NCJ Number
129399
Date Published
1990
Length
255 pages
Annotation
Law enforcement institutions and agencies are part of the social setting and are thus part of the etiology of juvenile delinquency.
Abstract
The ideal role of law enforcement has always been to reflect and reinforce community values. In this context, juvenile delinquency is defined and explained in relation to the social environment, human nature, classical and positivist criminology, and theoretical perspectives on delinquents and delinquency. Historical, social, and legal contexts in which juvenile delinquency occurs and is dealt with are reviewed including the changing status of childhood parens patriae, social control of children, police, and juvenile courts. The book also examines procedural reforms to the juvenile justice system, behavioral aspects of juvenile delinquency based on police and juvenile court perspectives, schools and communities as behavioral settings for juvenile delinquency, and problems in measuring and interpreting the social distribution of delinquent behavior. The discussion then turns to macrosocial forces and principles associated with juvenile delinquency and social conditions, the role of the individual in the juvenile delinquency equation (behavioral typologies, role theory, labeling, social control theory, and economic theory), and factors that affect juvenile delinquency. 422 notes, 10 tables, and 6 figures