NCJ Number
223430
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice: An International Journal Volume: 36 Issue: 3 Dated: July 2008 Pages: 270-278
Date Published
July 2008
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This study examined perceptions of injustice among White, Hispanic, and African-American youth in New York City.
Abstract
This study tested the three hypotheses of the comparative conflict theory and found support for the racial-ethnic divide and racial-gradient hypotheses, but not the differential sensitivity hypothesis. Comparative conflict theory is a theoretical statement proposed to explain racial and ethnic variation in perceptions of injustice. The theory asserts that White respondents perceive considerably less injustice than both African-Americans and Hispanics (the racial-ethnic divide hypothesis) and that African-Americans perceive less injustice than Hispanics (the racial gradient hypothesis). It also proposes that prior criminal justice experiences serve as a “tipping point” for Hispanics in that Hispanics with prior negative criminal justice contacts will perceive more injustice than African-Americans with similar prior negative experiences. In addition, this study explored the racial and ethnic identity of Hispanics (i.e., “White Hispanic” and “Black Hispanic”) and found that Hispanics, who were younger, less educated, and perceived some forms of injustice were more likely to identify themselves as being both Hispanic and Black. The data was obtained from the 2001 New York Youth Survey conducted by the New York Times and the New York City Police Department, which contacted 721 respondents via telephone. Persons interviewed were believed to be in the range of 18 to 26 years of age. Tables, notes, appendix, and references