Clarifying the Theoretical Tenets of the Symbolic Threat Perspective

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Although Tittle and Curran in 1988 found support for the symbolic threat hypothesis, no further empirical investigations of the perspective have occurred to explain the contingencies of juvenile justice decision-making. We argue that past research has neglected this multilevel theory by only focusing on the “symbolic threat” thesis component, mischaracterizing the perspective as an inequality theory, or classifying the model as a derivative of Blalock’s minority group threat perspective. We contend that the original formulation of the symbolic threat hypothesis is a distinctive theory and offers a viable alternative to inequality and other racial/threat theoretical perspectives. The current study empirically tests the perspective in its entirety by examining the interrelationships between county-level characteristics (i.e. youth and minority populations), a juvenile’s race/ethnicity, and engaging in “moral offenses” with juvenile justice decision-making. The findings provide insight into the influence of contextual factors on the social control of youth of different racial/ethnic backgrounds.