NCJ Number
163273
Date Published
1997
Length
620 pages
Annotation
The five major parts of this overview text on juvenile delinquency pertain to the nature and extent of delinquency, the causes of delinquency, environmental influences on delinquency, the social control of delinquency, and delinquency and the 21st century.
Abstract
In addition to assessing the major myths about juvenile delinquency, Part I examines other pressing delinquency issues, such as the nature of the status offender; how the family's role has changed in terms of the social control of juvenile crime; why juveniles are committing more homicides; and the relationship between race, gender, class, and juvenile delinquency. Other issues considered in Part I are why juveniles have become more involved in hate crimes in recent years and the characteristics and attitudes of juveniles who are habitual offenders. Part II describes and assesses the various theoretical explanations of juvenile delinquency. It also presents several insights that are helpful in understanding these explanations. Part III first considers the family and its relationship to delinquency, including an investigation of the relationship between abuse and neglect and delinquency. The street gang is also examined, as is the relationship between drug use and delinquency. Part IV discusses the social control of youths who violate the law. The focus is on the processes involved when juveniles are arrested, are petitioned to the juvenile court and receive a hearing in this court, are transferred to the adult court, are sentenced to juvenile probation or another form of community-based corrections, or are committed to a juvenile correctional institution. Part V has four major emphases: delinquency prevention, the use of the contextual perspective to summarize the main insights of the text, policy recommendations for the 21st century, and suggestions for those who intend to work with delinquents. Chapter notes, key terms, axiomatic propositions, discussion questions, a glossary, and name and subject indexes