Chapter 3: Theories of Delinquency And Intervention Programs

treatment model

Including the medical model, a model based on the belief that the basic mission of juvenile justice is to rehabilitate youthful offenders. It proposes that juveniles should be treated by specialists for those factors that caused them to commit offenses.

due process model

A criminal justice perspective that emphasizes individual rights at all stages of justice system processing.

Subculture Theory of Delinquency

A culture within a culture where the use of violence in certain social situations is commonplace and normative; Marvin Wolfgang and Franco Ferracuti devised this concept to depict a set of norms apart from mainstream conventional society in which the theme of violence is pervasive and dominant; learned through socialization with others as an alternative lifestyle

Multisystematic Therapy

A form of family therapy originally developed to treat antisocial behaviors in youth. It is unique in that it is administered in the home, school, or neighborhood and focuses on the family's role in the problems.

Juvenile Mentoring Program (JUMP)

A program that places at-risk youth in one-on-one relationship with favorable adult role models.

XYY Theory

Asserts that certain chromosomal abnormalities may precipitate violence and/or criminal conduct. Believed that males with an extra Y chromosome are more likely to engage in aggressive, criminal behaviors. Unfortunately, this chromosomal combination exists in less than 5 percent of the population. Thus, it lacks sufficient predictive utility when considered on its own merits and "can only explain a tiny fraction of crime among males and none among females"

Anomie

Condition of feelings of helplessness and normlessness

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Consequences that alcohol has on a developing fetus

Psychological Theories

Explanations linking criminal behavior with mental states or conditions, antisocial personality traits, and early psychological moral development.

Interstitial area

In Concentric Zone Hypothesis, the area nearest to the center of a city undergoing change, such as urban renewal; characterized by high rates of crime. Otherwise known as the Zone of Transition.

Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909)

Italian physician who worked in prisons studied biological factors. Used the scientific method; He theorized that criminals stand out with certain physical characteristics; believed in Darwinism, thought criminals were products of heredity, a evolutionary throwback to our apelike ancestors

hedonistic

Jeremy Bentham's term indicating that people want to seek pleasure in life and avoid pain

Strain Theory

Merton's theory that deviance occurs when a society does not give all its members equal ability to achieve socially acceptable goals, thus causing frustration and leads to deviancy. Robert Agnew views strain theory as cutting across all social classes. Agnew modified Merton's theory and elaborated on a general strain theory of crime and delinquency.

Code of the Street

Norms and values of lower-class youth that emphasize violence and respect

atavism

Positivist school of thought arguing that physical characteristics can distinguish criminals from the general population and are evolutionary throwbacks to animals or primitive people

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

Pregnant women who drink heavily place the fetus at increased risk for developmental and behavior problems. The syndrome includes deficits in intellectual functioning, slower physical development, and problems with psychosocial skills; research suggests a relationship between these conditions and the criminal justice system

Containment Theory (Walter Reckless)

Reckless outlined a theoretical model consisting of pushes and pulls in relation to delinquency. By pushes, he referred to internal, personal factors, including hostility, anxiety, and discontent. By pulls, he meant external, social forces, including delinquent subcultures and significant others. The containment dimension of his theoretical scheme consisted of both outer and inner containments.

Anomie Theory

Robert Merton's theory influenced by Emile Durkheim, alleging that persons acquire desires for culturally approved goals to strive to achieve but adopt innovative, sometimes deviant, means to achieve these goals. Implies normlessness.

Psychoanalytic Theory

Sigmund Freud's theory of personality formation through the id, ego, and superego at various stages of childhood; maintains that early life experiences influence adult behavior Deviant behavior generally, and criminal behavior and delinquency specifically, may be explained as the result of insufficient ego and superego development

general deterrence

The prevention of people in general or society at large from engaging in crime by punishing specific individuals and making examples of them.

Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America

The program matches one adult to one juvenile in a cost-effective intervention that reduces adolescent drug and alcohol use and improves youth-parent relationships.

Routine Activities Theory (Felson and Cohen)

The view that victimization results from the interaction of three everyday factors: the availability of suitable targets, the absence of capable guardians, and the presence of motivated offenders

Social Learning Theory

Theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished. Primary factors influencing whether one conforms to or deviates from societal rules are those experiences youth have while learning from others, such as their parents. Poor parental role models lead to poor behavior and thus delinquent activity. Learning disabled children are also more likely to engage in delinquent behavior because it may lead to poor performance in school, trouble with peer associations, impatient teachers

Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay

These researchers studied the characteristics of delinquent youth in the zone of transition and compared their backgrounds with those of other youth inhabiting more stabilized neighborhoods in the zones farther removed from the inner core of downtown Chicago. Found high concentrations of delinquency in neighborhoods with social disorganization and environmental dilapidation.

