Exposure to Community Violence and Trajectories of Violent Offending

Abstract

The present study uses longitudinal data from the Pathways to Desistance project to investigate the extent to which trajectories of violent youth offending are affected by exposure to community violence. Latent class growth analysis was used to identify groups that followed distinctive patterns of self-reported violent offending and exposure to violence over time. Multinominal regression was used to identify factors that distinguished membership in the trajectory subgroups. The results indicate that youth who had more chronic and direct exposure to community violence were more likely to remain mired in violent criminal behavior, independent of other known risk factors.

Boys are victims too? Sexual dating violence and injury among high-risk youth

“…Finally, this measure of PV does not capture the frequency with which youth were exposed to each type of violence. It is entirely possible (and likely) the cumulative effect of repeated exposures to a single form of violence would have greater impact on a child than experiencing a single incident of violence for multiple forms of violence (Baskin and Sommers, 2014). Johnson and Leone (2005) found that those who had been repeatedly exposed to violence over their lifetime experienced more serious consequences than those who had only experienced an isolated incident.…”

“…However, those who witness or experience violence in their home or community are at heightened risk of being victims of and/ or perpetrating multiple types of violence including TDV (Baskin and Sommers, 2014; Niolon et al, 2015; Turner et al, 2016). Baskin and Sommers (2014) found that over time, youth who had more exposure to community violence were more likely to perpetrate violence, and continued to engage in violent behavior as they got older.…”

“…However, those who witness or experience violence in their home or community are at heightened risk of being victims of and/ or perpetrating multiple types of violence including TDV (Baskin and Sommers, 2014; Niolon et al, 2015; Turner et al, 2016). Baskin and Sommers (2014) found that over time, youth who had more exposure to community violence were more likely to perpetrate violence, and continued to engage in violent behavior as they got older. Turner et al (2016) found adolescents who were victims of violence across multiple settings, termed polyvictimization (PV), had significantly higher trauma symptoms (i.e., anger, depression, anxiety, dissociation, and posttraumatic stress) and violence involvement than those who were victimized in only one setting.…”

Community Violence Exposure and Risk Taking Behaviors Among Black Emerging Adults: A Systematic Review

“…Also, CVE can happen as a result of direct exposure (i.e., victimization or witnessing the event in person) or indirect exposure (i.e., heard or heard about the event; Lee, 2012; Richters & Saltzman, 1990; Wilson & Rosenthal, 2003). Studies have presented evidence suggesting that CVE is among the strongest predictors of violent behaviors (Baskin & Sommers, 2014; Gorman-Smith et al, 2004; Lynch & Cicchetti, 1998). …”

“…Concomitant to the social learning theory, the general strain theory (GST) posits that when people experience stress, which is common after a traumatic experience, they often respond with a range of negative emotions that may lead individuals to violent crime and/or delinquency as a way to cope and reduce the negative emotions caused by the strain (Agnew, 1992). Prior studies have presented evidence of an association between trauma and violence perpetration (Baskin & Sommers, 2014; Layne et al, 2014) which has been defined as participating in: (1) collective violence, which involves war or gangs; and/or (2) individual violence, which involves physical assault, sexual assault, attempted murder, and murder (Brady et al, 2008; DeGruy et al, 2012; Gorman-Smith et al, 2004). Thus, an investigation of CVE and its association with violence perpetration for black emerging adults is warranted.…”