Explaining Specific Forms of Delinquency (From Delinquency and Juvenile Control: A Sociological Perspective, P 97-120, 1989, William B. Waegel -- See NCJ-116652)

• NCJ Number: 116656
• Author(s): W B Waegel
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 24 pages
• Sale Source: Prentice Hall
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Specific forms of delinquency, such as female and middle-class delinquency, are explained.

Abstract

The parent-child tension theory, for example, views female delinquency as stemming from problems experienced in family relationships, resulting in female status offenses, such as running away and sexual delinquency. Other theories indicate substantial female involvement in offenses other than traditional forms of female delinquency. General sociological theories, particularly opportunity and control theories, can also be utilized to explain female delinquency. The youth culture theory represents a specialized explanation of middle-class delinquency that asserts that middle-class delinquency is rooted in a special set of causal factors different from those which cause the delinquency of other youths. Other, general sociological theories have also been applied to middle-class delinquency. For example, one version of the strain theory identifies the inability to escape from or avoid painful situations as a source of strain. The labeling and the drift theories are also discussed. Figures, references.