chapter seven

Question 1

chapter seven: family, school, peers and the youth crime problem

Answer 1

This chapter focuses on research findings pertaining to the factors indicated by theory as most relevant to understanding youth crime and delinquency—family, school and peers. In reading this chapter, students will:

Appreciate what we know about the effects of family structure and family relationships on youth crime and delinquency.

Know the individual, organizational, and structural factors that link school performance to youth crime and delinquency.

Understand how friends and peers impact on young peoples’ involvement in criminal, delinquent, and gang activity.

Appreciate the links among research, risk assessment, and crime prevention policy and practice.

Question 2

for at least 100 years what has been identifief as a “casual” factor throughout Canadian history?

Answer 2

The family has been identified as a “causal” factor when theorizing about crime and delinquency throughout Canadian history, and youth gangs and peer influences have been linked to crime and delinquency for at least 100 years.

Question 3

In addition, while schools were thought of at the turn of the 19th century as a “solution” to delinquency issues, this seemed to change in the 1980s,

schools are often presented as a source of what?

Answer 3

In addition, while schools were thought of at the turn of the 19th century as a “solution” to delinquency issues, this seemed to change in the 1980s, and schools are now often presented as a source of many youth crime issues.

These factors are also important in that they are the primary tools used today to determine if youth are at risk of delinquent and criminal behaviour

Question 4

note:

Answer 4

Nonetheless, in spite of a consistent academic and professional focus on these factors, the interrelationships among family, school, and peer impacts on delinquency are complex and not easily understood, particularly when ­intersectionalities of race, class, and gender are added to the mix.

Question 5

what does control theory and differential association implies?

Answer 5

Control theory, for example, argues that strong attachments even to ­delinquent friends will decrease delinquency (children not attached to parents will be more delinquent than children who are attached.), while differential association theory implies that strong attachments to delinquent peers will increase delinquent behaviour

Question 6

(family)

during the Victorian era, who did they blame for the community’s greatest concern?

Answer 6

Reminiscent of concerns in the Victorian era, people at a Canadian town hall meeting with police officers identified “problem youth” as the community’s greatest concern and “blamed parents for the problem.”

Question 7

Most research examining the relationship between family factors and youth crime has looked at either the structure of the family or family relationships.

Answer 7

these studies have taken a MICROSCOPIC PERSPECTIVE which refers to theoretical approaches that focus on individuals and behaviour in small social setting rather in the context of larger social structures

they also examine FAMILY STRUCTURE; this is how families are structured in terms of living arrangements or whether the family is “broken” (divorced or separated) or whether both parents are working.

TRADITIONAL WESTERN MODEL:
Much of the early research and conceptual understandings adopted a traditional Western model of the family as the “norm”—a “nuclear” family that consists of two heterosexual parents living with their own (birth) juvenile children.

Question 8

what are the nine family “type”

Answer 8

In reality, families have many different structures, and the model of a traditional nuclear family just does not represent the structures of many families today

this includes single parents (both heterosexual and gay or lesbian) with adopted or birth children; elderly parents with married children; and blended families with married parents (heterosexual or gay or lesbian) living with their own juvenile children as well as children from previous marriages, to name just a few.

Question 9

what is the problem with family structure studies?

Answer 9

Family structure studies have assumed a traditional model and begin their research with the premise that anything other than this model is a problem.

Family relationship studies are not as tied to these assumptions and look at such things as parenting skills, parental supervision of children, parenting styles, and young people’s attachments to parents.

Question 10

> family structure

what is the broken homes hypothesis? and why is this an “intuitive” explanations as to why why one-parent families may be more likely than two-parent families to produce delinquent children?

Answer 10

broken-home hypothesis: the commonly held proposition that children from divorced and single-parent families are more likely to be delinquent

Question 11

what gender-headed family is considered poorer than those in two-parent families?

Answer 11

One comes from the reality that children in one-parent families, particularly female-headed families, are considerably poorer than those in two-parent families.

While this in itself is not necessarily problematic, the additional fact that single parents do not have the support of another adult in the home to assist in child-rearing means a potential for less support and supervision for the child, particularly if the lone parent also has to work long hours to provide for the family.

Question 12

A related assumption, derived from the traditional nuclear family model,

children need ___ discipline for healthy development?

Answer 12

A related assumption, derived from the traditional nuclear family model, is that children need paternal discipline and that boys especially need male (preferably father) role models for healthy development.

Question 13

whar is the three major effects of divorce on women that may influence children’s behaviour?

Answer 13

(1) single mothers are overburdened from working in the labour force and caring for children;

(2) single mothers experience considerable financial stress in that female-headed households earn less than half the income of male-headed households; and

(3) single mothers experience social isolation, which means they have fewer social and emotional supports.

Question 14

This of course does not mean that children from divorced homes are more ­problematic than other children, only that these are factors that can contribute to problems.

other examples:

Answer 14

• a related common belief is that mothers from two-parent families who work outside the home also contribute to delinquency in that they are overburdened and cannot provide the child-rearing supports and supervision that their children need.
• There is, however, very little evidence that working mothers produce more delinquency; less time spent with children does not necessarily mean less quality time.

Question 15

what did Edward Wells and Joseph Rankin (1991) found about the impacts of broken homes on delinquency?

