Juvenile Delinquency and Juvenile Justice System Flashcards

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering the concepts, history, types, and theories of juvenile delinquency and the juvenile justice system based on the lecture notes.

Juvenile Delinquency

Anti-social acts or behaviors committed by minors which are contrary to the norms of the society, involving misdemeanors as well as felonies.

Child-in-Conflict with the Law

The term used under RA $9344$ to refer to juvenile delinquents to avoid labeling or shaming.

Crime

An act committed by an adult that breaks the criminal code created by society through written law.

Delinquency

Acts committed by minors that break cultural laws or norms.

Code of Hammurabi

The oldest known code dating from $2270$ B.C. which established social order based on individual rights and the principle of Lex Talionis.

Lex Talionis

A legal principle meaning "an Eye for an Eye" originating from the Code of Hammurabi.

Stubborn Child Law

A law passed in $1641$ by the General Court of Massachusetts stating that children who disobeyed their parents could be put to death.

The Talmud

Ancient Jewish Law specifying that puberty was the age of responsibility ($12$ for females and $13$ for males) and that no capital punishment be imposed on offenders under $20$ years of age.

Twelve Tables

A codification of Roman Law from the $5^{th}$ century B.C. that classified children as "Infans" or "Proximus Infantiae."

Infans

Under Roman Law, children aged $7$ years old and below who were not held criminally responsible.

Proximus Infantiae

Children approaching puberty (above $7$ to $14$ for boys and above $7$ to $12$ for girls) whose liability was based on their capacity to understand right from wrong.

Anglo Saxon Common Law

Law based on custom where children under $7$ were presumed incapable of criminal intent, while those $7$ to $14$ were only liable if intent could be demonstrated.

Child Savers

A social activist group from the middle of the $19^{th}$ century who believed children were born good but became bad due to environment.

Parens Patriae

A doctrine viewing the State as the father, which treats delinquent acts as results of improper care rather than criminal violations.

Poor Law Act of 1601

Provided for the involuntary separation of children from impoverished parents to be placed as apprentices.

Bridewell

The first house of corrections in England, established to confine idle and disorderly children and adults.

Hospice of San Michele

Established in $1704$ in Rome, it served as a model for the first institution for treating juvenile offenders.

John Howard

Known as the father of prison reform, he brought the model of the Hospice of San Michele to England.

House of Refuge

Opened in New York in $1825$ to house juvenile delinquents, defined as youths convicted of criminal offenses or found in vagrancy.

Social Delinquent Youth

An aggressive youth who resents the authority of anyone attempting to control his behavior.

Neurotic Delinquent Youth

A youth who has internalized his conflicts and is preoccupied with his own feelings.

Asocial Delinquent Youth

A youth whose delinquent acts have a cold, brutal quality for which he feels no remorse.

Accidental Delinquent Youth

A law-abiding youth who becomes involved in a delinquent act simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Emergence

The first stage of delinquency where a child begins with petty larceny between age $8$ and $12$.

Exploration

The second stage of delinquency involving shoplifting and vandalism between ages $12$ and $14$.

Explosion

The third stage of delinquency, occurring at age $13$ and up, characterized by a substantial increase in the variety of offenses.

Conflagration

The fourth stage of delinquency at around age $15$ and up, where four or more types of crimes are added.

Unsocialized Aggression

Delinquency resulting from being rejected or abandoned with no parents to imitate.

Socialized Delinquency

Delinquency stemming from membership in fraternities or groups that advocate illegal or negative acts.

Over-inhibited Delinquency

Groups secretly trained to perform illegal activities, such as marijuana cultivation.

Biogenic Approach

Views law-breaking as the result of faulty biology, such as heredity, endocrine imbalance, or brain pathology.

Psychogenic Approach

Attributes delinquency to personality problems and psychological pathology.

Sociogenic Approach

Attributes delinquency to social structures, youth gangs, and environment.

Predisposing Factor

Personal inclinations or inherited propensities that may lead to crime if triggered.

Precipitating Factor

Elements that provoke or trigger crimes, such as personal problems, curiosity, or ignorance.

Cradle of Human Personality

A reference term for the home or family as the basic institution for a child's development.

Criminal Gang

A stable gang where older criminals serve as role models and teach criminal skills to youngsters.

Conflict Gang

A non-stable gang aiming for a reputation of toughness and destructive violence due to a lack of criminal organization.

Retreatist Gang

Known as 'double failures,' these youths are unsuccessful in both legitimate and illegitimate means and retreat into drugs and alcohol.

Social Disorganization Theory

Proposed by Shaw and McKay, it argues that delinquency rates are higher in unstable areas characterized by poverty and decay.

Anomie Theory

Advocated by Emile Durkheim, referring to a breakdown of social norms and standards.

Strain Theory

Suggests children turn to crime out of desperation when they cannot achieve society’s goals (like the American Dream) through legitimate means.

Differential Oppression Theory

Argues that delinquency is a product of the oppression of children by adults, especially within the family.

Differential Association Theory

Introduced by Edwin Sutherland, asserting that criminal behavior is learned through interpersonal groups when favorable definitions of law-breaking exceed favorable definitions of law-abiding.

Social Learning Theory

The view that behavior is modeled through observation and imitation of interactions that are rewarded.

Drift Theory

Also known as Neutralization Theory, it suggests juveniles sense a moral obligation to the law but 'drift' when that bind is temporarily absent.

Labeling Theory

Also known as Social Reaction Theory, it states that once children are labeled as delinquent, they become delinquent.

Self-derogation Theory

Introduced by Kaplan, stating that devaluing interactions in family or school can minimize the motivation to conform and lower self-esteem.

Self-control Theory

Suggests that deviance results from an individual's inability to effectively control their impulses.

Rational Choice Theory

Argues that deviance is the result of a calculated weighing of risks and rewards.

Filiation

The civil status or relationship of a child to the parents, which may be by nature (legitimate/illegitimate) or by adoption.

Paternity

The civil status relationship of the father to the child.

Maternity

The civil status relationship of the mother to the child.

Nuclear Family

Also known as elementary or traditional families, consisting of two parents and their biological or adopted children.

Stepfamily

Formed when two separate families merge into one, such as through the marriage of divorced parents.

Egalitarian Family

A power structure where the father and the mother share equal power in the family.

Patriarchal Family

A family structure where the father is the head of the family.

Matriarchal Family

A family structure where the mother is the head of the family.