Myth versus Reality: Comparing the Depiction of Juvenile Delinquency in Metropolitan Newspapers with Arrest Data*

While the extant literature on the social construction of crime in the media is extensive, little literature exists on the media's construction of juvenile delinquency in newspapers, particularly in small cities. Even though smaller metropolitan areas have lower crime rates, how these newspapers construct delinquency undoubtedly impacts the attitudes, behaviors, and fears of residents, perhaps more so than in larger metropolitan areas. The purpose of this research is to assess how newspapers from five of the smallest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) socially construct juvenile delinquency, offenders and victims, and to assess whether or not these images perpetuate myths related to juvenile delinquency. An analysis of 231 articles indicates that small‐MSA newspapers construct an inaccurate image of juvenile offenders that significantly promotes the myth of juveniles as violent predators. Specifically, juvenile offenders are constructed as violent predators with innocent, random victims. In contrast, newspapers construct a more accurate picture of victims, with females represented as the most common juvenile victim, and sexual assault victimization as the most common of all juvenile violent crime victimization.     

Recidivism and Resilience in Juvenile Sexual Offenders: An Analysis of the Literature

SUMMARY

The majority of research that exists studying juvenile sex offenders (JSOs) is dominated by the predilection that identifying risk factors associated with recidivism will benefit both the JSOs and treatment providers. Further, the majority of existing treatments are guided by research that has identified what makes JSOs more likely to reoffend. Absent from the majority of the literature is an examination of the strengths and positive characteristics demonstrated by JSOs that may prove useful in both reducing recidivism and increasing the likelihood of achieving positive outcomes (i.e., demonstrating resilience). Research examining known risk factors for sexual and nonsexual recidivism is described. Next, literature on resilience is reviewed, followed by a discussion of this literature in the context of treatment for JSOs. Finally, future directions of research are presented.     

论家庭暴力与青少年犯罪

由于家庭暴力的隐蔽性使社会难以干预、相关法律法规的可操作性不强以及公安机关处置不力等原因，家庭暴力仍是引发青少年犯罪的重要因素。要通过完善相关法律法规、普及青少年咨询求助机构、强化学校教育素质的功能以及发挥公安机关的职能作用等途径防治家庭暴力，减少青少年犯罪。     

The Family and Juvenile Delinquency*

This paper examines the effect of various “family variables” on the etiology of juvenile delinquency. These self-report data are unique in that they are from reports by parents of their child's behavior, the nature of the child's life at home, and parental perceptions of their relationship with the child. How the family and delinquency literature fit into control theory's conceptualization of the importance of a child's attachment to the family as a determinant of delinquency is evaluated. Variables measuring (1) family structure, (2) poor parental characteristics, (3) household characteristics, and (4) parent-child relationships are examined. The attachment variable was found to be the strongest predictor of delinquency and helps to “interpret” the effects of other variables that are significantly related to delinquency. The variables that predict male delinquency were found to be different from those that predict female delinquency. Characteristics of the parents' marriage play an important role for boys, while misbehavior of girls is more strongly predicted by variables measuring parent-child interaction and parental control.     

青少年犯罪及其相关司法问题

我国近年来的青少年犯罪率不断升高，呈现出令人担忧的急剧增长趋势。由于发育年龄提前和频繁接受暴力文化影响等原因，不满14周岁的未成年人危害社会的行为逐渐增多。中国青少年人口总量由低谷开始攀升，将进入一个稳步上升期，而目前中国整体犯罪率，包括青少年犯罪率都处于上升状态，未来5年青少年犯罪总量将进一步增加。本文在分析青少年犯罪现状的基础上，对其相关的司法保护问题进行分析，并提出促进青少年健康成长的意见。     

Treatment Strategies for Juvenile Delinquency: Alternative Solutions

Social workers involved in the treatment of adjudicated youth commonly encounter youth sentenced to traditional incarceration or parole as a path to rehabilitation. This article examines alternative treatment strategies for adjudicated youth, namely Victim Offender Reconciliation Programs (often called mediation), Boot Camps, and Wrap-Around Community-Based Care, to help these youth avoid reoffending. While popular with the media, policymakers, or the general public, an evaluation of the literature makes it clear that these programs do not necessarily guarantee lower recidivism rates for program participants. It is evident that further research and evaluation must be done in order to more fully understand the drawbacks and benefits of alternative strategies, and to more appropriately help adjudicated youth and their communities.     

未成年人犯罪对青少年价值观的诘问

分析认识青少年人生观、价值观扭曲的现实,是做好青少年思想道德教育工作的必要前提。运用了全国未成年犯调查资料,对未成年犯和中学生的价值观进行了比较。结果显示：不良的媒介偏好、偶像崇拜、闲暇意愿以及不正确的成功取向、交友倾向等方面的比例均是未成年犯明显高于中学生。研究认为应积极应对大众传媒不良信息对青少年的深层渗透,重视同伴教育在青少年价值观形成中的作用和道德实践。     

预防青少年犯罪:香港经验及其启示

青少年犯罪是当今全球城市发展面临的一个重大问题。香港社会预防青少年犯罪的主要做法包括强化专职机构建设、构建多元综合服务网络、营造良好社会氛围、推行新高中学制、实施警司警讯计划、开展禁毒教育和服务等。国内其他城市和地区为了有效防范青少年犯罪,应该加强专业机构建设、综合服务体系建构、以家庭为主的核心价值体系建设、依法维护青少年合法权益等工作。     

青少年偶像崇拜偏差的原因及应对策略

偶像崇拜是青少年中普遍存在的社会心理现象.青少年偶像崇拜偏差包含两个层面的含义:一是崇拜对象的偏差,二是崇拜层次的偏差.青少年崇拜偶像偏差现象与青少年"理想我"和"现实我"的冲突、同侪崇拜的心理、青少年思维品质的表面化与片面化、归属需要引发的从众心理、晕轮效应式的审美心理及大众传媒的舆论及宣传偏向等因素有关.对青少年偶像崇拜进行正确的引导也要从这几个方面入手.     