Answer 15

In the early 1990s, Edward Wells and Joseph Rankin (1991) conducted a meta-analysis of the research on the impact of broken homes on delinquency and found that the relationship between broken homes and delinquency is weak at best;

; this relationship has been empirically demonstrated consistently for more than 50 years; (3) the relationship is stronger for minor crimes than for serious ones; and (4) to the extent that there are negative effects on children, these effects are greater for boys than for girls. A major problem with much of the family structure research through the 1970s and 1980s is that it

Question 16

what is a major problem with much of the family structure research through the 1970s and 1980s?

Answer 16

A major problem with much of the family structure research through the 1970s and 1980s is that it did not incorporate, for comparative purposes, a comparison group of families that were not divorced. Hence, we had no way of knowing if children from non-divorced families would also experience problems with delinquency.

Question 17

On the other hand, some of the few studies that did use comparison groups are equally flawed in that they relied on what type of data?

Answer 17

official data - In so doing, they are just as likely to have measured the effect of police and judicial attitudes toward single-parent and female-headed households.

Johnson (1986), for example, found that even though girls from single-mother households were no more likely to self-report delinquent behaviour, they were more likely to be arrested and go to court than girls from ­traditional two-parent families.

Question 18

there is also little research that has examined the positive effects of single-parenting on children

Answer 18

for example, it could be argued that these children are more independent and have a stronger sense of responsibility than children from two-parent homes.

Strohschein found that levels of depression and antisocial behaviour were very high in families where parents divorced, but, most important, she found that depression and antisocial behaviour levels for these children were already higher at the beginning of the study, compared with children whose parents did not divorce over the four-year period.

Conversely, she found that the mental health and behavioural problems of children with highly dysfunctional families actually improved after a divorce. Her conclusion with regard to “broken” families was that “most of the damages are done before the divorce”

Question 19

similarly, what did Sigfusdottir, Farkas, and Silver (2004) found when they tested Agnew’s strain theory>

Answer 19

They tested Agnew’s strain theory, measured as stress on children from exposure to arguments and fights at home, and found that this type of exposure is related to depression and anger among adolescents.

However, depression had no effect on delinquency, while anger increased levels of adolescent delinquent behaviour.

Question 20

from these evidence about single or working mothers, what could we say?

Answer 20

the bulk of the evidence suggests that single mothers and working mothers do not “cause” delinquent behaviour.

Parenting skills, parenting styles, and family dynamics, rather than family structure, might account for the weak relationship identified by some studies.

Question 21

> parenting

what has been identified as significant factors for youth criminality?

Answer 21

Negative parent–child relationships and poor parenting skills have been identified as significant risk factors for youth criminality

Data from the NLSCY show that children whose parents engage in poor parenting practices are more likely to have behavioural problems than other children (

Question 22

why is parenting skills programs a difficukt and complicated task to sort out empirically?

Answer 22

Parenting skills programs are commonly offered to parents whose children are experiencing behavioural difficulties, often as part of diversionary programs for young offenders.

Nonetheless, it is a difficult and complicated task to sort out empirically exactly what it is about parenting that contributes to problem behaviours in children and youth.

Question 23

what are the two most important aspects of parenting behaviour according to Diana Baumrind?

Answer 23

(1) the extent to which parents are supportive of their children’s needs (parental responsiveness) and

(2) the extent to which parents are demanding of appropriate behaviour from their children (parental demandingness).

Hence, parents may be authoritative (i.e., supportive and demanding), authoritarian (rejecting and demanding), indulgent (supportive and not at all demanding), or ­indifferent (rejecting and not at all demanding).

Question 24

parenting styles: (baumrind)

Answer 24

Authoritative parents set standards and have expectations that are consistent with their child’s age. Such parents discuss and explain disciplinary matters with their children.

Authoritarian parents value obedience and conformity. These parents tend to restrict children’s autonomy and to favour the use of punitive disciplinary measures.

Indulgent parents allow children considerable freedom, are opposed to control or disciplinary measures, and see themselves more as resources for their children than as disciplinarian

Indifferent parents spend little time with their children, know little about their children’s activities, and tend to put their own needs above those of their children. In extreme cases, indifferent parents neglect their children.

Question 25

Baumrind reports that delinquent behaviour is most likely to be found among the children of what kind of parents?

Answer 25

Baumrind reports that delinquent behaviour is most likely to be found among the children of indifferent parents

Canadian research shows that children are involved in far more aggressive behaviour when their parents are rejecting (Baumrind’s ­indifferent type), highly punitive (Baumrind’s authoritarian type), and/or limited nurturers (

Question 26

ata from the NLSCY survey allow an examination of Canadian parenting styles. In the NLSCY, parenting styles are measured on a continuum from negative—“ineffective/hostile”—to positive—“positive interaction.”

Answer 26

Ineffective/hostile is measured in terms of the frequency of parents telling children they are “bad” or not as good as others, or whether the parents are angry when punishing their children.

Punitive/aversive refers to parents raising their voices at children or using physical punishment, while consistent refers to parents following through with punishment after a warning or making sure that the child follows orders.

Positive interaction involves parents laughing and playing with children.

The most recent analysis from the survey reports that two-thirds (63 percent) of the children receiving ineffective parenting exhibited aggressive behaviours, such as fighting, bullying, and threatening, compared with only 4 percent of children whose parents rarely used this style

Question 27

what is more important, family structure or parenting style? (according to NLSCY results)

Answer 27

As for questions about which is more important, family structure or parenting styles, early results from the NLSCY indicate that parenting styles have far more impact on children’s behavioural patterns than do family structure or even income levels

Children from two-parent homes with “ineffective” or hostile parents are five times more likely to have “persistent behavioural problems” than are children with an “effective” single parent

Question 28

step-blended family structure vs single-parent families?

