenile

probationers. Most had used alcohol and marijuana before, and many had committed at

least one crime during the study period. Most were afraid of shooting and murder, and

about one third were afraid of other crimes. More participation in drug use and delin-

quency behaviors was generally unrelated to fear.

Keywords: fear of crime; fear of gang crime; juvenile probation; offenders;

delinquency

Juvenile Offenders Face High Risk of Victimization

One of the key national policy concerns during the mid- to late 1990s was youth

crime, as policy makers saw youth violence and gang activity peak and then begin to decline

during that period (Snyder & Sickmund, 1999). California was no exception, and policy

makers there began passing policies and developing programs, such as the Juvenile Crime

and Accountability Challenge Grant Program, designed to decrease the impact of juvenile

and gang crime on the public. The Challenge Grant legislation provided 3 years of funds to

14 counties to implement and evaluate comprehensive, multiagency approaches to fight ju-

venile crime. During this time, the public’s fear of juveniles, and especially gang members,

was a critical justification for spending scarce crime-fighting resources on these efforts.

Although both policy makers and academicians recognize that the juvenile popula-

tion typically faces higher crime rates than the adult population and therefore is at greater

risk of victimization, few have asked young people about their own fears of crime

(Rennison, 2002; Shaffer & Ruback, 2002). Possibly because politicians and the public of-

ten “demonize” offenders and see them as needing to be controlled rather than coddled,

even fewer have asked youths involved in crime—such as those targeted by the Challenge

34

Author’s Note: The author would like to thank Susan Turner, Amber Sehgal, and especially Terry Fain for their

project assistance. She would also like to thank Crystal Garcia for her help with this article. Data used in this article

resulted from the evaluation of the South Oxnard Challenge Project conducted by RAND Corporation and funded

through Ventura County, California by the California Board of Corrections. Opinions expressed here do not neces-

sarily represent the opinions of RAND, the Ventura County Probation Agency, the South Oxnard Challenge Pro-

ject, or its participating agencies.

Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, Vol. 4 No. 1, January 2006 34-54

DOI: 10.1177/1541204005282311

© 2006 Sage Publications

Grants—about their own fears of personal victimization (May, 2001a; May, Vartanian, &

Virgo, 2002). Yet because of their participation in criminal activity, this group is at espe-

cially high risk for victimization by crime generally and by gang members specifically

(Shaffer & Ruback, 2002). For them, the possibility of victimization is not an abstract, fu-

ture threat as it is for many members of the general public but instead is often an immediate,

real danger that they face in the course of their regular daily activities. Consequently, it

seems reasonable to expect that juveniles involved in crime would be afraid of crime and

gangs and possibly be more afraid than those whose risk is less imminent.

This article builds on the limited research on fear of crime among juvenile offenders.

It reports the results of an exploratory case study examining the impact of participation in

delinquent activity on fear of general and gang-related crimes among juveniles on probation

in Oxnard, California. The author was a member of the evaluation team for the South

Oxnard Challenge Project (SOCP), which was funded through the 1996 Challenge Grant

legislation mentioned above. In this capacity, the author had a unique level of access to a

special delinquent population—those known to be involved in crime, still on the street, and

living in a primarily Latino area known to have high crime, social disorganization, and inci-

vilities (see Brown & Benedict, 2004; Karp, Lane, & Turner, 2002; Turner, Schroeder,

Fain, Lane, & Petersilia, 2002). Fear-of-crime research indicates that people who live in ar-

eas with a lot of disorder, decline, and crime are more afraid than others (May et al., 2002;

May & Dunaway, 2000; see also Taylor, 2001, for a review).

Access to this population provided a unique and important opportunity to examine

fear of crime among juveniles actively involved in delinquent activity and under supervi-

sion by the juvenile justice system. Because such access is rare, this study has the opportu-

nity to help fill key gaps in the fear of crime literature. Specifically, it adds to the study of

adolescent fear of crime in three ways. First, it examines fear among juveniles engaged in

delinquent activity. Second, it examines the impact of their self-reported delinquent and

drug activities on their fear, which has yet to be examined in juvenile populations. Third, it

is the first to study both their fear of general crimes and their fear of gang-related offenses to

determine whether perpetrator characteristics are relevant when determining predictors of

fear for juveniles. In the past few years, fear-of-crime researchers have noted the impor-

tance of using more precise measurements when studying fear. Specifically, researchers

have called for measuring fear of specific offenses (e.g., murder, assault; Ferraro, 1995;

Ferraro & LaGrange, 1987, 1988; LaGrange & Ferraro, 1987; Warr, 2000; Warr &

Stafford, 1983) and more recently for examining the impact of perpetrator characteristics

(e.g., gang member, terrorist) on fear (Lane & Meeker, 2000, 2003a, 2003b, 2003c). This

study brought these recommendations to the study of adolescent fear specifically and hoped

to address these research questions: (a) Does more participation in drug and delinquent be-

haviors increase fear of crime, and (b) Are the impacts different for fear of general crime

and fear of gang-related crime?

Prior Research on Fear of Crime Among Adolescents

The author is aware of only two prior studies examining fear of crime among juve-

niles involved in criminal behavior. Both were conducted by May and colleagues (May,

2001a; May et al., 2002) and used a sample of 318 boys incarcerated in an Indiana state-run

facility for delinquent males. May (2001a) ultimately tested his ideas that fear of crime led

to defensive behaviors such as gun possession and gang membership and therefore vio-

Lane / IMPACTS OF DELINQUENT BEHAVIORS 35