Correlates of Delinquency: The Illusion of Discrepancy between Self-Report and Official Measures

Abstract

This paper reviews the research literature concerning the extent to which studies of delinquency that use official records produce results compatible with studies of delinquency that use self-reports of adolescents. Particular attention is given to sex, race, and social class as correlates of delinquency. The notion that official and self-report methods produce discrepant results with respect to sex, race, and class is largely illusory. In reaching conclusions of discrepancy several techniques have been used in the literature; the most general is the assumption that self-reports and official data tap the same domain of behavior. When the domain limitations of self-reports are recognized (and other illusory techniques are abandoned), the conclusion of general consistency between self-reports and official correlates for sex, race, and class emerges. This consistency and other evidence from victimization surveys, studies of the reliability and validity of self-reports, and studies of biases in criminal justice processing, suggest that both official data and self-reports provide valid indicators of the demographic characteristics of offenders, within the domain of behavior effectively tapped by each method. (abstract Adapted from Source: American Sociological Review, 1979. Copyright © 1979 by the American Sociological Association) Literature Review Racial Factors Racial Differences Sociocultural Factors Socioeconomic Factors Self Report Studies Juvenile Delinquency Delinquency Rates Juvenile Offender Arrest Rates Self Report Statistics vs. Arrest Statistics Social Class Class Factors Juvenile Male Juvenile Female Female Delinquency Female Offender Gender Differences Male Offender Male Delinquency 07-02