CHAPTER OUTLINE
Case Profile: Jay
1. youngest of six children, in impoverished community
2. although bright, regularly misses schools
3. arrested on theft charges
4. parents facing homelessness
5. teacher becomes his foster mother
6. misses appointments with probation officer
7. follows court-ordered framework including community service,
restitution, continued contact with biological family, contact with local
human service agency, and retail theft group composed of other offenders,
volunteers, store security and leader.
8. Jay maintains close contact with family, works harder in school, and
seriously considers college.
I
Introduction
A.
No More Victims programs
1.
kids often live in tough urban environments
2.
key to understanding delinquent behavior lies in the social
environment
B.
Perspective
1.
individual-level phenomenon fail to account for these consistent
differences in delinquency rates
C.
II.
2.
large cities have more crime problems than rural
Social factors and delinquency
1.
interpersonal interactions
a.
weakened family ties linked to delinquency
2.
community ecological conditions and social change
3.
political unrest and mistrust, economic stress, and family
disintegration
4.
socioeconomic status and lack of economic success
Social Factors and Delinquency
A.
Critical social factors believed to cause or affect delinquent behaviors
1.
interpersonal interactions – relationships with families, peers,
schools, jobs, criminal justice agencies, and more may play an
important role in creating or restraining delinquency
a.
2.
3.
4.
III.
IV.
reduced influence of family in American society/increased
emphasis on individuality, independence, and isolation
community ecological conditions – living in deteriorated inner-city
areas marked by poverty, decay, fear, and despair influences
delinquency
social change – political unrest and mistrust, economic stress, and
family disintegration have been found to precede sharp increases in
crime rates; stabilization of these traditional social institutions
typically precede crime rate declines
socioeconomic status – may also affect delinquency. Logic finds
that people on the lowest rung of the economic ladder will have the
greatest incentive to commit crime. Delinquency may appear as an
attractive alternative to a life of indigence.
Social Structure Theories
A.
Culture of poverty – term coined by sociologist Oscar Lewis
1.
describes the crushing burden faced by the urban poor
2.
marked by apathy, cynicism, helplessness, and mistrust
3.
permanent underclass whose members have little chance of upward
mobility
4.
hollowed out deteriorated inner core surrounded by less devastated
communities
5.
truly disadvantaged are members of the urban underclass
B.
Economics
1.
more than half of families in poverty are fatherless and
husbandless
2.
many are supported entirely by government aid
3.
lack of employment opportunity also limits the authority of parents
4.
poor children are more likely to suffer from health problems
5.
children who live in extreme poverty exhibit the worst outcomes
6.
tie delinquency rates to socioeconomic conditions, cultural values
7.
frustrated by their inability to be part of the American Dream
Social Disorganization
A.
Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay, sociologists
1.
first recognized concept of social disorganization
2.
delinquency rates were high in what they called transitional
neighborhoods areas
3.
factories and commercial establishments were interspersed with
residences
4.
cultural transmission passing on delinquent traditions
5.
distinct ecological areas had developed
6.
visualized as a series of concentric zones each with a stable
delinquency rate
7.
data indicated a stable pattern of delinquency over a 65-year period
B.
Social control
1.
healthy, organized community has the ability to regulate itself
2.
3.
C.
V.
common goals can be achieved
social institutions cannot work effectively in climate of alienation
and mistrust
Social disorganization theory concepts
1.
relative deprivation
a.
where poor and wealthy live relatively close to one another
2.
community change
a.
some impoverished areas are being gentrified
b.
formerly affluent communities becoming rundown
c.
likely to experience increases in single-parent families
d.
changes in housing from owner- to renter-occupied units
e.
loss of semiskilled and unskilled jobs
f.
growth in the numbers of discouraged
g.
unemployed workers who are no longer seeking jobs
3.
community fear
a.
suffer social incivility, i.e., trash and litter, graffiti, burnedout buildings, drunks and vagabonds, loiterers, prostitutes,
noise, congestion, and more
b.
residents become convinced neighborhood is dangerous
and become fearful and weary, trying not to leave their
homes at night
5.
collective cohesion
a.
high levels of social control and social integration, develop
sense of collective efficacy or mutual trust and a
willingness to intervene in the supervision of children
Anomie/Strain
A.
Strain
1.
feel isolated from the economic mainstream
2.
view crime as a direct result of lower-class frustration and anger
3.
Merton adopted the concept of strain to explain crime and
delinquency
4.
youths may either
a.
use deviant methods to achieve their goals
b.
reject socially accepted goals and substitute deviant
B.
General strain theory
1.
Agnew argues there are more sources of strain than Merton realized
2.
elements of general strain theory
a.
strain caused by failure to achieve positively valued goals
b.
strain as the removal of positively valued stimuli
c.
strain as the presentation of negative stimuli
3.
negative affective states
a.
anger, frustration, and fear that derive from strain
C.
