NCJ Number
184940
Editor(s)
Gary L. McDowell,
Jinney S. Smith
Date Published
1999
Length
217 pages
Annotation
Stemming from a joint United States and United Kingdom conference on "Juvenile Justice and the Limits of Social Policy," this book presents a cross-section of papers that represent the significant and recurring issues that were raised and debated, namely, the crisis of delinquency; problems in British and American juvenile justice; and teaching virtue in juvenile justice, family, and educational settings.
Abstract
Two chapters on the crisis of delinquency identify the factors that distinguish between habitual and occasional offenders as well as non-offenders discuss the backgrounds of chronic violent offenders. Four chapters on the problems in British and American juvenile justice address the new political consensus on juvenile justice in Britain, how juvenile justice professionals become opponents of juvenile justice reform, a rational approach to juvenile justice in America, and the importance of developing a collective moral consensus as the basis for law. Three chapters on the teaching of virtue focus on the effectiveness of juvenile probation; the importance of the family as the primary determinant of moral development in children and youth, as well as the moral crisis posed by the abandonment of the traditional family structure in Britain; and what research indicates about reducing delinquency by improving character. The afterword discusses how young men can learn virtue both within the juvenile justice system and in the community. For individual chapters, see NCJ-184941-50. Chapter notes and references and a subject index