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Summary Of Gottfredson And Soule

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For this week’s research assignment, the class was asked to review one of two articles. I chose Gottfredson and Soule’s article “The timing of property crime, violent crime, and substance use among juveniles (2005). The authors wanted to further examine if there was a correlation in delinquent time through various hours throughout the day. More specifically, they wanted to narrow down the crimes into specific groups, which were: property crimes, violent crimes and substance use among the juvenile population. In examining this article, we will focus on the research design that was utilized, data-gathering strategy, sampling method, dependent/independent variables, and the findings of the study that was embarked upon.

According to Hagan …show more content…

“Dependent variables are the ones attempting to predict while independent variables are the causes, determines, or precedes in time, the dependent variable” (Hagan, 2010, p.16). The dependent variable in this particular study that Gottfredson and Soule were evaluating was juvenile delinquency. The independent variables in the study were broken down into three separate crimes: property offenses, violent crimes and substance abuse. According to Gottfredson and Soule (2005), juveniles were coded as having used drugs if they admitted to having smoked cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, drunk beer/wine/liquor, or smoked THC in the past year. Subsequently, juveniles were coded as having engaged in property crime if they admitted to damaging or destroying property not belonging to them, theft under and over $50, joyriding or breaking into a building and/or a car. Violent crimes were coded if the juvenile admitted to carrying a weapon, gang fighting, hitting or threatening to hit other peers, or using force to get money (Gottfredson & Soule, 2005, p.5). The hours during the day were broken down into six different categories: Before school, during school, when school let out to 6 PM, 6 PM to midnight, midnight and 6 AM and the weekends. By separating the times out along with the different types of offenses, the authors were able to come to a consensus on their findings, which …show more content…

By using this particular analysis method, the authors were able to demonstrate the importance of situational, time-varying factors as a means to explain delinquent behaviors. The results of the study, according to Gottfredson and Soule (2005) revealed that 7.8% reported drug use, 7.4% reported property crime, and 21.6% reported any crimes against persons. I found the rates a bit high for crimes against persons but this appears to be due in part to the fact that the threat to hit another student was included here. The study revealed that drug use and property crimes occurred more frequently on the weekends than any other time. Crimes against a person often occurred during and after school. How could this be? When broken down further, youth are confined to smaller spaces during school hours which often leads to additional peer pressures to fight. Property crimes were elevated prior to school, as well.

According to Gottfredson and Soule (2005), the implications of their study revealed the need for additional studies as a means of crime prevention. The research implied that prior research overestimated the after-school crime peak, likely due to relying solely on law enforcement data. The authors felt that due to the results of their study, additional strategies were needed to be put into effect to curb delinquent crime. Some of the suggestions

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