TOURO COLLEGE
New York School of Career and Applied Studies
Syllabus
Department: Sociology
Course Title: Crime and Juvenile Delinquency
Course Number: GSO 332
Prerequisites: GSO 121
Credit Hours: 3
Developer: Herbert Langerman/Abbott Katz
Date of Last Update: December, 2003
Course Description:
The sociological definition and approach to the study of criminality and delinquency, and
the nature, types, and extent of crime. The causes of crime and methods of determining
criminality, the social function of criminal law, the police, the courts, the prison
community, punishment, rehabilitation, and crime prevention programs.
Course/Developmental Objectives:
After defining crime and juvenile delinquency, we will attempt to answer these questions
in turn: Who is a criminal and/or delinquent? Who makes the defining laws? The implicit
relativity of crime will thus be expounded as well.
Course/Institutional Objectives
To enhance critical thinking and foster communication skills.
Course Content:
 Scope of crime
o What is crime?
o What is delinquency?
o Who are our delinquents?
o Bias in reporting
o Social Change
 Innate or Learned Behavior, Ages 1-6
o “Deviant” homes
o Imitation
o Media coverage
o Comic books – TV
o Early self-image
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Definition of Poverty
o Poverty and delinquency
o Social class and delinquency
o Gender and Delinquency
o Welfare
Schools and Delinquency
o Compulsory education
o Vocational schools
o “600” schools for disruptive students
Truancy and Delinquency
o Is truancy a delinquent act?
o Why do students become truants?
o History of truancy
Gangs
o Reasons for instilling the “need” for gangs
o Peer pressure
o Need for recognition and belonging
Parents and delinquency
o “Normal” family structure
o Abusive parents
o Absentee parents
o Verbal abuse
o Structural variants – single/dual-parent families
Juvenile Courts
o Social change – youths tried as adults
o Stigma of prosecution
o Confidentiality
Juvenile Probation or Incarceration
o Pre-sentence reporting
o New York City’s Youth House
o The Elmira Reformatory
Police and Delinquency
o Arrests by social class
o Arrests by race
o Arrests by type of violation
Drugs and Delinquency
o Need for drugs
o Drugs and class
o Legalization
Decsions by Agents of Control
Recording: “Who Killed Michael Farmer?” (July 30, 1957)
Hardware/Software/Materials Requirements: No additional requirements; video
materials available upon request.
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Course Requirements
 Attendance is required.
 Class participation is encouraged, but no student will be penalized for reticence.
 Midterm
 Final
 Term project
Grading Guidelines
 Mid term exam
 Term Project
 Final
25%
50%
25%
Methodology
 The mid term comprises 100 short-answer questions.
 Term Project: Each student will be required to present a sociological analysis of
either a specific area within the juvenile justice system (e.g., juvenile court, arrest
procedures, probation, incarceration in a juvenile center, juvenile gangs,
sentencing, etc.) or of a specific juvenile-liable act (e.g., truancy, joy riding). The
report should span 7-10 double-spaced footnoted pages, and have an adequate
bibliography. The paper comprises four sections:
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Review of the previous literature
Comparison with another culture
Field visit report
A short critical analysis of your research. All work must be typewritten.
Course Texts
Senna, Joseph and Siegel, Larry, Juvenile Delinquency: Theory, Pactice and Law,
Wadsworth, 7th Edition, 2000
Bibliography
Combating violence and delinquency: the National Juvenile Justice Action Plan,
Washington D.C.: Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention, 1996 .
Esbensen, Finn-Aage, Preventing adolescent gang involvement, Washington, DC : U.S.
Dept. of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention, 2000.
Glueck, Sheldon, Eleanor Glueck, Ventures in criminology; selected recent papers,
Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1964
Miller, Walter B., Violence by youth gangs and youth groups as a crime problem in
major American cities , Washington : National Institute for Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Law
Enforcement Assistance Administration, 1975 i.e. 1977.
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Shaw, Clifford Robe, Brothers in crime. With the assistance of Henry D. McKay, James
F. McDonald,. with special chapters by Harold B. Hanson and Ernest W. Burgess,
Chicago,Ill., The University of Chicago press 1938.
Sheppard, David, et al, Fighting juvenile gun violence. Washington, DC : U.S. Dept. of
Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention, 2000
Wolfgang, Marvin E., Leonard Savitz, Norman Johnston, The sociology of crime and
delinquency, New York, Wiley, 2d Edition 1970.
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