Chapter 1 Childhood and Delinquency Flashcards
Ego identity
According to Erik Erikson, when a person develops a firm sense of who they are and what they stand for
Role diffusion
According to Erik Erikson, 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
At risk youth
Young people who are extremely vulnerable to the negative consequences of school failure, substance abuse, and early sexuality
Juvenile delinquency
Participation in illegal behavior by a minor who falls under a statutory age limit
Chronic juvenile offenders
Youths who have been arrested four or more times during their minority and perpetuate a striking majority of serious criminal acts; these youths do not age out of crime, but continue their criminal behavior into adulthood
Juvenile justice system
The segment of the justice system, including law enforcement officers, the courts, and correctional agencies, that is designed to treat youthful offenders
Paternalistic Family
A family style wherein the father is the final authority on all family matters and exercises complete control over his wife and children
Poor laws
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
chancery courts
Court proceedings created in fifteenth-century England to oversee the lives of highborn minors who were orphaned or otherwise could not care for themselves
Parens patriae
The power of the state to act on behalf of the child and provide care and protection equivalent to that of a parent
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
House of refugees
A care facility developed by the child saves to protect potential criminal youths by taking them off the street and providing a family-like environment
Children aid society
Child-saving organization that took children from the streets of large cities and placed them with farm families on the prairie
Orphan trains
A practice of the Children’s Aid Society in which urban youths were sent west for adoption with local farm couples
Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA)
Unit in the U.S. Department of Justice established by the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to administer grants and provide guidance for crime prevention policy and programs
