Juvenile Justice Exam 1

Race/ethnicity and delinquency

- Black youth disproportionately represented in terms of arrest relative to their portion of the population -in 2014, blacks were 5x more likely to be arrested for violent crimes compared to whites -trends of violent crime for black and other races/ethnicities are similar

Short history of gangs

-19th century- gangs often of working class or poor families of European ancestry -21st century- latino and black gangs receive most public attention -gangs represent nearly every racial/ethnic group, along w/ gangs that are mixed in terms of racial composition

Roper v Simmons

-2005 -outlawed the death penalty for minors based on brain research

Graham v Florida

-2010 -outlawed sentencing youth to life in prison for non-homicide crimes -in 2012, they outlawed mandatory sentencing to life w/o parole for juvenile offenders

NCVS trend

-juveniles are safer now (as measured by violent victimisation) than they have been since prior to 1975

Female and non-white arrests

-29% of arrests committed by females -gap between female and male arrests is smaller for property crimes compared to violent crimes --BUT female arrests decreased in many categories at a slower rate compared to male arrest decreases -non-white arrests disproportionate compared to percentage of population (especially for violent crimes compared to property crimes)

National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)

-Advantages- reports multiple crimes within events, includes more information than UCR (example: victim characteristics) -Limitations- same as UCR

socialization hypotheses

-Akers -youth who socialize with highly delinquent friends will be more apt to be delinquent

GST and Gender

-Broidy and Agnew(1997): 4 possible relationships between gender and strain: 1. Boys may be subject to more stressors/strains than girls (NOT TRUE) 2. Strains that boys face may be more conducive to delinquency (TRUE) 3. Genders have different emotional responses to crime (TRUE) 4. Explored coping strategies both boys and girls have available to them (TRUE) -girls focus on strains that are more interpersonal whereas boys focus on strains that are more material -girls get just as angry as boys; get a lot of guilt about anger, so they express it differently -boys generally likely to cope with outwardly directed anger (hitting someone), girls are generally more inwardly directed (drugs, eating disorders)

The most consistent correlate of delinquency

-Gender -UCR indicates boys 4x more likely to engage in violent crime and 2x more likely to engage in property crime compared to girls -boys more likely to engage in substance use, although the gender gap is smaller -gender differences tend to be smaller in self-reports (boys only 1.5x or so more likely)

Opportunity hypothesis of delinquency

-Hirschi -Social Bonding theory -the amount of time that youth spends with friends away from parents, teachers, and other social control agencies is more important for delinquency than whether friends are delinquent

Self-report

-Monitoring the Future, National Youth Survey, National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Advantages- focuses on the actual behavior of youth Disadvantages- may not be equally valid or reliable, inaccuracy of reporting

National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)

-Nationally representative survey: collects data on both household and personal victimization; focuses on person and property crimes -collected by Census Bureau Advantages: better addresses hidden figure of crime than official data Disadvantages: victims might report inaccurately bc of embarrassment, not easily able to compare trends

Rolling Dolo

-Richardson and St. Vil, 2016 -when adolescents in low SES areas don't develop close, mutual relationships with peers but have weak ties with individuals respected in the streets -offers protection w/o risks of hanging out with those engaging in serious delinquency -this study indicated that youth start "rolling dolo" at certain turning points (entering high school, getting a new group of friends)

General Strain Theory

-Robert Agnew (1992) used General Strain Theory (GST) to explore what may create strain in juvenile's lives -GST focuses on what circumstances lead individuals and groups within a society to engage in delinquent behavior --theory suggests they're pressured into crime

sexting

-about 4% of US youth with cell phones between the ages of 12 and 17 have sent a nude or nearly nude photo of themselves to someone else via phone -15-30% of US youth of same age range are estimated to have received a sexually explicit image on their phone -not a problem, but has potential criminal consequences -set up special courts for sexting, diversion