Answer 28

The IYS 2006 study reports that step-blended family structures are associated with a higher likelihood of both violent and property delinquency and that single-parent families are associated with higher chances of property crime

Interestingly, both these relationships disappear when school factors are included in the analysis, and, when all ­factors are considered together, sex remains as the most important predictor of ­violent ­delinquency—the rate of self-reported violent delinquency among boys is twice that of girls

Question 29

what did Steven Cernkovich and Peggy Giordano (1987) from their attempt to ascertain whether structural factors or relationship factors are more important in children’s delinquency by analyzing a number of factors?

what factor is more important than family structure in affecting delinquency?

Answer 29

In comparing the impact of all of these factors on behaviour with the impact of a “broken family,” they found that “internal family dynamics are considerably more important than family structure in affecting delinquency”

Question 30

differential association theory would suggest that children of ____ are more likely ti engange in criminal behaviour

Answer 30

Differential association theory would suggest that the children of criminal ­parents are more likely to engage in criminal or delinquent behaviour.

Notwithstanding Hirschi’s contention that “parents with criminal records do not encourage criminality in their children and are as ‘censorious’ toward their criminality as are parents with no record of criminal involvement” (1983, p. 59), some studies have found a correlation between parent and child criminality

• , boys with criminal fathers are four times more likely than boys with non-criminal fathers to be involved in delinquent behaviour,
• Laub and Sampson (1988) found higher rates of delinquency among children of mothers and fathers who are deviant

Question 31

contradiction of finding about differential theory

Answer 31

What seems like a contradiction here may be a result of research limitation, in that, once again, it is difficult for us to know if such children are actually more delinquent than other children

As with single mothers, it may be that police and courts are more likely to criminalize the misdeeds of some children precisely because their parents have criminal records and are known to the police.

Question 32

critique on research on family influences on youth crime

Answer 32

Most research on family influences on youth crime has focused on family ­structure and relations or the relationship between the two.

Very little has addressed the larger social structure and its impact on particular families

Question 33

One exception is Hagan, Gillis, and Simpson’s study of power relationships in the home between ­parents and children (1985).

Answer 33

Their power-control theory looks at how structural power relations from the workplace are reflected in control mechanisms in the home. They found that family control structures are influenced by whether both parents work and whether in their employment they occupy positions of power and authority. Differences in degree of delinquency, and between boys’ and girls’ delinquency, are based on whether families are structured as patriarchal or egalitarian. Delinquency—especially boys’ delinquency—is more strongly correlated with a patriarchal family structure.

Question 34

Hirschi’s control theory has important implications for predicting delinquency.

Answer 34

iSmply put, from the point of view of family relationships, the control theory ­hypothesis presented by Hirschi is that children who are not “attached” to their ­parents will have higher rates of delinquency.

Kierkus and Baer (2002) looked at family structure and self-reported delinquency (ranging from truancy and running away from home to gang fighting and auto theft) among a sample of Ontario ­students and found that family structure is a predictor of delinquency, regardless of age, gender, or income.

However, once parental attachments were considered (­measured as supervision, communication, and quality of relationships), the statistical ­relationship between ­delinquency and family structure was considerably diminished.

In other words, the authors maintained that parental attachments may explain why some research has reported family structure to be an important predictor of delinquency.

Question 35

Similar results were found by Brannigan, Gemmell, Pevalin, and Wade (2002). Using NLSCY data

Answer 35

, they too found that family structure was related to delinquency, but its effect was mediated by more interactive family factors.

Question 36

what parenting style were direct contributors to misconduct and aggression?

Answer 36

Furthermore, hyperactivity and hostile parenting were direct contributors to misconduct and aggression

Question 37

on the other hand high parental support and parental monitoring are related to what

Answer 37

Along the same lines, Parker and Benson (2004) found, using national longitudinal data for adolescents in the United States, that high parental support and parental monitoring are related to greater self-esteem and lower risk behaviours

Question 38

The IYS survey in Canada found that a positive relationship with either the father or mother reduced the chances of involvement in violent delinquency but had no effect on property delinquency.

Answer 38

. The authors conclude that we cannot underestimate the importance of effective parental monitoring and positive parent–child relationships in understanding delinquency.

This is particularly true for children from recently immigrated families, who overall have lower rates of reported delinquency, where involvement in delinquency at all depends on relationships with family and friends

Question 39

there is also a strong relationship between parental monitoring and _____ delinquency

low monitor vs high monitor parents

Answer 39

itzgerald’s (2010) analysis of the IYS data found a strong relationship between parental monitoring and violent delinquency where violent delinquency included self-reported acts of threatened violence, violent behaviour that resulted in injury, emailing to harass or frighten someone, or carrying a weapon.

When parents were “low monitors” (did not know where there children were or who they were with) rates of self-reported violent delinquency were almost five times higher, regardless of gender or age, than among youth whose parents were high monitors.

Question 40

Furthermore, she found that the effects of parental monitoring were affected by type of school

Answer 40

More specifically, when low-monitored youth attended schools with high levels of delinquency, their involvement in violent delinquency was greater than if they attended a low delinquency school (2010, p. 12).

