Superpredator

Last updated

The superpredator or super-predator was a type of criminal in a largely-debunked criminological theory that became popular in the 1990s in the United States. The superpredator theory posited that a small but significant and increasing population of impulsive (often urban) youth were willing to commit violent crimes without remorse. [1] [2] John J. DiIulio Jr., the criminologist and political scientist who came up with the idea, [3] [4] predicted a large increase in youth crime and violence due to superpredators. [5] [6] American lawmakers seized on this idea, and implemented tough-on-crime legislation for juvenile offenders across the country, including life without parole sentences. [1]

The theory was criticized when crime significantly decreased in the following years. [6] [5] Dilulio has since retracted some of his ideas. [1] There are many alternative explanations to the rise in crime until the 1990s and the subsequent drop. One explanation, supported by American journalist Kevin Drum, is the lead–crime hypothesis, which says that the use of leaded gasoline could have caused the high crime rates in the 1980s and 90s [7] [8] . However, current research suggests lead's impact on crime was highly over-estimated by earlier studies. [9] The theory was also criticized as many people believed the theory was used to justify disproportionate sentencing of African-American children. [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]

A Miami University study of United States media coverage of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre suggested that it reinforced the superpredator theory, especially with "alarmist responses to erroneous fears about growing rates and severity of youth violence". [15] : 351 

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1994 Oregon Ballot Measure 11</span> Referendum on mandatory minimum sentences

Measure 11, also known as "One Strike You're Out", was a citizens' initiative passed in 1994 in the U.S. State of Oregon. This statutory enactment established mandatory minimum sentencing for several crimes. The measure was approved in the November 8, 1994 general election with 788,695 votes in favor, and 412,816 votes against.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juvenile delinquency</span> Illegal behavior by minors

Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior as a minor or individual younger than the statutory age of majority. These acts would otherwise be considered crimes if the individuals committing them were older. The term delinquent usually refers to juvenile delinquency, and is also generalised to refer to a young person who behaves an unacceptable way.

Like rational choice theory, conflict theory, or functionalism, pure sociology is a sociological paradigm — a strategy for explaining human behavior. Developed by Donald Black as an alternative to individualistic and social-psychological theories, pure sociology was initially used to explain variation in legal behavior. Since then, Black and other pure sociologists have used the strategy to explain terrorism, genocide, lynching, and other forms of conflict management as well as science, art, and religion.

In the United States, the relationship between race and crime has been a topic of public controversy and scholarly debate for more than a century. Crime rates vary significantly between racial groups; however, academic research indicates that the over-representation of some racial minorities in the criminal justice system can in part be explained by socioeconomic factors, such as poverty, exposure to poor neighborhoods, poor access to public and early education, and exposure to harmful chemicals and pollution. Racial housing segregation has also been linked to racial disparities in crime rates, as black Americans have historically and to the present been prevented from moving into prosperous low-crime areas through actions of the government and private actors. Various explanations within criminology have been proposed for racial disparities in crime rates, including conflict theory, strain theory, general strain theory, social disorganization theory, macrostructural opportunity theory, social control theory, and subcultural theory.

Sex differences in crime are differences between men and women as the perpetrators or victims of crime. Such studies may belong to fields such as criminology, sociobiology, or feminist studies. Despite the difficulty of interpreting them, crime statistics may provide a way to investigate such a relationship from a gender differences perspective. An observable difference in crime rates between men and women might be due to social and cultural factors, crimes going unreported, or to biological factors for example, testosterone or sociobiological theories). The nature or motive of the crime itself may also require consideration as a factor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social disorganization theory</span> Sociologic theory on crime and neighbourhood ecology

