Chapter 6 Flashcards
Troubling Youth
Youth who are considered to be primarily a threat to others or to society, such as through criminal activity.
Troubled Youth
Youth who are considered to be primarily a threat to themselves, such as through substance use.
Youth
A transitional time in life between childhood and maturity.
Youth in terms of social status:
Youth refers to anyone who has not achieved full economic and social independence.
Youth according to the YCJA:
12-17.
What is the gulf between reality and perception concerning youth crime?
The extent and nature of youth crime is far from appreciating the frightening picture painted by the popular mind by media images and recent changes to government legislation.
Is there a criminal offence category for which youth constitute the majority of offenders?
No.
Are youth the most overrepresented in the criminal justice system?
No.
True or false? Youth are responsible for almost 85 percent of violent crimes.
False, adults are.
Moral Panics
An exaggerated and sensationalized concern over a particular phenomenon, characterized by heightened concern, hostility toward the offending group, a certain level of consensus that there is a real threat, disproportionality, and volatility.
Disproportionality
The attention given to the phenomenon is far greater than the level of objective threat that the phenomenon presents.
Volatility
It erupts suddenly and then may just suddenly disappear, although some may become institutionalized and therefore appear time and time again.
Volatility
It erupts suddenly and then may just suddenly disappear, although some may become institutionalized and therefore appear time and time again.
How does differential association theory explain youth crime?
Youth learn deviant techniques and motives from peers.
How does social bonds theory explain youth crime?
Youth form bonds with others that restrain most of us from crime.
How does self control theory explain youth crime?
The level of self-control developed early in life determines criminality.
How does Merton’s strain theory explain youth crime?
Structural inequalities in access to legitimate opportunities lead to youth crime.
How does differential opportunity theory explain youth crime?
Illegitimate opportunities lead to youth crime.
How does social learning theory explain youth crime?
The system of rewards, punishments, and role models we have been exposed to in life explain youth crime.
What is the most important factor in determining delinquent behaviour in youth?
Quality and effectiveness of parenting. Link between structure of household and youth delinquency has been shown to be relatively weak.
Parenting Style
An overall approach to parenting, including supervision, parental control, and emotional ties between parent and child.
What is the best parenting style?
Moderate control of the child’s behaviour combined with moderate levels of supervision and strong, positive, emotional ties between parent and child.
What do children develop as a result of good parenting?
Their own internal moral standards and higher levels of self-control.
Good parenting involves…
Having high expectations for children, having knowledge of and interest in who the children are socializing with and what they are doing, as well as clearly explained rule and consequences for breaking those rules. Also, some flexibility and substantial levels of warmth and affection.
Family variables not only influence the child outcomes themselves, they also affect ___ influence.
Peer.
What is the single most effective predictor of criminal activity among youth?
Criminal activity among friends.
Most research on youth gangs is conducted in ___.
America.
What are the two broad streams of research on youth gangs?
- Focuses on the causation or motivation on why gangs form, why join, and why they engage in particular behaviours.
- Focuses in various aspects of the social construction of the “gang problem” such as how and why moral panics about gangs emerge and the problems with defining gangs.
How does the strain theory explain involvement in youth gangs?
Rather than in economic terms, youth who are in lower classes measured up against a middle class measuring rod that is unattainable instead turn to expressive, destructive, non-utilitarian behaviours.
How does the differential opportunity theory explain involvement in youth gangs?
Particular illegitimate opportunities result in the formation of gangs that may be economically enterprising, violent, or drug using and retreatist.
What is a more subjective explanation for why gangs form?
Youth gangs are sources of identity and expressions of resistance among youth who are structurally marginalized.
How does the integrationist theory explain involvement in youth gangs?
Individual members within a gang have different interests, motivations for gang membership, and understandings of what it means to be a gang member.
Ethnographic Research
Research in which the researcher embeds her or himself with the groups being studied for an extended period of time.
Material Incentives
A motivation for gang membership involving the desire to make more, or more consistent, money.
Recreation
A motivation for gang membership involving opportunities for entertainment and socializing.
Place of Refuge and Camouflage
A motivation for gang membership involving a level of anonymity, removing a sense of personal responsibility for illegal activities.
Physical Protection
A motivation for gang membership involving increased safety from the known dangers of the neighbourhood.
Time to Resist
A motivation for gang membership that involves a statement of rejection to society, a rejection of the type of lives being offered.