Nature of Delinquency

Chapter III

The Nature of Delinquency

· VARIETIES OF DELINQUENT BEHAVIOR

· From Mentally Disturbed to Well Adjusted

· From Striving for Acceptance to “Just Business”

· From Means of Survival to Hedonistic Behavior

· From Individual to Highly Organized Behavior

· From Restricted Acts to Generic Deviation

· From Prankish Behavior to Intended Harm

· From the Isolated Act to Chronic Behavior

· From Status Offenses to Criminal Law Violations

Some Words of Caution

· These variations have been presented merely to illustrate that “delinquents,” like humans in general, cannot be described as one-dimensional.

· In short, there is no real “typical delinquent.”

· No one single act is the same as another

Take the context of “assaults” for example

· A young girl who has been habitually running away from home (often for a very good reason, such as sexual abuse) attempts to run one more time but her mother gets in her way and the girl “bumps” into her on the way out the door.

· According to the law, the mother can file an “assault” charge against the daughter which immediately transforms what is really a “status offense” to a “delinquent” offense, with a more serious punishment to follow.

· I have heard stories that some probation officers advise parents who want more control over their “delinquent” daughters to get in their way purposely in order to warrant a charge of “assault”

Property Crimes

· Shoplifting – the all American crime

· One-third of males and one-fourth of females have shoplifted

· Peer group importance

· Hanging out together in shopping malls a common practice

· Consumerism is a big part of our culture

· Burglary

· Theft from automobiles and vending machines also common

· Vandalism

· Mostly a male offense (about 90%)

· Most common in affluent societies – rare in poor societies

· School property is one of the most common, but so are parks, public transportation facilities, libraries, churches, houses, cars, parking meters, vending machines

· Mostly a group activity

· Three types:

· Wanton - nonutilitarian

· Predatory – economically oriented

· Vindictive – “hate crime” targeting specific groups

Graffiti: A Special Form of Vandalism

· Gangs use graffiti to:

· identify their existence (to tell others who they are)

· mark a specific area as their turf (for example, by writing on a wall, a building, or other structure)

· challenge rival gangs, and to commemorate members who have died in battles.

· Graffiti can be used as a “newspaper of the street” or a community memo.

· Modern gang graffiti serves the following purposes:

· Identifying the Neighborhood of the Gang (VP-13 )

· Making Certain Pronouncements (challenge/show disrespect for a rival gang)

· Commemorating the Dead (RIP)

· Using Numbers (Ace, Duce, Trey).

· Identifying Subgroups, Cliques, and Sets (LxL = Little Locos)

· Location (w/s V13 ‘= Venice 13)

· Taggers (ACME, BNEE, ASTRO)

Joyriding

· Four motivations for motor-vehicle theft:

· Joyriding

· Transportation

· Commission of other crimes

· Commercial theft.

· Joyriding is often defined as “operating a motor vehicle without the owner’s permission”

· While most auto thieves have extensive records, those who engage in joyriding do not.

· This is typically a teenage crime, and the perpetrators are not “career criminals”

· The automobile is extremely important in U.S. culture, as it often means freedom

· Rite of passage for teens is getting a license – no wonder most crimes peak around age 16

· Automobiles represent another aspect of U.S. capitalism where property and money are like gods, worshipped and protected as such.

Violent Crimes

· With the help of a few nearsighted criminologists (plus a few other conservative politicians)

· The Culture of Fear – media driven fear of crime and terrorists, etc.

· Fostered by the “it could happen anywhere to anyone” myth.

· To be distinguished from ordinary precautions one uses (look both ways before crossing the street, lock your doors, etc.)

· Guns

· ¾ of murdered kids killed by guns

· US rate for kids under 18 killed by a gun = 0.94 vs. 0.06 in15 other industrialized democracies

· Of course, it is not only the guns, as it also stems from a culture of violence in our society

· We love violence and we pay billions of dollars to see it on TV and the movie screen resulting in billions of dollars in advertising revenue for the nightly news—hence the popular phrase, “If it bleeds, it leads.”

The Demographic Fallacy

· More Kids Does Not Equal More Crime!

· Note how wrong were the predictions of criminologist James Alan Fox

· California study by Males and Macallair found that:

· Violent crime arrest rates between 1978 and 1998 actually increased the most for those between the ages of 30 and 49, rather than the 10–17 age group. The older group’s arrest rate went up by 97 percent, compared to a decrease of 32 percent for the 10–17 age group

· During the 1980s the violent crime rate for juveniles went up, yet California’s teenage population declined. Then in the 1990s the violent crime rate went down, while the teen population was going up

Gang Violence

· Joan Moore’s study found higher rates of violence among Chicano gangs of East LA during the 1970s and 1980s than during the Post WWII era – why?

· More intent on hurting someone, greater impersonality of violence and the decline of the “fair fight,” increase in “locura” (craziness), need to outdo the reputation of their predecessors, along with the “code of the barrio.”

· Guns - You don’t have to be a good shot with modern weapons.

· Also, selling drugs, with weapons becoming part of “doing business.”

· Reminiscent of blood feuds, as they involve people who grew up together in the same area and intimacy often increases feelings and high emotions.

· Growing numbers of alienated young males in barrios and ghettos, with little hope.

· Perhaps this relates to the differences between modern inner-city youth with those growing up in the Post WW II era – perhaps back then there was more hope

Gang Members as Defiant Individualists

· Violence among gang members is often used to enhance one’s status and reputation and in general to assert one’s masculinity

· For example, by using violence to control people and/or territory.

· Jankowski argues that the surrounding environment where most gang members live is plagued by scarce resources and that violence is a natural state of affairs.

· May relate to Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs – in this case survival needs and protection

· While fear is what often keeps violence levels down, there is also the need to enhance one’s reputation and status – while more educated middle and upper class males have more avenues for status, ghetto and barrio youth have fewer

· Engaging in violence earns rewards

· Anxiety about injury or death is mediated by a belief (common among soldiers in war) in invincibility and, in turn, immortality.

· Gang members are socialized within the gang to appreciate their fallen brothers.

· Violence is often associated with frustration and anger, which emerge from three main sources.

· Verbal combat (the “dozens”)

· Women.

· Physiological reactions to the deprivation of food, inadequate rest, and the taking of drugs. A poor diet, drugs, lack of sleep causes irritation, fatigue, and the inability to control emotions.

Status Offenses

• Typically Includes the following

– Runaways

– Curfew violations

– Truancy

– Incorrigible, unmanageable, etc.

Runaways

• Between 1.3 and 1.4 million youths run away from home each year and more than 12,000 run away from juvenile facilities

• as many as 500,000 youths are by themselves on the streets of large cities

• Running away from home typically follows a lengthy period of intense family conflict.

• What usually occurs is abuse or overly strict discipline or, in many cases, both. Runaways often feel unwanted, abused, neglected and rejected by their parents.

Types of Runaways

• Running to

• Running from

• Thrown out

– Highest rate of criminal activity and had histories of chronic acting-out and anti-social behavior.

• Forsaken