NCJ Number
146804
Journal
Sociological Inquiry Dated: (Summer 1988) Pages: 231-239
Date Published
1988
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This paper reviews two major contributions to juvenile delinquency research: James Short's work that developed the self-report method as applied to juvenile delinquency and that focused on the rigorous empirical testing of ideas about delinquent gangs.
Abstract
Since his appointment to a university faculty in a small town in a rural area in 1951, Short has focused on the social bases of criminality. His interests have included suicide, gang delinquency, and criminality, especially white-collar crime. His career in criminology exemplifies the importance of survey methods and good ideas. Other researchers had used self-reports, but Short's approach was more systematic and aimed at more general and representative populations of youth. The Short and Nye surveys of high school and training school youth in the 1950's resulted in the general acceptance of the self-report technique in studying crime. While working on self-report research, Short began focusing on his career's major work, the empirical testing of ideas about juvenile gangs. With a Federal grant, he and colleagues began a detailed study of juvenile gangs in Chicago, where he moved. Virtually all major ideas about delinquent subcultures and gangs that could be tested received attention in the Chicago project. The research findings effectively became a textbook regarding the relationships among gang delinquency, aspirations, expectations, normative beliefs, and group processes. The completeness of this empirical test may account for the general shift away from gang delinquency field work. Notes and 19 references