Brief History of Juvenile Justice
Juvenile Court Act
Chicago Area Project
Public policy shifts (community organization, identify and control delinquents (JJDPA), law and order approach, due process or rights orientation)
Definition of Juvenile Delinquency
Legal definition: behavior against criminal code; may include status offenses
Social and psychological definitions: antisocial behavior, conduct disorder
The Nature and Extent of Juvenile Offending
Five major categories
The problem of status offending
Tactics for circumventing deinstitutionalization mandates
Historically used to control girls (some say protect)
Violent crime decreased since 1994 (fell by 41%)
Property crime decreased since 1994 (37%)
Drugs, curfew, loitering all increased
¾ of all arrests are for non-index crimes; 4% for index violent; 22% for index property
Nearly ¾ of all arrests are referred to juvenile courts
School Crime
Both crime and victimization either decreased or showed no change
Only exception: bullying, which increased
Raw numbers of incidents still sobering: 1.5 million violent incidents
Myths about school shooters
Small percentage, but often undetected
Small percentage high in recidivism, do not specialize
Troublesome in school, poor grades, inadequate social skills
Early onset
Poverty and social class: robust predictor, but many factors
Caveat: all classes commit delinquency
Caveat: law enforcement may target lower socioeconomic class
Peer experiences: strong influence, particularly drug use
Social rejection by peers
Aggressive, rejected juveniles associate with similar juveniles
Preschool and school experiences
Early school failure
Unsupervised after school care
Family background
Single parent, but other factors critical
Conflict-free single parent home better than conflict-laden 2-parent home
Process rather than structure
Parental disciplinary practices
May reinforce antisocial behavior
Inconsistent and/or harsh discipline problematic
Emotional abuse and/or rejection problematic
Developmental Factors
Serious delinquency may being early: aggressive, belligerent, rejected by peers
Life-course-persistent (LCP) offenders
Adolescent-limited (AL) offenders
Recent research suggest more than two tracks
Hyperactivity and Attention Deficit Disorder
ADHD: Leading diagnosis for American children
May be biological or exposure to environmental influences
Disorder of interpersonal relationships
Not good predictor of delinquency when conduct disorder controlled
Conduct disorders
Repetitive, persistent misbehavior
May be apparent as early as age 3
Distinct from learning disability
Childhood-onset and adolescent-onset
Significant school problems
Intelligence and Delinquency
Inverse relationship—many explanations
Psychometric approach; psychometric intelligence
PI not same as “intelligence”
Group differences reflect cultural, social influences
Very low PI scores: some association with delinquency and adult offending
Males outnumber females, particularly in violent offending
Gender gap closing
Reflects socialization effects
Processing still harsher for girls for runaway, shoplifting
Association between runaway and prostitution
Developmental Theories
Moffitt's Theory
Life Course Persistent Offenders
AL (adolescent limited) offenders
Coercion Theory
Poor parental monitoring, disruptive family transitions and inconsistent parental disciplinecontributors to early onset delinquency