Delinquent Act Research Articles

Moral/non‐moral domain shift in young adolescents in relation to delinquent behaviour

Because moral transgressions are considered more serious than non‐moral (i.e. conventional or personal) transgressions, it is less threatening to self‐esteem to interpret one's own delinquent act as a non‐moral transgression rather than a moral transgression. This ‘domain shift’ could be a way of reducing cognitive dissonance. It was expected that adolescents who report a certain category of delinquent behaviour would evaluate hypothetical transgressions in the same category as more non‐moral than would adolescents who did not report that category of delinquent behaviour. A group of 278 students from the first (M(age)=13.1), second (M(age)=14.3) and third (M(age)=15.2) grade of intermediate secondary schools in the Netherlands participated in the research. The results showed a domain shift from the moral towards non‐moral domains in the evaluation of hypothetical situations about delinquent behaviour reported by the adolescent. At the same time, this domain shift did not occur in situations concerning delinquent behaviour not reported by the adolescent, even when delinquent behaviour occurred in the adolescent's peer group. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that the domain shift takes place as a consequence of cognitive dissonance. The results also showed that the attitude towards delinquent behaviour and the prevalence of delinquent behaviour in the peer group both predicted a unique part of the variance in reported delinquent behaviour (RDB; 28% and 10%, respectively). The level of moral reasoning (measured by the Sociomoral Reflection Measure–Short Form [SRM‐SF]) did not appear to be a significant predictor of RDB.

Restitution: Another Two-Way Street in School Cases?

ON 16 October 2000, staff member at Southland High School, which is in small town in southeastern Minnesota, discovered bomb threat scrawled with marker on mirror in boys' bathroom. The administration immediately evacuated school and contacted local law enforcement authorities. After an investigation, during which student K.D.R. allegedly participated in scuffle or fight, school and police officials concluded that he was culprit. The district expelled him after providing requisite notice and hearing under Minnesota's Pupil Fair Dismissal Act. During K.D.R.'s expulsion, district provided him with tutoring, in accordance with this same statute, which requires school districts to provide alternative educational services to duly expelled students. In addition, county district attorney filed juvenile delinquency petition, charging K.D.R. with terroristic threats and fifth-degree assault. As plea bargain, juvenile court accepted student's admission of guilt for terroristic threats and dropped assault charge. During disposition hearing, school district requested restitution for its administrative costs in implementing expulsion (i.e., principal's and superintendent's time), its attorney's fees for expulsion proceeding, and tutoring costs for expulsion period. Minnesota law expressly states that victim of crime, defined for this purpose to include corporation, has right to receive restitution as part of disposition of criminal charge or juvenile delinquency proceeding against offender if offender is convicted or found delinquent. Minnesota's statutes also clarify that primary focus, although not sole determinant, of restitution is losses. Citing these statutes, juvenile court ordered K.D.R. to pay district $2,800 in tutoring costs and $1,500 in attorney's fees, but -- they were routine expenditures rather than out-of-pocket expenses -- not administrative costs. Via his attorney, K.D.R. filed an appeal. On 27 November 2001, Minnesota's intermediate, appellate court issued its decision affirming, by 2-to-1 vote, trial court decision.1 The appeals court relied on significant discretion afforded to trial courts in restitution cases, as well as previous, published Minnesota appellate decision.2 In previous decision, court had upheld award of restitution to district for extra janitorial costs and for $500 reward in wake of another student's bomb threat. The prior court interpreted restitution statute as requiring causation in broad sense; thus reward was covered even though it was discretionary for school board. As to K.D.R.'s questioning of direct connection between delinquent act and asserted costs, court reasoned by analogy that the expulsion, like reward in [the previous case], was sufficiently prompted by bomb threat to support an award of restitution for costs incurred in it. In response to K.D.R.'s alternative argument that tutoring costs were covered by Pupil Fair Dismissal Act's guarantee of procedural due process and mandate of alternative educational services, appellate court viewed intersection of this act with restitution statutes as policy matter that had been resolved by trial court without abuse of its discretion. The dissenting judge supported both arguments asserted by K.D.R. First, pointing out that restitution statutes require direct causation, he distinguished prior case from this one. In previous case, reward was, in his view, a necessary step in solving bomb threat, whereas in this case expulsion proceeding was an independent decision rather than direct result of incident, because district had discretion to forego any expulsion and seek different disciplinary penalty. …

Criminal decision making: the development of adolescent judgment, criminal responsibility, and culpability.