In sociology, the social disorganization theory is a theory developed by the Chicago School, related to ecological theories. The theory directly links crime rates to neighbourhood ecological characteristics; a core principle of social disorganization theory that states location matters. In other words, a person's residential location is a substantial factor shaping the likelihood that that person will become involved in illegal activities. The theory suggests that, among determinants of a person's later illegal activity, residential location is as significant as or more significant than the person's individual characteristics. For example, the theory suggests that youths from disadvantaged neighborhoods participate in a subculture which approves of delinquency, and that these youths thus acquire criminality in this social and cultural setting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American juvenile justice system</span> Aspect of American justice system

The American juvenile justice system is the primary system used to handle minors who are convicted of criminal offenses. The system is composed of a federal and many separate state, territorial, and local jurisdictions, with states and the federal government sharing sovereign police power under the common authority of the United States Constitution. The juvenile justice system intervenes in delinquent behavior through police, court, and correctional involvement, with the goal of rehabilitation. Youth and their guardians can face a variety of consequences including probation, community service, youth court, youth incarceration and alternative schooling. The juvenile justice system, similar to the adult system, operates from a belief that intervening early in delinquent behavior will deter adolescents from engaging in criminal behavior as adults.

John J. Dilulio Jr. is an American political scientist. He currently serves as the Frederic Fox Leadership Professor of Politics, Religion, and Civil Society and Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania.

Jeff Fort, also known as Abdul Malik Ka'bah, is an American mobster and former gang kingpin from Chicago, Illinois.

In the United States, life imprisonment is the most severe punishment provided by law in states with no valid capital punishment statute, and second-most in those with a valid statute. According to a 2013 study, 1 of every 2 000 inhabitants of the U.S. were imprisoned for life as of 2012.

Juvenile delinquency in the United States refers to crimes committed by children or young people, particularly those under the age of eighteen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Race in the United States criminal justice system</span>

Race in the United States criminal justice system refers to the unique experiences and disparities in the United States in regard to the policing and prosecuting of various races. There have been different outcomes for different racial groups in convicting and sentencing felons in the United States criminal justice system. Although prior arrests and criminal history is also a factor. Experts and analysts have debated the relative importance of different factors that have led to these disparities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prison</span> Institution in which people are legally physically confined

A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, remand center, hoosegow, or slammer is a facility where people are imprisoned against their will and denied their liberty under the authority of the state, generally as punishment for various crimes. Authorities most commonly use prisons within a criminal-justice system: people charged with crimes may be imprisoned until their trial; those who have pled or been found guilty of crimes at trial may be sentenced to a specified period of imprisonment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Youth incarceration in the United States</span>

The United States incarcerates more of its youth than any other country in the world, through the juvenile courts and the adult criminal justice system, which reflects the larger trends in incarceration practices in the United States. In 2010, approximately 70,800 juveniles were incarcerated in youth detention facilities alone. As of 2006, approximately 500,000 youth were brought to detention centers in a given year. This data does not reflect juveniles tried as adults. As of 2013, around 40% were incarcerated in privatized, for-profit facilities.

In the United States, the school-to-prison pipeline (SPP), also known as the school-to-prison link, school–prison nexus, or schoolhouse-to-jailhouse track, is the disproportionate tendency of minors and young adults from disadvantaged backgrounds to become incarcerated because of increasingly harsh school and municipal policies. Additionally, this is due to educational inequality in the United States. Many experts have credited factors such as school disturbance laws, zero-tolerance policies and practices, and an increase in police in schools in creating the "pipeline". This has become a hot topic of debate in discussions surrounding educational disciplinary policies as media coverage of youth violence and mass incarceration has grown during the early 21st century.