Race/ethnicity and violent/property crime

-according to self-report surveys, blacks slightly more likely than whites to engage in violent crime, whites slightly more likely to engage in property crime

status offense

-acts not considered crimes for adults, but that society doesn't want juveniles doing -running away, truancy -status offenders and delinquents treated as separated in JJ system

qualitative data advantages and disadvantages

-advantage- gives a more nuanced picture -disadvantage- more time-intensive, more difficult to obtain data that can be generalized to entire population

delinquency

-an act committed by an individual under the age of 18 that violates the penal code of the region in which the act is committed -in 7 states, those under 17 are juveniles -in N Carolina and New York, those under 16 juveniles

3 major types of strain

-anticipated or actual failure to achieve a goal -anticipated or actual loss of a positive stimulus (eg break up or death of loved one) -anticipated or actual presentation of negative stimulus (eg child abuse, failing grades)

ecological fallacy

-assumption that you can infer things about individuals based on aggregate date for a group --at individual level, no strong correlation between social class and delinquency --strong correlation when measuring the relationship between class and delinquency at the neighborhood level

Feminist Theory

-became popular in 80s -girls and women have different pathways into the CJ system. Tend to have a history of abuse, running away, delinquency often tied to substance use -Scholars: Chesney Lind, Daly

Conflict Theory

-became popular in early 70s -less powerful in society (lower SES, people of color) are targeted by CJ system to stop any potential challenges to the injustice of the capitalist system -hard to evaluate if it's happening or not -Scholars: Greenberg, Colvin

Race/ethnicity drug use

-beginning in 1990, rates of arrest for drug abuse violations skyrocketed for blacks, and increased at lower rate for whites (UCR) -by 2014, drug abuse violation arrests were almost down to their 1980s level for all race/ethnic groups (UCR) -BUT according to Monitoring the Future survey, highest rates of illegal drug use between 1977 and 2013 were for whites compared to blacks

low self-control

-being "now-oriented", lack of persistence, pleasure-seeking, having a low tolerance for frustration, being self-centered

GST and Race

-blacks more likely to experience a host of strains including community (neighborhood strains), educational (unfair discipline), discrimination, and victimization -because this strain is unjust or unfair (being pulled over by cops constantly, even if u didnt do anything wrong), the reaction to strain and coping may be less conventional

teen brains

-brains aren't fully developed until about age 25 -the pre-frontal lobe is last to develop

Super-trait

-clusters of related traits that are strongly correlated and often appear together in juveniles -low self-control: combines impulsivity, risk-seeking, lack of motivation

Uniform Crime Report (UCR)

-collected annually by FBI -Advantages: --collected over 80 years, can complete longitudinal assessment --can make comparisons between jurisdictions -Limitations --ignores "hidden figure of crime" (unreported crime) --impossible to disentangle law enforcement policy and actual criminal activity --only reports the most serious crimes an individual was arrested for in that event

Lack of friendships

-data shows that youth who are rejected by peers have increased likelihood of delinquency in adolescence -BUT, youth may isolate themselves in bad neighborhoods in order to avoid delinquency

Is juvenile crime increasing or decreasing over time?

-decreasing for both property and violent crime -violent crime is at a historically low level; property crime is lowest since at least ... -portion of juvenile murders is lowest since peak in 1994 (crack epidemic)

Gender and gangs

-early work on gangs criticized for ignoring the role of females in predominantly male gangs or all-female gangs -females in gangs: --are more violent than female and male non-gang counterparts --are less involved in serious gang crimes compared to males --are more at risk for victimization compared to males

Steffensmeir et al. 2005

-examined three sources of data:UCR, NCVS, Monitoring the Future/National Youth Risk Bx Survey -looked at gender differences in simple assault, aggrevated assault, homicide, rape, robbery -concluded that "gender gap" is not closing for girls and boys, only appears so from UCR

risk factors

-experiences, characteristics, or attitudes which make delinquency more likely -predictive, not deterministic

