NCJ Number
43583
Date Published
1976
Length
366 pages
Annotation
VIEWS HELD BY LOCAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE AGENCIES ON VARIOUS ACTS BY JUVENILES DEFINE WHETHER OR NOT A CERTAIN SET OF ACTIVITIES WILL BE LABELED 'DELINQUENCY;' THUS, THE POLICE AND COURT SYSTEM CREATE THEIR OWN PROBLEMS.
Abstract
CRITICS OF RESEARCHERS WHO ELEVATE AFRICAN FOLK SYSTEMS TO THE STATUS OF LAW FAIL TO REALIZE THAT WESTERN LAW IS, IN EFFECT, A FOLK SYSTEM. THE 'PROBLEM' OF WHITE COLLAR CRIME HAS BEEN WELL KNOWN FOR TWO CENTURIES, BUT ONLY RECENTLY HAS THE LEGAL SYSTEM DECIDED TO FOCUS UPON IT AND CREATE A CATEGORY OF PROSECUTION, SENTENCING, AND RESULTING DATA CALLED 'WHITE COLLAR CRIME.' THIS SAME PROCESS IS ESPECIALLY APPARENT IN JUVENILE JUSTICE. COURTS EITHER DEFINE CERTAIN ACTS AS 'BAD,' AS FORERUNNERS OF A LIFE OF CRIME, AND DEEDS WHICH SHOULD BE PUNISHED, OR THE SAME ACTS MAY BE DEFINED AS 'NATURAL,' A PART OF GROWING UP. DEPENDING ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE INDIVIDUAL COURT, ANY ONE ACT MAY OR MAY NOT END UP IN CRIME STATISTICS. THIS IS PARTICULARLY TRUE OF MINOR PROPERTY OFFENSES AND STATUS OFFENSES. CRIME DATA IS FURTHER DISTORTED BY THE PROCESS OF ENCODING FOR COMPUTERIZATION. MOST OFFENSES DO NOT FALL INTO NEAT CATEGORIES. YET, THOSE CONCERNED WITH CRIMINAL JUSTICE TREAT THE DATA FROM THE COMPUTER SYSTEM AS THOUGH IT WERE UNASSAILABLE. A SERIES OF CASE STUDIES SHOWS HOW THE PERCEPTIONS INDIVIDUAL PROSECUTORS, COURT OFFICIALS, AND PROBATION OFFICERS AFFECT THE DEFINITION OF AN ACT AS A CRIME. VERBATUM INTERVIEWS ARE PRESENTED TO EXAMINE INCONSISTENCIES IN HANDLING OF OFFENSES AND TO TRACE THE SOCIOLOGY OF THE FORMAL COURT SYSTEM. ONCE A JUVENILE HAS BEEN LABELED, THE SYSTEM PERPETUATES THE LABEL AND CREATES A DELINQUENCY SYNDROME WHERE NONE NEED HAVE EXISTED.