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Administration Of Justice
Ch. 2
Chapter 2 – The Nature and Extent of Delinquency
Methods of Measuring Crime
Uniform Crime Reports
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Indexed Crimes
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Criminal Homicide
Forcible Rape
Robbery
Aggravated assault
Burglary
Larceny/theft
Motor vehicle theft
Arson </DIR>
Non-Indexed Crimes
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All others </DIR></DIR>
Explaining Crime Trends
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Age
The economy
Social problems
Guns
Gangs
Drugs
Justice Policy </DIR>
Juveniles as Part of the Criminal Population
Official Delinquency
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There were about 1.1 million juvenile arrests for Part II crimes
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93,000 for running away from home
106,000 for curfew violations
101,000 for liquor violations </DIR>
Serious property crime activity peaks at about age 16
Serious violent crime activity peaks at about age 18 </DIR>
Juvenile Crime Trends Are Declining
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Arrests for violent crime peaked in 1994 and then began to fall
Juvenile murder rates have declined since 1993
Since 1997, the juvenile arrest rate for rape has declined 25%. </DIR>
Criticisms of Official Data
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Less than 1/2 the victims report crime!
Police may manipulate data!
Arrests may reflect race, ethnic and age biases!
Arrest criteria may vary by department! </DIR>
Dark Figure of Crime
Self-reported Surveys
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Participants reveal information about themselves, their violations of the law and non-delinquent behavior (status offenses)
Helps to get at "Dark Figure of Crime"
Measures behavior not detected by the police
Accuracy for chronic offenders and drug abusers may be limited </DIR>
Correlation v. Cause
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Correlation is not cause!
Correlation looks at the relationship between delinquency and other factors. </DIR>
The Gender Difference
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Males are more delinquent than females
Female delinquency raising faster
Females more likely to be arrested for running away </DIR>
Racial and Ethnic Differences
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Racial minorities are disproportionately represented in arrest statistics
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Age and Crime
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General agreement
that delinquency
declines with age,
but some believe this
isn’t true for all!
Instead, some believe
a small group persists
in crime at a high rate!
(chronic offenders) </DIR>
Aging Out of Delinquency
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This is the phenomenon that explains why people quit committing delinquent acts or crime BUT does not explain why they start this behavior in the first place! </DIR>
Reasons For The Aging-Out Process
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Growing older means having to face the future.
With maturity comes the ability to resist the "quick fix" to solve problems.
Maturation coincides with increased levels of responsibility. </DIR>
Longitudinal Birth Cohort Research
The Chronic Juvenile Offender
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Who are the chronic juvenile offenders?
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Start delinquent careers at a young age
Have serious and repeated brushes with the law
Build a career in crime
Do not age out of delinquency but continue criminal behavior into adulthood </DIR></DIR>
The "Chronic 6%"
Chronic Juvenile
Offender Studies
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Findings from various studies suggest:
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Chronic offenders dominate the total juvenile crime rate and continue their law-violating careers as adults
Chronic male offenders born into the same family maintained the "chronic delinquent syndrome" but in a more violent manner than their brothers
Efforts of the justice system had little effect on the behavior of chronic offenders
Early and repeated delinquency is the best predictor of adult criminality </DIR></DIR>
Stability in Crime: From Delinquent to Criminal
Crime Victim Surveys
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Asks victims about their encounters with criminals
May also describe people most at risk
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The Nature of Young Victims
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Youth are generally more likely to be victims of crime than are adults:
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They are 20 times more likely to be victims of personal crime than people over age 65 </DIR>
Males are more likely to be victimized than females
African-American young are more likely to be violent crime victims until they reach the age of 16 </DIR>
Internet Victimization
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Predatory criminals use the internet to victimize children in a number of different ways </DIR>
Victim-Offender Relationships
Sacramento City College
3835 Freeport Blvd * Sacramento * CA * 95822
This page was last updated: Tuesday, August 30, 2005 at 10:46:37 AM
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