Question 41

What was thornberry’s finding about parental attachments

Answer 41

Thornberry et al. examined the question of parental attachments by looking at ­interactional effects between family and school experiences, and found that the ­relationship is more complex than suggested by control theory.

The researchers found that the relationship between parental attachments and delinquent behaviour is not a simple one.

he first stage of testing revealed that low parental attachment increases delinquency and, as expected, that delinquency worsens attachments to parents. However, the last two stages of testing indicated that while delinquency negatively influences attachment to parents, attachment does not have a significant effect on delinquency.

Question 42

thornberr’ys finding about parental influences

Answer 42

According to Thornberry et al., “[P]arental influences in accounting for delinquency diminished considerably over time as adolescents gain independence. Indeed, by middle adolescence, attachment to parents is viewed as an effect of delinquency rather than a cause of it”

Question 43

> the meaning of family attachment

Answer 43

Research on children’s attachment to parents suggests that this attachment reduces rates of delinquency when it is measured as “affect,” or emotional ties, rather than as supervision.

Question 44

what emotional attachment tend to be most effective in reducing delinquency?

Answer 44

Positive emotional attachments tend to be most effective in reducing delinquency.

Children who feel loved, who identify with their parents, and who respect their wishes are less likely to be delinquent than children who come from homes where there is conflict or neglect, or where discipline is lacking, erratic, or extreme.

Question 45

Because low attachment seems to start the delinquency process, it is important to know just what it means. In measuring parental attachment, Thornberry et al. (1991) used an 11-item scale that measured, among other things, children’s perceptions of warmth, liking, and feelings of hostility between themselves and their “­primary caretaker.” Thornberry et al. indicated that in 85 percent of the cases in their sample, the primary caretaker was the mother, while in 10 percent of the cases it was a stepmother. Only 5 percent of the cases involved a caretaker other than a mother or stepmother, such as a father or grandparent

Answer 45

More often than not, mothers are the focus of research on family relationships. Interestingly, ethnographic studies of young offenders often indicate that fathers are particularly disruptive to family life, and that children’s “bad” relationships with mothers are frequently due to larger problems in the family setting stemming from the fathers’ violence.

adults who have been abused and assaulted in the home, most often mothers, have a reduced capacity for supervising and monitoring their children

Question 46

To focus on attachments to mothers, or even attachments to parents in general, is to miss the most important etiological question about delinquency—namely:

Answer 46

what factors are responsible for weak attachments to parents? It is only through ethnographic studies such as Leyton’s and interviews such as Totten’s that we can begin to understand and perhaps even appreciate why some young people have weak attachments to their parents.

Question 47

> consequences of “bad” family relationships

Answer 47

Marc Le Blanc (1992), based on his work with families and young offenders in Quebec, recognizes that “marital variables” have direct links to delinquent ­behaviour.

Question 48

data^

Answer 48

NLSCY data indicate that Canadian children exposed to physical fighting and ­violence in the home are more likely to behave aggressively, exhibit emotional disorders, and be involved in property crime

Those same data also indicate that they are more likely to engage in bullying behaviour and use indirect forms of aggression, such as rallying friends against other children

Question 49

Girls in custody are particularly likely to have experienced physical abuse, sexual abuse, and a family history of violence

Answer 49

there was an increase in the number of victims of spousal violence reporting that children heard or saw these assaults (from 43 to 52 percent) and that children were more likely to witness spousal violence when the victim was female

Question 50

childhood victimization increases the risk of violent offending particularly for what gender

Answer 50

Childhood victimization increases the risk of violent offending, particularly for male youth, and abused and neglected children are found to begin delinquent careers earlier than non-abused or -neglected children

Question 51

studies of juvenile male sex offenders found that

Answer 51

. Studies of juvenile male sex offenders found that, compared with non-sexual offenders, they were more likely to have witnessed family violence

they predominantly came from “multiproblemic families, were abused in early childhood and were exposed to pornographic materials at an early age”

Question 52

marital discord and parental problems with alcohol and drugs are associated with young offender’s what

Answer 52

finds that marital discord and parental problems with alcohol and drugs are associated with young offenders’ substance abuse and legal problems, such as time spent in custodial ­facilities and various administrative charges

Question 53

what is a survival strategy for many youth? and what are the causes for this?

Answer 53

A survival strategy for many youth in such family conditions is running away from home (or thrown away), and this puts them at greater risk for criminalization

. In 2003, most Canadian runaway children were 12 to 17 years of age; two-thirds were girls and three-quarters were “habitual runners.”

Parental neglect, family conflict and violence, school problems, and abuse are the primary reasons for running

Question 54

Canadian studies also report that anywhere from 18 to 32 percent of runaway street youth become involved in what?

Answer 54

Schissel and Fedec (2000) found that young offenders in Saskatoon and Regina who had experienced childhood neglect and/or sexual, physical, or psychological abuse were more likely to be involved in prostitution.

Among these factors, all were highly significant for Aboriginal youth, but only childhood sexual abuse was a significant predictor for non-Aboriginal youth involved in prostitution (p. 43).

Question 55

We have seen in earlier chapters that young women and girls are more likely to be the victims of sexual abuse over a longer period of time and are more likely to be victimized by a relative.

