Individual Delinquency Research Articles

Reflected appraisals across multiple reference groups: Discrepancies in self and individual delinquency

We explore the implications of multiple reference groups for symbolic interaction explanations of delinquency. Specifically, we test the idea that dissimilarity in reflected appraisals across reference groups weakens the effect of the appraisals of a single group on behavior. We also assess whether the relative influence of different reflected appraisals is moderated by differences in the amount of time spent in and attachment to the roles taken among specific reference groups. Using data from the National Youth Survey, our findings mostly support symbolic interactionist predictions: Dissimilarity in reference groups' reflected appraisals weakens the influence of a single group's appraisals on behavior. We also found some evidence that, relatively, the more time an individual spends and the more attached they are to a role in a particular reference group, the more strongly correlated the respective appraisals are with delinquent behavior. Contrary to our predictions, we found that relatively strong attachments to one's role with their parents weakens the influence of parental reflected appraisals as a rule violator.

Shaming Microloan Delinquents: Evidence from a Field Experiment in China

We study the effects of village credit information sharing on individual microloan repayment, using a randomized experiment with loan applicants from 40 villages in rural China. In our main treatment, customers received a message on the loan application form that “overdue payment (40 days after each installment due date) will be considered for public disclosure among the village by showing debtors’ names on a blackboard outside the village office of the microlending institution.” On average, this social appeal reduces the share of delinquents and the individual delinquency rate by 18.6% and 5.6% from baseline rates of 79.5% and 15.2%, respectively. The effects appear more pronounced among male and older borrowers. Additional treatments help to benchmark the effect against lender credit information sharing and separate the effects on adverse selection and moral hazard. Mechanism analysis shows that the publicly disclosed “blacklist” of delinquents affects borrowers’ repayment behaviors, partially through borrowers’ fear of losing informal risk insurance from the village society and predominately through public shaming penalties. Overall, these results support that, in traditional societies, social appeals can provide not only pecuniary, but also psychological incentives to improve loan repayment. Psychological incentives, to some extent, have stronger effects. This paper was accepted by Gustavo Manso, finance.

Shaming Microloan Delinquents: Evidence from a Field Experiment in China

We study the effects of village credit information sharing on individual microloan repayment, using a randomized experiment with loan applicants from 40 villages in rural China. In our main treatment, customers received a message on the loan application form that “overdue payment (40 days after each installment due date) will be considered for public disclosure among the village by showing debtors’ names on a blackboard outside the village office of the microlending institution.” On average, this social appeal reduces the share of delinquents and the individual delinquency rate by 18.6% and 5.6% from baseline rates of 79.5% and 15.2%, respectively. The effects appear more pronounced among male and older borrowers. Additional treatments help to benchmark the effect against lender credit information sharing and separate the effects on adverse selection and moral hazard. Mechanism analysis shows that the publicly disclosed “blacklist” of delinquents affects borrowers’ repayment behaviors, partially through borrowers’ fear of losing informal risk insurance from the village society, and predominately through public shaming penalties. Overall, these results support that, in traditional societies, social appeals can provide not only pecuniary, but also psychological incentives to improve loan repayment. Psychological incentives, to some extent, have stronger effects.

The Effects of Classroom Anger, Strain, and Negative Emotions on Delinquency among Vocational School Students in China

ABSTRACT General Strain Theory delineates the intervening paths from strain to deviance and crime, mediated by negative emotions. In addition to explaining individual strain-delinquency relationships, a macro version of General Strain Theory describes the effects of aggregate variables on individual delinquency and individual strain-delinquency associations. Using a sample of 902 students (Individual Level) nested in 30 classrooms (Classroom Level), the present study tests the macro version of General Strain Theory using Chinese data. The results revealed the differences among classrooms for their delinquency and provided evidence that classroom anger had an influence on individual delinquency. Classroom anger also reinforced the individual strain-delinquency and negative affect-delinquency associations. Limitations and future studies were discussed.

