Juvenile Justic Systems Chapters 7-9

Family structure

The compositional makeup of a family, such as two-parent, single-parent, blended, or grandparent-led households.

Family process

The relational interactions within a family, including communication, attachment, discipline style, supervision, and emotional support.

Family structure vs. family process in predicting delinquency

Family process is a significantly stronger and more critical predictor of delinquency than family structure.

Single strongest family predictor of delinquency

Poor parental monitoring and inadequate supervision.

Key family protective factors against juvenile offending

Strong parent-child attachment, consistent non-physical discipline, positive communication, and active parental monitoring.

Four recognized forms of child maltreatment

Physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect.

Impact of parental incarceration on youth delinquency risk

Generates financial strain, emotional trauma, social stigma, and reduced supervision, elevating risks for behavioral and school problems.

Foster care experiences that elevate delinquency risk

Multiple placement disruptions, past trauma, frequent school changes, and lack of residential stability.

Discipline practices most associated with delinquent conduct

Harsh, erratic, or inconsistent disciplinary measures.

Parental monitoring

An ongoing parental effort to stay informed about a child's whereabouts, peer relationships, and daily activities.

Truancy

Unexcused or unauthorized absence from mandatory schooling, strongly associated with substance use and delinquency.

Academic tracking

The educational practice of grouping or separating students into distinct academic tracks according to perceived learning ability.

Negative outcomes of academic tracking

Lowered teacher expectations, negative institutional labeling, restricted academic pathways, and self-fulfilling prophecies.

School alienation

A psychological state where a student feels isolated from school, viewing teachers as unsupportive and success as unattainable.

Bullying

Repeated aggressive behavior targeted at a peer that depends upon an actual or perceived imbalance of power.

Four main classifications of bullying behavior

Physical aggression, verbal aggression, relational/social exclusion, and cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying

Harassment or aggressive behavior carried out via digital platforms, including text messaging, social media, and online gaming.

School-to-prison pipeline

School discipline policies and security practices that systematically push students out of classrooms into the juvenile justice system.

Institutional practices feeding the school-to-prison pipeline

Zero-tolerance policies, aggressive disciplinary suspensions, intense digital surveillance, and stationing school resource officers on campus.

School failure

A pattern of academic difficulty manifested in poor grades, persistent truancy, suspensions, and dropping out.

Selection hypothesis (peer delinquency)

The premise that youth seek out and befriend peers who already share their existing delinquent values and behaviors.

Socialization hypothesis (peer delinquency)

The premise that an individual adopts delinquent values and behaviors as a direct result of peer group influence and exposure.

Criminological consensus on selection vs. socialization

Empirical evidence indicates that peer delinquency is driven by both selection and socialization processes operating together.

Differential association theory

Edwin Sutherland's theory stating that criminal behavior, motives, techniques, and rationalizations are learned through interpersonal interaction.

Defining elements of youth gangs

A shared group identity, common symbols, collective loyalty, continuous association, and coordinated group activity.

Labeling theory applied to gang membership

Applying a gang label attracts formal police surveillance, reduces legitimate social opportunities, and leads youth to internalize a criminal identity.

Gang suppression

A law-enforcement strategy relying on police sweeps, specialized arrests, gang injunctions, and elevated criminal penalties.

Gang prevention

Community-level interventions, such as after-school programming and youth mentoring, designed to divert youth before gang joining occurs.

Gang intervention

Targeted programming offering counseling, street outreach, and exit pathways to assist active members in leaving gang networks.

Most effective long-term gang management strategy

Community-based prevention and targeted intervention, which yield more lasting reductions in gang offending than suppression alone.