Answer 55

Girls were also more likely the victims of all forms of violence in the family, but their risk was highest for sexual offences

Question 56

Chesney-Lind and Shelden (1992, 1998) emphasize that a feminist perspective on female crime will what

Answer 56

Chesney-Lind and Shelden (1992, 1998) emphasize that a feminist perspective on female crime will not only account for patriarchal social structures, but also contain an explicit concern about physical and sexual abuse of girls and the relationship between the two:

• Unlike young men’s victimization, young women’s victimization and their response to it is shaped by their status as young women . . . their vulnerability is heightened by norms that require that they stay at home, where their victimizers have greater access to them
• Moreover . . . females’ victimizers (usually males) can invoke official agencies of social control . . . abusers have traditionally been able to utilize the uncritical commitment of the juvenile justice system to parental authority to force girls to obey them . . . many young women on the run from homes characterized by sexual abuse and parental neglect are pushed by the very statutes designed to protect them into life on the streets . . . young girls are seen as sexually desirable . . . [which] means life on the streets and survival strategies are shaped by patriarchal values. (

Question 57

In other words, one cannot understand the crime and delinquency of girls without accounting for the status of women and girls in a patriarchal society and their consequent victimization, not only in the home, but also in the justice system

Answer 57

Similarly, one cannot talk about attachments or commitments to family and parents without recognizing that, for some youth, there is good reason for weak attachments. In these cases, one would be reluctant to say that the “cause” of delinquency is weak ­attachments to mothers or parents.

Question 58

> the “bad seed” and invisible victims

Answer 58

Tales of “bad” parenting, like those of “bad” children, provide ripe fodder for public discussion and moral panic. While children are blamed for social ills, the most readily accepted “cause” of their behaviour is bad parenting. I

Question 59

what kind of parenting is “tough love”

Answer 59

“Tough love” is a parenting style believed to provide a solution for parents with “problem” children. It is also a name commonly given to parental support groups that promote “getting-tough” parenting strategies.

Using Baumrind’s terminology, it is an authoritarian parenting style possibly fitting into the ineffective/hostile category of the NLSCY surveys. Locking a child out of the house is a common strategy promoted by tough love advocates. It seems to draw its legitimacy by purporting to be “in the child’s best interest” and justified as “this will hurt me more than you.”

Question 60

Just as child blaming leads to ­repressive policies, “solutions,” and laws, so too does parent blaming.

Answer 60

“It’s called Toughlove because it’s very tough on the parents because they love their kids so much that they’re going to be tough on those kids because they do love them. And it’s actually not hard on the kids. It’s harder on the parents. It’s very tough on the parents. (Hil & McMahon, 2001, p. 104)6”

The quote taken from his sentencing rationale is important not only because it is a reflection of a common sentiment regarding “bad” children and “bad” parents; its significance lies in the blaming—shifting the blame for social ills from children to parents and back again—a vicious spiral that takes us all the way back to the 19th-century Victorian reformers.

Question 61

what is faulty parenting paradigm

Answer 61

Just as child blaming leads to ­repressive policies, “solutions,” and laws, so too does parent blaming. Hillian and Reitsma-Street (2003, p. 20) refer to this as the “faulty parenting paradigm,” a belief that both ­children and parents should be held accountable for the misdeeds of the young.

Question 62

Considerable pressure to increase parental responsibility in the legislation was brought by lobby groups and provinces during the Young Offenders Act reform ­process.

what’s the issue with this?

Answer 62

One cannot help but wonder about the sense of these laws. It certainly raises questions from a jurisprudential point of view about the legality of holding two people responsible for the same offence or of holding one person accountable twice

What it does is take W.L. Scott’s vision for probation (1908) to its widest extension—it potentially brings all families and parents under the surveillance of the justice system. Justice policies no longer stop with the search for at-risk youth the search is extended to at-risk families

. At the very least, such policies are likely to put even more youth at risk, intensify their marginalization, increase their parents’ difficulties, and possibly even criminalize parents who cannot or will not comply.

Question 63

what is another problematic aspect of this blame game?

Answer 63

Another problematic aspect of the blame game is what is left out. As we have seen in ethnographic accounts of the family lives of institutionalized youth and in ­discussions in earlier chapters, child and youth victimization is pervasive, yet it receives little to no public attention other than in the form of “stranger danger” warnings.

Public discourse and moral panics do not problematize parental violence; they problematize the stranger.

Question 64

On the other hand, the new concept of “parent abuse,” which is growing in popularity, is eminently suitable for public consumption and provides fodder for moral panics by furthering the image of immoral youth predators

Answer 64

he parent abuse concept also falls into the same category as “tough love.” It is a catch phrase used to blame children for their “bad” behaviour and, as Justice Kennedy claimed about tough love, it also abrogates parental responsibility by shifting a failure of parental responsibility onto children.

In addressing solutions to parent abuse, counselling for both parents and children is urged, and the primary objective of counselling is to reassert a parent’s “natural” right to authority over the child.

Question 65

what is the blame game problem in a nutshell

Answer 65

And here is the blame game problem in a nutshell: parents have rights, children do not. This is hardly a new idea, but, as discussed in Chapter 2, it is characteristic of the colonial period in Canada, when children were viewed as possessions and objects of parental authority. Like tough love, the parent abuse concept allows parents and adults to deny that children have inherent rights, that they are persons with dignity and rights of their own, and that parents (and the state) have an obligation to provide for those rights (Denov, 2005, pp. 67–68). Importantly, these rights include the freedom of a voice in their own affairs and a right to the fundamentals of survival: food, clothing, and shelter.