Cultural deviance
1.
youths’ desire to conform to lower-class neighborhood cultural
values
2.
3.
D.
lower class values conflict with those of the larger society
being tough, never showing fear, living for today, and
disrespecting authority
4.
experience a form of culture conflict
The Code of the Streets
1. Elijah Anderson asserts interrelationship of culture and behavior
2. for the “ghetto poor” lack of jobs, stigma of race, drug use, alienation,
and lack of hope puts youth at risk of deviant behavior and crime.
3. oppositional culture which is opposed to mainstream and society
competes with conventional culture
4. the code demands that disrespect be confronted, often violently.
VI.
Social Process Theories: Socialization and Delinquency
A.
Socialization
1.
root cause of delinquency traced to learning delinquent attitudes
from peers
a.
becoming detached from school
b.
experiencing conflict in the home
2.
process of guiding people into acceptable behavior patterns
a.
through information, approval, rewards, and punishments
3.
early socialization experiences have a lifelong
B.
Parental efficacy
1.
primary influence is the family
2.
children whose parents use severe discipline yet lack warmth and
involvement are prone to antisocial behavior
3.
family-crime relationship is significant across racial, ethnic, and
gender lines
5.
one of the most replicated findings in the criminological literature
C.
Socialization process affects delinquency in three different ways
1.
learning – delinquency may be learned through interaction with
other people
2.
control – delinquency may result when life circumstances weaken
the attachment a child has to family, peers, school, and society
3.
reaction – some kids are stigmatized and find themselves locked out
of conventional society and into a deviant or delinquent way of life
VII.
Social Learning Theories
A.
Social learning theories
1.
youths can resist crime if they have learned proper values and
behaviors
2.
learn the values and behaviors associated with crime
3.
involves the techniques of crime and the psychological aspects
B.
Sutherland’s differential association theory
1.
exposed to and learn pro-social and antisocial attitudes and
behaviors
2.
kids will be vulnerable to choosing criminal behaviors over
conventional ones if
a.
prodelinquency definitions outweigh the antidelinquency
definitions
b.
particularly influential if they come from significant others
VII.
Social Control Theories
A.
Social control
1.
strength of the relationships a child forms with conventional
individuals
2.
develop a positive self-image
3.
develop a strong commitment to conformity
B.
Hirschi developed the most prominent control theory, arguing that
1.
all people have the potential to commit crimes
2.
people are kept in check by their social bonds or attachments to
society; if these social bonds are weakened, kids are able to engage
in antisocial but personally desirable behaviors
C.
Four main elements of the social bond
1.
attachment to parents, peers, and schools
2.
commitment to the pursuit of conventional
3.
involvement in conventional activities such as school, sports, and
religion
4.
belief in values such as rights of others and respect for the legal
code
D.
Hirschi’s vision of delinquency causation is one of the most influential of
recent times and a significant amount of research evidence supports his ideas
1.
positive social attachments help control delinquency
2.
kids who are detached from the educational experience are at risk
of criminality
3.
kids who do well and are committed to school are less likely to
engage in delinquent acts
4.
kids who are attached to their families are less likely to get
involved in a deviant peer group and consequently are less likely to
engage in criminal activities
E.
Criticism
1.
social relations of delinquents
2.
Hirschi portrays delinquents as lone wolves
IX.
Social Reaction Theories
A.
Reaction
1.
the way society reacts to individuals and
2.
the way individuals react to society determines individual behavior
3.
delinquents become stigmatized, or labeled, by agents of social
control, i.e., the police and courts, parents, neighbors
B.
Labeling theory
1.
youths violate the law for a variety of reasons
2.
if individuals’ delinquent behaviors are detected
a.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
X.
offenders given a negative label that follows them
throughout life
degree to which youngsters are perceived as deviants may affect
their treatment
a.
neighbors may tell their children to avoid the troublemaker
youths will have an increasing commitment to delinquent careers
they accept that label as a personal identity
a.
process called self-labeling
they may be given official labels, applied in ceremonies
process is a durable negative label and an accompanying loss of
status
the label juvenile delinquent is conferred on offenders
their identities may be transformed
a.
they become bad kids
labeling process helps create a self-fulfilling prophecy
self-fulfilling prophecy leads to a damaged self-image
Critical/Social Conflict Theories
A.
Social conflict theory
1.
society is in a constant state of internal conflict
2.
different groups strive to impose their will on others
3.
those with power succeed in shaping the law to meet their needs
4.
ruling class is a self-interested collective whose primary interest is
self-gain
B.