Exploring the Moderating Role of Gender in Juvenile Hacking Behaviors

Criminological research has demonstrated the significant relationship between deviant peer associations, a lack of self-control, and individual delinquency. These relationships also account for involvement in cybercrime, though these results are based largely on adult samples. There is less research considering juvenile offending online, particularly examining involvement in property-based offenses such as computer hacking. This study utilized an international sample of 48,327 juvenile respondents in the Second International Self-Report of Delinquency (ISRD-2) study to examine the role of gender as a moderating factor in the relationship between deviant peer associations, self-control, opportunity, and self-reported computer hacking behavior. The findings demonstrated different correlates associated with hacking for males and females, as well as differences on the basis of urban and rural residency.

Multiple level factors associated with bullying victimization in Taiwanese middle school students

ABSTRACTThe present study applied the social-ecological framework to explore factors associated with adolescents’ experiences in bullying victimization in Taiwanese middle schools. Data include a random sample of 1,262 students, ages 13–15, from 43 middle schools in Taiwan’s New Taipei City. Hierarchical generalized linear modeling was utilized to analyze the data, which included hierarchical and nested structures, such as individual and area level variables. Descriptive statistics and basic inferential analysis were conducted to test the hypotheses that individual (delinquency), family (parental monitoring), school (teacher support and teacher/staff punishment), community (community environment), and area levels (poverty rate) were associated with bullying victimization. Findings reveal that individual (Grade 7, conduct problems), school (teacher/staff punishment), community environment, and criminal activities had significant effects on bullying victimization in Taiwan. Implications for practice are discussed.

KENAKALAN PELAJAR DALAM KELUARGA SINGLE PARENT: STUDI KASUS PADA PELAJAR DALAM KELUARGA SINGLE PARENT DI SEKOLAH MENENGAH ATAS NEGERI 1 GIRIMARTO, WONOGIRI TAHUN 2012/2013

<p>Student deliquency is a deviant behavior by students that plaguing the<br />society. The purposes of this research were to determine how the forms of<br />student deliquency, the caused factors and the efforts to address student<br />delinquency in single parent family in first state SMA of Girimarto. The<br />research method was used descriptive case study. The theory used is the<br />Herbert Blummer’s symbolic interactionism theory. The results showed that<br />the forms of student delinquency in a single parent family in first state SMA of<br />Girimarto are sociological delinquency and individual delinquency. The<br />caused factor is children inside and outside factor that is single parent families.<br />Efforts made by first state SMA of Girimarto in handling students delinquency<br />in single parent families are includes of spiritual building, support group<br />therapy, application of school rules were tightened, teens posyandu, lesson in<br />Kinanthi song and to their parents for guidance and supervision.<br />Keywords: Delinquency, families, single parent, students.</p>

Juvenile Crime: Current State and Dynamics

The article presents a comprehensive analysis of the problems of general and individual juvenile delinquency prevention. The definition of «general social crime preventive action» is given, its objectives and types are defined. The necessity of investing efforts and resources not in the repressive programs, but in the fundamental long-term programs aimed at the gradual elimination of social and economic disparities being the cause of the increase in crime rate among teenagers. The components and targets of individual crime prevention have been identified. The individual subjects of the juvenile crime prevention have been classified. The requirements for the subjects of the individual criminal behavior prediction have been formulated in order to create the theoretical and organizational prerequisites for the reliability of the individual behavior forecasts. As a result, the special measures of juvenile delinquency prevention have been proposed.

The influence of popular and delinquent adolescents on school delinquency: specifying the key delinquent models

Prior research has shown evidence for the existence of a relationship between peer and individual delinquency. It is now important to specify the mechanisms by which that relationship operates. The contribution of the current study is to identify the adolescents who are likely to act as the key delinquent models. It is expected that in schools where a large percentage of adolescents are both highly popular and highly delinquent, levels of school delinquency are likely to be highest. Using data from 112 schools in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, this study finds that, even when controlling for neighborhood and school characteristics (including the ratio of delinquent to non-delinquent students), schools with a greater percentage of highly popular/highly delinquent students have significantly greater levels of delinquency.

