NCJ Number
187124
Date Published
2001
Length
14 pages
Annotation
A comparative analysis of juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice in Russia and the United States is presented, based primarily on a study of legal socialization among young people in Russia and the United States.
Abstract
In a number of respects, factors associated with juvenile delinquency in Russia are not that different from those in industrialized countries such as the United States. These factors include alcohol and drug abuse, dropping out of school, unemployment, having access to guns, joining street gangs, and coming from dysfunctional families. In Russia, however, there is a situation that is quite different from anything in the United States. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, many Russians have fallen into a state of what is characterized as anomie or lack of norms, and this is especially true for young people. Many Soviet norms and values are gone, but new ones are not yet fully in place. Despite the significant increase in juvenile delinquency in Russia in recent years, there has been no commensurate increase in resources and services to combat the problem. The juvenile justice system in the United States is in far better shape than the system in Russia. The U.S. juvenile justice system deals with many more clients but has many more resources and programs. A study of legal socialization among Russian youth was conducted in 1992 to test links between legal reasoning, knowledge of the law, attitudes toward law enforcement, and delinquent behavior. The study sample included 268 students at three Moscow city schools who completed a Russian language version of a questionnaire called the Internalization of Legal Values Inventory (ILVI). The same ILVI was administered during 1994-1995 to a sample of young males living in Monmouth County, New Jersey. There were no statistically significant differences between the Russian and the U.S. samples in terms of living arrangements or socioeconomic status. Results showed the legal developmental level of Russian youth was significantly higher than that of U.S. youth. Russian youth were more inclined than U.S. youth to still spend time with friends who were getting into trouble and to lie to protect them. Russian youth were more deviant than U.S. youth, committing both more and more serious offenses. Implications of the findings for comparative research on deviance are discussed. 23 references and 3 tables