Lower Class Focal Concerns

Walter Miller used this term to refer to those aspects of the subculture that are important; these aspects require attention by members of the subculture (1) trouble, (2) toughness, (3) smartness, (4) excitement, (5) fate, and (6) autonomy.

Classical Theory

a criminological perspective indicating that people have free will to choose either criminal or conventional behavior. Thus, people choose to commit crime for reasons of greed or personal need. Crime can be controlled by criminal sanctions, which should be proportionate to the guilt of the perpetrator.

rehabilitation model

a model of corrections that emphasizes the need to restore a convicted offender to a constructive place in society through some form of vocational or educational training or therapy

Differential Association Theory (Edwin Sutherland)

a socialization process (learning through contact with others) whereby juveniles would acquire delinquent behaviors manifested by others among their close associates. According to Sutherland, differential association consists of the following elements: (1) frequency, (2) priority, (3) duration, and (4) intensity. Thus, engaging in frequent associations and long-lasting interactions with others who are delinquent, giving them priority as significant others, and cultivating strong emotional attachments with them will contribute in a significant way to a youth's propensity to commit delinquent acts.

The Sanctuary Model

a trauma-informed, theory-based, evidence-supported, whole culture approach that requires organizational change for treating youth.The components of the Sanctuary Model include seven commitments that require all participants to endorse: Nonviolence, Emotional Intelligence, Social Learning, Open Communication, Democracy, Social Responsibility, and Growth and Change.A fundamental requirement of the model is to provide a safe environment for youth to begin addressing domains of emotional management, loss, and future which are represented in the acronym S.E.L.F.

Jeremy Bentham

an English philosopher; wrote An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (Bentham, 1790). Bentham was known for his belief in hedonism; invented pain/pleasure calculus; theorized too severe a punishment would cause more crime

endomorph

body type described by William Sheldon; heavy, chubby, jolly person

mesomorph

body type described by William Sheldon; strong, muscular, aggressive person

ectomorph

body type described by William Sheldon; thin, sensitive, and delicate person

Differential Reinforcement Theory (Robert Burgess and Ronald Akers)

combines elements from labeling theory and a psychological phenomenon known as conditioning. Conditioning functions in the social learning process as persons are rewarded for engaging in certain desirable behaviors and for refraining from certain undesirable behaviors. Juveniles perceive how others respond to their behaviors (negative reactions) and may be disposed to behave in ways that will maximize their rewards from others.

Determinism

concept holding that persons do not have a free will but, rather, are subject to the influence of various forces over which they have little or no control

Merton's 5 modes of adaptation

conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, rebellion

Situational Action Theory (Per-Olof Wikstrom)

considers crime to be a moral action in which the individual chooses to commit the criminal act;examines the role of broader social conditions such as social integration as well as individual propensities such as the ability to exercise self-control.

Model Program Guide

database of evidence-based programs that provides a continuum of strategies for delinquency prevention and intervention

Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development

developed by the Center for the Strategies and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado, identifies model and promising programs that use evidence-based approaches in preventing drug use and violence among youth.

Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794)

developed classical school of criminology; considered to be "father of classical criminology"; wrote Essays on Crimes and Punishments; believed people commit crime because they make a choice out of free will; believed all people were rational human beings; punishment had to be just severe enough

attachment (Bonding Theory)

emotional linkages with those we respect and admire

commitment (Bonding Theory)

enthusiasm or energy expended in a specific relationship

inner containments

individual or personal coping strategies to deal with stressful situations and conflict.

appeal to higher loyalties (Neutralization Theory)

individuals have loyalties to groups or others; these loyalties are important and supercede any rules or laws that society imposes; offenders engage in acts to help their friends rather than to hurt someone else; their motives are altruistic

denial of responsibility (Neutralization Theory)

individuals suggest that their behavior or actions are the result of forces beyond their control

involvement (Bonding Theory)

intensity of attachment with those who engage in conventional conduct or espouse conventional values

just deserts/justice model

is punishment-centered and seemingly revenge-oriented, where the state's interest is to ensure that juveniles are punished in relation to the seriousness of the offenses they have committed