Joe and Chesney-Lind, 1995

-explored variability gang membership ethnicity and gender among adolescents in Hawaii -entire sample appeared to get support from gangs: economically and protection from violent parents -suicidal thoughts more prevalent among girls -girls less involved with delinquency than boys, sold drugs less often

Creation of Juvenile Court

-first juvenile court created in 1899, in Cook County, Illinois --by 1925, all but two states had established their own juvenile courts --employed a rehabilitative philosophy -late 1800s- concept of "adolescence" was created, and its increasing acceptance as a stage of human development during the late 19th century -due process revolution of the 1960s -> expanded significant legal protections were established

Origins of the juvenile court system

-first separate juvenile courts established in the early 20th century -founded on principles of "parens patriae" ("parent of the nation") -minors who committed delinquency viewed as victims of improper care at home

Civil Gang Injunctions

-first used in late 1980s in LA -are court-issued restraining orders prohibiting gang members from activities that can be defined as public nuisances -you can no longer hang out w/ other members in public once it has been issued -violations can result in a variety of punishments: fines, probation, and/or jail time Negatives: -In San Diego, law enforcement considers the person as gang-affiliated if: --person admits to being member of a gang --person has tattoos, clothing, possessions associated with a gang -person has been arrested while spending time with members of known gang --reliable informant says that person is with a gang

Individual vs Institutional racism, classism, sexism

-for this course, most concerned with institutional racism, classism, sexism that might exist in the criminal justice systems -classist system -intersectionality

Gang involvement of North American Indigenous youth

-forced relocation -boarding schools and attempts to destroy language and culture -the creation of reservations/reserves system -continued assaults on tribal sovereignty -long-term economic marginalization on reservations

gangs

-form of peer delinquency that has gotten the most attention amongst the public -groups forming in margins of society -groups w/ identification and affiliation w/ delinquency -problem w/ definition as "non-dominant"- ignores white supremacy

routine activities theory

-gang development theory -youth have a lot of unsupervised time, spending time in location where gang violence is an option

Gender of peers

-gender matters -females who have more male friends tend to be more delinquent than girls with more female friends -male's delinquency is sometimes influenced by females but not to the extent that male influences female delinquency -what is not often considered: romantic relationships

quantitative data

-gives general or broad picture of some social phenomenon or correlations between two social facts using numbers -structure data -statistical anaylsis -objective conclusions -surveys, experiments

Mens Rea

-guilty mind needed to preplan an act of wrongdoing -from 1400s-1800, youth under 7 seen as not capable of mens rea -between 7 and 14, mens rea determined on a case-by-case basis -after 14 years, were viewed as basically adult enough in their capacity to plan a crime -10.5 and up more capable

classist system

-individuals will have a very different experience in the system based on how much money they have

hypothesized causes of delinquency listed by Chicago Reform School Admin- 1859

-intemperance of parents -bad company -want of parental control -parental neglect -naturally ugly -love of a wandering life

prefrontal lobe helps with:

-judgement -planning -organization problem solving -impulse control -abstraction -analysis/synthesis -self-awareness -identity -self-concept -stress management -spirituality

The Colonial and Revolutionary Period (late 1400s- 1800s)

-labor shortages during this time period resulted in having youth work at a young age -boys encouraged to develop skillsets as apprentices in the working world -girls were encouraged to learn to serve/care for others-became domestic servants or wives -extended families primary source for disciplining youth and educating them -English Common Law tradition-focuses on Mens Rea -society shifted from agrarian to industrial economy; youth no longer as needed for work -adults from privileged social classes became concerned about youth who were without adult protection

individual traits associated with delinquent bex

-low verbal IQ -low self-control -irritability

Use of technology to interact with peers

-majority of internet use by teens occurs via mobile devices -92% of teens from 13-17 report daily online activity and 75% have access to a smartphone -most teens receive or send around 30 texts daily -Black or latino youth report the most frequent use of the Internet out of all groups of teens and the most use of specialized apps

rehabilitation

-much more the focus on the juvenile court than the adult court

What are the possible drawbacks to using FBI arrest statistics?

