Juvenile Delinquency Terms Ch.4

Front 1

Role of interpersonal interactions

Back 1

The social relationships between juveniles and their families, friends, schools, or employment relations can have an effect of controlling or contributing to delinquency

Front 2

Role of weakened family ties

Back 2

They have been shown to contribute to crime and delinquency

Front 3

Permanent underclass

Back 3

These members of society have become so extremely burdened with economic hardship they are not likely to improve their situation, mostly due to a severe psychological abnormity related to this social hardship

Front 4

Community ecology

Back 4

The conditions at which an area of residence is that of a deteriorated inner-city

Front 5

“Hollowed out” inner cities

Back 5

A situation where the inner core of a city has become deteriorated but is surrounded by less deteriorated areas, which cause a jump in crime because the people within the area feel alienated, and are given horrible social programs that do little to help their situations

Front 6

Role of SES

Back 6

One’s socio-economic status has the possibility to encourage a person to commit criminal activity, either due to anger at their economic status or out of desperation from their financial situation. Lack of opportunity linked by lesser educational training can also become a factor

Front 7

“Truly disadvantaged”

Back 7

A term used by sociologist, William Julius Wilson to describe the people of the inner city under class (mostly minorities)

Front 8

Social structure theories

Back 8

The idea that society is structured based on economic class and depending on the place a person holds in that structure, delinquency can be a function of that status

Front 9

Effects of unemployment in slums

Back 9

The lack of employment makes a given area more susceptible to predatory crimes and limits parent’s ability to be a positive influence on their children, which ultimately drives the juveniles to behave in a manner that fuels negative consequences.

Front 10

Culture of poverty

Back 10

The burden faced by the inner city poor. Many common traits of this culture are apathy, helplessness, and mistrust of governing institutions, which ultimately drive the needy away from any opportunities these institutions make available

Front 11

Cycle of poverty

Back 11

A perpetuation of poverty ridden lifestyle that begins with the addition of adverse conditions to one’s life. The inadequate health care leads to, in some cases, low birth weight or health issues that will affect long term development. The cycle also includes an unfortunate lack of education that will contribute to a much greater possibility of never earning a college degree

Front 12

Review figure 4.1

Back 12

This figure is just one example of poverty being the root of an adverse outcome for poor children. It begins with the lifestyle of being poor which leads to lower vitamins and minerals, family problems, lack of educational resources, and issues involving housing. Along with the list of problems that are bred from living in poverty come a host of other issues that are based on a foundation of nutrition, family, education, and housing problems.

Front 13

Cultural transmission

Back 13

As a neighborhood transitions the environment notoriously brings forth a culture of teenage gang involvement. As the gang life develops they tend to find gang leaders who bring younger members into their gangs and train them into delinquent behavior and this process begins to creep into one generation after another

Front 14

How delinquency is structural and cultural

Back 14

The structure of society has a basis of inequality which makes the young of lower classes less likely to get the same advantages that young people from middle and upper classes have access to, and the cultural values that fall within the confines of poverty stricken areas will tend to influence a young persons behavior

Front 15

Social control

Back 15

The belief that creating an organized and unified neighborhood can come together and fulfill common goals (like creating drug free areas)

Front 16

What controls behavior choices

Back 16

The conditions of a person’s social situation

Front 17

Relative deprivation

Back 17

When an area of people that are living in relative poverty (lower class) live within viewing area of people who are not struggling (middle and upper class) and the lower class begin to feel angry about their situation and they release their hostility in the form of delinquent behavior

Front 18

Social disorganization

Back 18

Describes an area where people reside that lacks a feeling of unity, is ridden with conflict, and contains a population of people that tend not to stay in one place for very long. The lack of unity with neighbors, moving frequently, and living within a culture of conflict leaves children with a feeling of instability.

Front 19

Gentrification

Back 19

The effort of re-establishing poverty stricken area by taking a lower class neighborhood and trying to mimic that of a middle class neighborhood, by using less commercial zoning and making residents more stable and less transient.