Classical School

line of thought that assumes people are rational beings who choose between good and evil

consent decree

may include provisions for the electronic monitoring of certain juvenile offenders as an alternative to incarceration in a secure facility. These juveniles might be required to wear plastic bracelets or anklets that are devised to emit electronic signals and notify juvenile probation officers of an offender's whereabouts. Consent decrees are only for in-home placements and avoid the stigma of juvenile court appearances. They also contain conditions that must be fulfilled by the juvenile within a given time frame

noninterventionist model

means the absence of any direct intervention with certain juveniles who have been taken into custody.

conformity

mode of adaptation characterized by persons who accept institutionalized means to achieve culturally approved goals

belief (Bonding Theory)

moral definition of the rightness or wrongness of certain conduct

Neutralization Theory (David Matza and Gresham Sykes)

most juveniles spend their early years on a behavioral continuum ranging between unlimited freedom and total control or restraint. These persons drift toward one end of the continuum or the other, depending upon their social and psychological circumstances. If youth have strong attachments with those who are delinquent, then they drift toward the unlimited freedom end of the continuum and, perhaps, engage in delinquent activities.

Looking-glass self (Charles Horton Cooley)

people learn appropriate ways of behaving by paying attention to how others view and react to them

innovation

people that accept the goals of society but use means to achieve them other than those approved by society (characterizes juvenile delinquents)

rebellion

people that seek to replace culturally approved goals and institutionalized means with new goals and means for others to follow

retreatism

persons reject goals and the means to achieve goals, retreat or escape from mainstream society, and establish their own goals and means to achieve them, e.g., hermits, street people, or "bag ladies"

ritualism

persons reject the goals of society but work toward other less-lofty goals by institutionally approved means

Labeling Theory

primarily theorized by Edwin Lemert; theory that society creates deviance by labeling particular members as deviant

specific deterrence

punishing a specific person to deter them from committing crime

Balance and Restorative Justice Model

recognizes that crime harms the community, victims, and juvenile offenders. The approach holds the offender accountable to the victim while providing intervention to improve offender competencies and social skills and to promote nondelinquent behavior. Five domains of competency development are (1) prosocial skills, (2) moral reasoning skills, (3) academic skills, (4) workforce skills, and (5) independent living skills

denial of victim (Neutralization Theory)

refers to offender suggesting that it is the victim's previous behavior that is really responsible for the current act

denial of injury (Neutralization Theory)

refers to offenders contending that their actions or behaviors did not really harm anyone and, therefore, they should not be blamed

sociobiology

scientific study of casual relationship between genetic structure and social behavior

The Concentric Zone Hypothesis

series of rings originating from a city center and emanating outward, forming various zones characterized by different socioeconomic conditions; believed to contain areas of high delinquency and crime. Developed by Ernest W. Burgess and Robert E. Park

outer containments (Containment Theory)

social norms, folkways, mores, laws, and institutional arrangements that induce societal conformity

radical nonintervention

the strategy of leaving juvenile delinquents alone as much as possible rather than giving them a negative label. Assumes: The delinquent is not basically different from the nondelinquent; Most types of youthful misconduct are found within all socioeconomic strata; The primary target for delinquency policy should be neither the individual nor the local community setting but, rather, the delinquency-defining processes themselves.

Bonding Theory

stresses processual aspects of youth becoming bonded or socially integrated into the norms of society. The greater the integration or bonding, particularly with parents and school teachers, the less the likelihood that youth will engage in delinquent activity. Developed by Travis Hirschi

condemnation of the condemners (Neutralization Theory)

the actions or motives of the individuals who do not approve of the act are questionable; they arbitrarily single out the offender; rather than focusing on the offender, the system should focus on the actors condemning the behavior

deterrence

the attempt to discourage criminality through the use of punishment

Positive School

the belief that criminals do not have complete choice over their criminal actions and may commit acts that are beyond their control

crime control model

theorizes that one of the best ways of controlling juvenile delinquency is to incapacitate juvenile offenders, either through some secure incarceration or through an intensive supervision program operated by a community-based agency or organization. Juvenile offenders may be incarcerated in secure facilities for short- or long-term periods, depending upon the seriousness of their offenses.

judicious nonintervention

use of minimal intervention in a youth's behavior and environment to effect changes in behavior

biological determinism

view in criminology holding that criminal behavior has physiological basis

secondary deviation (Labeling Theory)

when delinquency becomes consistent with adolescent self-image and behavior patterns or lifestyle.

primary deviation (labeling theory)

youth spontaneously violate the law by engaging in occasional pranks