Question 66

the public blame game and the concept of tough love

Answer 66

The public blame game accuses parents of abrogating their colonial responsibility to control their children, and the concepts of tough love and parent abuse give parents a rationale for abrogating their primary responsibility in ensuring these rights

Many parents, in particular those involved in the youth justice system, are fearful of the very notion of children’s rights and express concern that the “law” (Young Offenders Act/Youth Criminal Justice Act), by giving children “rights,” makes it impossible for them to control their children because they can’t discipline (that is, hit) them ­anymore

Question 67

The idea of children participating in decision-making in the home was not even considered by many parents of young offenders.

Answer 67

When I asked questions in my court research pertaining to decision-making, a majority of young offenders’ parents asked me to repeat and explain the question of child participation in decision-making. They were surprised that such a question would even be asked. After repeated probing and elaboration, most parents answered that it is they who make decisions about such things as how to spend leisure time, not their children (Bell, 1993).

Question 68

Those who identify the blame game as problematic do not disagree that parent abuse is a real human tragedy experienced mostly by women at the hands of their children

Answer 68

Nor would they likely believe that Chief Justice Kennedy is wrong. In fact, he was probably very correct in his assessment of the young man and the inappropriateness of his mother’s parenting style. This view would also not likely maintain that most young offenders’ parents do not love their children and struggle to reach them, get worn out from trying, and resort to last-ditch efforts such as tough love. Adopting tough love is usually one step above parents begging the police or court to put their child or children in jail, as we see in “Johnny’s” case (Box 7.1).

Question 69

As mentioned earlier, my research in youth and family court (Bell, 1993)..

Answer 69

showed me a steady stream of economically disadvantaged parents, mostly mothers, worn well beyond their years, tired and exhausted from trying to keep a family together with meagre resources and from trying to manage children who in fact were not “out of control” in an absolute sense, but out of their control

It is quite possible that their children never were “under” their control; the only difference, once they become enmeshed in the justice system, is that their children become too big physically to drag back into the house

Other research has also found that a majority of parents in the youth justice system are deeply concerned about their children’s well-being and are highly cooperative in helping the courts find solutions for their children’s ­behaviour

Question 70

So what then is the issue? How are we to understand the “bad” behaviour of youth and children, including violence directed toward their parents, without blaming children and parents—and in such a way that recognizes the victimization of children and youth at the hands of their parents?

These are not unrelated questions. Answering one provides an answer to the other.

Answer 70

Answers may come from recognizing first, as we have in this textbook, that child and youth victimization is largely ­invisible in our society, while child and youth criminal activity has a very high profile. Victim status must be “earned” by children and youth, while their status as offenders is “eagerly ascribed”

Question 71

Second, as exemplified by the parent abuse counselling solution, we also have longstanding, Victorian-era views about the role and place of parents and children in the family

Third, our views of offender and victim as well as our views of parental and child roles are reinforced by equally longstanding punitive attitudes toward ­children and youth. Sheila Brown (2005) maintains that there is, in Western society, a punitive culture toward children and argues that

Answer 71

. . . the punitive culture towards young people must be seen as rooted in a long history in which the “chastisement” of children is the legitimate province of the family as a primary institution of socialization and control. “Discipline” by parents (or rather the lack of it) has so consistently been placed at the forefront of debates about the crime problem that we must consider whether there is a longstanding and deeply ingrained punitiveness towards children and young people which precedes, and frames, our societal insistence upon seeing young people as a problem population who must first and foremost be contained through punishment. (Brown, 2005, p. 128)8

Question 72

(school)

Answer 72

As with positivist and “modern” scientific thinking on youth crime that looks at family factors to explain the criminal behaviour of youth and children, schools are also implicated in many theories, and a considerable amount of research has taken place in this tradition in order to isolate factors associated with school that contribute to delinquency

Question 73

up until 1960s schools tended to be viewed as what

Answer 73

. Up until the 1960s, schools tended to be viewed as “solutions” to issues of race and class, in the sense that they were seen as the great equalizers, the source of the “American dream,” so to speak. All one needed to do was get an ­education and social mobility was assured.

Question 74

school failure was viewd as a major problem because it was linked to what

Answer 74

School failure was viewed as a major problem because it was linked to delinquent behaviour.

Canadian research in the 1980s, for example, showed that both self-reported delinquency and official rates of delinquency were strongly correlated with school failure

Question 75

. More recently, Sprott, Jenkins, and Doob (2000) found that schools can be a “protective factor” for at-risk Canadian youth;

Answer 75

for example, for children from single-parent families or children who are subject to hostile parenting. The causal chain is assumed to be that school failure is the source of delinquent behaviour and that school failure is the result of individual inability to achieve or as of a failure of the school system to meet the educational needs of all youth. By the 1980s, as the moral panic about youth gained momentum, public emphasis and concern shifted to schools as a site of youth crime and educational issues took a back seat to concerns about the schools’ ability (or lack thereof) to discipline and control the youth population. In the discussion that follows, we will look at theory, empirical knowledge, and theorizing regarding both of these tracks.

Question 76

> youth crime as an educational issue

albert cohen’s subcultural theory and control theory suggest that

Answer 76

Albert Cohen’s subcultural theory and control theory both suggest that school is a determinant of delinquent behaviour.

Cohen (1955), in his version of strain theory, indicated that the delinquent subculture stemmed from REACTION FORMATION wherein lower- and working-class youth responded to the frustrations they experienced in a middle-class school system.

Control theory simply posits that low levels of school commitment will lead to delinquency.

