Community context and individual factors associated with arrests among young men in a South African township

Joan Christodoulou; Lynissa R. Stokes; Jason Bantjes; Mark Tomlinson; Jackie Stewart; Stephan Rabie; Sarah Gordon; Andile Mayekiso; Mary Jane Rotheram-Borus

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0209073

Community context and individual factors associated with arrests among young men in a South African township

Joan Christodoulou^*, Lynissa R. Stokes, Jason Bantjes, Mark Tomlinson, Jackie Stewart, Stephan Rabie, Sarah Gordon, Andile Mayekiso, Mary Jane Rotheram-Borus

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

Background

In high-income countries, individual- and community-level factors are associated with increased contact with the criminal justice system. However, little is known about how these factors contribute to the risk of arrest in South Africa, which has one of the highest rates of arrests globally. We examine both individual- and community-level factors associated with arrests among young men living in the townships of Cape Town.

Methods

Data were collected from a stratified community sample of 906 young men aged 18–29 years old living in 18 township neighborhoods. Communities with high and low rates of arrest were identified. Logistic regression models were used to assess which individual-level (such as substance use and mental health status) and community-level (such as infrastructure and presence of bars and gangs) factors predict arrests.

Results

Significant predictors of arrests were substance use, gang activity, being older, more stressed, and less educated. Living in communities with better infrastructure and in more recently established communities populated by recent immigrants was associated with having a history of arrests.

Conclusions

When considering both individual- and community-level factors, substance use and gang violence are the strongest predictors of arrests among young men in South Africa. Unexpectedly, communities with better infrastructure have higher arrest rates. Community programs are needed to combat substance use and gang activity as a pathway out of risk among South African young men.

Original language	English
Article number	e0209073
Journal	PLoS ONE
Volume	14
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209073
Publication status	Published - 17 Jan 2019
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This study was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA; R01DA038675); National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA; R24AA022919); the National Institute of Mental Health through the Center for HIV Identification, Prevention and Treatment Services (CHIPTS; MH58107); the UCLA Center for AIDS Research (CFAR; 5P30AI028697); the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences through UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI; UL1TR000124); the William T. Grant Foundation (180039); and, the National Research Foundation, South Africa (N/A – no reference number available). Contact information for the NIDA Program Officer – Aria Crump, ScD. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the official views of NIH.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Christodoulou et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
General

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1371/journal.pone.0209073Licence: CC BY

Community context and individual factors associated with arrests among young men in a South African township
Copyright 2019 the authors. This is an open access article published under a Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the author and source are cited.
Final published version, 745 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{e1a355874c1e4982a6e1521a88da8580,

title = "Community context and individual factors associated with arrests among young men in a South African township",

abstract = "BackgroundIn high-income countries, individual- and community-level factors are associated with increased contact with the criminal justice system. However, little is known about how these factors contribute to the risk of arrest in South Africa, which has one of the highest rates of arrests globally. We examine both individual- and community-level factors associated with arrests among young men living in the townships of Cape Town.MethodsData were collected from a stratified community sample of 906 young men aged 18–29 years old living in 18 township neighborhoods. Communities with high and low rates of arrest were identified. Logistic regression models were used to assess which individual-level (such as substance use and mental health status) and community-level (such as infrastructure and presence of bars and gangs) factors predict arrests.ResultsSignificant predictors of arrests were substance use, gang activity, being older, more stressed, and less educated. Living in communities with better infrastructure and in more recently established communities populated by recent immigrants was associated with having a history of arrests.ConclusionsWhen considering both individual- and community-level factors, substance use and gang violence are the strongest predictors of arrests among young men in South Africa. Unexpectedly, communities with better infrastructure have higher arrest rates. Community programs are needed to combat substance use and gang activity as a pathway out of risk among South African young men.",

author = "Joan Christodoulou and Stokes, {Lynissa R.} and Jason Bantjes and Mark Tomlinson and Jackie Stewart and Stephan Rabie and Sarah Gordon and Andile Mayekiso and Rotheram-Borus, {Mary Jane}",

note = "Funding Information: This study was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA; R01DA038675); National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA; R24AA022919); the National Institute of Mental Health through the Center for HIV Identification, Prevention and Treatment Services (CHIPTS; MH58107); the UCLA Center for AIDS Research (CFAR; 5P30AI028697); the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences through UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI; UL1TR000124); the William T. Grant Foundation (180039); and, the National Research Foundation, South Africa (N/A – no reference number available). Contact information for the NIDA Program Officer – Aria Crump, ScD. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the official views of NIH. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 Christodoulou et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.",