Predicting involvement in prison gang activity: Street gang membership, social and psychological factors.

The aim of this study was to examine whether street gang membership, psychological factors, and social factors such as preprison experiences could predict young offenders' involvement in prison gang activity. Data were collected via individual interviews with 188 young offenders held in a Young Offenders Institution in the United Kingdom. Results showed that psychological factors such as the value individuals attached to social status, a social dominance orientation, and antiauthority attitudes were important in predicting young offenders' involvement in prison gang activity. Further important predictors included preimprisonment events such as levels of threat, levels of individual delinquency, and levels of involvement in group crime. Longer current sentences also predicted involvement in prison gang activity. However, street gang membership was not an important predictor of involvement in prison gang activity. These findings have implications for identifying prisoners involved in prison gang activity and for considering the role of psychological factors and group processes in gang research.

What Does Geography Have To Do With It?

In the first decade of the 21st century, the Eurogang Program of Research (hereafter referred to as the Eurogang Network), a group of U.S. and European criminologists, began a systematic effort to examine the European gang phenomenon. However, the notion that American-style street gangs represent a real threat to European nations has not been universally accepted, as critics warn about the dangers of making gangs and gang members into “folk devils” for a broad range of societal ills. In order to provide insights into the status of troublesome youth groups in the European context, the present study examines three separate surveys of school children aged 13 to 16 years who resided in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, and the Netherlands. Using definitional and research protocols developed by the Eurogang Network, this article explores correlates of individual delinquency reported by street gang members and members of other delinquent youth groups that reportedly engaged in criminal activities but were not defined as street gangs using the Eurogang Network definition. The study turns on the extent to which the self-reported individual and group misbehavior can be understood in terms of personal-biographical characteristics—but especially citizenship status, specific youth-group membership, and nation of current residence—and the influence of putative risk and protective measures. The implications for youth gang intervention efforts are discussed, along with what the findings suggest about comparative efforts to explain misbehavior by members of two types of troublesome youth groups.

Delinquency as a Consequence of Misperception

This article examines how actors' perceptions of other people's behavior may be exaggerated and how this inaccuracy may influence behavior. More specifically, we apply these issues to improve our understanding of the correlation between delinquency of friends and individual delinquency. This relationship is one of the most replicated findings in the social sciences. However, research has not distinguished misperceptions of friends' behavior from actual behavior of friends, leaving two empirical questions unanswered. First, why do youth overestimate their friends' level of delinquency? Second, does overestimation of friends' delinquency influence one's own delinquency? We examine these questions using data from two waves of the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR) School Project. These data include self-reports by school friends of their own delinquent behavior, as well as respondents' estimates of their friends' behavior, making them uniquely equipped to calculate how much respondents exaggerate the behavior of their school friends and to investigate the determinants and consequences of this overestimation. Findings indicate that youth who engage in delinquency, have attitudes supporting delinquency, and experience peer pressure are more likely to exaggerate the prevalence of delinquency in their friendship network. Also, overestimating friends' delinquency leads to more delinquency in a subsequent wave, net of actual delinquency of friends and individual and situational characteristics. Overestimating friends' delinquency has the strongest effect on individuals who value social approval, are unpopular in their school, and experience peer pressure from their friends. We conclude by discussing avenues for future research.

Gang-related crime: the social, psychological and behavioral correlates

This study examined the behavioral, social and psychological factors associated with gang-related crime. By comparing group crime committed by non-gang youth and gang members, this study sought to identify the kinds of criminal activity gang members engage in and identify the specific characteristics that differentiate gang-related crime from other group crimes. We found that gangs map out their territory with graffiti and intimidate others via threats. We also found that high levels of individual delinquency and the presence of neighborhood gangs were significant predictors of gang-related crime. Contrary to our expectations, the perceived importance of social status, moral disengagement and anti-authority attitudes did not predict gang-related crime; however, further analyses showed that the perceived importance of social status and high levels of moral disengagement predicted gang-related crime with anti-authority attitudes acting as mediator. These findings highlight a need to examine more closely, the psychological and social factors that contribute to gang membership and gang-related crime.

