The Normative Erosion Hypothesis: The Latent Consequences of Juvenile Justice ractices*

The normative erosion hypothesis is that nonpunitive reactions by legal officials will erode offenders' normative evaluations of delinquency. Consistent with the hypothesis, survey data from Arizona high school students show that offenders who have been referred to a “hands-off” court express less condemnation (i.e., have lower perceived seriousness) of delinquency than do offenders with no court referrals. The findings also show that the perceived threat of legal punishment is positively related to offenders' perceptions of the seriousness of delinquency. The findings bear on the normative validation thesis in the sociology of law and have important policy implications for juvenile justice practices.     

Lesbian and Bisexual Girls in the Juvenile Justice System

This article examines the experiences of lesbian and bisexual girls in the juvenile justice system. Its purpose is to document how the juvenile justice system serves this population. The researcher interviewed six lesbian or bisexual youth and six staff participants who work with them and found that the system is lacking in its awareness and treatment of this population. Some problems include homophobia and heterosexism in policy, staff attitudes, and by other girls, disparate treatment of lesbian and bisexual girls motivated by stereotypes and misinformation, and little understanding of the role that sexual orientation may play in a girl's life. Implications for future practice and policy are offered.     

The Evolution of Substance Abuse Treatment in Juvenile Justice

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses the scope of substance abuse and related problems among juvenile offenders, and describes three models of addressing the problem based on a review of current approaches, ranging from Treatment Alternatives to Street Crimes programs (TASC), to juvenile drug courts, to an integrated treatment network model. The relevant strengths and weaknesses of each in supporting lasting change in substance-abusing juvenile offenders and their families are presented, and a call to action is offered for communities wishing to aim their interventions innovatively and precisely in the direction of substance abuse among their delinquent youth.     

Risk Assessment Tools and Racial/Ethnic Disparities in the Juvenile Justice System

This paper addresses the possible consequences for racial and ethnic disparities of the growing reliance on risk assessment tools for sentencing in juvenile justice systems. These tools consider both legal factors (i.e. criminal history) and personal background factors (e.g. household composition, parents’ arrest history, the youth’s mental health, attitudes, school status, and current employment status) to predict the likelihood of recidivism, which then informs punishment decisions. Because they decontextualize race, the associations between race and risk factors linked to race could possibly create higher risk scores and harsher punishments for minority youth.     

A Test of the False Positive Bias Hypothesis

An evaluation of the hypothesis that adolescent gamblers are biased toward the production of false positive responses proposed by Derevensky et al. was tested. The results of secondary analysis of available data supported the hypothesis for items on the South Oaks Gambling Screen and items from the DSM-IV screening instrument. The conclusions were presented as tentative in view of the modest sizes of the observed effects. A number of limitations to the analysis are also described.     

Diversion From the Juvenile Justice System: Observations of a Teen Court Program

Teen courts are a multidisciplinary intervention used to divert youth with minor offenses from the juvenile justice system. Observations were conducted at 13 hearings in an urban jurisdiction, with information gathered about the youth respondent, peer jurors, and adult volunteers. Peer jurors engaged in the majority of communication with the respondent during hearings. Adult volunteers, often members of the legal or judicial community, fulfilled supporting functions. Findings suggest that a youth-oriented process with support from adult volunteers can result in active participation from youth, and that teen courts provide opportunities for community involvement.     

域外未成年人司法之风险需求评估量表探究

作为贯穿未成年人司法程序始终的配套机制,风险需求评估量表于全球诸多法域予以适用,其根基于深厚的犯罪学理论,并历经循证研究与司法实践的反复验证,业已凸显了其对未成年人犯罪及再犯之可能性预测的行之有效性.反观我国目前未成年人社会调查制度陷入了调查内容非规范化的实务性发展瓶颈,亟待引入高效度的未成年人风险需求评估量表予以构建...     

The Wayward Girl Revisited: Understanding the Gendered Nature of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency

Traditional explanations of delinquency have mostly focused on male offending. While men were the primary subjects of criminological research as well as the central focus of the justice system, gender was rarely explicitly examined, and consequently, girls often went unnoticed. Today, however, female juvenile offenders' visibility both in research and in the system has changed. This essay reviews feminist theorizing of girls' delinquency, with a concentrated focus on the 'pathways' perspective; the scope of girls' lawbreaking; and their historical and contemporary experiences inside and outside the juvenile justice system. This essay concludes with an examination of two promising girl-specific juvenile justice initiatives.     

