NCJ Number
85659
Journal
Kriminologisches Journal Volume: 13 Issue: 1 Dated: (1981) Pages: 32-42
Date Published
1981
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This German critique interprets the components of a community crime prevention campaign as contributing to the discriminatory stigmatization of juveniles through overemphasis on police reporting.
Abstract
The focus of the analysis is a police public announcement that appeared in a local newspaper mailed to the households of a suburb near Frankfurt, West Germany. It encouraged citizens to report unruly, 'noticable,' or suspicious juvenile behavior, assured the respondents anonymity, and resulted in bringing numerous youths to police attention. The language and content of the announcement indicate an unwitting but deplorable collusion among law enforcement and juvenile assistance agencies, the media, and the area's adult population to scapegoat its juvenile population. Juvenile behavior is by nature 'noticable' without being criminal at the same time. Reference to it from the law enforcement source implies criminality attributes, however, and lends the adult citizens a rationale for participating in sanctions against it -- with immunity. Community crime prevention has thus turned into an unjustified power play against its own youths, whose chances of becoming law-abiding adults have thereby been jeopardized. Footnotes and four references are given.