Theories of judgment in decision making hypothesize that throughout adolescence, judgment is impaired because the development of several psychosocial factors that are presumed to influence decision making lags behind the development of the cognitive capacities that are required to make mature decisions. This study uses an innovative video technique to examine the role of several psychosocial factors--temporal perspective, peer influence, and risk perception--in adolescent criminal decision making. Results based on data collected from 56 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18 years revealed that detained youth were more likely to think of future-oriented consequences of engaging in the depicted delinquent act and less likely to anticipate pressure from their friends than nondetained youth. Examination of the developmental functions of the psychosocial factors indicates age-based differences on standardized measures of temporal perspective and resistance to peer influence and on measures of the role of risk perception in criminal decision making. Assessments of criminal responsibility and culpability were predicted by age and ethnicity. Implications for punishment in the juvenile justice system are discussed.

How Iowa Editors are Using Law Expanding Access to Names of Juveniles

An opportunity Iowa newspapers to publish the names of juveniles as young as 10 who may be involved in a crime also became an opportunity the newspaper editors to consider practical and ethical components of applying that law. One of the provisions of the juvenile crime bill passed during the 1997 legislative session allowed authorities to release the names of youngsters 10 and older once they were taken into custody for a delinquent act which would be a public offense or if a filed complaint alleged the youngsters had a delinquent act, which if committed by an adult would be a public offense.1 During the first six months after the bill increasing access to juvenile names went into effect, newspaper editors found themselves questioning how to handle that information. Editors discovered they had some concerns about publishing the names of juveniles as young as 10. The Iowa editors are not the only ones facing questions about publishing juvenile names because a growing number of states are moving to grant greater openness to juvenile records and to the names of increasingly younger juveniles.2 Juvenile law and confidentiality It wasn't until the late 1800s that the idea of separate courts juveniles began to take hold. The first juvenile court statute was adopted by Illinois in 1899 and that spread to all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.3 The separate juvenile court movement came about partly because the reformers feared children imprisoned alongside hardened criminals would never have a chance to be rehabilitated.4 Members of the progressive movement in juvenile reform believed that a youngster's criminal behavior was caused by external forces and was not a result of his own free will.5 Under a separate court system, the goal was to reform the offender The reformers felt such a youngster could be treated the ailment of juvenile delinquency and could be rehabilitated.7 Juveniles were to be treated with compassion8 and judges were given great discretion in the relatively informal juvenile court setting to decide what the youngster needed.9 The secret hearings, the reformers felt, were necessary to keep the public from finding out the full extent of a youngster's crimes, which would allow the youngster to have a greater chance at rehabilitation.10 Since the early days of the juvenile courts, anonymity had been one of the hallmarks of the juvenile justice process. Publishing an offender's name was criticized because its effect, some claimed, was to punish the juvenile.11 Others warned that media should not identify juveniles because that only perpetuates the public's already flawed perception of today's youth.12 In addition, the youngster's chance at rehabilitation would be hurt because it could damage the youth's self-esteem, disrupt the youth's family and affect the youth's relationship with peers, teachers, and even with the community. Much has been written about how labeling affects youngsters and why confidentiality had been an important part of the rehabilitation process. In fact, societal reactions to juveniles who have been labeled may be negative and may in turn cause a person to be isolated and that, in turn, could lead to even more deviant behavior.14 Labeling theory as a whole centers on the premise that another person's perceptions of you can control your behavior. Under that theory, someone adjudicated a delinquent who has not been made public would be less likely to resort to negative behavior than a juvenile whose status as a delinquent has been publicized.15 Another reason supporters claimed confidentiality was needed was that the juvenile offender might, in fact, be pleased with the media attention he received and be more likely to become a repeat offender.16 By the same token, that attention might have an impact on other juveniles who also commit crimes in the hopes they, too, would receive either that kind of publicity or the approval of their peers. …

The Juvenile Court and Delinquency Cases

Growing public concern about the rise in violent juvenile crime is borne out by increases in the juvenile court's caseload, which rose 23% between 1989 and 1993. The number of cases involving person offenses increased by 52%. Despite the rise in person offenses, the majority of delinquency cases in juvenile court involve property offenses, and less than 10% of the caseload consists of violent offenses. Almost all juveniles commit at least one delinquent act before turning 18, but most are never arrested. This article follows those youths who are arrested on the pathway through the juvenile justice system. Of all delinquency cases referred to juvenile court, approximately one quarter are dismissed or diverted for handling outside the court process. Another quarter of the cases are handled through informal court processes, while the remaining 51% of cases are formally processed through the juvenile court. At all stages of the juvenile court process, there is an overrepresentation of black youths in relation to their representation in the population at large. In 1993, while only 15% of the juvenile population was black, black youths were involved in 28% of all arrests and 50% of all violent crime arrests. A meta-analysis of the literature on minority youths in the juvenile court found that racial and ethnic status influenced the decisions made about individual youths at every stage of the juvenile court process. Juvenile offenders with four or more arrests are responsible for nearly two-thirds of all violent crimes and half of all property crimes referred to court. The author concludes that early intervention into the lives of these youths is necessary to address the increase in juvenile crime.