国家治理现代化视域下的少年司法社会支持体系:价值、立场及路径

少年司法社会支持体系是司法机关参与社会治理创新的重要途径。它面临着来自司法体系内部和外部社会环境的双重困境。国家治理现代化理念为其纾困和发展提供了更高站位的思路引领。少年司法社会支持体系通过理念的深度契合及价值的充分彰显,呈现出国家治理现代化的时代面向,也因而夯实了正当性基础、坚定了价值自信。未来发展中,应当立足国家治理现代化视角,将问题导向与目标导向相结合,在宏观立场上,调适好司法能动和司法克制的关系、司法机关与社会力量的关系、顶层规范设计与基层实践创新的关系;在微观路径上,多措并举增强社会服务的实效性、保障社会支持体系的高效率运行和可持续性发展,渐进性推进近景、中景、远景目标的达成。     

Legal and Extralegal Factors Affecting Minority Overrepresentation in Virginia’s Juvenile Justice System: A Mixed-Method Study

This study examined legal and extralegal factors, specifically race, and their effects on processing and sanctions for 2,233 African American and Caucasian males in Virginia’s juvenile justice system. Qualitative findings from in-depth interviews with juvenile judges, Commonwealth’s attorneys, defense attorneys, police officers, juveniles and their families triangulate the quantitative findings. Crime severity was the only factor which affected the likelihood of diversion; whereas race, grade repeated, prior record, and crime severity increased the likelihood of incarceration through two logistic regression models. Stakeholders added discussion regarding family structure and education. As social work practice intersects with juvenile justice through multiple avenues, the implications of these findings are discussed.     

Latina and African‐American Girls in the Juvenile Justice System: Needs,Problems, and Solutions

This review focuses on Latina and African‐American girls in the juvenile justice system with a special emphasis on their mental health, substance abuse, and treatment needs. Like many young women in the juvenile justice system, Latina and African‐American girls often have histories of neglect, abuse, and trauma, which contribute to later mental health and substance abuse issues. Despite these histories, juvenile justice professionals sometimes rely on stereotypes rooted in cultural deficit thinking to explain Latina and African‐American girls' delinquency. Relying on gendered, racialized, and classed stereotypes and assumptions can result in decisions that negatively impact Latina and African‐American girls' access to mental health, substance abuse, and other types of treatment. Policy and practice implications for better addressing the needs of Latina and African‐American girls are discussed.     

Advancing Evidence-Based Practices for Juvenile Justice Reform Through Community Development

There is a general agreement in the literature concerning what works and what does not work in reducing delinquent behavior with juvenile offenders in communities; however, this knowledge has had limited penetration into general public, political, and policymaking venues, as it is reported that less than 10% of juvenile offenders are afforded evidence-based community services. This article describes how Louisiana, through a combination of state, local, university, and national partnerships, adopted a community development model that has led to a 27% increase in juvenile-justice-involved youth having access to evidence-based services while the state witnessed a simultaneous 46% drop in juvenile arrests between 2006 and 2010.     

Letter Opinion on ERA: A Test of the Newspaper Bias Hypothesis

This paper compares letter opinion (opinions expressed in publishedletters-to-the-editor) with public opinion on ERA. Prior researchhas suggested that letter opinion is biased by atypical letterwriters or by newspaper editorial policies which are used toselect letters for publication. Drawing on a national sampleof 92 daily newspapers, no substantial difference between letteropinion and public opinion on ERA is detected. Little supportis found for the hypothesis that newspaper policies bias letteropinion.     

Collaboration Between Community Mental Health and Juvenile Justice Systems: Barriers and Facilitators

Recent studies have confirmed a high prevalence of youth with diagnosable mental health disorders within the juvenile justice system, as well as the vulnerability of youth in the mental health system who enter the juvenile justice system. This high prevalence of dual system involvement has spawned challenges of collaboration between the mental health and juvenile justice systems to provide needed services to youth and their families. Seventy-two in-depth interviews were conducted with 18 youth and their parents/guardians, mental health professionals from five different community mental health centers, and juvenile justice professionals in urban and rural communities in a Midwest state in the United States. Professionals, youth and parents identified several important factors that facilitated collaboration, as well as a myriad of barriers that needed to be overcome. Findings suggest ways to improve partnerships between the two systems and the development of supportive policies and procedures.     

论我国未成年人社区矫正体系的缺陷

未成年人本应是社区矫正的重点对象之一,但我国未成年人社区矫正体系未受到应有重视,存在着诸多问题。在立法上,未成年人社区矫正制度的独立性不足,适用的对象过于狭窄,未形成完整的法律体系。在司法实务中,未成年犯适用社区矫正的比例偏低,尤其是外地户籍未成年犯适用社区矫正的比例更低。在执法中,未成年人社区矫正机构尚未专门化,社区矫正工作人员未能实现专业化,也没有针对未成年人的个性化社区矫正项目。     

Promoting Justice in the Delivery of Services to Juvenile Delinquents: The Ecosystemic Natural Wrap-Around Model

Caught between their child and doing the right thing, families of chronic juvenile delinquents often experience a series of injustices in the name of justice. Attempts by the system to correct the delinquency problem often result in the imposition of values and beliefs that negate the family's values, experiences and meanings of their child's behavior. The Ecosystemic Natural Wrap-around (E.N.W.) model attempts to respectfully account for the many influences that maintain problematic interactions, both internal and external, in the nuclear family of chronic juvenile delinquents. The model focuses on a variety of interventions at different levels and contexts, building on the strengths of the family, using the extended family and fictive kin networks, and clarifying the meanings associated with problematic behavior for the multiple players. The model proposed is an integrative theoretical approach, emphasizing systems theory and constructivism.