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T1 - Community context and individual factors associated with arrests among young men in a South African township

AU - Christodoulou, Joan

AU - Stokes, Lynissa R.

AU - Bantjes, Jason

AU - Tomlinson, Mark

AU - Stewart, Jackie

AU - Rabie, Stephan

AU - Gordon, Sarah

AU - Mayekiso, Andile

AU - Rotheram-Borus, Mary Jane

N1 - Funding Information: This study was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA; R01DA038675); National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA; R24AA022919); the National Institute of Mental Health through the Center for HIV Identification, Prevention and Treatment Services (CHIPTS; MH58107); the UCLA Center for AIDS Research (CFAR; 5P30AI028697); the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences through UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI; UL1TR000124); the William T. Grant Foundation (180039); and, the National Research Foundation, South Africa (N/A – no reference number available). Contact information for the NIDA Program Officer – Aria Crump, ScD. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the official views of NIH. Publisher Copyright: © 2019 Christodoulou et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

PY - 2019/1/17

Y1 - 2019/1/17

N2 - BackgroundIn high-income countries, individual- and community-level factors are associated with increased contact with the criminal justice system. However, little is known about how these factors contribute to the risk of arrest in South Africa, which has one of the highest rates of arrests globally. We examine both individual- and community-level factors associated with arrests among young men living in the townships of Cape Town.MethodsData were collected from a stratified community sample of 906 young men aged 18–29 years old living in 18 township neighborhoods. Communities with high and low rates of arrest were identified. Logistic regression models were used to assess which individual-level (such as substance use and mental health status) and community-level (such as infrastructure and presence of bars and gangs) factors predict arrests.ResultsSignificant predictors of arrests were substance use, gang activity, being older, more stressed, and less educated. Living in communities with better infrastructure and in more recently established communities populated by recent immigrants was associated with having a history of arrests.ConclusionsWhen considering both individual- and community-level factors, substance use and gang violence are the strongest predictors of arrests among young men in South Africa. Unexpectedly, communities with better infrastructure have higher arrest rates. Community programs are needed to combat substance use and gang activity as a pathway out of risk among South African young men.

AB - BackgroundIn high-income countries, individual- and community-level factors are associated with increased contact with the criminal justice system. However, little is known about how these factors contribute to the risk of arrest in South Africa, which has one of the highest rates of arrests globally. We examine both individual- and community-level factors associated with arrests among young men living in the townships of Cape Town.MethodsData were collected from a stratified community sample of 906 young men aged 18–29 years old living in 18 township neighborhoods. Communities with high and low rates of arrest were identified. Logistic regression models were used to assess which individual-level (such as substance use and mental health status) and community-level (such as infrastructure and presence of bars and gangs) factors predict arrests.ResultsSignificant predictors of arrests were substance use, gang activity, being older, more stressed, and less educated. Living in communities with better infrastructure and in more recently established communities populated by recent immigrants was associated with having a history of arrests.ConclusionsWhen considering both individual- and community-level factors, substance use and gang violence are the strongest predictors of arrests among young men in South Africa. Unexpectedly, communities with better infrastructure have higher arrest rates. Community programs are needed to combat substance use and gang activity as a pathway out of risk among South African young men.

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DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0209073

M3 - Article

C2 - 30653530

AN - SCOPUS:85060158321

SN - 1932-6203

VL - 14

JO - PLoS ONE

JF - PLoS ONE

IS - 1

M1 - e0209073

ER -

Community context and individual factors associated with arrests among young men in a South African township

Abstract

Bibliographical note

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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