Describes how positive parental involvement deters delinquent behavior while its absence -- or worse, its negative counterpart -- fosters misconduct. Researchers conclude that children raised in supportive, affectionate, and accepting homes are less likely to become deviant.
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.
In Causes of Delinquency, Hirschi attempts to state and test a theory of delinquency, seeing in the delinquent a person relatively free of the intimate attachments, the aspirations, and the moral beliefs that bind most people to a life within the law. In prominent alternative theories, the delinquent appears either as a frustrated striver forced into delinquency by his acceptance of the goals common to us all, or as an innocent foreigner attempting to obey the rules of a society that is not in position to make the law or define conduct as good or evil. Hirschi analyzes a large body of data on delinquency collected in Western Contra Costa County, California, contrasting throughout the assumptions of the strain, control, and cultural deviance theories. He outlines the assumptions of these theories and discusses the logical and empirical difficulties attributed to each of them. Then draws from sources an outline of social control theory, the theory that informs the subsequent analysis and which is advocated here.Often listed as a Citation Classic, Causes of Delinquency retains its force and cogency with age. It is an important volume and a necessary addition to the libraries of sociologists, criminologists, scholars and students in the area of delinquency.
Speaking openly of their ideas about race, these nine and ten year-olds show they have internalized the prevailing western mindset—whatever their own ethnicity. And this mindset is racist. Research has long been needed into what children themselves think about cultural diversity and about efforts to counter racism in their schools. Here is the empirical, child-centered research that tells educators what they need to know. It was conducted with a sample of Year 5 pupils in two predominantly white and two diverse schools which were themselves involved in the research process. The book is suffused with their vibrant, profound and original voices and their often surprising ideas. The children's views are accompanied by the researcher's sociologically informed close observation of school life and the views and practice of the teachers, and the book concludes with the important implications she identifies for policy and practice in schools. It's Not Just About Black and White, Missis an enlightening and enjoyable read for primary teachers and trainees and offers grounded information for policy makers and school managers.
How important is family structure? Does the perception that children of divorced parents suffer hold true under the scrutiny of research? Is the traditional two parent//two child family ideal in terms of well-being? In this volume, two leading family researchers analyze these crucial questions. Using the United States National Survey of Families and Households, they examine the four most common family types - two parent families, divorced mothers with children, remarried families and unmarried mothers - to analyze the impact of family structure versus other factors.
The International Library of Sociology (ILS) is the most important series of books on sociology ever published. Founded in the 1940s by Karl Mannheim, the series became the forum for pioneering research and theory, marked by comparative approaches and analysis of new disciplines, such as the sociology of youth and culture. Spanning volumes by Parsons, Dickinson and Ossowski, the history of the ILS is the history of modern sociology.