NCJ Number
207675
Date Published
2005
Length
580 pages
Annotation
This book provides comprehensive information on why juveniles engage in delinquency and what can be done to control of juvenile delinquency.
Abstract
Targeting students studying juvenile delinquency, this second edition on the cause and control of juvenile delinquency attempts to be focused, more student friendly, and offer a more synthetic approach to delinquency theory and research. The book is divided into four sections: the nature and extent of delinquency, theories on the causes of delinquency, research on the causes of delinquency, and the control and prevention of delinquency. In the first of the four sections, the basic facts about delinquency are addressed, such as what is delinquency, how much delinquency is there, is delinquency increasing, and who is most likely to commit delinquent acts? The second section focuses on the major theories or explanations of the causes of delinquency. Four major or leading theories are described and are used to explain why some juveniles are more likely than others to engage in delinquent, why some engage in crime at high rates as opposed to others who limit offending to adolescence, why delinquency is more likely in some situations than others, and why some groups have higher rates of delinquency than other groups. The third section focuses on the research dealing with the causes of delinquency. The research examines the extent to which delinquency is caused by individual traits. In the fourth and final section, the focus is on the control and prevention of delinquency. It describes what the police, juvenile courts, and juvenile correctional agencies do to control delinquency. In addition, this section describes how these agencies operate, how effective they are, what they might do to be more effective, and the extent to which they discriminate against certain groups in their efforts to control delinquency. References and indexes