DELINQUENT VALUES AND VICTIM DAMAGE: Exploring the Limits of Neutralization Theory

Using a multi-faceted approach to Sykes and Matza's neutralization theory, the main hypothesis is that techniques of neutralization are dependent on the possibility of ignoring the damage caused by delinquent acts. Factor analysis of the data from 2,699 respondents shows that the neutralization construct is multidimensional. Depending upon the victimized person and the nature of the damage caused, different forms of neutralizations are applied. When a delinquent act inflicts physical injury upon a familiar victim, delinquents are just as unpermissive as non-delinquents.

The meaning of the delinquent act: A link between asthma and arson

SUMMARY This is an account of the extended assessment of a 22-year-old man who was initially sent for a court report, having been accused of setting fires. He had a history both of delinquency and, importantly, of childhood asthma. Although he proved unable to engage in psychotherapy, some management was provided, such as Winnicott advocates in cases of delinquency. This paper explores the symbolic meanings and functions of the patient's delinquent acts, drawing upon theoretical concepts from Freud, Aichhorn, and Deutsch. Of particular importance is the link between this patient's delinquency, his asthma, and the unresolved mourning for his dead mother which he carried not simply for himself but for his whole family.

DRINKING AND DELINQUENCY

The results are reported of a survey of the drinking habits of 100 young offenders in an English young offenders' centre. High levels of both drinking and delinquency were found. The pattern of results suggested that where drinking and delinquency are functionally related, the drinking can be an antecedent to the commission of the delinquent act, or it can be a consequence of the crime. Within the age range of the sample (15–21 years), age was not related to any of the findings. In other words, the same degree of involvement between drinking and delinquency was evident for younger and older offenders. Importantly, it was reaffirmed that a substantial proportion of young, offenders with drink-related problems are open to suggestions of intervention. A number of points and suggestions are made towards capitalizing on this willingness to change.

Types of neutralization and types of delinquency

Neutralization theory was tested with questionnaires administered to a random sample of public school students (N=298) and institutionalized male delinquents (N=53). Nye-Short delinquency items were factor analyzed to yield three dimensions of delinquency (Predatory, Minor, and Aggressive), and each of the five techniques of neutralization was scored separately. Patterns of acceptance of neutralization techniques were similar among high school males, high school females, and institutionalized males. For example, all three subsamples scored highest on Detail of a Victim and lowest on Appeal to Higher Loyalties. Correlations between each technique of neutralization and each type of delinquency, however, were statistically significant and quite dissimilar. Within the three subsamples, however, there were no discernible patterns among these dissimilar correlations. In fact, few of the differences among these correlations were statistically significant. The analysis provides general support for neutralization theory, but indicates that the particular technique of neutralization as well as the particular type of delinquent act may be viable distinctions in delinquency research.

Group therapy in an outpatient setting with borderline and narcissistic delinquents on probation

DSM-III criteria are used to describe the pathological manifestations of narcissistic and borderline disorders. The former gives rise to the Grandiose Self and the need to control the world. The delinquent act is an attempt to gain such control. The latter demonstrates ego splitting, primitive terror and rage stemming from the failure of the primary maternal introject. The attempt to compensate for inner turmoil and lack of object relatedness leads to delinquent acts. Citing three probationers referred by the court for group therapy, benefits and obstacles encountered in the use of outpatient group therapy are discussed as an approach to solving the unique problems presented by these delinquents.

