NCJ Number
74156
Editor(s)
J Jankovic,
R K Green,
S D Cronk
Date Published
1980
Length
148 pages
Annotation
Readings are presented that discuss the delivery of rural juvenile justice services, identify rural/urban differences in delinquency activity, explore the rural response to major juvenile justice mandates, and describe program strategies to meet the needs of rural youth.
Abstract
Noting that 31 to 42 percent of this country's citizens live in rural/nonmetropolitan areas, the first paper presents several explanations for lower juvenile arrest rates in rural areas: less crime, more stable populations, less alienation, and more controls by community institutions. Other papers present a historical overview of research into rural crime and delinquency during 1930-1979; compare differences between urban and rural juvenile court practices; and offer suggestions concerning rural programming for juvenile offenders, such as developing regional facilities, shelter homes, and temporary foster homes. By exploring the response to major juvenile justice mandates in rural communities of West Virginia and New Jersey, it is shown how structural elements of the West Virginia juvenile system sometimes impede effective community responses, and how five rural New Jersey counties are affected by status offender legislation. Special needs of rural youth are reviewed in papers that present a descriptive analysis of rural delinquent youth, a study of drug use and delinquency patterns, and an examination of unique issues concerning rural runaways and their social networks. The issues of child abuse and protection in the rural setting, the use of short term group homes in rural areas, and the relationship between vocational problems and delinquent behavior are also explored. A final paper elaborates a problem solving framework which considers the need to assess potential consequences of various program choices. Footnotes, tabular data, and chapter references are included. For individual papers, see NCJ 74157-64.