Juvenile Crime - Offenses, Offenders, and Victim Situations Among Juveniles

• NCJ Number: 80844
• Author(s): G Kaiser
• Date Published: 1977
• Length: 267 pages
• Sale Source: Postfach 1120
• Language: German
• Country: West Germany (Former)
• Note: 2nd revised edition

Annotation

This study on the extent and definitions of juvenile delinquency discusses discretionary powers of the social control system and characteristics of juvenile offenders and victims.

Abstract

Examination of research on dark figures shows that juvenile crime is even more prevalent than official figures indicate, that petty crimes are more commonly committed by juveniles than serious crimes, and that delinquency is a matter of degree. Systems for selecting which juveniles are to be officially reported and prosecuted in the criminal justice system varies widely from country to country, but a recent theory suggests that individuals with the least access to a society's reward system are most likely to find their way into the criminal justice system. Official statistics have been criticized for their limited usefulness in estimating real crime levels and in developing theories about crime trends. However, these statistics do confirm an undeniable trend toward rebellious and aggressive crimes such as sexual assault, brawling, vandalism and substance abuse. Descriptions of juvenile offenders' characteristics which are based largely on official statistics, show a prevalence of disadvantaged, low-class background experiences, social deficits, and school and family disturbances. In a broader context, however, these statistics may only establish that certain characteristics influence the selection process of the police officers who have come to associate the characteristics with deviant behavior. Information on the most common offenses against young individuals, i.e., abuse and sexual assault, also links these offenses to the lower class origins, possibly because of the higher danger levels and the high visibility of such socioeconomically deprived groups in police circles. The rises in juvenile delinquency rates are attributed to changes in modern society such as increased mobility, anonymity, mass consumption, and shifts in values, as well as to excessive criminalization. Decriminalization and informal social control are viewed as effective means of dealing with the offenses most commonly committed by and perpetrated on juveniles. Graphs, tables, and an extensive bibliography are supplied.