Week 6 Flashcards
sociological theories of juvenile offending
Social strain theories
Cultural transmission theories
Social control
Labeling
social strain theories
There is a strain or disconnect between what the individual wants and 1) what they are demanding, 2) the stress society is putting on them, and 3) what society wants from them
Anomie
“Delinquency Boys”
“Delinquency and Opportunity”
General Strain Theory
anomie - theory
Merton, 1957
Idealized, socially approved goals vs the means available to the individual for achieving these goals
punnett square
modes of adaptation
sociological theory that examines how a lack of shared values, standards, and rules can lead to deviant behavior and crime
modes of adaption
Ways that persons who occupy a particular social position adjust to cultural goals
These modes include:
- conformity
- innovation
- ritualism
- retreatism
- rebellion
conformity
Persons accept the goals of society and worry toward their attainment usually societally approved means
innovation
Persons accept the goals of society but use means to achieve them other than those approved by society
retreatism
Persons reject goals and the means to achieve goals; retreat
ritualism
Persons reject the goals of society but work toward other less lofty goals by institutionally approved means
rebellion
Persons seek to replace culturally approved goals and institutionalized means with new goals and means for others to follow
anomie - definition
state of helplessness that results from this juxtaposition
- Conscious or unconsciously aware that society has goals for them however they are struggling to achieve them
- Learned helplessness
- Internal conflict
Delinquency Boys - Cohen
1955
Male youth in lower SES groups internalize middle and upper class views of success and drive for higher social status
Focuses on gang involvement among lower SES youth
Disconnected between status and goals
When blocked from achieving higher status and goals, youth responded with:
- college boy response
- corner boy response
- delinquent boy response
college boy response
Can reach goals through hard work and education
Americanized; thirty, hard working, cut off activity from peers
corner boy response
stable
don’t surrender the idea of being upwardly mobile; no learned helplessness
but doesn’t cut off peers
delinquent boy response
Completely recapitulates societal ideals
Reaction formation
Forms new ideals; negative
delinquency opportunity - cloward and ohlin
1960
Also focuses on gang involvement
Youths’ response to status frustration is dictated by the types of delinquent opportunities available to any particular group
Material wealth is hard to come by
Crime - alternative career path
Three types of gangs:
- crime oriented
- conflict oriented
- retreatist oriented
crime oriented
property crimes
conflict oriented
violent
retreatist oriented
drugs
general strain theory
A criminology theory positing that a gap between culturally approved goals and legitimate means of achieving them causes frustration, leading to criminal behavior
Agnew (1992,1995)
Delinquent behavior functions as an adaptation to stress
Response to stress depends upon various factors, including social support, degree of anger, motivation, self-esteem
Delinquency - reaction of the environment; stress, trauma
Types of relevant stressors!
Types of relevant stressors
Discrepancy between means and goals
Loss of something positive
Negative circumstances
limitations of strain theories
Females excluded from most theories
Doesn’t account for middle- and upper-class delinquent behavior
Bias and stereotypes
Doesn’t account for why small numbers of youth in lower SES communities engage in delinquent acts
Other than Agnew’s theory, what about background, circumstances, family?
What about normative adolescent development?
bias and stereotypes in strain theories
Assumes that lower class youth are all the same with no cultural, community, or individual differences
What about normative adolescent development? - limitation to strain theories
doesn’t account for:
- Prefrontal cortex
- Normal behaviors - rebellion, risks, stimulating acts, higher threshold for excitement, wanting to be approved by friends
Cultural Transmission Theories
Theory of Culture Conflict
Concentric Zone Theory
“High Delinquency Theories”
Cultural Efficacy Theory
“Lower Class Culture”
“High Delinquency Areas”
Shaw and McKay
Used concentric zone theory to study patterns of crime and delinquency throughout Chicago
Identified areas of high crime adjacent to the city center (similar to the Zone of Transition)
Delinquent behavior develops when children are raised in neighborhoods with high rates of poverty, which produces social disorganization → delinquency
Focus is on the presence and impact of social disorganization
1900s Chicago
Great influx of laborers
Social scientists define a series of concentric zones around Chicago, commencing with the core in downtown Chicago and progressing outward, away from the city center, in a series of concentric rings
The outward renege or zone immediately adjacent to the central core was labeled by Burgess and Park as an interstitial area (zone of transition)
Concentric Zone Hypothesis
Series of rings originating from a city center, such as Chicago, and emanating outward, forming various zones characterized by different socioeconomic conditions; believed to contain areas of high delinquency and crime
Found that delinquency is more frequent in youth in lower SES; poorly in school
Subculture of Delinquency
A culture within a culture where the use of violence in certain social situations is commonplace and normative
Cultural Efficacy
Sampson
Focuses on social organization and collective efficacy in neighborhoods
Collective efficacy → informal social control → cohesion and support networks → less crime
Neighborhood disorganization → lacking efficacy → more crime
What happens when youth from poorer neighborhoods move to more affluent ones?
