Actual Conditions of the Perceptions of Deviation as Compared Between Ordinary High School Students and Inmates Pending Protective Detention in Juvenile Classification Homes (From Bulletin of the Criminology Research Department P 15-17, 1988)

• NCJ Number: 117619
• Author(s): T Osumi; H Yoshida
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 3 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: Japan

Annotation

Differences between perceptions of deviation of ordinary high school students and those of inmates pending protective detention in Japanese juvenile classification homes were studied.

Abstract

Research subjects included 417 ordinary high school students in their second or third years and 468 inmates pending protective detention in juvenile classification homes. Findings showed significant differences between perceptions of deviation and ages deviation was first experienced by both groups. These differences were reflected in questionnaire items related to self-recognition as delinquent, negative estimates of personal ability, fear of sanctions, and flexibility in confronting problems. In the classification home group, the number of juveniles who experienced perceptions of deviation for the first time increased rapidly after the first year of junior high school and peaked during the second year. In the nondelinquent group, this number was stable at the low level throughout junior high school. Regarding experience rates associated with authority (parents, teachers, and adults in general), the nondelinquent group revealed higher rates of experience than the classification home group. An analysis of the relation between age of first experiencing perceptions of deviation and subsequent inclination toward delinquency suggests that some perceptions of deviation may be considered healthy growing pains for juveniles.