Question 77

> school commitment

Much of the contemporary research has focused on school commitment, and it has consistently found not only a relationship between school commitment and youth crime, but also

Answer 77

Much of the contemporary research has focused on school commitment, and it has consistently found not only a relationship between school commitment and youth crime, but also a relationship between lack of commitment to an early onset of delinquency and the escalation of delinquency to more serious criminal activity, carrying with the risk of gang involvement

Research has also demonstrated that strategies designed to increase levels of commitment reduce youth criminal activity

Question 78

The NLSCY allows a measure of school commitment through questions about

Answer 78

The NLSCY allows a measure of school commitment through questions about participation in school activities, making friends at school, learning new things, the importance of doing well at school, expressing opinions at school, and showing up on time.

Results from an analysis of 12- to 15-year-old Canadian youth in 1998–1999 showed that Canadian girls are more committed to school than are boys and that girls’ commitment to school reduces their involvement in property crime more so than it does for boys.

. The 2006 IYS confirms that school commitment lowers ­self-reported involvement in both violent and property delinquencies (Fitzgerald, 2009, p. 12; Zeman & Bressan, 2008, p. 20).

Question 79

low levels of commitment were also associated qwith what type of crime

Answer 79

Low levels of school commitment were also associated with violent crime, and there were no differences between boys and girls

Interestingly, Fitzgerald also looked at interconnections between delinquency and self-reported victimization and school commitment, and found that girls seem to have “an increased sensitivity to both factors.”

More specifically, where both boys’ and girls’ commitment to school and level of victimization were related to delinquency, girls with high levels of victimization and a low level of school commitment reported more property-related and violence-related delinquency (pp. 12, 16, 18).

Question 80

Colvin and Pauly (1987) combined the ideas of Cohen’s working-class “­reaction formation” with control theory notions of school commitment and argue that

Answer 80

Colvin and Pauly (1987) combined the ideas of Cohen’s working-class “­reaction formation” with control theory notions of school commitment and argue that COERCIVE CONTROLS in working-class families combine with similar controls in schools to increase the chance of failure among working-class youth in the school system.

Hence, some failure explanations focus on the organization of schools and classrooms, others focus on the role of school in the larger social structure and its impact on particular class and minority groups, and still others focus on an individual’s shortcomings.

Question 81

individual failures

Answer 81

1) IQ

2) Tracking

3) Disabilities

Question 82

IQ

Answer 82

IQ Reminiscent of early biological understandings of criminality as a function of “feeblemindedness” are modern claims that a low IQ is predictive of school failure and subsequent delinquent behaviour.

his is the view presented by James Q. Wilson and Richard Herrnstein (1985).

They argue that IQ has a direct effect on delinquency in that young people with low intelligence tend to be impulsive, lacking in moral reasoning, and inclined to think only in terms of immediate gratification. For these youth, school failure encourages delinquency:

see textbook

Question 83

Hirschi argues that IQ is related to

Answer 83

Hirschi (1969) argues that IQ is related to delinquency indirectly through its effect on grades. IQ affects grades, which in turn affect one’s attachment to school. Attachment to school affects one’s tolerance of school authority, and tolerance of authority affects one’s involvement in delinquency

Question 84

. Although research in the 1960s and 1970s indicated that grades are better predictors of delinquency than is IQ, more recent research challenges Hirschi’s argument.

Answer 84

Liska and Reid (1985), for example, questioned not only the predominance of IQ in Hirschi’s model, but also the chain of events. They maintained that

. . . street delinquency may be correlated with troublesome school behavior in classrooms, school halls and school yards. . . . [A]lso, adolescents involved in delinquency simply have less time for school; thus, delinquency, independently of teacher reactions, may decrease school attachment. (p.

Question 85

see 7.2 for exampled of an IQ test question

Answer 85

Of course, none of the IQ research addresses the cultural bias inherent in IQ tests and its negative effects on students from minority groups. B

Box 7.2 presents an example of a question from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-R), an IQ test used in California. The scores for this question are (a) two points, (b) two points, (c) one point, and (d) no points. What makes the question culturally biased is the high probability that children who have experienced racial prejudice or police harassment will choose (d), based on the assumption that picking up the wallet would make them vulnerable to accusations of theft (Regoli & Hewitt, 1994, p. 263).

Question 86

tracking

Answer 86

Tracking One of the consequences of IQ tests and other forms of testing is that schools “streamline” or “track” students into different types of classes

Students can be tracked into vocational programs, college prep programs, remedial programs, or special ed programs, to name a few

Question 87

. Studies have shown delinquency to be more strongly correlated with tracking than with gender or social class

Answer 87

Based on his Montreal studies, Marc Le Blanc (1993) reported a number of school experiences, including tracking, to be predictors of delinquency. Nonetheless, it is not necessarily IQ or grades that determine students’ track allocations. Tracking decisions are often made by counsellors, teachers, and parents, and they are often made on the basis of race and class. Regoli and Hewitt (1994, p. 262) report that, in the United States, African American students are two times more likely than white students to be tracked into special education classes. Not surprisingly, as the proportion of African American teachers increases in schools, the number of African American students in special education programs decreases (p. 263).

Question 88

In a longitudinal study conducted in the United States, a group of high-school students were interviewed four times over the course of their school experience.

