The Code of the Street Fights Back! Significant Associations with Arrest, Delinquency, and Violence Withstand Psychological Confounds

Kyle A. Burgason, Matt DeLisi, Mark H. Heirigs, Abdi Kusow, Jacob H. Erickson and Michael G. Vaughn
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Kyle A. Burgason: Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA
Matt DeLisi: Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA
Mark H. Heirigs: Department of Sociology, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA
Abdi Kusow: Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA
Jacob H. Erickson: Department of Criminal Justice & Criminology, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA 30460, USA
Michael G. Vaughn: School of Social Work, Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, MO 63103, USA

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 7, 1-14

Abstract: Since Anderson’s now classic, Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City , an increasing number of researchers have found a significant association between the code of the street and antisocial behavior. Less researched, however, is the relationship between the code of the street and cognate psychological factors. Building on the hypothesis that the code of the street is simply a reflection of elements of the population who exhibit antisocial traits, our aim in this study is to empirically test whether the observed association between the code of the street and antisocial behavior can withstand psychological confounds among a sample of institutionalized juvenile delinquents. Negative binomial regression models show that the code of the street remained a significant predictor of antisocial behavior despite the specification of psychopathy and temperamental traits and other controls. Moreover, as theorized, differential effects were found for African American delinquents compared to non-African American delinquents. We discuss theoretical and practical implications.

Keywords: code of the street; delinquency; violence; temperament; psychopathy; criminological theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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