-not all crimes reported -less serious offenses underreported, only most serious crime counted -Advantages? --consistent numbers -95% of law enforcing agencies reporting to FBI

intersectionality

-on many occasions we are impacted by racism, classism, sexism (as well as heterosexism and ableism) all at the same time

The "Child Saving" Era and Creation of Juvenile Court (1800s-early 1900s)

-organized efforts to address issues of youth undertaken reformers such as Quakers -during 1820s, institutions were created to provide youth with discipline (called almhouses, poor farms, houses of refuge) -outcomes of institutionalization were often negative --youth were often taken away and trained to be servants; parents did not know their location -black youth treated as virtual adults, house in adult prisons -black children in free states generally not admitted to the houses of refuge, when they were they were segregated and treated as less important

Social Context: Economics

-percentage of children living in poverty has increased in the last decade from its low in 2001 by 20% -link between race and ethnicity and the likelihood of living in poverty -poverty rate was three times higher for black than white youth, and almost three times higher for Latino children than white

multi-pronged approach to gangs

-prevention -intervention -suppression -reentry

Chambliss, 1975

-qualitative study -Both groups cut class and skipped school, saints would come up with excuse and teachers would believe them, roughnecks got caught a lot; roughnecks stole from stores while saints stole from off the street (gas); both engaging in a lot of drinking behavior but saints could drink a lot more bc they had money, saints lot less visible while drinking (driving around), roughnecks drank on street; richer saints treated police with more respect and roughnecks viewed as bigger threat bc they were poor; -bc of differences in SES they were treated differently

Social Context: Race

-racial and ethnic diversity increasing among children -in 2014, 52% of children white, 24% latino, 14% black, 5% asian, 4.1% two or more -Projection- 2050, Latino children will be majority (32%) of children, with white children following at 39%

cradle to prison pipeline

-refers to the issues for children that make it more likely they will be incarcerated at some point in their lives -for children born in 2001: --Black boy has 1 in 3 --latino boy has 1 in 6 --white boy has 1 in 17 --black girl has 1 in 17

individual trait

-relatively stable ways of perceiving, thinking about, and behaving toward the environment and toward oneself

qualitative data

-relies on pictures, words, or observations --unstructured and semi-structured interviews and ethnographic work that utilizes participant observation -summary -subjective conclusions

What is a good statistic

-relies on representative sample -must be large enough sample to capture complexity of the group -should represent the population in terms of age, race, gender, etc -criminological research getting better at this -tyranny of small numbers- small samples can lead to a small number of events to appear hge

Peer influence

-research shows that most delinquency is committed in groups, rather than alone -adolescents with inadequate peer relations are more likely to become delinquent -adolescents with delinquent friends -Socialization hypotheses (Akers) -Opportunity hypothesis of delinquency (Hirschi)(Social Bonding Theory)

moral panics

-scares about delinquency or crime that occur in communities -news or entertainment media exaggerate information about the prevalence and seriousness of delinquency and/or an alleged source of juvenile delinquency in the community -interested community members pick up on information, attempts are made to reform the system

low verbal IQ

-several studies found like between low IQ and delinquency, even when controlling for race and social class

gender differences in development

-socialization differences -cognitive differences- girls speak earlier and faster

Operation Ceasefire: Pulling levers approach

-successful program implemented in Boston -law enforcement met with leaders of rival gangs in the city and stated they would prosecute gun violence committed by gang members to fullest extent of the law -significant reduction in gun violence

irritability

-super-trait -heightened sensitivity to stressors or strains -tendency to attribute one's problems to the malicious behavior of others (that person is out to get me) -tendency to have little concern for the rights and feelings of others -aggressive/antagonistic interactions style

Monitoring the Future Trend

-survey that asks about drug use -first administered 1975 -overall, girls less likely to use illicit drugs than boys -illicit drug use steadily increased for both genders for most of 90s before leveling off and decreasing slightly -indicated that while a drug use increase, not as dramatic as suggested in the UCR

How common is gang activity?

