Exploring Guidelines for Specific Deterrence Theory - Early Sanctions in the Juvenile Justice System - Final Report

• NCJ Number: 89525
• Author(s): M W Klein; S A Mednick
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 373 pages
• Grant Number(s): 80-IJ-CX-0055
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Corporate Author: University of Southern California
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This final report on a project to test the validity of a developing specific deterrence theory in delinquency is concerned with the control of delinquent careers through understanding the effects of the first sanctioning encounter between police and juvenile suspects.

Abstract

The report's first section is the continuation proposal for the project submitted to the National Institute of Justice. It offers an integrated conceptual scheme for understanding and investigating the effects of early police sanctions on juvenile delinquency careers. Section II takes up where the proposal leaves off on the issue of the relevance of learning theory principles and findings to police sanction processes. Principles of stimulus intensity, temporal proximity, availability of rewards (positive sanctions), schedule of sanction delivery, and alternative responses are applied to an analysis of the police-juvenile encounter, and suggestions are offered for bridging some of the gaps noted in the review. Section III amplifies the findings and implications of both the specific deterrence theory and labeling theory of early sanctions. Limitations of currently available research are noted in some detail, especially as the research might relate to the potential effectiveness of police-juvenile encounters. The two parts of section IV report on a search of selected State statutes which provide the ambiguous legal context within which police sanctioning of juveniles occurs, as well as findings on the actual police practice and its organizational context in the selected States. Discrepancies between statute and practice are noted, as are the implications of both for the application of punitive sanctions. The concluding section reports on two studies of various social and physiological precursors of one-time and multiple juvenile offenders. The results emphasize the relevance of these precursor variables to sanction sensitivity and raise suggestions for additional research. Data and references from the various studies are supplied. For related material, see NCJ 89520-24. (Author summary modified)