Juvenile Delinquency Terms Ch.2

Front 1

UCR

Back 1

Uniform Crime Report, One of the primary sources in the United States for statistics of crime and delinquency. The data is obtained from more than 17,000 law enforcement agencies in the nation

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Index crimes

Back 2

What the UCR categorizes as Part 1 offenses and include homicide and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, arson, and auto theft

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Effect of teenage population figures and crime

Back 3

The population of teens is being foreseen to increase by 15% through now and 2010 and the group considered high risk (ages fifteen to seventeen) will increase by 31%. These population statistics will fuel a dramatic increase in youth violence, possibly even more significant than that of the last decade.

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3 ways to express crime data

Back 4

Used by the UCR, one is by raw figures, two is by computing crime rates per 100,000 people, and three is when the FBI takes the number and rate of crime over a given amount of time and computes the changes

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Why is UCR an incomplete picture of juvenile crime?

Back 5

The stats that are used by the UCR are given by police agencies across the nation and sometimes crimes go undetected, crimes may not be reported to the police, crimes can be inaccurately recorded, behavior may be wrongly labeled, and stats do not include “the dark figure of crime”

Front 6

Crime rate

Back 6

The ratio of crimes in a given area to the population of that area, and is expressed per 1000 population per year

Front 7

NIBRS

Back 7

Incident-Based Reporting System: A new program the FBI is currently trying to implement, which will collect data on every reported crime incident. It will include forty six offenses eight of which are Part 1 crimes plus eleven lesser offenses. The program is aimed at improving the quality of information contained in the UCR. As of yet, there are twenty-two states that have began to utilize the program.

Front 8

Percent of Index crimes committed by those under age 15

Back 8

9% of the total Part 1 offenses by 15 or younger

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9 Reasons for rise and fall in juvenile crime

Back 9

Age, Economy, Drugs, Media, Ongoing Social Problems, Abortion, Guns, Gangs, Juvenile Justice Policy

Front 10

Are any status offenses counted in UCR?

Back 10

Yes. The data is based on arrest statistics, provided for the eight index crimes as well as 21 other crimes and status offenses.

Front 11

Self report studies

Back 11

These can be questionnaires or surveys that are distributed to youths in certain environments like detention centers, stations where youth have been taken after being arrested, randomly selected teens, or most often high schools or middle schools High school students are a popular group used to distribute anonymous questionnaires. The goal is to comfort the respondent with anonymity in hopes of obtaining truthful information about their involvement in delinquency or criminal activity.

Front 12

Dark figure of crime

Back 12

All of the crimes that were not officially recorded by the police

Front 13

Changes in arrest patterns by gender

Back 13

Arrests of delinquent boys decreased by around 16%, while the girls arrests surprisingly increased by 6% (This data was retrieved from between 93’ – 02’) Arrests for violent crime also changed by decreasing for males by 33% , in contrast to the females arrests remained level during a declining time of crime for juvenile crime. Regardless, all gender arrest rates came down from their peak

Front 14

MTF and its findings

Back 14

Monitoring The Future, a self-report survey using a sample of 3,000 youth. Their findings indicate an alarming number of “typical teenagers” that admitted to being involved in serious criminal acts. It would seem that if the data collected by MTF turn out to be accurate, the U.S. juvenile crime problem is more problematic than the currently acceptable data of the UCR.

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Racial differences in self reported crime:

Back 15

Black and white teen’s delinquent behavior are overall very much alike, so the differences in the statistics of arrests may hint at discrimination by police.

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Accuracy of self report data

Back 16

The accuracy has been questioned because of the differences in data collected based on race, gender, and ethnicity. For example, drug usage data may be inaccurate due to certain group’s reluctance to admit their drug usage.

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Is self report a valid indicator in re: racial differences in delinquency?

Back 17

Black youths possibly underreport more serious crime create a limitation in the validity

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Gender differences in delinquency

Back 18

Boys are more delinquent than girls.

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Does social class predict delinquency?

Back 19

No. Both upper and lower class juveniles will commit delinquent acts. Although, the manner in which the transgressions are dealt with may differ. The stats may show that lower class youth are more delinquent due to the fact that their infractions are more likely to lead to an arrest with official processing. Where as, an upper class affluent youth’s delinquent behavior may be less likely to lead to an arrest

Front 20

Girls more likely to be arrested for running away Explain:

Back 20

The police possibly view girls as runaways more serious and are more likely to officially process girls through the justice

Front 21

Does social class predict serious delinquency?

Back 21

Middle and upper class youths engage in a multitude of status offenses, but lower social class kids may be more likely to get involved in serious delinquent acts

Front 22

Does age influence criminality?

Back 22

Yes. As people get older they become more and more likely to refrain from criminal behavior

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Early onset

Back 23

when juveniles start to violate the law at an early age (Usually under 10)

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Aging out

Back 24

The idea is that no matter what the social variable (race, sex, class, intelligence, ect...) people in general will commit less criminal behavior as they age

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Persistence

Back 25

When an early onset juvenile continues a high rate of criminal behavior much into adulthood

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Effect of age of onset

Back 26

Age at which a youth starts their delinquent behavior and is believed to have an effect on whether one is a chronic offender

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Characteristics of chronic juvenile offenders

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Begin delinquency very early, have serious persistent problems with law enforcement, may have a very volatile temperament and/or destructive, resistant to change, not effected by punishment, and aging does little to suppress their criminal acts

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Developmental view

Back 28

The youth that shows signs of anti-social behavior early on in life are expected to commit more crimes for a lengthier amount of time

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Findings of Wolfgang et al

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The idea of the chronic career was established after the study followed 9,945 Philadelphia born males until they became 18 years of age. Records and files were collected from the police and school and each was assigned with their personal social and economic background. Throughout the study data resulting from police contact was noted. The most substantial discovery of the study was that of the chronic offender.

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Reasons for aging out

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Thinking more clearly about the future, maturity brings on ability to delay gratification, suppressed the need for quick fixes to one’s problems, levels of responsibility grow with age, aging brings on new experiences and alters people’s personalities, the risks associated with crime become more realistic as one ages

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Nonchronic recidivist

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Arrested more than once but no more than five

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Chronic recidivist

Back 32

Arrested five or more times

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Punishment’s effect on chronics

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Was not effective as a deterrent. What’s more, the harsher the punishment the smarter the gamble that the offender would repeat delinquent behavior

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Risk factors for chronic offending

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May likely abuse alcohol, economically handicapped, lower life goals, and may have a splotchy employment history

Front 35

Effects of age on victimization

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Juvenile teens are 15 times more likely to become a victim of crime than a person who’s sixty five or older. Your chance of being a victim lowers with age

Front 36

Race and victimization

Back 36

Data shows that white teens usually target other white teens for victimization and the same goes for African-American teens