The authors (of the U. of Georgia and Western Illinois U.) review and evaluate sociological, criminological, and psychological literature on the link between family life and antisocial behavior. They offer separate sections on child and adolescent antisocial behavior and adult antisocial behavior, paying particular attention to how the family socia

Even though youth crime rates have fallen since the mid-1990s, public fear and political rhetoric over the issue have heightened. The Columbine shootings and other sensational incidents add to the furor. Often overlooked are the underlying problems of child poverty, social disadvantage, and the pitfalls inherent to adolescent decisionmaking that contribute to youth crime. From a policy standpoint, adolescent offenders are caught in the crossfire between nurturance of youth and punishment of criminals, between rehabilitation and "get tough" pronouncements. In the midst of this emotional debate, the National Research Council's Panel on Juvenile Crime steps forward with an authoritative review of the best available data and analysis. Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice presents recommendations for addressing the many aspects of America's youth crime problem. This timely release discusses patterns and trends in crimes by children and adolescentsâ€"trends revealed by arrest data, victim reports, and other sources; youth crime within general crime; and race and sex disparities. The book explores desistanceâ€"the probability that delinquency or criminal activities decrease with ageâ€"and evaluates different approaches to predicting future crime rates. Why do young people turn to delinquency? Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice presents what we know and what we urgently need to find out about contributing factors, ranging from prenatal care, differences in temperament, and family influences to the role of peer relationships, the impact of the school policies toward delinquency, and the broader influences of the neighborhood and community. Equally important, this book examines a range of solutions: Prevention and intervention efforts directed to individuals, peer groups, and families, as well as day care-, school- and community-based initiatives. Intervention within the juvenile justice system. Role of the police. Processing and detention of youth offenders. Transferring youths to the adult judicial system. Residential placement of juveniles. The book includes background on the American juvenile court system, useful comparisons with the juvenile justice systems of other nations, and other important information for assessing this problem.

Theories of Delinquency is a comprehensive survey of the theoretical approaches towards understanding delinquent behavior. Donald Shoemaker aptly presents all major individualistic and sociological theories in a standard format with basic assumptions, important concepts, and critical evaluations. Theories covered include biological and psychological explanations, anomie and social disorganization, differential association, drift theory, labeling theory, critical theories, and explanations of female delinquency. Now in its sixth edition, Theories of Delinquency contains up-to-date discussions based on current research throughout, extensive revisions to control theories, especially the general theory of crime, and expanded coverage of integrated and cutting-edge theories. Clearly written, consistently organized, and now thoroughly updated, Theories of Delinquency remains essential reading for advanced undergraduate and graduate students of crime and delinquency.

Book on criminological research studies and theories in the areas of crime, delinquency and social process. The emphasis in this book, however, is not exclusively on the problems of explaining what statistical distributions of crime and delinquency mean and how individuals become criminals and delinquents. The reader should be aware that as one examines statistical distributions of delinquency and crime rates and offender characteristics one must pay close attention to variables that relate to the settings and circumstances under which the statistics were collected. Once social scientists simply analyzed the available statistical facts. The datum for study is the process by which the statistical information is assembled, not just the final assembly. For example, arrest statistics are often used as the basis of generalizations about the social class distribution of delinquency and crime, but there is systematic underreporting of crimes of respectable segments of the society. Thus, among the selections reprinted in this book are research studies, descriptive accounts, and essays devoted to the illegal activities of businessmen, labor union officials, physicians, politicians, policemen, and middle-class youngsters. The theoretical framework of this book is designed to make these violations just as understandable as the criminal violations of persons in the lower socioeconomic class.

Extensively revised, the second edition blends theory, research, and applications into a superb overview of the complex issues surrounding juvenile delinquency and societys attempts to address juvenile crime. After providing an excellent historical foundation, Shelden presents the theories essential to understanding crime and delinquency. He then explores the system and its effects on juveniles and society, including comprehensive coverage of female delinquency. The social, legal, and political influences on how the public perceives juveniles and the inequality in U.S. society that affects families, communities, and schools are highlighted throughout the book. The concluding chapter looks at solutions that have worked and identifies trends in treating juvenile delinquency. The authors almost four decades of teaching about and researching juveniles and the system make him eminently qualified to offer readers the tools necessary to think critically about delinquency and to evaluate the policies enacted to manage the juveniles who violate the laws. Delinquency and Juvenile Justice in American Society, 2/E provides affordable, up-to-date, easily accessible, and thorough analysis of a significant topic.

A longitudinal birth cohort study of juvenile delinquency and adult crime among 4079 persons living in Wisconsin from age 6 to early adulthood. Data on police contacts and their dispositions were obtained from the police department and other agencies and other data were obtained by interviewing samples of the 1942 and 1949 cohorts. The 1955 Cohort data were brought up to 1989, recoded, and reanalyzed to determine the importance of alcohol and drug involvement in criminal career continuity.