NCJ Number
101001
Date Published
1984
Length
499 pages
Annotation
In 1981, local, multidisciplinary research teams were used to examine juvenile maladjustment and propose a general social policy to deal with it in five cities in as many countries undergoing economic development accompanied by rapid urbanization.
Abstract
The cities were Bogota, Colombia; San Jose, Costa Rica; Lagos, Nigeria; Bombay, India; and Dakar, Senegal. In each city, questionnaires were administered to persons in an area that was relatively stable in population growth and one which had experienced rapid population growth in recent years. For each city, 200 adult citizens, 200 juveniles, and 50 professionals working with youth were interviewed. The questionnaires focused on economic, social, and demographic characteristics of the two areas; juveniles' daily activities; juvenile social maladjustment; the strength of family and community ties; relationships with formal social control agencies; and recommendations for future social policy. Urbanization per se did not produce higher levels of juvenile social maladjustment. Intervening factors were type of growth (planned versus unplanned), cultural proscriptions against crime brought by new arrivals, and the strength of family and community ties surviving the transition from rural to urban society. Respondents supported a social policy which builds upon the existing strengths of informal family and community social controls rather than one which emphasizes the efforts of formal social control agencies. Case studies and tabular data for each city.