NCJ Number
118547
Date Published
1988
Length
269 pages
Annotation
These eight papers examine neighborhood characteristics and socialization processes and their effects on delinquency, dropping out of school, and other youth behaviors in a sample of troubled neighborhoods in New York City, New Orleans, Miami, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Diego.
Abstract
The research was part of a prevention program that focused on strengthening neighborhood social controls through the efforts of neighborhood residents and institutions. In each neighborhood, neighborhood groups surveyed samples of residents, youths in high schools, dropouts, and gang members to determine their perceptions and estimate the extent and seriousness of the juvenile crime problem. Data on the schools, the economy, and the criminal justice system were also used in the analysis of the sources of juvenile crime. Individual papers examine the historical origins of the prevention program, the neighborhood mobilization effort, social and economic characteristics of neighborhoods with high crime, victimization, and violent juvenile crime. Findings suggest that the overall social and economic conditions are the sources of the high crime rates of these areas. In addition, the analysis of school dropouts and gang members showed that school leaving, gang membership, violence, and drug use appear to be different manifestations of a general pattern of deviance in inner city areas. These behaviors share common explanations in the larger ecological context of the neighborhoods and in the adolescent socialization processes in these areas. Tables and reference lists.