“Lower Class Culture”
Miller
Individuals in lower SES brackets don’t internalize middle class values and delinquent acts are not due to anomic frustration
Values, ideals, goals specific to poorer communities
Miller’s high priority values:
- Trouble, toughness, smartness, excitement, fate, autonomy
Lower Class Focal Concerns
Walter Miller used this term to refer to those aspects of the subculture that are important; these aspects require attention by members of the subculture
- Trouble, toughness, smartness, excitement, fate, autonomy
Code of the Street
Norms and values of lower class youth that emphasize violence and respect
Limitations of Cultural Transmission Theories
Biased and homogenous view of individuals living in lower income neighborhoods
Social organization is not always absent in lower SES neighborhoods, it just looks different than in other neighborhoods
Studies that rely on crime rates in neighborhoods are biased – what is the danger of relying on arrest records
Neighborhoods don’t necessarily cause crime, as those with prior history of offending (and therefore higher risk of reoffending) may be drawn to the neighborhood
VisionQuest
Carefully regulated, intensive supervision program designed to improve the social and psychological experiences of juveniles
labeling theory
Persons develop self definitions that deviant and criminal
Labeling
labeling
Stressed the definition people have of delinquent acts rather than delinquency itself
primary deviation
Occurs when you spontaneously violate the law by engaging in occasional pranks
secondary deviation
Occurs when delinquency becomes consistent with adolescent self image and behavior patterns or lifestyle
bonding theory / social control theory
Stresses processual aspects of youth becoming bonded or socially integrated into the norms of society
Include dimensions of bonding:
- Attachment, commitment, belief, and involvement
containment theory
Positive self image enables persons otherwise disposed toward criminal behavior to avoid criminal conduct and conform to societal values
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looking glass self
Theories that people learned ways of conforming by paying attention to the reactions of others in response to their own behavior
rehabilitation model
Assumes that delinquency is the result of poor friendship or peer choices, poor social adjustments, the wrong educational opportunities, and/or a general failure to envision realistic life goals and inculcate appropriate moral values
treatment model / medical model
Assumes that delinquency conduct is like a disease, the causes of which can be isolated and attacked
juvenile mentoring program (JUMP)
Designed to improve school performance and decrease delinquency
One on one adult and juvenile
big brothers / big sisters of america (BBBSA)
Matches one adult to one juvenile in a cost effective intervention that reduces adolescent drug and alcohol use and improves youth parent relationships
non interventionist model
Means the absence of any direct intervention with certain juveniles who have been taken into custody
Consistent with the DSO movement
judicious nonintervention
Allows some minimal level of intervention to affect changes in behavior
radical nonintervention
Argues that many of the current approaches to delinquency are not fundamentally unsound but also harmful to youth
Just deserts/justice model
Punishment centered and seemingly revenge oriented
Where the state’s interest is to ensure that juveniles are punished in relation to the seriousness of the offenses they have committed
crime control model
Theories that one of the best ways of controlling juvenile delinquency is to incapacitate juvenile offenders, either through some secure incarceration or through an intensive supervision program operated by a community based agency or organization
consent decrees
May include provisions for the electronic monitoring of certain juvenile offenders as an alternative to incarceration in a secure facility
Plastic bracelets or anklets - sends signals
multi systemic therapy
Intensive intervention that works with families in the community to address factors contributing to serious delinquent behavior
Balanced and Restorative Justice (BARJ) Model
Recognized that crime harms the community, victims, and juvenile offenders
Approach holds the offender accountable to the victim while providing intervention to improve offender competencies and social skills and to promote non delinquent behavior
Seeks to ensure public safety and balance the needs of all
Five domains of competency development
accountability
Five domains of competency development
Prosocial skills
Moral reasoning skills
Academic skills
Workforce skills
Independent living skills
Accountability can be achieved by
Victim impact statement
Victim community awareness classes
Apology statement
Restitution and community service
Restorative processes
Sanctuary Model
A trauma informed, theory based, evidence supported, whole culture approach that requires organizational change for treating youth
Requires that participants to endorse:
- Nonviolence, emotional intelligence, social learning, open communication democracy, social responsibility, growth and change
Nurse family partnership (NFT)
Provides intensive home visitation by trained nurses during prenatal and childhood years
Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS)
Developed for children 10-15 who have been exposed to substantial violence or other traumatic events and have symptoms of PTSD in the clinical range
Goals:
Reduce symptoms related to trauma
To build resilience
To increase peer and parent support
Project Safe Neighborhoods
A national initiative implemented to reduce firearms
Persons based from using firearms
- Convicted felons
- Fugitives from justice
- Illegal immigrants
- Mental defectives or persons who have been committed at any time to a mental institution
- Persons who have given up their US citizenship
- Persons dishonorably discharged from the armed forces
- Anyone under court order to refrain from stalking, harassing, or threatening an intimate partner or other person
- Anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime involving violence or a threat with a deadly weapon
