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JUVENILE DELIQUENCY & SOCIOECONOMICS.   Term Paper ID:26735 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Examines relationship between youth crime & lower socioeconomic status.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Examines relationship between youth crime & lower socioeconomic status. Paper Introduction: Juvenile justice system statistics of delinquent behavior, as compared to self report studies, fail to accurately reflect the extent of delinquency in the middle class. As such, the juvenile justice system purports that delinquency predominately occurs among lower class minors. The extent of middle class delinquency and its varieties, however, show that socioeconomic status does play a role in the outcome of these cases, revealing biases within the juvenile justice process along the way. When many people think of juvenile delinquents, poor, minority children come to mind. This is not an altogether inaccurate supposition, although not necessarily for the reasons one might be inclined to expect. Socioeconomic facto Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The extent of middle class delinquency is greater than expected. According to the Office of Juvenile Justiceand Delinquency Prevention, "disproportionate minority confinement tends toresult, in part, from a number of discrete decisions made throughout thesystem, from point of arrest through intake and sentencing."(Satterthwaite, 1997, p. "Class differences don'tseem to be that strong a predictor of behavior," says sociologist TerrieMoffitt, a professor at the University of London. (1999, August). Police officers, too, are more apt to give thejuvenile offender a "station adjustment," (informal write-up) versusotherwise involving the child in the juvenile justice system for theoffense. In a study that addressed whether social class and delinquency aregenuinely related or only appear to be so because of biases in the juvenilejustice process, "analysis revealed that the negative association betweenofficial processing and social class of youth did not disappear whenoffenses against persons was held constant, thus providing evidence ofsocial class bias. Wealthy parents, or at least those who are economically comfortable,if not wealthy, are more likely to have "quietly" handled the matter beforecharges were filed. 213-223. The datadoes not suggest that status offenses are any less predominant within themiddle class than amongst lower socioeconomic status juveniles. 6). (Time, 1988, p. Satterthwaite, M. (Satterthwaite, 1997, p. Washington, D.C.: Office of JuvenileJustice and Delinquency Prevention, 1996. 1-6. (Wright, Caspi,Moffitt, Miech & Silva, 1999, p. Anotherstudy, conducted by University of Minnesota law professor Barry Feld,published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, indicated thatjuvenile courts outside urban areas are less formal and more lenient thantheir inner-city counterparts. 68). (Harris, 1999, p. (Kiernan, 1991, p. juvenilejustice; few say the system works well. 1-3. (Kiernan, 1991, p. Kiernan, L. The above facts are still true today. The study found that alcohol, marijuana and otherdrugs were used at least once by suburban adolescents at rates higher thanthe national averages as compiled from the 1998 Monitoring the Futurestudy. Among those youths were adisproportionate number of minorities. 2). 68). (Harris,1999, p. (Wright,Caspi, Moffitt, Miech & Silva, 1999, p. The class-delinquency hypothesis andjuvenile justice system bias. When many people think of juvenile delinquents, poor, minoritychildren come to mind. Thus, juvenile justice system bias in favor ofmiddle class delinquents is not without its complications, nor is it anissue that is likely to be resolved easily or quickly. 6.) One reason so few middle class delinquents end up in juvenileinstitutions may be based on simple fear. As a result, casesinvolving middle class juveniles are more likely to be handled informallyor dismissed altogether. As such, the difficulties ofthe nation's youth are not confined to the inner cities. More serious offenses also occur within the middle class. 5 ). 68). In that study,researchers discovered that suburban youths, as compared to urban youths,reported significantly higher levels of alcohol and drug use. (Harris, 1999, p. The U.S. However, as discussed in moredetail below, most of these situations are dealt with "outside of court."(Kiernan, 1991, p. Another study, scheduled to be published this month in the journalDevelopment and Psychopathy, was conducted by Teachers College at ColumbiaUniversity and Yale University. 42). Acquired bySIRS Knowledge Source Database. Scholastic Update, pp. Likewise, anintake officer might be less likely to arrange an informal settlement for aminority child than for a child whose middle class parents made theirpresence known and were willing to assume future responsibility for thediscipline and rehabilitation of the child. There is no evidence to show that this trend is different elsewhere orhas changed over the years. 