Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency

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Research article
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published May, 2025pp. 387-428
Childhood Exposure to Family Violence,Residential Instability,and Parental Incarceration: Compounding Household Adversities and Adolescent Delinquency
Alyssa R. TalaugonJillian J. TuranovicORCID
Abstract
Objectives: Although childhood exposure to family violence has been linked to crime and delinquency over the life course, it rarely occurs in isolation from other household hardships. Drawing from developmental hypotheses of cumulative disadvantage and disadvantage saturation, we examine how the effect of childhood exposure to family violence (i.e., witnessing violence against one's mother) on adolescent delinquency varies when it co-occurs with two interrelated familial adversities: residential instability and parental incarceration. Methods: Using longitudinal data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 3,191), we assess categorical combinations of childhood exposure to family violence, residential instability, and parental incarceration (years 3–9) on adolescent delinquency (year 15). Logistic regression models are specified for overall, nonviolent, and violent delinquency, controlling for a host of confounding variables. Results: Exposure to family violence has the strongest association with delinquency when combined with childhood residential instability and parental incarceration. The findings align with the cumulative disadvantage hypothesis, and these patterns are strongest for overall and nonviolent delinquency outcomes. Conclusions: Life-course research should explicitly consider the broader landscape of adversity in which childhood exposure to family violence occurs, recognizing that its long-term effects may be contingent upon or amplified by co-occurring household hardships.
Research article
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published May, 2025pp. 429-473
Partners in Force? Understanding Police Use of Force from a Network Perspective
Sadaf HashimiORCIDMarie OuelletORCIDLogan Ledford
Abstract
Objectives
The importance of peer relations is rooted in decades of policing research; however, scholars have largely overlooked the role of peers in officers’ use-of-force behaviors. The current study investigates the “connected” nature of police use of force.
Methods
Data on officers’ networks are reconstructed from 11,834 use-of-force reports involving 1,894 officers in seven departments in New Jersey. Exponential Random Graph Models evaluate which officer-level attributes and network dependencies are associated with officers’ co-involvement in police use-of-force incidents.
Results
Findings indicate the police use of force is not evenly distributed but concentrated on a subset of officers and partnerships. Variation in officers’ likelihood of using force together is driven by individual characteristics, including officer race/ethnicity, rank, and tenure. In addition, co-involvement in force clusters among officers, with officers likely to engage in force together when they share a connection.
Conclusion
This study highlights an alternative starting point for understanding police use of force. By paying greater attention to the structural makeup of the department, such as the connectivity of the force network, agencies can design efforts that aim to reduce incidents of force through relational properties such as assignments and partnerships.
Research article
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published May, 2025pp. 474-519
Exploring Gender Disparities in Prosecutorial and Judicial Decision-Making in the Global South: Evidence from Argentina
Miguel Quintana-NavarreteORCIDGustavo FondevilaFernando G. CafferataORCID
Abstract
Objectives
This study examines gender disparities in criminal cases from the earliest stages of prosecutorial decision-making in Argentina.
Methods
The data for this study are all alleged crimes reported to prosecutors in La Pampa, Argentina between January 2016 and July 2019 that had ended by August 2019. Logistic and multinomial regression models with judicial district-by-year fixed effects are used to estimate the probability of case-ending and other important decisions for counts with women as suspects vis-à-vis men.
Results
The results show that prosecutors are more likely to decline investigating crime reports with women as suspects. Once accepted for investigation, counts with women are also more likely to be dismissed and less likely to receive a conviction. Gender disparities also accumulate across decisions and are reflected in faster adjudications for women. The gender gap in disposition shrinks considerably for some women, most notably those with a prior conviction, providing some evidence of selective leniency.
Conclusions
This study shows that women are treated more leniently than men, from the earliest prosecutorial decisions and across major outcomes in a Global South country. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of theoretical frameworks developed in the Global North.
Research article
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published May, 2025pp. 520-563
Neighborhood Disadvantage,Rational Choice,and Offending
Kyle J. ThomasORCIDEric P. Baumer
Abstract
Objective: Recent contributions have highlighted the compatibility of choice- and structural-based perspectives of crime. Drawing on those insights, this study examines the mechanisms that may link neighborhood disadvantage to individual differences in subjective expectations of the risks, costs and rewards from crime. We also evaluate the extent to which subjective expectations may account for the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and individual offending. Methods: Using data from the Pathways to Desistance study and structural equation modeling, we decompose how experiences and interactions with others mediate the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage, subjective expectations and offending. Results: The impact of neighborhood disadvantage on perceived arrest risk is mediated by direct and vicarious arrest experiences. Social capital and commitment to conventional values partially mediate the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and anticipated social costs, and peer delinquency and peer attitudes partially mediate the association between disadvantage and perceived social rewards. Finally, we find that subjective expectations account for about one-third of the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and individual offending. Conclusions: Our study illuminates the value of integrating rational choice and sociological perspectives and highlights the utility of advancing multilevel rational choice theories of offending.

Volume 62, Issue 3, May 2025

Childhood Exposure to Family Violence,Residential Instability,and Parental Incarceration: Compounding Household Adversities and Adolescent Delinquency

Partners in Force? Understanding Police Use of Force from a Network Perspective

Exploring Gender Disparities in Prosecutorial and Judicial Decision-Making in the Global South: Evidence from Argentina

Neighborhood Disadvantage,Rational Choice,and Offending