Answer 88

The results provided little evidence that delinquency was related to tracking at either the beginning or the end of the high school career (Wiatrowski et al., 1982). For Tanner (1996), an important finding was that 87 percent of the students said they were satisfied with their track allocation. This finding suggested to Tanner that tracking may be related to delinquency only when students are negatively labelled because of it and come to resent being tracked. Given the contradictory research evidence on tracking, Tanner argues that “a reasonable conclusion might be that a sense of fairness about appropriate track allocations reduces delinquency” (

Question 89

disabilities

Answer 89

We have seen in earlier chapters that there are high rates of delinquency among youth diagnosed with LD and ADHD.

It is not the disability that connects the youth to delinquent and criminal behaviour, but, rather, the failure of schools and school boards to adequately diagnose or respond in effective ways.

Research shows that school problems begin early for youth with BD, LD, or ADHD diagnoses. These students most often are in special ed programs and are “early starters.” A study of ­special ed students showed that 90 percent had been suspended from school, that many had been involved in the courts at the elementary school level, and that school dropout rates were high especially among students from poor and single-family homes. Zabel and Nigro (1999) maintain that this is a clear indication that schools are not responding effectively to youth with disabilities and that out-of-school suspensions are not an appropriate response. More importantly, they suggest that it is the school—and its policies—that is a major contributor to crime among youth (pp. 36–38).

Question 90

school failures

Answer 90

School Policy/Organization Another way of looking at tracking, IQ testing, and disabilities, and their impact on delinquency, is to consider them as issues created by the organization of the school and the educational system rather than as factors related to the young offender.

Question 91

By the 1980s, youth problems were being reframed as “the problem of youth” (Acland, 1995), and schools were identified as a part of that problem. And once again, lack of discipline and control was the issue.

Answer 91

A highly influential book at the time was Paul Copperman’s The Literacy Hoax (1980). Copperman outlined a number of problems associated with schools that are delinquency-producing. Simply put, he argued that school delinquency is created by a lack of teacher authority. This lack of teacher authority is a function of the organization of the school, particularly with respect to school principals. According to Copperman, a school cannot teach students in the absence of a strong principal who is able to exercise authority and concentrate on curriculum and teaching (including the firing of incompetent teachers).

Question 92

Similarly, a lack of parental support for school systems and teachers reduces teachers’ authority in the classroom. If parents do not support and respect teachers, neither will children

Answer 92

Copperman also viewed open classrooms with flexible ­schedules, electives, and light course loads as problematic. A lack of structure in classrooms translates into teachers’ loss of control over students. It is precisely this loss of control, Copperman maintained, that leads to violence, disruption, and drug use in ­contemporary schools.

Question 93

An opposite argument comes from those who examine schools and their ability to meet the needs of marginalized and racialized students.

Answer 93

Schissel (1997), for example, maintains that rigid, punitive, and authoritarian school systems exacerbate youth problems, particularly for individuals who are marginalized, who are at risk, or who simply have not had the advantages others have (pp. 120–126). He advocates more flexibility in schools to meet youth needs and a “human rights approach” to youth education (p. 121). Contrary to Copperman, Schissel (1997) advocates for fundamental changes and argues that schools need to develop alternative models of teaching, learning, and curriculum to better serve youth who are marginal and “­relatively disadvantaged.” He cites Princess Alexandria School and Joe Duquette High School in Saskatoon and St. Peter’s College Alternative High School in Muenster, Saskatchewan, as examples of schools that are committed to “egalitarian and non-authoritarian” teaching. All of these schools reject standardized, inflexible curricula; offer a non-judgmental and non-punitive learning environment; reject discipline and punishment; and focus on empowering students in an atmosphere of mutual respect (Schissel, 1997, pp. 120–126). School boards also need to adapt to the needs of street youth by providing educational programs that address their remedial needs and acknowledge the realities of street life in physical learning spaces that are accessible to them (Schissel & Fedec, 2000, p. 52). A survey of ­homeless and ­runaway/­thrownaway youth in Toronto, for example, found that only 20 ­percent could be classified as “normal achieving,” half the youth (52 percent) had a reading disability, and one-third (29 percent) had arithmetic/written work ­disabilities (Barwick & Siegel, 1996, p. 649).

Question 94

An interesting example of an alternate school is the opening of an Africentric school in Toronto in 2009 and the controversy surrounding its very existence

Answer 94

The idea of an “all-Black school” raised old issues of segregation and generated considerable controversy in newspapers about the effects of diversity. “Soft” diversity, things such as ethnic restaurants and festivals, is seen as a positive component of Canadian society, while “hard” diversity, things like racial discrimination, is seen as a negative factor

The debate was whether an “all-Black school” was soft or hard diversity. Carl James, a York University education professor, was quoted in the Vancouver Sun as saying this was not the issue at all. He maintains that Black students in Canada already experience segregation in education, whereas an Africentric school, one ­actually segregated, provides an opportunity for healing and an enhanced learning environment for its students (Keeping, September 22, 2008, p. A11).

Question 95

Jane Sprott (2004) examined data on Canadian students from the NLSCY to assess

Answer 95

Jane Sprott (2004) examined data on Canadian students from the NLSCY to assess the effect of classroom and school climates on delinquent behaviour. She found that delinquency is related to classroom climate and that the classroom climate is more important at reducing levels of violent behaviour than the school climate, ­measured as management styles

read textbook for morw

Question 96

structural failures

social class

Answer 96

A question lurking behind all of the research regarding tracking, IQ, and loss of teacher authority is whether these factors are related to delinquency because of the class structure of Western society.