The Dynamics of Specialization in Juvenile Offenses

A major step forward in the statistical analysis of offense specialization was made by Wolfgang et al. through their use of stochastic modeling. However, this paper proposes that the results that were obtained are not as clear as might be hoped because they did not distinguish between offense dynamics that reflected the marginal distributions of the sample as a whole (and thus may be considered random) and dynamics that significantly deviated from this distribution. An analysis of similar longitudinal data for white and nonwhite delinquents shows statistically significant evidence of offense specialization and a random distribution of offenses if no specialization occurs (with one major exception). The implications and problems of the model are discussed. The importance of the idea of offense specialization to the development of juvenile delinquency theory has been long recognized in sociology and criminology. One of the first researchers to collect pertinent data, systematically, on this matter was Clifford Shaw, who used very detailed case study material to highlight the dynamics of social processes that were associated with the patterns of adolescent illegal behavior. These dynamics became a central theme in much of Shaw's work, for he felt that a delinquent act is part of a dynamic life process, and it is artificial to view it except as an integral part of that process (b, 8). Several of his published studies have become classics in the social sciences (a, b, c). The incredible richness of detail found in these reports often leaves the reader with the impression of being privy to an intimate view of the growth and development of the behavior patterns of these youth. Unfortunately, the generalizability of these studies to the population of adolescent offenders was not clear, since the selection of a youth for a case study was based on a far from random process. For example, *The data for this paper are taken from those used in the author's dissertation while at the University of Chicago. I would like to express my gratitude to Donald J. Bogue, James S. Coleman, and Gerald Suttles of the University of Chicago, and Tony Meade of the Institute for Juvenile Research for helpful comments and criticisms. ? 1980, University of North Carolina Press. 0037-7732/80/030851-64$01.40

CHILDREN IN DANGER

The principal themes that emerge from this interview are that in Senegal street children can be rehabilitated and educated to play effective roles in society. Differences should be made between street children who are categorized as unadaptable, the delinquents and those who are morally dangerous. The unadaptable child is one who has social or psychological problems; the morally dangerous child is one who runs the risk of becoming a delinquent because his social and economic environment and a delinquent child is the one who commits the violations by going against the law. Most problems at home lead children to become delinquents. The most common types of delinquencies committed by children are drug abuse, robbery, prostitution and involuntary accidents. Once caught in a delinquent act there are several alternatives; 1) "Action in Open Education" (AEMO) which is an organization that allows the children to remain at home with their families but places them either in school or finds them a job up until the age of 21; 2) the Placement Centers (CS) where children are interviewed comprehensively; at the CS they spend the day but return to their homes at night; 3) they are taken to jail and only released at the consent of AEMO; 4) they are tried before the Children's Court and if found guilty, they are placed in a jail for minors (13-18). There is a need to open special centers for delinquent children that offer education, training and a variety of cultural entertainment and sports.

Rating delinquent behavior.

This study questions the utility of classifying all juvenile offenders under the single rubric of “delinquent.” It presents two systems for classifying offenders according to the delinquent act. The first is a rating scale for severity. Correlations among the ratings of 13 judges ranged from .56 to 93, with a mean of .77. 10 judges rated direction of aggression—against people, against property, general asocial. The percentages of items on which each judge agreed with each of the other judges ranged from 70 to 97. 34 offenses were rated, and a 9- and a 5-point scale of severity are presented.

Violence in adolescence.

The violent delinquent is usually impulse-dominated and psychologically infantile. The pathology underlying the delinquent act varies from individual to individual even though the acts are the same.Overstimulation, overgratification and overdeprivation (and understimulation and undergratification) can cause the individual to use delinquent acts to discharge tension. Some delinquent acts have a specific symbolic meaning. Many are the result of social pathology.

The Second Code

Most researchers regard a crime or a delinquent act as being some specific thing done by some specific person, called the offender. But exactly what it is that he does that distinguishes him from the non-offender is difficult to observe or define precisely. So this paper starts from the simpler position that certain people are reported to the police, charged, tried, sen tenced, and punished and others are not; and the law under which we actually live is simply those sets of circumstances of which accusation, trial, etc., are likely consequences. This is the law that society makes by its actions and not just by its paper enactments. We call this empirical law the "second code"; knowledge of it is more basic to criminology than are legal categories or sociological or psychological theories of behavior defined by some researcher or some law-maker as deviant or anti-social or criminal. The process of accusation, trial, etc., is seen as beginning with a complaint (either to or by the police). This interaction between an observer and the police is triggered off by another interaction between one or more offenders, victims and observers, and this larger interaction is our main focus of study. (Some of the roles in this interaction may be combined in one person, and not all the roles are defined until after the event.) The require ments of such a study are discussed; in particular, it should be approached from as simple a viewpoint as possible, aiming first at a natural history of these interactions rather than a theoretical model. Any such theoretical model is at present likely to be inappropriate since the facts which it should explain are not themselves yet known in any detail.

Reclaiming the Delinquent by Para-Analytic Group Psychotherapy and the Inversion Technique.

