juvenile delinquency chap 1-4 – Flashcards
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juvenile delinquency
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an act committed by a minor that violates the penal code of the government with authority over the area in which the act occurs
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juvenile
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a youth at or below the upper age of a juvenile court jurisdiction in a particular state
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adolescence
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The life interval between childhood and adulthood; usually the period between the ages of 12 and 18 years
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PAST TREATMENT OF ADOLESCENCE -treated as small adults -expected to work in the home or outside the home at a young age -education is seen as a minor significance and usually extends only a few years -adolescent girls are expected to marry and raise a family -minimal emotionally attachment to children because of high infant death rates -children are punished like adults -children were seen as having few rights
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PRESENT TREATMENT OF ADOLESCENCE -adolescence is seen as preparation for adulthood -employment takes place after school or on weekends and is usually seen as making extra money -compulsory education and increased emphasis is placed on attending college -growing equality for female adolescence -emotional investment in children from birth -children, especially those who commit minor crimes, are protected by the state and are placed in a separate system from adults -special legal protections were granted to juveniles in the final decades of the late nineteenth century
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Positive Youth Development (PYD)
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A comprehensive way of thinking about adolescence that challenges the traditional deficit-based perspective by pointing out that youths can sometimes thrive even in the presence of multiple risk factors
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delinquent youth
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A young person who has committed a crime or violated probation
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status offense
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A nondelinquent/noncriminal offense; an offense that is illegal for underage persons but not adults.includes: curfew violations, incorrigibility, running away,truancy, and underage drinking
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status offender
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A juvenile who commits a minor act that is considered illegal only because he or she is underage
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developmental life-course (DLC)
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A framework suggesting that four key factors determine the shape of the life course: location in time and place, linked lives, human agency, and timing of our lives
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Human agency
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the active role juveniles take in their lives; the fact that juveniles are not merely subject to social and structural constraints but also make choices and decisions based on on the alternatives that they see before them
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parens patriae
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a medieval English doctrine that sanctioned the right of the crown to intervene in natural family relations whenever a child's welfare was threatened. the philosophy of the juvenile court is based on this legal concept. under this the court assumed the parental role over juvenile lawbreakers
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delinquency
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-when a youth has been accused of committing an act, which would be considered criminal, if they were an adult -when a youth has been accused of committing a status offense
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dependency/neglect
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if a court determines that a child is being deprived of needed support and supervision
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the juvenile justice and delinquency prevention (JJDP) act of 1974
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a federal law that established a juvenile justice office within the then existing Law Enforcement Assistance Administration to provide funds for the prevention and control of youth crime -required status offenders to be kept separate from delinquents in secure facilities, in order to receive funding -violations of the requirement are not uncommon
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Three themes of the text
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-delinquency prevention -developmental life course theory -delinquency and social policy
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delinquency prevention
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resiliency: the capacity to regain personal power and develop a strong care sense of self in the face of poverty, sever family hardship, and community devastation -occurs when youth live in environments that: 1. offer caring and supportive relationships 2. hold high expectations for behavior and attitudes 3. provide opportunities for meaningful participation
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developmental life course theory
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-a framework suggesting that four key factors determine the shape of the life course: location in time and place, linked lives, human agency, timing of lives -holds that human development and aging are lifelong processes, and that people are rational actors who make decisions as they go through life -the choices can be influenced by the turning points that change or modify the strength of social ties -crime is more likely to occur when an individual's ties to the wider society are disrupted
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delinquency and social policy
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-asks what can be done to improve the quality of young people's lives -provides ideas for effectively treating and controlling youth crime -social programs based on evidence derived from research are evidence based - the two basic tools of social science are research and theory
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free will
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the ability to make rational choices among possible actions and to select one over others
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utilitarianism
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a doctrine that holds that the useful is the good and that the aim of social or political action should be the greatest good for the greatest number
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felicific calculus
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a method for determining the sum total of pleasure and pain produced by an act; also the assumption that human beings strive to obtain a favorable balance of pleasure and pain
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routine activities approach
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the contention that crime rate trends and cycles are related to the nature of everyday patterns of social interaction that characterize the society in which they occur
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positivism
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the view that just as laws operate in the medical, biological, and physical sciences, laws govern human behavior and these laws can be understood and used
