NCJ Number
91463
Date Published
1983
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This study examines views on punishment and coercion, reasons for criminal behavior, and the prospects for eliminating crime held by a sample of youths ranging in age from 11 to 18.
Abstract
Data were obtained from about 450 American youths from grades 6, 8, 10, 12, residing in two midwestern communities. The sample was evenly divided by gender and race (black and white). The research instrument was an openended interview schedule that began with the premise of 1,000 people leaving their home country to live on a Pacific island. There they were confronted with problems involved in establishing a new society. Various problems associated with this undertaking were presented to the youths for their opinions. When presented with the problem of dealing with criminal behavior, the younger subjects favored punitive and coercive measures, while the older youths suggested various rehabilitation methods, with some suggesting imprisonment as a last resort should rehabilitation not be effective. In response to inquiries about why persons engage in criminal behavior, the younger subjects gave simplistic answers such as the person is bad or is influenced by the devil. The older subjects rendered insights that centered in environmental explanations of behavior, such as family influences and moral conditioning. The younger subjects also tended to believe that crime can be eliminated through a structure of punishment. The older subjects saw no possibility of eliminating crime because of the inability and even undesirability of having all persons in a society conform to all the laws all the time. Tabular data and three references are provided.