NCJ Number
90379
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 46 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1983) Pages: 20-28
Date Published
1983
Length
9 pages
Annotation
Radical/Marxist criminologists believe that while youthful misconduct is widespread in the United States, the behavior of lower socioeconomic youths is far more often defined as delinquent and that these youths are caught and processed through the juvenile justice system much more than those of other social classes.
Abstract
The radical/Marxist view of juvenile crime focuses on the social conditions that define and encourage juvenile crime. The radical/Marxist approach concentrates on changing the juvenile system to eliminate the injustices it perpetuates. Radical theorists believe that capitalist and other class societies entrust great power to a particular ruling group which uses that power to shape criminal laws and criminal justice policy to serve its own aims. Radical theory implies that juvenile delinquency problems cannot be solved within the framework of capitalist society. The radicals suggest that we must recognize that delinquency stems from our ineffectual responses to intolerable economic conditions. Radical criminology advocates eliminating status and victimless offenses from the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, instituting determinate sentencing, granting all the procedural protections to juveniles that are afforded to adults, and adhering to the principle of the least restrictive alternative. Twelve footnotes are supplied.