Chapter 1 - Childhood and Delinquency

Question 1

What are at-risk youths?

Answer 1

Young people who are extremely vulnerable to the negative consequences of school failure, substance abuse, and early sexuality.

Question 2

In the United States, how many youths are at-risk?

Answer 2

In the U.S., about 25% of the population under age 17, or about 18-million youths are “at-risk”.

Question 3

What is ego identity?

Answer 3

According to Erik Erikson, ego identity is formed when persons develop a firm sense of who they are and what they stand for.

Question 4

What is role diffusion?

Answer 4

According to Erik Erikson, role diffusion occurs when youths spread themselves too thin, experience personal uncertainty, and place themselves at the mercy of leaders who promise to give them a sense of identity they cannot develop for themselves.

Question 5

In 2010, how many people in America were classified as poor?

Answer 5

In 2010, 37 million people in America were classified as poor.

Question 6

About how many children live in poverty?

Answer 6

About 6 million.

Question 7

How much money for a family of four?

Answer 7

Less than $10,000 for a family of four.

Question 8

Which children are most likely to live in poverty?

Answer 8

Minority children - African American

Question 9

What percentage of adolescents meet current physical activity recommendations?

Answer 9

Only 35% of adolescents meet current physical activity recommendations.

Question 10

About how many youths do not have health insurance?

Answer 10

About 10% or 7.5 million youths do not have health insurance.

Question 11

How many children and teens are killed by firearms each year?

Answer 11

More than 3,000 children and teens are killed by firearms each year.

Question 12

About how many kids in foster care are waiting to be adopted?

Answer 12

About 130,000

Question 13

Each year, how many youths leave foster care?

Answer 13

About 25,000

Question 14

What percentage of fourth graders are not reading at an appropriate grade level?

Answer 14

About 70%

Question 15

What is bullying?

Answer 15

Experts define bullying as repeated, negative acts committed by one or more children against another. Bullying can be verbal, psychological, physical, social, or virtual.

Question 16

What is cyberbullying?

Answer 16

The willful and repeated harm inflicted through the medium of electronic text.

Question 17

What percent of youth has been the target of cyberbullying?

Answer 17

About 21%

Question 18

In a study of 10 to 17 year old’s, about what percent had appeared in or created nude or nearly nude pictures or videos?

Answer 18

About 2.5%

Question 19

What is juvenile delinquency?

Answer 19

Participation in illegal behavior by a minor who falls under a statutory age limit.

Question 20

What are chronic juvenile offenders? (also known as chronic delinquent offenders, chronic delinquents, or chronic recidivists)

Answer 20

Youths who have been arrests four or more times during their minority and perpetuate a striking majority of serious criminal acts. This small group, known as the “chronic 6 percent,” is believed to engage in a significant portion of all delinquent behavior; these youths do not age out of crime but continue their criminal behavior into adulthood.

Question 21

What is the juvenile justice system?

Answer 21

The segment of the justice system, including law enforcement officers, the courts, and correctional agencies, that is designed to treat youthful offenders.

Question 22

What is a paternalistic family?

Answer 22

A family style wherein the father is the final authority on all family matters and exercises complete control over his wife and children.

Question 23

What are Poor Laws?

Answer 23

English statutes that allowed the courts to appoint overseers for destitute and neglected children, allowing placement of these children as servants in the homes of the affluent.

Question 24

What are chancery courts?

Answer 24

Court proceedings created in fifteenth-century England to oversee the lives of highborn minors who were orphaned or otherwise could not care for themselves.

Question 25

What is parens patriae?

Answer 25

The power of the state to act on behalf of the child and provide care and protection equivalent to that of a parent.

Question 26

In the United States, Child Protection Laws passed in what year, city and state?

Answer 26

Child Protection Laws were passed in 1639 in New Haven, Connecticut.

Question 27

How was discipline enforced early in the United States?

Answer 27

Children attended public whippings and executions, any punishment less than maiming or permanently harming a child was considered within the sphere of parental rights.

Question 28

What is and who was responsible for creating Child Savers?

Answer 28

In 1817, prominent New Yorkers formed the society for the Prevention of Pauperism. These activists became known as the child savers, nineteenth-century reformers who developed programs for troubled youth and influenced legislation creating the juvenile justice system; today some critics view them as being more concerned with control of the poor than with their welfare.

Question 29

What was the House of Refuge?

Answer 29

New York, 1825 the House of Refuge was a care facility developed by the child savers to protect potential criminal youths by taking them off the street and providing a family-like environment. It was run like a prison, but was later forced to take a more lenient approach.

Question 30

What was the Illinois Juvenile Court Act of 1899?

Answer 30

A major event in the juvenile justice movement. Reformers were genuinely motivated to pass legislation that would serve the best interests of the child. Most important, the act established a court and a probation program specifically for children. In addition, the legislation allowed children to be committed to institutions and reform programs under the control of the state.

Question 31

What is a status offender?

Answer 31

A child who is subject to state authority by reason of having committed an act forbidden to youth and illegal solely because the child is underage.

Question 32

What year was the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Act created and who created it?

Answer 32

In 1974, the U.S. Congress passed the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Act. The act created the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Question 33

What is a chronic juvenile offender?

Answer 33

Youths who have been arrested four or more times during their minority and perpetuate a striking majority of serious criminal acts. This small group, known as the “chronic 6 percent”is believed to engage in a significant portion of all delinquent behavior; these youths do not age out of crime but continue their criminal behavior into adulthood.

Question 34

What was the Apprenticeship Movement?

Answer 34

Under this practice, children were placed in the care of adults who trained them in specific skills, such as being a blacksmith or a farrier (a shoer of horses).