Since their inception in the 1970s, video games have often been criticized by some for violent content. Politicians, parents, and other activists have claimed that violence in video games can be tied to violent behavior, particularly in children, and have sought ways to regulate the sale of video games. Studies have shown no connection between video games and violent behavior. The American Psychological Association states that while there is a well-established link between violent video games and aggressive behaviors, attributing acts of violence to violent video gaming "is not scientifically sound."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Criminal justice reform in the United States</span> Reforms seeking to address structural issues in criminal justice systems of the United States

Criminal justice reform seeks to address structural issues in criminal justice systems such as racial profiling, police brutality, overcriminalization, mass incarceration, and recidivism. Reforms can take place at any point where the criminal justice system intervenes in citizens’ lives, including lawmaking, policing, sentencing and incarceration. Criminal justice reform can also address the collateral consequences of conviction, including disenfranchisement or lack of access to housing or employment, that may restrict the rights of individuals with criminal records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lead–crime hypothesis</span> Hypothesized effect of blood lead levels on criminal behavior

After decades of increasing crime across the industrialised world, crime rates started to decline sharply in the 1990s, a trend that continued into the new millennium. Many explanations have been proposed, including situational crime prevention and interactions between many other factors complex, multifactorial causation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Youth control complex</span>

The youth control complex is a theory developed by Chicano scholar Victor M. Rios to describe what he refers to as the overwhelming system of criminalization that is shaped by the systematic punishment that is applied by institutions of social control against boys of color in the United States. Rios articulates that there are many components of this complex which are enacted upon youth throughout their daily lives. For example, "while being called a 'thug' by a random adult may seem trivial to some people, when a young person is called a 'thug' by a random adult, told by a teacher that they will never amount to anything, and frisked by a police officer, all in the same day, this combination becomes greater than the sum of its parts." Scholars trace the origins of the youth control complex back to the mid-1970s. In addition, the criminalization and surveillance of Black and Latino bodies increased in the post-9/11 era.

Jackie Wang is an American professor, author, and poet. She is best known for her books Carceral Capitalism, which critiques the relationship between the debt economy and racialized mass incarceration, and The Sunflower Cast A Spell To Save Us From The Void, for which she was a National Book Award finalist in poetry in 2021. Her scholarship centers on the intersections of racism, liberal capitalism, surveillance technologies, and the political economy of prisons.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Boghani, Priyanka. "They Were Sentenced as "Superpredators." Who Were They Really?". PBS Frontline. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  2. ↑ Newsweek Staff (21 January 1996). "'Superpredators' Arrive". Newsweek.
  3. ↑ Templeton, Robin (1 January 1998). "Superscapegoating". FAIR. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  4. ↑ "The Coming of the Super -- Predators". 27 November 1995.
  5. 1 2 Leah, Rachel (2018-04-21). "The "superpredator" myth was discredited, but it continues to ruin young black lives". Salon. Retrieved 2020-03-23.
  6. 1 2 Vitale, Alex S. (2018-03-23). "Opinion | The New 'Superpredator' Myth". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-03-23.
  7. ↑ Doleac, Jennifer L. (2017-06-01). "New evidence that lead exposure increases crime". Brookings. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
  8. ↑ Drum, Kevin. "A very brief history of super-predators". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
  9. ↑ Higney, Anthony; Hanley, Nick; Moro, Mirko (November 2022). "The lead-crime hypothesis: A meta-analysis". Regional Science and Urban Economics. 97: 103826. doi:10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2022.103826. ISSN   0166-0462.
  10. ↑ "Op-Ed: Why America is still living with the damage done by the 'superpredator' lie". Los Angeles Times . 27 November 2020.
  11. ↑ "Analysis: How the media created a 'superpredator' myth that harmed a generation of Black youth". NBC News . 20 November 2020.
  12. ↑ "Why America is still living with the damage done by the 'superpredator' lie | Opinion". 2 December 2020.
  13. ↑ "They Were Sentenced as "Superpredators." Who Were They Really?". PBS .
  14. ↑ "How being labeled as a superpredator has impacted a generation of Black and Hispanic men". 20 April 2021.
  15. ↑ Muschert, Glenn W. (October 2007). "The Columbine Victims and the Myth of the Juvenile Superpredator". Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice . 5 (4): 351–366. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.557.1686 . doi:10.1177/1541204006296173. S2CID   31869503.
Cuffspolicewkiimage.jpg

This criminology-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.