The Racial Invariance Thesis Revisited

The racial/ethnic invariance thesis is a foundational assumption of the general theories of crime. It assumes that all persons, regardless of their racial/ethnic background, engage in problematic behaviors for the same reasons. This thesis allows general theories to be generalizable and, for the most part, has received empirical and theoretical support. Yet, recent research and new theoretical developments question the validity of the racial/ethnic invariance thesis, breathing new life into the debate over whether the factors that influence African American youths’ problematic behaviors are similar to those that influence the behaviors of other youths. Drawing on data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods–Longitudinal Cohort Study (PHDCN-LCS), our results question the validity of the invariance thesis by showing that the impact of perceived discrimination by the police has a stronger influence on African American youths’ externalizing problems than it does for other youths.