Do Blacks Speak with one Voice? Immigrants, Public Opinions, and Perceptions of Criminal Injustices

James D. Unnever, Shaun L. Gabbidon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

30 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper tests core tenets of the theory of African-American offending proposed by Unnever and Gabbidon. Their theory posits that African-Americans have a common worldview on matters of race that is related to their offending. However, Unnever and Gabbidon further hypothesize that immigrant blacks do not fully embrace the worldview shared by US-born blacks. Using a 2008 national Gallup poll, we examine whether US-born blacks share a common worldview and whether foreign-born blacks differ in their opinions on key issues including: criminal injustices, the state of American race relations, attitudes towards immigration and illegal immigrants, and the perception of mobility within American society. The results partially confirm their two key hypotheses; there are no entrenched differences in the public opinions of US-born blacks on race-related matters while immigrant blacks do not wholly endorse their worldview. We discuss the implications of these two findings in relation to how scholars conceptualize offending among blacks.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)680-704
Number of pages25
JournalJustice Quarterly
Volume32
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 4 2015

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Pathology and Forensic Medicine
  • Law

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