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The present study estimated the effects of economic disadvantage on age-specific homicide rates from 1984 to 2006 within 90 of the largest U.S. cities. In doing so, it extended previous homicide research by documenting the differential impact of disadvantage over the life course, subdivided into five distinct age groups: adolescents 13 to 17 years of age, young adults 18 to 24, and adults 25 to 34, 35 to 49, and 50 years of age or older. Drawing from research on youth development, underscoring the heightened sensitivity of youth to external influences, such as families, friends, schools, and environmental adversity (e.g., Bonnie et al., 2012), the expectation was that the estimated effects of disadvantage would decline with age, with this pattern being even stronger for marginalized minority (i.e., African-American) youth compared to non-Latino whites. The empirical results of fixed effects, pooled cross-sectional time series models supported this expectation. They revealed a consistent decline from younger to older age groups in the strength of the estimated effects of economic disadvantage. Although that pattern held for the total homicide rate and across racial groups, the estimated effects were even greater for homicide rates involving African-Americans. The paper closes with a discussion of the implications for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the effect of age at which immigrants enter the United States on the probability of stealing is examined. Capturing the dynamic element of time in the relationship between youth immigration and criminal behavior is an important step forward in examining the immigration-crime nexus. Panel data in the NLSY97 provide an excellent opportunity to study the dynamic effect of time in examining the longitudinal relationship between immigration and criminal behavior. After controlling for structural and demographic predictors of crime, the findings indicate that immigrants do steal less than non-immigrants, however they do steal more with acculturation. The earlier immigrants enter the United States, the higher likelihood they have of engaging in stealing. This highlights the need to ensure adequate educational and structural opportunities are available for immigrant populations as they settle and naturalize in the United States, and come to share the same sense of the American dream as native-born Americans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]