"Bad Youth draws from official sources as well as press accounts, novels, songs, and films. Throughout, Ambaras demonstrates that juvenile protection remained contested terrain marked by complex negotiations among reformers, young people, and the adults in their lives, for whom the promises and perils of modernity could assume starkly different meanings."--BOOK JACKET.

How to explain juvenile delinquent behaviour in the Japan of the nineties? "Juvenile Delinquency in Japan" for the first time looks comprehensively into the phenomenon.

This book reviews research on psychology and crime in Japan, and compares the findings with similar research conducted in Western industrialised countries. It examines explanations for crime and antisocial behaviour in Japan using research and theories from a psychological perspective. Topics covered include cultural explanations, developmental and life-course criminology, family violence and family risk factors, youth crime and early prevention, school factors and bullying, mental disorders, biosocial factors, psychopathy and sexual offending. In some parts, it challenges and refines the prevailing belief that Japan is a society characterised by low crime and little antisocial behaviour. This original project is the most up-to-date work on crime in Japan, and advances the important field of psychological criminology.

This book provides an important overview of key criminology and criminal justice concerns in Japan. It highlights similarities between the practice of criminology research in Japan, as well as important differences, with other areas of Asia and with the West. In previous decades, Japan attracted international attention as the only industrialized country where the crime rate declined along with a rise in urbanization and economic development. Currently, Japan still enjoys a declining crime rate (the lowest among major industrialized countries) and a study of criminal justice practices in Japan may provide important insights for other regions. Japan also experiences important contemporary challenges which are shared by other regions: 1. Japan has the highest proportion of people over the age of 60 in the world. For criminology, this means key challenges in the victimization of older people, as well as the challenges of an aging prison population. 2. Besides the United States, Japan is the only developed country that still practices capital punishment, and its rate has been on the rise in the past 20 years. 3. Japan has also introduced new reforms in its law practice, including the introduction of new trial formats. The research in this book provides a helpful overview for scholars interested in criminology and criminal justice in Japan to understand the key issues of concern, and present a framework for future research needs. It will be of interest to researchers in criminology and criminal justice, international studies, Asian Studies, sociology, and political science.

After providing a history of the development of the juvenile court, this book explores some of the most important current controversies in juvenile justice. Original essays review major theories of juvenile delinquency, explore psychological and biological factors that may explain delinquent behavior, and examine the nexus between substance abuse and delinquency. A final chapter provides a comparative analysis.

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.

The new second edition of this distinctive and widely adopted textbook brings into the classroom an overview of how images of social problems can shape not only public policy and social services, but also the ways in which we make sense of ourselves and others. It introduces two primary changes. First, some attention is devoted to the "new social movements" that emphasize social change through identity transformation rather than through structural change. Second, the text now also looks more closely at the importance of emotions in constructing public consciousness of social problems.When the first edition was published, Teaching Sociology noted, "Loseke does a superb job explaining the relationship between sociology and social problems in a text that is very well research and engaging, yet with tremendous attention to detail and accuracy... [W]ould provide a solid base for any social problems class." Contemporary Sociology wrote that the book is "engagingly well written in a personal, unpretentious style, and well informed by the author's knowledge of the professional literature."