Law and justice
1.
theorists view the law and justice system as vehicles for controlling
the have-not members of society
2.
law protects the property and physical safety of the haves from
attack by the have-nots and helps control the behavior of those
who might otherwise threaten the status quo
3.
consequently, deep-seated hostility is generated among members
of the lower class toward a social order they may neither shape nor
share in
C.
The cause of delinquency
1.
delinquency as a normal response to the conditions created by
capitalism
2.
child-saving movement’s real goal was to maintain order and control
3.
delinquency is a function of the capitalist system’s inherent
inequity
4.
the values of capitalism are reinforced
5.
schools prepare youths for placement in the capitalist system
a.
class and delinquency – lower class youths form gangs
which serve as a means of survival in a system that offers
no reasonable alternative
b.
controlling delinquents – theorists suggest that the justice
system may help to sustain such behavior by failing to
control them because it is in their best interest to maintain a
large number of outcast deviant youths
XI.
Social Structure Theories and Delinquency Prevention
A.
Social structure theories
1.
1960s were the heyday of delinquency prevention programs based
on social structure theory
2.
seemed compatible with the policies of Kennedy and Johnson
administrations
B.
New York City–based Mobilization for Youth funded with $50 million
1.
MOBY created employment opportunities in the community
2.
coordinated social services
3.
sponsored social action groups such as tenants’ committees
C.
Operation Weed and Seed
1.
federal multilevel action plan for revitalizing communities
2.
social service and law enforcement agencies must cooperate to be
effective
3.
four basic elements in this plan:
a.
law enforcement
b.
community policing
c.
prevention, intervention, and treatment
d.
neighborhood restoration
D.
Socialization and delinquency prevention
1.
one approach has been to help social institutions improve their
outreach
2.
educational programs have been improved
a.
expanding preschool programs
b.
develop curricula relevant to students’ lives
c.
stress teacher development
3.
aimed at strengthening families in crisis
4.
developing good family relations is an essential element
5.
providing services for youngsters who have been identified as
E.
Labeling and delinquency prevention
1.
divert youths from official processing at initial contact with police
2.
others might be eligible for alternative sanctions
3.
alternative community-based sanctions substituted for state
training schools
4.
anything producing stigma was to be avoided
5.
removal of juveniles from adult jails
6.
end housing status offenders and juvenile delinquents together
7.
critics claimed that nonintervention movement created a new class
of offenders
a.
phenomenon as widening the net
F.
Critical theories and delinquency prevention
1.
conflict resolution may be the key to its demise
2.
approach that relies on nonpunitive strategies for delinquency
G.
control
3.
turns the justice system into a healing process
a.
rather than a distributor of retribution
4.
restorative justice is based on a social rather than a legal view of
delinquency
5.
participation of community members in the adjudication process
6.
balanced approach benefits victims, offender, and the community
a.
community protection and victims’ rights
b.
offenders must take responsibility for their actions
Principles of balanced and restorative justice
1.
crime is fundamentally a violation of people and interpersonal
relationships
2.
victims and the community have been harmed and are in need of
restoration
3.
victims, offenders, and the affected communities are the key
stakeholders
4.
violations create obligations and liabilities
5.
offenders have the obligation to make things right as much as
possible
6.
coercion is to be minimized
7.
community’s obligations are to both victims and offenders
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Social structure theories hold that delinquent behavior is an adaptation to
conditions that predominate in lower-class environments. The social disorganization
view suggests that economically deprived areas lose their ability to control the behavior
of residents. Gangs flourish in these areas. Delinquency is a product of the socialization
mechanisms in a neighborhood: unstable neighborhoods have the greatest chance of
producing delinquents. Such factors as fear, unemployment, change, and lack of
cohesion help produce delinquent behavior patterns.
Strain theories hold that lower-class youths may desire legitimate goals, but their
unavailability causes frustration and deviant behavior. Merton linked strain to anomie, a
condition caused when there is a disjunction between goals and means. In his general
strain theory, Robert Agnew identifies two more sources of strain: the removal of positive
reinforcements and the addition of negative ones. He shows how strain causes delinquent
behavior by creating negative affective states, and he outlines the means adolescents
employ to cope with strain.
Social process theories hold that improper socialization is the key to delinquency.
Control theories suggest that kids are prone to delinquent behavior when they have not
been properly socialized and lack a strong bond to society. Without a strong bond, they
are free to succumb to the lure of delinquent behavior. Labeling and stigma may also
reinforce delinquency. Kids who receive negative labels may internalize them and
engage in self-labeling. This causes a self-fulfilling prophecy, which breeds even more
deviant behaviors and locks kids into a delinquent way of life.
Critical, or social conflict theory, views delinquency as an inevitable result of the
class and racial conflict that pervades society. Delinquents are members of the “havenot” class that is shut out of the mainstream. The law benefits the wealthy over the poor.