-the National Youth Gang Center (NYGC) gathers quantitative data on gangs and gang activity -estimated 30,700 gangs and 850,000 gang members throughout 3,100 jurisdictions nationwide -gang violence was strongly related to drug-related issues and intergang conflict -about 2/3rds of all gangs were located in large and small cities -less than 10% of youth in marginalized neighborhoods become gang members

subculture of violence theory

-theory of gang development -peer group that opposes middle-class mainstream norms of nonviolent bx through the creation of a hyper masculine, aggressive subculture (focused on boy gangs) -Elijah Anderson's code of the street

What do we know about delinquency by gender and race?

-though black males are arrested disproportionate to their percentage of the population, the delinquency gap between black and white youth is small -white youth have higher rates of substance use compared to black youth -females engage in less delinquency than males. however, this gap is smaller according to self-reports compared to official stats

Gender similarities in offending

-though boys consistently offend more, official and self-report stats indicate that the rank of offenses engaged in by males/females is similar -Fagan et al. (2007) found that the same risk factors that predicted male delinquency predicated female delinquency --12 of 22 risk factors considered were more strongly related to male delinquency -boys report more exposure to risk factors and less exposure to protective factors compared to girls in 18 of the 22 factors considered -risk factors for male and female offending are similar; however, they might be more influential on boy's offending and boys appear to have higher likelihood of exposure

What else affects delinquency

-time of year-summer, less supervision -population makeup by age- more youth in population means more crime -immigration- larger number of immigrants in an area associated with lower violent crime(afraid of deportation/making their culture look bad) -guns- maybe, higher amount of guns increases severity of crime -drug use- drug users more likely to commit crimes

Ness, 2004: Why Girls Fight

-used qualitative methodology -purpose of the study is the meaning and social organization of the use of violence by girls, with a special emphasis on street fighting -girl's mothers encouraged these girls to fight when fight brought to their house, family joins

VIews of Youth and Delinquency in the Juvenile Court (1899-present)

-views about youth upon which the juvenile court was based were not questioned in any substantial way until the 1960s -big rise in teenage population born after WWII (baby boomers) -rise of social movements: civil rights, feminism, anti-Vietnam War -rise of urbanization: more ethnic and racial diversity in major cities

Age/crime curve

-violent crime arrests typically peak at age 19 -property crime arrests typically peak at age 16 -adults age 60 (third of population) only small percent of total arrests -age of onset has significant effect on length of criminal career (earlier you begin, longer your career) -severity of offending (violent vs property) in youth is more predictive to adult criminal behavior compared to frequency of offending in youth

Trend in UCR

-violent crime index peaked in 94, then decreased until 2004, slight increase 2006, decreased until 2012 -late 80s/early 90s- concern about juvenile crime epidemic, juvenile super-predators more violent and out-of-control -increase maybe bc of crack epidemic, increase in juvenile gun carrying , law enforcement charging minor offenses more seriously because of widespread fear -indicate arrest rates for juvenile drug violations increased steadily throughout 1990s

When is strain most likely to result in delinquency?

-when strain is high in magnitude -when its seen as unjust -when its associated with low self-control -when there's some incentive for criminal coping

Ancient Times and Middle Ages (776 BC- 1400 AD)

-youth treated as property of their fathers -corporal punishment and serious beatings common -little distinction made between human beings based upon age -at 7 years of age, individual was for all intents and purposes, considered an adult -distinction of age based on whether child had basic physiological and emotional functions needed to work in fields -those who did survive to older childhood engaged in same activities adults did, including drinking and gambling

Moffitt et al. 2011

-youth w/ low self control, measured from ages 3-11, were: --more likely to begin smoking by age 15 --become drug abusers by age 32 --be arrested and convicted for criminal bx by age 32 -those with lowest levels of self control, almost half had criminal records -those with highest self control, only 10% did