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progressive era
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the period from around 1890 to 1920, when a wave of optimism swept through american society and led to the acceptance of positivism
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determinism
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a philosophical position that suggests that individuals are driven into delinquent or criminal behavior by biological or psychological traits that are beyond their control
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biological positivism
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the belief that juveniles biological characteristics and limitations drive them to delinquent behavior
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born criminal
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an individual who is atavistic, who reverts to an earlier evolutionary level, and is unable to conform his or her behavior to the requirements of modern society-thus, an individual who is innately criminal
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sociobiology
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an expression of biological positivism that stresses the interaction between biological factors within an individual and the influence of the person's particular environment; also the systematic study of the biological basis of all social behavior
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autonomic nervous system
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the system of nerves that govern reflexes, glands, the iris of the eye, and activities of interior organs that are not subject to voluntary control
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attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
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a cognitive disorder of childhood that can include inattention, distractibility, excessive activity, restlessness, noisiness, impulsiveness, and so on
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emotionality
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an aspect of temperament. it can range from a near absence of emotional response to intense, out-of-control emotional reactions
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learning disability (LD)
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a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using spoken or written language
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orthomolecular imbalance
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a chemical imbalance in the body, resulting from poor nutrition, allergies, or exposure to lead and certain other substances, which is said to lead to delinquency
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psychoanalytic theory
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a theory based on Sigmund Freud's insights, which have helped to shape the handling of juvenile delinquents. they include these axioms: (1) the personality is made up of three components- id,ego, and superego; (2) a normal child passes through three psychosexual stages of development- oral, anal, and phallic; and (3) a person's personality traits are developed in early childhood
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reinforcement theory
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a perspective that holds that behavior is governed by its consequences, especially rewards and punishments that follow from it
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trait-based personality model
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a theory that attributes delinquent behavior to an individual's basic inborn characteristics
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psychopath
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an individual with a personality disorder, or a hardcore juvenile delinquent/ adult criminal; also called a sociopath
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cognitive theory
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a perspective on human development that says children develop cognitive abilities through interaction with the physical and social worlds
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life-course-persistent (LCP) offenders
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offenders who begin offending early in life and persistently engage in criminal and antisocial activities over the duration of the life course
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adolescent-limited (AL) offenders
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individuals who offend only for a very short period of time that is limited to the adolescent years
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desistance
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the termination of a delinquent career or behavior
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developmental theory
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delinquency occurs due to life circumstances and a lack of more development
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social contract
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an unstated or explicit agreement between a people and its government as to the rights and obligations of each
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rational choice theory
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based on the assumption that the delinquent or criminal chooses to violate the law and has free will
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cultural transmission theory
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an approach that holds that areas of concentrated crime maintain their high rates over a long period, even when the composition of the population rapidly changes, because delinquent "values" become cultural norms and are passed from one generation to the next
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cultural deviance theory
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a theory wherein delinquent behavior is viewed as an expression of conformity to cultural values and norms that are in opposition to those of the larger U.S. society
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strain theory
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proposes that delinquency results from the frustrations individuals feel when they are unable to achieve the goals they desire
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Robert Merton
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placed emphasis on two elements of social and cultural systems: -culturally defined goals: the set of purposed and interests a culture defines as legitimate objectives for an individual -institutionalized means: culturally sanctioned methods of obtaining these goals
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mertons 5 types of adaptation
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1 conformity 2 innovation 3 ritualism 4 retreatism 5 rebellion
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blocked opportunity
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-the limited or nonexistent chance of success -according to strain theory, a key factor in delinquency
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social structure
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the relatively stable formal and informal arrangements that characterize a society, including its economic arrangements, social institutions, and values and norms
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social process theories
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a theoretical approach to delinquency that examines the interactions between individuals and their environments, especially those that might influence them to become involved in delinquent behavior