Front 20

“Disorganized neighborhood”/ aka transitional neighborhood

Back 20

A term that describes a neighborhood that had been in the past deemed affluent but has over time down graded to what’s considered predominately lower class residents and now the area has been zoned for commercial use as well

Front 21

Social incivilities

Back 21

This is an environmental culture issue. It’s the types of items and behavior found in the environment within a poverty stricken neighborhoods. For example, trash, vandalizing, drunks, hookers, commercial sites that are no longer being used and are shut down, noise, and violent behavior

Front 22

The effects of neighborhoods

Back 22

The people that live there begin to feel unsafe and are less inclined to go out at night for fear

Front 23

General strain theory

Back 23

The people that live in inner-city poverty begin to feel frustration and hopelessness from feeling walled out of mainstream economic status and eventually develop a sense of anger about their situation. This anger leads to delinquent acts

Front 24

Effects of fear of crime on neighborhoods

Back 24

The residents and many others believe that government leaders aren’t able to combat the crime in a particular neighborhood and the word of mouth spreads and businesses, as well as people, try to relocate or avoid coming in at all. The more civility that leaves or avoids the area the more crime/destabilization occurs

Front 25

Sources of strain

Back 25

Failed goals, unreasonable expectations or achievements, lack of positive stimuli, the presence of negative stimuli

Front 26

Community cohesion’s role

Back 26

This is a community that has strong ties with one another and knows one another very well. This type of cohesion brings high levels of social control and social unity

Front 27

Negative affective states

Back 27

Fear, depression, disappointment, frustration, anger, and other negative emotions caused by strain

Front 28

Collective efficacy

Back 28

The people begin to trust one another to help supervise local children and keep crime under control. They begin to use their local institutions to help their efforts to keep order within their community. They work together to control the children and help them avoid gang activities

Front 29

Cultural deviance theory

Back 29

When kids from lower class neighborhoods decide to conform to the lower class neighborhood’s cultural values that tend to clash with the larger city’s values as a whole

Front 30

Strain

Back 30

The feeling brought on by failure to achieve social goals

Front 31

Culture conflict

Back 31

When a subculture’s values come in conflict with the values of the more dominate culture

Front 32

Socialization

Back 32

Process of learning the acceptable norms of society and is thought to be the key in determining adolescent behavior

Front 33

Effects of labeling

Back 33

Labeling can cause the formation of a feedback loop. If a child is perceptively (to the child) labeled as “troubled” or “delinquent”, he may be placed in situations where bad behavior is expected, he will be more likely to use the label as an excuse, while, at the same time, also being exposed to others who will encourage or excuse bad behaviors.

Front 34

Role of parenting

Back 34

Adequate parenting is crucial in preventing interruption or damage of the maturation process

Front 35

Effects of labeling “ceremonies”

Back 35

gives the label (bad, troubled, delinquent, etc.) the appearance of being official and therefore unquestionable. Adds a sense of authority or legitimacy.

Front 36

Parental efficacy

Back 36

The description of parents who support and effectively control their children’s behavior and who more likely have kids who are not delinquents

Front 37

Self fulfilling prophecy

Back 37

children will live up to what is expected of them. If one is considered bad, they may try to “be good at being bad”

Front 38

Differential association

Back 38

Delinquent acts are learned in mostly interpersonal groups. If their definition of pro-criminal behavior out weighs society’s definitions of anti-criminal behavior then they will choose criminal behavior over anti-criminal behavior

Front 39

Social conflict theory

Back 39

A self-interested (greedy, selfish) class of the wealthy elite use the legal system to keep others down in order to prevent the rise of competition in order to maintain their own wealth and elite status. Differences in wealth and power cause delinquency. Related to the ideas of Karl Marx (i.e. – controlling the working class masses in order to keep the workers expectations (and therefore, their wages) down in order to keep the workers expectations (and therefore, their wages) down

Front 40

Social control theory

Back 40

suggests that strong relationships and friendships with people who conform to traditional mores and behaviors causes the child to strive to conform to those traditional behaviors in order to maintain the approval and acceptance of those around him. In the absence of these relationships, there are fewer social consequences for bad behavior.

Front 41

True goal of child savers movement

Back 41

Powerful citizens who aimed to control the behavior of disenfranchised youths

Front 42

Role of social control agents

Back 42

Agencies empowered to control delinquent behavior

Front 43

Elements of the social bond

Back 43

IABC or Involvement in coventional activities, Attatchment to parents and peers, Belief in values, and Commitment to conventional activities