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.

"Introductory text for courses on juvenile justice/juvenile delinquency"--

Juveniles in Contemporary Society: Understanding Juvenile Justice and Delinquency is an authoritative and well-crafted introduction to today's Juvenile Justice system. Using a thematic framework that supports analysis, the authors provide an integrated approach to topical coverage. Through clear writing, an interdisciplinary selection of sources, and thoughtful themes, authors Saundra D. Trujillo, L. Thomas Winfree, Jr., and Carlos E. Posadas illuminate the roles of history and theory in shaping today's juvenile justice system. Helpful pedagogy consistently supports understanding, retention, and review. Professors and students will benefit from: Diverse author team who bring a variety of backgrounds and perspectives to the text. Theoretical Reflections boxes that integrate overarching themes throughout the text. Comparative and international insights grounded in the content of each chapter, with International Perspectives boxes included throughout the book. Understandable historical review of both juvenile justice and juvenile delinquency. Compelling vignettes that open each chapter, raising questions about the themes to be explored, illustrating basic concepts, and fueling class discussion Helpful graphs and tables illustrate the key topics. Excellent Critical Thinking questions at the end of each chapter. Unique chapters that are key to the study of Juvenile Justice today: Chapter 5, Understanding Delinquency: Theories of Race, Ethnicity and Gender and Chapter 12, Race, Ethnicity, and Gender: Highlights from Recent Research explore the impacts of social constructions like gender, race, and ethnicity on youths' interactions with the justice system. Chapter 6, Delinquency Prevention addresses prevention and intervention from both philosophical and practical perspectives, discussing what works and what does not work and some of the reasons behind program success or failure. Chapter 11, Juvenile Probation and Aftercare provides thoughtful and in-depth discussion of this often-overlooked topic. Chapter 13, Youth Gangs and Violence highlights a national issue and shows how theory can inform research and how research can inform both policy and practice in the juvenile justice system.

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency brings into focus the causes of delinquency and provides students with a broad, up-to-date review of the latest research, statistical data, theories, and court decisions in the U.S. juvenile justice system. Author Barry Krisberg writes from a research-based approach which offers students pragmatic solutions to problems within the system—focusing on the reformative power of redemptive justice. Students will take away a foundational understanding of the current policies and issues shaping the juvenile justice system and practical strategies for helping juveniles improve and move their lives in a more positive direction.

This book informs readers about the latest research and the most promising and effective programmes for understanding, preventing and controlling juvenile delinquency.

Adolescence is a distinct, yet transient, period of development between childhood and adulthood characterized by increased experimentation and risk-taking, a tendency to discount long-term consequences, and heightened sensitivity to peers and other social influences. A key function of adolescence is developing an integrated sense of self, including individualization, separation from parents, and personal identity. Experimentation and novelty-seeking behavior, such as alcohol and drug use, unsafe sex, and reckless driving, are thought to serve a number of adaptive functions despite their risks. Research indicates that for most youth, the period of risky experimentation does not extend beyond adolescence, ceasing as identity becomes settled with maturity. Much adolescent involvement in criminal activity is part of the normal developmental process of identity formation and most adolescents will mature out of these tendencies. Evidence of significant changes in brain structure and function during adolescence strongly suggests that these cognitive tendencies characteristic of adolescents are associated with biological immaturity of the brain and with an imbalance among developing brain systems. This imbalance model implies dual systems: one involved in cognitive and behavioral control and one involved in socio-emotional processes. Accordingly adolescents lack mature capacity for self-regulations because the brain system that influences pleasure-seeking and emotional reactivity develops more rapidly than the brain system that supports self-control. This knowledge of adolescent development has underscored important differences between adults and adolescents with direct bearing on the design and operation of the justice system, raising doubts about the core assumptions driving the criminalization of juvenile justice policy in the late decades of the 20th century. It was in this context that the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) asked the National Research Council to convene a committee to conduct a study of juvenile justice reform. The goal of Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach was to review recent advances in behavioral and neuroscience research and draw out the implications of this knowledge for juvenile justice reform, to assess the new generation of reform activities occurring in the United States, and to assess the performance of OJJDP in carrying out its statutory mission as well as its potential role in supporting scientifically based reform efforts.

"This book provides a comprehensive, cutting-edge look at the problems that impact the way we conduct intervention and treatment for youth in crisis today--an indispensable resource for practitioners, students, researchers, policymakers, and faculty working in the area of juvenile justice. Provides insights into juvenile justice from contributors and editors who have extensive experience in teaching, researching, and writing on the subject. Represents an ideal teaching text for courses in juvenile justice--a staple topic in all criminology and criminal justice college programs. Presents analysis and evaluation of techniques used and programs employed, enabling readers to be better advocates for law and policy impacting youth. Supplies updated data and information on policy and law that will serve as a vital resource for students writing papers or scholars teaching in the field of juvenile justice"--