NCJ Number
129409
Date Published
1990
Length
26 pages
Annotation
Relationships between juvenile delinquency and the larger society are important to understand when devising delinquency prevention strategies.
Abstract
Most youth do not become seriously involved in delinquent behavior. Those who do often become society's criminals, wards of the criminal justice system, the specter of public fears, and a major drain on public resources. Despite the intentions of juvenile justice system reformers and the best efforts of researchers, the uncertainty of knowledge about juvenile delinquency and continuous social change ensure there will always be youth problems and delinquents. The major concern of most people regarding juvenile delinquency is that it be controlled. Several police and community crime control experiments recognize five strategies that can be used in crime prevention: changes in environmental design such as improved street lighting; changes in the development of local police officers that emphasize decentralized tactics and foot patrols and increased contacts between police and citizens; support for community organizations; public awareness about crime and crime prevention; and individual crime prevention efforts such as engraving personal property, conducting security surveys, and block watching. Studies of gangs, the ecological context of juvenile delinquency, and the role of communities and social class in delinquent conduct and prevention are reported. Evidence is cited that individual delinquent careers can be cut short before prolonged involvement in serious crime is entrenched. Macrosocial processes largely determine what is considered delinquent and the nature of the social distribution of juvenile delinquency. Macrosocial processes also constitute the social settings that frame microsocial and individual processes. 52 notes