Juvenile Delinquency Quiz 1

Front 1

Ego Identity

Back 1

Formed when youths develop a full sense of the self, combining how they see themselves and how they fit in with others.

Front 2

Role Diffusion

Back 2

Occurs when people spread themselves too thin, experience personal uncertainty, and place themselves at the mercy of people who promise to give them a sense of identity they cannot develop for themselves.

Front 3

At-Risk Youth

Back 3

Young people who are extremely vulnerable to the negative consequences of school failure, substances abuse, and early sexuality.

Front 4

Juvenile Delinquency

Back 4

Participation in illegal behavior by a minor who falls under a statutory age limit.

Front 5

Chronic Delinquent Offenders

Back 5

Youths who have been arrested four or more times during their minority and perpetuate a striking majority of serious criminal acts. This small group, known as the “chronic 6 percent,” is believed to engage in a significant portion of all delinquent behavior; these youths do not age out of crime but continue their criminal behavior into adulthood.

Front 6

Aging-Out Process (Desistance or Spontaneous Remission)

Back 6

The tendency for youths to reduce the frequency of their offending behavior as they age; aging-out is thought to occur among all groups of offenders.

Front 7

Persistence

Back 7

The process by which juvenile offenders persist in their delinquent careers rather than aging out of crime

Front 8

Juvenile Justice System

Back 8

The segment of the justice system, including law enforcement officers, the courts, and correctional agencies, designed to treat youthful offenders

Front 9

Poor Laws

Back 9

English statues that allowed the courts to appoint overseers over destitute and neglected children, allowing placement of these children as servants in the homes of the affluent

Front 10

Chancery Courts

Back 10

Court proceedings created in fifteenth-century England to oversee the lives of highborn minors who were orphaned or otherwise could not care for themselves

Front 11

Parens Patraie

Back 11

Power of the state to act on behalf of the child and provide care and protection equivalent to that of a parent.

Front 12

Child Savers

Back 12

Nineteenth-century reformers who developed programs for troubled youth and influenced legislation creating the juvenile justice system; today some critics view them as being more concerned with control of the poor than with their welfare

Front 13

Best Interest of the Child

Back 13

A philosophical viewpoint that encourages the state to take control of wayward children and provide care, custody, and treatment to remedy delinquent behavior

Front 14

Waiver (Bindover or Removal)

Back 14

Transferring legal jurisdiction over the most serious and experienced juvenile offenders to the adult court for criminal prosecution

Front 15

Status Offense

Back 15

Conduct that is illegal only because the child is under age

Front 16

Wayward Minors

Back 16

Early legal designation of youths who violate the law because of their minority status; now referred to as status offenders

Front 17

Age of Onset

Back 17

Age at which youths begin their delinquent careers; early onset is believed to be linked with chronic offending patterns

Front 18

Continuity of Crime

Back 18

The idea that chronic juvenile offenders are likely to continue violating the law as adults

Front 19

Victimization

Back 19

The number of people who are victims of criminal acts; young teens are 15 times more likely than older adults (ages 65 and over) to be victims of crimes

Front 20

Choice Theory

Back 20

Holds that youths will engage in delinquent and criminal behavior after weighing the consequences and benefits of their actions

Front 21

Trait Theory

Back 21

Holds that youths engage in delinquent or criminal behavior due to aberrant physical or psychological traits that govern behavioral choices

Front 22

Free Will

Back 22

View that people are in charge of their own destinies and are free to make personal behavior choices unencumbered by environmental factors.

Front 23

Classical Criminology

Back 23

Holds that decisions to violate the law are weighed against possible punishments, and to deter crime, the pain of punishment must outweigh the benefit of illegal gain

Front 24

Predatory Crime

Back 24

Violent crimes against people and crimes in which an offender attempts to steal an object directly from its holder.

Front 25

General Deterrence

Back 25

Crime control policies that depend on the fear of criminal penalties, such as long prison sentences for violent crimes; the aim is to convince law violators that the pain outweighs the benefit of criminal activity.

Front 26

Specific Deterrence

Back 26

Sending convicted offenders to secure incarceration facilities so that punishment is severe enough to convince offenders not to repeat their criminal activity.

Front 27

Situational Crime Prevention

Back 27

Crime prevention method that relies on reducing the opportunity to commit criminal acts by (a) making them more difficult to perform, (b) reducing their reward, and (c) increasing their risks

Front 28

Target-Hardening Technique

Back 28

Crime prevention technique that makes it more difficult for a would-be delinquent to carry out the illegal act, for example, by installing a security device in a home.

Front 29

Criminal Atavism

Back 29

The idea that delinquents manifest physical anomalies that make them biologically and physiologically similar to our primitive ancestors, savage throwbacks to an earlier stage of human evolution

Front 30

Equipotentiality

Back 30

View that all people are equal at birth and are thereafter influenced by their environment.

Front 31

Arousal Theorists

Back 31

Delinquency experts who believe that aggression is a function of level of an individual’s need for stimulation or arousal from the environment, those who require more stimulation may act in an aggressive manner to meet their needs.

Front 32

Contagion Effect

Back 32

Delinquency spreads when kids copy the behavior of peers and siblings.

Front 33

Identity Crisis

Back 33

Psychological state, identified by Erikson, in which youth face inner turmoil and uncertainty about life roles

Front 34

Latent Delinquents

Back 34

Youths whose troubled family life leads them to seek immediate gratification without consideration or right and wrong or the feelings of others

Front 35

Social Learning Theory (Psychological)

Back 35

The view that behavior is modeled through observation, either directly through intimate contact with others or indirectly though media; interactions that are rewarded are copied, whereas those that are punished are avoided

Front 36

Extravert

Back 36

A person who behaves impulsively and doesn’t have the ability to examine motives and behavior