Managing a Royal Sex Abuse Scandal

Managing sex abuse scandals is a challenge for many contemporary institutions, including churches, synagogues, madrassas, schools and youth groups. Some religious bodies, however, already have considerable experience in managing scandals – their sacred texts are full of dangerous stories that have shocked and challenged them over many centuries. The story of David and Bathsheba, for example, combines three themes central to the current crisis: sexual exploitation, abuse of power and attempted cover-up. This article provides an analysis of how three faith communities – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – have ‘managed’ the story of King David’s adultery with Bathsheba and the assassination of her husband, Uriah, and the subsequent litany of rape and murder (and possibly also incest) within the royal house. David’s legacy is central to the three traditions: he is a founding father of Judaism, a forbear of the Christian Messiah and a prophet for Islam. Studies of individual delinquents document strategies of rationalisation, including denial of responsibility for harm, accusing the accusers and finding a ‘greater good’ from the incident. Organisational theorists who examine institutional scandals document a similar range of strategies, distinguishing ‘rogue’ organisations that seek to excuse their behaviour and ‘redemptive’ organisations that are willing to take responsibility and mend their ways. The three traditions display mixtures of the two approaches as they have retold the story of David and Bathsheba for new audiences. Missing in many of the versions of the story, however, are two features that make the original story so confronting: the offence was a sovereign crime rather than an individual indiscretion; and the king was checked by a countervailing power, the prophet Nathan. By ignoring the institutional context of the crime and forgetting Nathan, the story becomes tame and manageable. There were, however, exceptions to this pattern. The Qur’an turned the whole story into a treatise on abuse of power, while a sermon by Machiavelli resulted in a debate about accountability. Scandals such as this can also be seen as opportunities for developing new norms. By reading the principles of sovereignty and accountability back into the story, its truly scandalous character can be recognised, opening up the possibility of new ways of thinking about the current crisis.

The Longitudinal Relationship Between Peer Violence and Popularity and Delinquency in Adolescent Boys: Examining Effects by Family Functioning

Mapping the relationship of peer influences and parental/family characteristics on delinquency can help expand the understanding of findings that show an interdependence between peer and family predictors. This study explored the longitudinal relationship between two characteristics of peer relationships (violence and perceived popularity) with subsequent individual delinquency and the moderating role of family characteristics (cohesion and parental monitoring) using data from the Chicago Youth Development Study. Participants were 364 inner-city residing adolescent boys (54% African American; 40% Hispanic). After controlling for the effects of age and ethnicity, peer violence is positively related to boys' delinquency. The effect of popularity depends on parental monitoring, such that the relationship between popularity and delinquency is positive when parental monitoring is low, but there is no relationship when parental monitoring is high. Furthermore, parental monitoring contributes to the relationship between peer violence and delinquency such that there is a stronger relationship when parental monitoring is low. Additionally, there is a stronger relationship between peer violence and delinquency for boys from high cohesive families. Findings point to the value of attention to multiple aspects of peer and family relationships in explaining and intervening in the risk for delinquency. Furthermore, findings indicate the importance of family-focused interventions in preventing delinquency.

Analyzing Social Ties in Total Institutions

A common view is that an individual delinquent can be rehabilitated in a “home” in the countryside, away from his or her original urban social ties. An ironic result is new social ties with other juvenile delinquents as they spend a considerable amount of time together at a secluded institution. Drawing on ethnographic studies in residential care institutions, this article discusses two aspects to consider when analyzing social ties in such settings: the institutional prerequisites for and the everyday achievement of isolation and intimacy.

Why criminal behavior of chronic delinquents could be even strengthen after forensic treatment?