To refer to Mr. Slavson as dedicated, tireless, prolific, and creative would appear to be a monumental understatement when one realizes that his fertile mind has generated over a period of some 50 years a remarkable family of associations, journals, papers, and books devoted to original innovations in the areas of group work, education, recreation, and psychotherapy. It is even difficult to refer to him as venerable when this, his 14th book, emerges as a huge tome of almost 800 pages representing the outcome of six years of intensive experimentation at the Children's Village in Dobbs Ferry, NY, designed to seek out new psychotherapeutic tools with which to enable the to recognize his own inner life and to reconstruct his psyche. Part One explores the theoretical background of the study. The sources and meanings of the delinquent act are analyzed; then the characteristics of the boys are delineated, including

An Empirical Test of Differential Association Theory*

The main empirical question for this paper is whether boys in close friendship groups have the same specific patterns of delinquent behavior. The delinquent behavior of boys in close friendship triads was compared with that expected for six kinds of delinquent behavior. Two ways of accounting for the observed distribution were examined, one based on a random model and the other on a deduc tion from differential association theory. We conclude that the probability of an individual committing a specific kind of delinquent act depends upon the commission of the act by other members of the triad, though this is not independent of the social class of boys. The actual delinquent behavior of boys in triads departs somewhat less from the random than the differential association hypothesis, at least for the more serious offenses.

Toward a Reference Group Theory of Juvenile Delinquency

Merton's typology of modes of individual adaptation (9) and Dubin's extension of it (4) furnish us with a comprehensive outline of the forms that deviant behavior can take. Cloward contributes toward an extension of the theory of social structure and anomie by emphasizing the existence of differential systems of opportunity and of variations in access to them (1). Shaw and McKay, reporting on a study which covered twenty cities and tens of thousands of juvenile delinquents found that delinquency rates were highest in the slum areas of every city studied (10). Cohen provides a partial explanation of this phenomenon by demonstrating the existence of a delinquent sub-culture in the slum areas of a big city (2). In his more recent work on deviant-behavior as interaction process, Cohen makes a further contribution toward a general theory of deviance-conformity by analyzing the choices available to the individual confronted with socially structured strain (3). We know, then, that the highest delinquency rates are found in the slums of our big cities and that a delinquent sub-culture is found in the same slums. The probability is, however, that a majority of the boys in those areas do not participate in delinquent acts. In most families of delinquent boys in these areas there are non-delinquent siblings. How can we account for this differential response? Furthermore, juvenile delinquency occurs in middle class areas relatively free of the delinquent sub-culture described by Cohen and on occasion sons of middle class parents participate in delinquent behavior. How can we account for delinquency in middle class areas? How can we account for differential response in middle class families? In this paper an attempt will be made to formulate a reference group theory which will provide answers to these questions. The participation in a delinquent act will be explained in terms of the identification of the actor with some group and the application of the norms of that group in a given situation. How this formulation can be subsumed under a more general theory of behavior will not be discussed.

Techniques of Neutralization: A Theory of Delinquency

There is need for more knowledge concerning the differential distribution of techniques of neutralization, as operative patterns of thought, by age, sex, social class, and ethnic group. Techniques of neutralization appear to offer a promising line of research in enlarging and systematizing the theoretical grasp of juvenile delinquency. A major technique of neutralization centers on the injury or harm involved in the delinquent act. In so far as the delinquent can define himself as lacking responsibility for his deviant actions, the disapproval of self or others is sharply reduced in effectiveness as a restraining influence. The existence of the victim may be denied for the delinquent, in a somewhat different sense, by the circumstances of the delinquent act itself. The delinquent shifts the focus of attention from his own deviant acts to the motives and behavior of those who disapprove of his violations. His condemners, he may claim, are hypocrites, deviants in disguise, or impelled by personal spite.

JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

IN PSYCHIATRY, as in any other branch of medicine, diagnosis and as full as possible an understanding of etiology and pathology are prerequisites to the prescribing of a treatment program. Unfortunately, in problems of delinquency, often the factors at play are more complex than in most diseases and, therefore, treatment needs are also more complex amid less clearly defined. Delinquency, of course, is not a diagnosis but a symptom. The delinquent act is like fever or a swelling; the factors underlying it are multiple and varied. I shall try, somewhat in summary form, to describe treatment needs in terms of basic causes of delinquency. Our material is drawn from experience in a large public clinic in a medical school that serves the State of Michigan, and provides opportunity for intensive inpatient as well as outpatient study. First, however, a note of caution: That juvenile delinquency has increased in recent years, especially acts of violence or destruction, is indicated by the statistics at hand. Reading many popular accounts today, one might well get the impression that all teen-agers have "gone to the dogs," that, as a group, they are marauding vandals without capacity for feeling or responsibility. This is, of course, far from the truth. Delinquency is a major social problem but our understanding of it is not helped if in our concern for the more dramatic we exaggerate and lose perspective. The tendency in recent years has been to describe the teen-ager in terms of only negatives. Some writers have gone so far as to stretch absurdity to the point of representing the most vicious, sadistic crime of the year as typical adolescent behavior.