未成年人犯罪惩罚与矫正的系统理论考察

未成年人犯罪应当与社会系统的演进结合在一起。现代社会对未成年人犯罪的研究与实践是基于不同社会系统所产生的二阶观察。不同社会子系统通过不同的二元符码区分来观察未成年人犯罪问题,从而也不可避免地产生系统理性的冲突。需要通过系统间的结构耦合来弥合系统理性间的差异。结构耦合不易形成,未成年人犯罪问题的福利主义政策失败便是例证。基于社会科学与政治福利政策环境因素的介入,使得法律的条件程式判断与未来发生的事实便存在冲突的风险。未成年人犯罪的法律判断不能舍弃,也无法通过道德话语的构建弥合。引入具有未来事项判断的反思法模式和关系性程式是缓解法律事实判断与未成年人发展之间冲突的有益尝试。     

Random Acts of Delinquency: Trauma and Self-Destructiveness in Juvenile Offenders

This article provides an explanatory model of the way in which trauma leads to serious delinquency. Using perspectives from information processing, social learning, and self-regulation theories, we present evidence to suggest that adolescents whose lives were shaped by trauma perceive and encode social cues differently than non-traumatized individuals. A number of assessment tools and therapeutic interventions are recommended, followed by suggestions for advocating on the behalf of adolescents incarcerated in the juvenile justice system.     

Delinquency Interrupted: Research into and Inside of Juvenile Correctional Facilities

Incarcerated juveniles are a largely invisible population in the United States. Research into training schools and other juvenile correctional facilities has uncovered a sordid history of good intentions and bad practices. Juvenile correctional facilities are generally considered a less harmful environment for serious delinquents than adult prisons but a much more severe sanction than alternative community programs or treatment would be. Studies have shown that juveniles in confinement face similar deprivation and many of the same pains of imprisonment ( Sykes 1958 ) as adult prisoners, but the more pressing threat to adolescent inmates may be to their psychological selves rather than their physical being. New research on adolescent brain development is garnering attention and sparking questions about the culpability and punishment of juvenile offenders, even as public opinion research suggests that there is fairly widespread support for rehabilitation and a social‐welfare oriented juvenile justice system. By listening and giving voice to incarcerated youth and their “keepers,” investigating the conditions of confinement, and continuing to evaluate programs and outcomes, researchers are positioned to play a key role in the future of juvenile justice and juvenile correctional facilities.     

Juvenile Delinquency Under Conditions of Rapid Social Change

Increased juvenile delinquency can be seen as an indicator for a deteriorating social fabric under conditions of rapid social change. Criminological theories suggest, however, that such conditions do not per se produce delinquency: They force youth into prodelinquent leisure activities with peers, leading to an endorsement of delinquent behavior and offering the infrastructure for it. Resources acquired in family and public life, however, may prevent youth from drifting into such prodelinquent leisure activities and indirectly from delinquent behavior. Empirical tests of these hypotheses have to employ simultaneous analyses of societal-level and individual-level data. On the basis of an international youth study, the paper undertakes such an analysis: In the years 1992–95, data from 42 independent samples of seventh graders from East and West Germany, Poland, Russia, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czechia, and Greece were surveyed. Data on deviant school behavior, delinquent drift, nurturant parenting, and subjective feelings of justice in public were obtained from 7282 thirteen- to fourteen-year-olds. Processes of rapid social change were incorporated as data on changes in GNP in the years proceeding the surveys. Analyses show that delinquent drift is a valid predictor of deviant school behavior only on the individual level. The extent to which adolescents engage in prodelinquent peer activities depends more on the cultural context in which adolescents live than on their personal experience in the family and in public. Nurturant parenting does, however, covary negatively with deviant school behavior irrespective of level of analysis.     

新加坡预防青少年违法犯罪机制及启示

预防青少年违法犯罪机制的完善,不仅关系到社会和家庭的稳定,而且关系到青少年权益的保障。新加坡预防青少年违法犯罪机制的构建十分完善,他们所采取的以预防、执行和康复为重点的策略,以及开展学校研讨班、校外青年项目、同伴协调项目、发行全国指导手册、建立社区网络论坛和全国指导网络等新措施值得我国借鉴。     

Cool Pose,Black Manhood,and Juvenile Delinquency

The historical construct of American manhood is that of White male dominance. Black boys who realize that their access to traditional manhood is limited then shape their sub-cultural response, called Cool Pose. Cool Pose facilitates the stereotype of Black boys as both delinquent and intellectually inferior; Black boys gain acceptance and respect among peers by acting out and performing below intellectual capacity. Cool Pose is critical to the study of juvenile delinquency. Ultimately, Black boys must learn to value traditional concepts of manhood apart from those rooted in sub-cultural experiences.