NCJ Number
80886
Date Published
1981
Length
371 pages
Annotation
This book investigates the recurrent use of oral or life histories of juvenile delinquents to overcome public indifference and communicate to various audiences the human traits of offenders, the individual's social world, the need for community-based programs to prevent delinquency, and the futility of imprisonment.
Abstract
Using a chronological approach, the text first examines the use of oral history by Henry Mayhew (1812-87) a century before the term was coined. Mayhew's major work, 'London Labour and the London Poor' portrayed the lives of poor people in London, England, through their own words. Mayhew's work contains oral histories of young offenders to illustrate the futility of the then-popular alternative schools, and the criminogenic features of cheap lodging houses. Next examined are the methods used by John Clay (1796-1858), a chaplain of the jail at Preston, England, to institute prison reforms. In order to create public demand for separate facilities for juvenile offenders, Clay included testimony ('cell confessionals') of juvenile offenders in reports to officials. Other chapters highlight the use of juvenile delinquents' oral histories to promote public support of juvenile correctional institutions and programs both in American and England. Another chapter examines the first juvenile courts and first clinic to study delinquency and amass data on delinquents. These developments are included in order to study the conditions under which delinquents' oral histories did and did not appear and to contrast oral histories and related forms of presentation. Next, special attention is devoted to the classic period of Chicago sociology and the works of W.I. Thomas, Robert E. Park, Ernest Burgess, Frederic Thrasher, and Clifford Shaw. These men used life histories mainly to illustrate hypotheses of scientific explanation of delinquency. The Chicago sociologists in the 1920's and 1930's collected thousands of life histories from hoboes, delinquents, gang members, confidence men, and other persons on the margin of society. Their accomplishments are reviewed and the Chicago Area Project, which was designed to change neighborhood conditions thought to cause delinquency, is described. The text concludes that rapid urban growth provides the genesis for delinquents' oral histories and that oral histories' chief functions are to attract an audience, put phenomena before the eyes of an audience, and persuade people to hold certain opinions. Literary sources and examples of oral histories are given throughout the text. Chapter notes, an index, and a bibliography of over 350 references are provided. Supplemental material is appended.