CRIMINALIZING IDENTITY: RACE, DRUG CULTURE, AND GANG INVOLVEMENT IN PUBLIC PERCEPTION

Abstract

This study examines how radicalized crime and drug stereotypes of Received: African Americans and Hispanics affect the fear of crime. Based on racial Revised: 03-08-2024 threat theory, which argues that members of the majority racial group Accepted: 22-08-2024 perceive the increasing minority group population as threatening, and labeling theory, which argues that labeling someone as "deviant" reinforces that behavior and affects how they are treated, this study examines the effect Department of Sociology, of African American and Hispanic racial crime stereotypes on fear of crime. Criminology and In addition, it investigates the sex variation in the fear of crime among Anthropology, Winthrop individuals who possess stereotypes against these minorities. Using the University, Rock Hill, South Seattle neighborhoods and crime survey data, we found that those who Carolina, USA stereotyped African Americans and Hispanics with criminality tended to have higher levels of crime fears as compared to those who did not have such beliefs. In addition, we found that females who hold crime stereotypes of Hispanics do not fear crime as much as those who hold stereotypes of African Americans. Furthermore, males who hold the criminal stereotype towards African Americans and Hispanics had a similar degree of heightened fear of crime in their neighborhood.