"Might Not Be a Tomorrow": A Multi-Methods Approach to Anticipated Early Death and Youth Crime

Abstract

A number of researchers point to the anticipation of early death, or a sense of "futurelessness," as a contributing factor to youth crime and violence. Young people who perceive a high probability of early death, it is argued, may have little reason to delay gratification for the promise of future benefits, as the future itself is discounted. Consequently, these young people tend to pursue high-risk behaviors associated with immediate rewards, including crime and violence. Although existing studies lend empirical support to these arguments and show a statistical relationship between anticipated early death and youth crime, this support remains tentative. Moreover, a number of questions remain regarding the interpretation of this relationship, the meanings that offenders attach to the prospect of early death, and the causal mechanisms that link anticipated early death to youth crime. In this paper, we address the limitations of previous studies using a multi-methods approach, involving the analyses of national survey data and in-depth interviews with active street offenders. "MIGHT NOT BE A TOMORROW": A MULTI-METHODS APPROACH TO ANTICIPATED EARLY DEATH AND YOUTH CRIMEPrior criminological research has served to highlight the risks of offending behavior.These risks include a number of long-term negative consequences that may accrue to offenders over the life course, including reduced life chances, poor health, and incarceration (Hagan, 1991(Hagan, , 1997Moffitt, 1993;Robins, 1966; Laub 1993, 1997;Tanner, Davies, and O'Grady, 1999). These risks also include immediate physical dangers-such as injury, paralysis, or death-that exist in the "foreground" of the criminal lifestyle and that may result from crime victim retaliation, attacks by rival offenders, or police action (Dobrin, 2001;Hoffman, 2004;Jacobs, Topalli, and Wright, 2000;McCarthy and Hagan, 2005; Sampson and Lauritsen, 2005;Topalli, Wright, and Fornango, 2002;Tremblay and Paré, 2003).At the same time, criminological research has highlighted the existence of hard-core offenders who appear to be fearless in the face of these dangers (Anderson, 1994(Anderson, , 1999Hoffman, 2004;Jacobs et al., 2000;McCarthy and Hagan, 2005;Topalli, 2005a). This population includes individuals who have experienced stabbings, shootings, or other lifethreatening injuries and yet remain undeterred from a risky and criminal lifestyle (Hoffman, 2004). In the words of one such offender, "I don't give a damn. I don't care what happens really… whether they kill us or we kill them" (Topalli and Wright, 2004: 164).To account for the fearless and uninhibited conduct of some offenders, a number of theorists have underscored the sense of hopelessness and fatalism that is said to pervade economically distressed, high-crime communities (Anderson, 1994(Anderson, , 1999Garbarino et al., 1992;Kitwana, 2002;Lorion and Saltzman, 1993;Wilson and Daly, 1997). When young people believe they have no future, it is argued, they have little to lose by engaging in crime or violence.This argument ...

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