1). In addition, juveniles can also be taken into custody for "statusoffenses," that consist of acts that are not illegal for adults, such asrunning away and disobeying a guardian. As a result, the child goes home because the officer knows or isfriends with his or her parents. Acquired by GeneralReference Center Gold (GPIP) Database. 5 . People view minorities, and byimplication, lower socioeconomic status juveniles since the majority ofminorities belong to this social group, as higher risk than middle classoffenders. The debate over U.S. & Silva P. According to sociologist Terrie Moffitt, children from well-offfamilies sometimes experiment with drugs, believing that their parents canafford to get them out of trouble. Interestingly, the varieties of middle class delinquency are similarto the delinquencies that occur within the lower socioeconomic class. This means that middle class delinquents are,for the most part, exiting the system somewhere earlier in the process. 1). 68). (1988, August). (Kiernan, 1991, p. Suburban andrural communities and thus, middle class neighborhoods all battle likeproblems. In fact, a virtual mélange of systems and rules govern the variousjurisdictions and may vary greatly from state to state. Police officers, too, who work in high-crime urban areas are probablymore likely to arrest a minority juvenile for a minor offense, such asunderage drinking than would an officer in a more wealthy suburb for thesame offense whose beat covers mostly white neighborhoods. In conclusion, evidence supports the theory that the extent of middleclass delinquency and its varieties are similar to those committed byjuveniles of lower socioeconomic class. (1991, Spring/Summer). In that study researchers reportedthat among suburban girls, 46 percent admitted using an illicit drug atleast once during the past year, compared with 26 percent of urban females. 175-194. It has been shown, however, that due to bias against the lowerclass offenders within the juvenile justice system and a willingness on thepart of more affluent parents to intervene in the process, statisticsreport far fewer middle class delinquents entering juvenile institutionsthan, in actuality, should exist. 6-7.Acquired by General Reference Center Gold (GPIP) Database. TheTeachers College study cited above found that "[u]pper-middle classadolescents have a greater propensity for drug and alcohol use, depressionand bouts of misbehavior." (Harris, 1999, p. References Brown, S. Further, a judge is probablymore likely to view minorities as poorer risks than white children and thusincarcerate them more frequently. (Schwartz, 1986, p. (Sickmund, Snyder & Poe-Yamagata, 1997, p. (Time, 1988, p. They[minorities] get arrested more often, which gives them a record, whichinfluences the judge when he decides if a kid should be held in detention.By the time a kid reaches a training school, his record looks like heshould be there," said Debbie Willis, research associate at the Center forthe Study of Youth Policy at the University of Michigan. Time. (Schwartz, 1986,p. 4). 6). Sociological Inquiry, pp. Eisenhauser's jurisdiction covered Des Moines, Iowaand the surrounding county. Philadelphia, PA: Chelsea House,1997. 2). From status crimes, drugs andvandalism to shootings and homicide, middle class juveniles participate inthe same crime as do lower class juveniles. & Poe-Yamagata, E. DelbertElliott, a sociologist at the University of Colorado, conducted a ten yearstudy of 1,7 adolescents and found that economic status is an importantfactor in how juveniles are treated within the justice system, regardlessof race. Schwartz, J. (Harris, 1999, p. "We're seeing a more punitive reaction to non-white kids. When parents ofmiddle and upper-middle class juvenile delinquents step forward andvolunteer to assume responsibility for accomplishing both of these goals,the system is happy to allow them to do so. Poor minority children enter the court system more often than whitesbecause they usually do not have the non-legal alternatives of which moreaffluent families avail themselves. USA Today, pp. In addition,perhaps the most infamous of all young criminals were Erik Menendez ofBeverly Hills, California, and Amy Fisher of Merrick, Long Island, both ofwhom hailed from good neighborhoods that were predominantly white. Juvenile justice system statistics of delinquent behavior, as comparedto self report studies, fail to accurately reflect the extent ofdelinquency in the middle class. Further, the juvenile justice system is not regulated by one set ofstandardized rules nationwide. 219). 4). (Schwartz, 1986, p. David Ramirez, a juvenile court judge in Denver, reported that nearlyall of the children who passed through his courtroom were indigent.(Kiernan, 1991, p. However, examination of differences between policeversus court contacts and interaction effects of social class and frequencyof offenses against persons reflects the complexity of those biases."(Brown, 1985, p. This is not an altogether inaccurate supposition,although not necessarily for the reasons one might be inclined to expect.Socioeconomic factors do play a primary role in crime rates.