PREVALENCE - THE RARE DATUM IN DELINQUENCY MEASUREMENT AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR THE THEORY OF DELINQUENCY (FROM JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM, 1976 BY MALCOLM W KLEIN - SEE NCJ-35005)

• NCJ Number: 35010
• Author(s): R A GORDON
• Date Published: 1976
• Length: 84 pages
• Corporate Author: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Best Practice/State-of-the-Art Review
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

THIS PAPER PRESENTS DATA SPECIFYING THE PROPORTIONS OF JUVENILE DELINQUENTS IN REPRESENTATIVE OR NEARLY REPRESENTATIVE AGE-COHORTS BY RELYING ON PREVALENCE DATA, AN OFFENDER-COUNTING SYSTEM.

Abstract

PREVALENCE RATES ARE IDENTIFIED AS 'THE PROPORTION OF THE COHORT CURRENTLY 'SUFFERING' FROM HAVING BEEN A DELINQUENT BY A GIVEN AGE', WHERE 'SUFFERING' IS UNDERSTOOD IN A METAPHORICAL SENSE. IT IS FURTHER DEFINED AS 'THE PROPORTION OF AN AGE COHORT THAT HAVE (DO, OR WILL) BECOME DELINQUENT ACCORDING TO A SPECIFIED CRITERION BY A GIVEN AGE'. LITERATURE AND STUDIES THAT HAVE MADE USE OF PREVALENCE DATA ARE REVIEWED, AND IN SOME CASES THE DATA ARE MODIFIED FOR PURPOSES OF COMPARISON. STUDIES ARE GROUPED BY LOCATION OF SUBJECT POPULATIONS (URBAN AND HEAVILY URBAN VS. LESS URBAN AND RURAL). IN THE CONCLUSION, THE AUTHOR CONSIDERS THE IMPACT OF PREVALENCE DATA ON UNDERSTANDING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN URBANISM AND JUVENILE DELINQUENCY AND WHETHER IQ (INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT) DISTRIBUTIONS ARE THE SOURCE OF REGULARITIES OR CONSTANT IRREGULARITIES.