The efforts of the formal system of government to achieve social reintegration of chronic offenders is reflected, inter alia, through the application of a large number of educational and training retrain and therapeutic treatment in penal institutions. However, they still do not give the desired results. So, in this paper we analyze the results of studies that investigate effects of various forms of forensic treatment on the criminal re-offend. It was found that, in this context, it is important to determine whether the offender has a psychological predisposition toward antisocial behaviour, and whether deviations are present which do not have the character of mental illness, but have the impact on stubbornly chronically maintaining delinquency. Based on the results of empirical data from the relevant studies and practical experiences of forensic therapeutic experts, it was found that some forms of treatment, including training for development social skills, life skills, and empathy, for certain categories of violent offenders, not only does not lead to the expected reduction of violence, but even at first glance, paradoxical result, as many as five times more frequent criminal recovery, compared to the same category of offenders who are not covered by treatment. When this tendency is particularly worrying that in these cases the victims are subjected to insidious attacks against and become more vulnerable because they are representatives of the criminal justice system misled the attackers to make treatment safer. The paper points out the possible reasons for such negative outcomes of treatment and is located contraindicated category form of forensic psychotherapy to the riskiest psychological profile. It was estimated that the usual methods of psychotherapy and mental needs advisory applied in clinical trials in patients unsuitable for delinquent population. It was concluded that any rehabilitation treatment must be designed in accordance with psychological characteristics of the target group and each individual delinquents. Beside that, it is necessary to ensure the continued education of representatives of the judiciary in this area, as order to prevent damage due to indiscriminate referral of offenders to treatment contraindicated.

Gang Involvement

This study examines some of the individual, social, and environmental factors that differentiate gang-involved youth (both gang members and peripheral youth) and nongang youth in a British setting. The authors found that gang-involved youth were more likely than nongang youth to be older, and individual delinquency and neighborhood gangs predicted gang involvement. Using structural equation modeling, the authors examined the relationships between social/environmental factors and gang involvement. As a result, this article found that parental management, deviant peer pressure, and commitment to school had indirect relationships with gang involvement. These findings are discussed as they highlight a need to address the mechanisms in which protective and risk factors function collectively.

A Comparative Analysis of Social Learning and Social Control Theories in the Prediction of College Crime

This research examines the comparative ability of social control and social learning theories to predict crime on a college campus. Data were obtained from self-report surveys from the first wave of a longitudinal study at a liberal arts college in the Mid-Atlantic region. Results from correlation and regression analyses indicate that both social control and social learning components are related to crime and drug use, with the greatest amount of variance explained by models that include elements of both theories. Issues such as the temporal ordering of peer and individual delinquency and the similarity between belief and definitions are discussed.

Strangers in the Halls: Isolation and Delinquency in School Networks

Although criminologists have long recognized the strong correlation between a person's delinquency and the delinquency of his or her friends, the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain elusive. The current study adds to research on peers and delinquency by exploring the behaviors of adolescents isolatedfrom schoolfriendship networks. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) allow me to identify an isolated population and test theoretically derived hypotheses. Results suggest that low peer attachment in and of itselffails to increase future delinquency. However, isolation in conjunction with problematic peer encounters at school was found to significantly increase delinquency and delinquent peer associations. The theoretical implications of this interaction are discussed. Understanding the relationship between peers and individual delinquency has been one of criminology's most rigorously pursued and controversial research areas. Studies have consistently found that the delinquency of a person's friends is among the strongest correlates of his or her own delinquent behavior (Akers 1979; Gleuck & Gleuck 1950; Gold 1970; Haynie 2001; Hirschi 1969; Matsueda & Heimer 1987; Short 1957; Warr 1993). However, the causal significance of this relationship remains a point of considerable contention. For socialization theories (e.g., differential association, learning, subcultural, and interactional theories), delinquent peers are thought to be a primary mechanism whereby adolescents acquire the techniques, attitudes, and opportunities necessary for criminal behavior. In contrast, control and propensity theories question the causal role of peers in explaining individual delinquency. Researchers from this * I thank Ross Matsueda, Kate Stovel and the reviewersfor their helpful advice and comments on this project. This research uses data from Add Health, a program project designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris and funded from the National Institute of