(Satterthwaite, 1997, p. 5 ). (Kiernan, 1991, p. juvenile justice system primarily seeks to further twogoals: 1) protect minors who break the law; and 2) protect society fromthe harm these minors cause. 4). However, empirical studies haveconsistently found weak or nonexistent correlations between individuals'socioeconomic status and their self-reported delinquent behavior. Figures from 1997, show thatoverrepresentation in the juvenile justice system is especially apparentamong African-American and Latino males. (Harris, 1999, p. For the mostpart, their parents come through. Racial equality, p. Sickmund, M., Snyder, H. 1). Juvenile justice and the newrealities of growing up. (Kiernan, 1991, p.4). (Satterthwaite, 1997, p. The percentage of white youth inpublic juvenile facilities decreased by 15 percent during the period 1979to 1989, but increased 73 percent for black youth and 97 percent for Latinoyouth during the same period. 175). 4). (1986, November). While different standards have been said toapply within the same jurisdiction as between lower and middle classjuveniles, differences also occur on a much wider scale across the country. 1). Acquired byOhioLink Research Databases. 2). 4). "[Y]outh who are lower class, as measured byfamily receipt of welfare benefits, and who are low on offenses againstpersons, appear no more likely to report police contact than their middle-class counterparts [], but are much more likely to be referred to court[]." (Brown, 1985, p. In spite of the above, few middle class juvenile delinquents end up injuvenile institutions. 175). 4). The much-publicized school shootings during 1998 and 1999 all transpired in suburbanor rural areas, not the inner city. 3). Criminology, pp. Update on Law-Related Education, p. Harris, S. Juvenile Offenders andVictims: 1996 Update on Violence. As such, the juvenile justice systempurports that delinquency predominately occurs among lower class minors.The extent of middle class delinquency and its varieties, however, showthat socioeconomic status does play a role in the outcome of these cases,revealing biases within the juvenile justice process along the way. 22 ). Thus, even the official statistics claiming toreport the actual number of delinquencies in non-urban areas, i.e, amongmiddle class juveniles, do not accurately reflect the extent of delinquencywithin the middle class. Juvenile Crime. It involved roughly 5 high schoolsophomores from the Northeast, about half of whom were from the uppermiddle class, and suggested that adolescents who live in suburbanneighborhoods experience more personal trials than their contemporaries inurban areas. (Harris, 1999, p. Survey finds suburban teens more prone tosubstance abuse, stress, delinquency. Problemssuch as shoplifting, under-aged drinking and vandalism are difficultiesexperienced of the middle class, as well. Elliott found that affluent youth were morelikely to receive lenient treatment from the police and that courts weremore willing to release them into the custody of parents who would promiseto obtain counseling or enroll their children in special schools. These numbers, however, still do not tell the entire tale. Wright, B., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T., Miech R. (1999,February). In 1979, the national incarceration rate atjuvenile detention centers increased from 37 youths detained per 1 , inthe population to 7 per 1 , in 1989, according to the National Councilon Crime and Delinquency. Reconsidering the relationship between SES and delinquency:causation but not correlation. 2). Amongst suburban boys, 59 percent, compared to 33 percent of inner cityboys, admitted to using an illicit drug sometime during that same year.(Harris, 1999, p. Astudy found that while low socioeconomic status promoted delinquency byincreasing individuals' alienation, financial strain and aggression and bydecreasing educational and occupational aspirations, high socioeconomicstatus promoted individuals' delinquency by increasing risk-taking andsocial power and by decreasing conventional values. Inan update of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, itwas reported that minority youth outnumbered non-minority white youth inpublic custody facilities by more than two to one. As a result, many believe the system is biasedagainst minorities, and since many minorities are within the lower class,such bias is carried over and defined along class lines. 2). "Whenlower class families don't have these options, the court has littlealternative but to order a jail term," says Elliott. (Kiernan, 1991, p. Many theories of crime have linked low levels of socioeconomic statusto high levels of delinquency. Likewise, Juvenile Court Referee Larry Eisenhauerstated, "I do get a few lawyers' kids and doctors' kids -- all the way upthe line -- but a significant amount do come from single-parent homes orfamilies with a history of physical abuse or drug or alcohol abuse."(Kiernan, 1991, p. Parents of middle class delinquents are more willing to intervene andhave greater access to attorneys than parents of lower socioeconomicstatus. Acquiredby SIRS Knowledge Source Database. (1985, Spring). If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.