juvenile delinquenxy exam 1

Conceptions of delinquency

Normative conception

Social constructionist conception

Critical conception

• assures there is a general set of norms of behavior, conduct or conditions which society agrees on (delinquency violates these)

• Violations of norms on a societal reaction scale (serious violation = formal response)

Normative conception

• behaviors are not inherently delinquent, but become so once society labels them as such (delinquency constructed by society)

• More focused on the label attached to individuals rather than their behavior itself

• Limitation

  • Doesn’t consider acts that are unknown (if it is unknown it cannot be labeled as delinquent)

Social constructionist conception

• critiques the social system

• Argues that the normative approach of delinquency is established by people in power to keep said power

• Limitation

  • System actually serves to protect society’s interests

Critical conception

Why do we study juveniles?

• not as much responsibility as adults

• Ability to be “saved” - rehabilitation

• Innocent + protection

• Power - cared for by adults and no political power

What areas of children do management track

• family and social environment

• Economic circumstances

• Health

• Physical environment and safety

• Behavior

• Education

• 72.8 million children (12-17) 2020

  • Decrease of 1.3 million since 2010

  • 1/3 fall into 12-17 age range (age crime curve)

Well-being of youth (age)

• 49.6% white non-Hispanic

• 25.6% Hispanic

• 13.7% black

• 5.4% Asian

Well-being of your (race/ethnicity)

• decrease in the % of youth living in poverty

  • 22% in 2010 compared to 14.4% in 2019

• Depends on race/ethnicity

  • 26.8% black non-Hispanic

  • 20.9% Hispanic

  • 30% Indian

  • 10% white non-Hispanic

• Black and Mexican Indian youth have a poverty rate 2.5-3 times higher than white youth

Youth well-being (economic circumstances)

• 51% of children live in an area where at least one air pollutant is above legal guidelines

• 8% of youth live in an area where their drinking water doesn’t meet standard

• 38% youth report inadequate housing

Youth well-being (physical environment/safety)

• increase in education over time

• GED graduation 84% (1980) to 94% (2019)

  • All races saw increases but no don’t share the same rates

Youth well-being (education)

• Youth always misbehaved but wasn’t always considered delinquent

  • Age considered

  • Time period made behaviors okay

• Treated/punished youth as adults

  • Youth were property of their fathers

  • Deserved physical pain as punishment

  • Often beaten harshly

Youth treatment in Ancient Greece

• little distinction between people on age

• Agricultural economy - needed lots of bodies to work

• Age 7 was considered physiologically and emotionally stable to work

  • No other option than to work

  • Communication = adulthood

• Abuse and neglect common = shorter lifespan

• Society lived and functioned closed together

  • Deterred misbehavior

Youth treatment in Middle Ages

• Youth were adults early and worked in fields

• Gender differences

  • Males - develop skills through apprenticeship

  • Women - domestic servants or wives

• Before the age of 7 - mens rea couldn’t be formed

  • From ages 7-14 decisions were made on a case-be-case basis whether they deserved to be treated as an adult

• Juries hesitant to jail white males

• Black youth

  • Over-criminalized

  • Adultified

  • Dehumanized

Youth treatment (colonial period)

• assigned by state and local courts for youth ruled to be in need of care

• Poor = delinquent

• Saving them - teaching youth the value of hard work and responsibility (religious tone)

• Viewed parents of these youth as lazy and incompetent

  • Led to parens patrie (state needs to step in as substitute parents)

House of refuge

• moral and religious training and labor

• Boys - on farms, merchants

• Girls - maids

• Weakened bonds is with the youths families

  • Parents weren’t notified of where their kid was going

  • Little to no control over what happened to their children

• Abusive conditions, lack of food and water, prison setting

Conditions of house of refuge

• middle and upper-class white men and women wanted to combine expert knowledge os science with the new ideologies about youth to improve society

  • Protect youth and give time for development

• Two major changes

  • Age based education

  • Child labor laws

• Criticized the house of refuge, reform schools, and industrial schools

• Campaigned for the separation between adults and juveniles justice systems

Progressive movement

First juvenile court

• 1899 first court (Cook county, Illinois)

• Rehabilitative ficus

  • Protection from adults

  • Youth could be influenced to change behaviors

  • Social and physiological factors play a role in delinquency

• focused on white males

• Court could interfere with family life

• Created category of status offense

• Increased number of youth involved in the system

Cons to early juvenile delinquency

• baby boomers were reaching adolescence (1960s)

  • Experimented with drugs

  • Challenged status quo

  • Protested social and legal institutions (legal fairness and equality)

Baby boomers - modern view of delinquency

• urbanization led to

  • Racial and ethnic diversity in major cities

  • Brought attention to discrimination in justice system

• Led to youth receiving more legal rights

  • Even though rights were gained, they were still treated in the system similar to adults

Due process revolution

1990s

• media portrayal of youth as dangerous and that we should fear them rather than protect them

• Black and Latino young men often characterized as law breakers

Super predator myth

Smaller group on individuals your research question pertains to

Sample

Entire group of individuals that you research pertains to

Population

• must represent the sample

  • Gender and race.ethnicity

Representative sample

• FBI collects data from local law enforcement

• Not 100% reported

• Focused on clearance rates - proportion of crime considered closed because individuals have been arrested, died, or victim will not participate in prosecution

• Limitations

  • Crimes have to be reported - doesn’t consider those who aren’t reported

  • 8 index crimes

  • Does not capture Latinos

Universal Crime Report (UCR)

• add on to the UCR

• Distinguished between committed and attempted crimes

• Index of 46 crimes as opposed to 8

• Crimes against people, property, and society

• Limitations

  • Still relies on crimes being reported

  • Still relies on law enforcement

National incident-based reporting system (NIBRS)

• collects data on household and individual victimization

• Conducted every 6 months

• Focused on person and property crimes, ignores homicide, victimless crimes, or arson

• Collects data on

  • Victim and offender - demographics

  • Relationship between the two

  • Characteristic of the crime - when, where, weapon, nature of crime

National crime-victimizatoin survey (NCVS)

• surveys people about their offending - very reliable

• Strengths

  • Focuses on the actual behavior of youth

  • Doesn’t have to rely on crimes being reported Still flies

  • Collects data on a lot of different topics

    • Family, school, peers, CJ system

• Limitations

  • Self-report delinquency scales many not be equally valid across race, age, gender

  • Under/over resting

Self-report surveys

• increase sharply from 1988-1993

• Decreased in 2004; increased 2004-2006

• Decrease since. 2006

Trends of violent crimes

• Arrest rates do not show an increase from 1980-2008

  • Stable from 1980-1994; decline from 1994-2005

• Decrease from 2008-2019

Property arrest trends

• rates steady from 1980-1991

• Increase from 1991-1997

• Rate more than double from 300 per 100,000 to 700

Drug arrest rate trends

• one of the strongest

• Age crime curve

• Likelihood to commit property crime peaks at 16

• Violent crime peaks at 18

Age as a correlate to delinquency

• boys engage in crime more than girls

  • 4 times as likely to engage in violent crime

  • 2 times as likely to engage in property crime

• Girls more likely to engage in status offenses

Gender as a correlate to delinquency

• minority groups offend more

  • Self-report surveys do not back this and suggest that there is no relationship

• Higher police presence in areas with minorities

Race/ethnicity as a correlate to delinquency

• macro level - crime/delinquency rates higher in neighborhoods of poverty or disorganization

• Micro level - no strong relation between crime and class

  • Agnew - economic strain was a bigger factor

Class as a correlate of crime