OBJECTIVES:
We
observed how perceptions of risks, costs, crime rewards, and violence exposure
change as individual gun-carrying behavior changes among high-risk adolescents.
METHODS:
We
analyzed a longitudinal study (2000-2010) of serious juvenile offenders in
Maricopa County, Arizona, or Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, assessing
within-person changes in risk and reward perceptions, and violence exposure as
individuals initiated or ceased gun carrying.
RESULTS:
Despite
being associated with heightened exposure to violence, gun carrying was linked
to lower perceptions of risks and costs and higher perceived rewards of
offending. Gun carrying was not time-stable, as certain individuals both
started and stopped carrying during the study. Within-person changes in
carrying guns were associated with shifting perceptions of risks, costs, and
rewards of crime, and changes in exposure to violence in expected directions.
CONCLUSIONS:
Gun
carrying reduces perceptions of risks associated with offending while
increasing actual risk of violence exposure. This suggests that there is an
important disconnect between perceptions and objective levels of safety among
high-risk youths. Gun-carrying decisions may not only be influenced by factors
of protection and self-defense, but also by perceptions of risks and reward
associated with engaging in crime more generally.
By: 1Thomas A. Loughran and Megan Eileen Collins are with Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Maryland, College Park. Joan A. Reid is with Criminology Program, University of South Florida, St Petersburg. Edward P. Mulvey is with Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA.
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