Social Class and Delinquent Behavior in a National Youth Panel: 1976–1980

This article addresses the question of whether or not a more adequate measure of self-reported delinquency applied to a representative national sample would reveal class differences in r l e l i m that have not been found in earlier self-report studies. The methodological criticisms of earlier self-report measures are reviewed, a new self-report measure is described, annual sex-by-class-specific prevalence and incidence rates based on this measure are presented for a national youth panel for the years 1976 through 1980, and the implications of the class findings are discussed. Class differences in both prevalence and incidence are found for serious offenses. For males, class differences are also found in the incidence of nonserious offenses and global delinquency Class differences are more pervasive and stronger when using an incidence as opposed to a prevalence measure. Criticisms of earlier self report measures appear Justified, calling into Question conclusions about the distribution of delinquency in the adolescent population which are based on prim self-report data.     

GANGS,DRUGS, AND DELINQUENCY IN A SURVEY OF URBAN YOUTH*

Youth delinquent gangs have been given considerable academic and media attention during the past decade. Much of the attention has focused on the violence and drug dealing in which gang members are assumed to be involved. Recent knowledge about gangs has relied primarily on data obtained from police gang units and from observational or case studies. Very little information has been derived from surveys or interviews with a more general sample of youths. In this paper, data from the Denver Youth Survey, a longitudinal study of families, are used to examine: (1) the prevalence and demographic composition of gangs: (2) the degree to which gang members are involved in illegal activities: and (3) the temporal relationship between criminal offending and gang membership.     

Unique Experiment in French Black Africa

The address that follows was given by the International Correspondentof "Nieuwe Rotterdamse Courant" at a joint meeting of the RoyalAfrican Society and the Royal Commonwealth Society on November6, 1958. Earl De La Warr, president of the Royal CommonwealthSociety, took the chair.     

Africa, the Continent of To-morrow's Trouble

The pessimism of this brilliant Dutch journalist, who recentlyspent 8 months in Africa as Special Correspondent of the ManchesterGuardian and the Nieuwa Rotterdamse Courant, was deliberate.But he failed to provoke his December audience in his attackon the "extraordinary and, I think, dangerous absence of anyco-ordination in the principles, the policies, the aims of thevarious European rulers", and his implicit argument that WestAfrican Home Rule means Self-Government, Self-Government meansSecession, Secession means the end of Western culture. Readersmay like to ponder his remarks for themselves, especially hisisolation of the "aristocratic principle" and the "majorityprinciple" as the key to the internal crack in European civilisation.     

Indications of goal displacement induced by budget cuts and output management: a case study of a regulatory enforcement agency in the Netherlands

A case study was conducted at a regulatory enforcement agency in the Netherlands to explore whether it might be affected by goal displacement and, if so, to gain insight into the possible causes of the phenomenon. The results indicate three distinct types of goal displacement, each of which appears to substantially impair the effectiveness of the agency in a specific way. It is argued that the combination of multiple, consecutive budget cuts imposed on the agency and a strong culture of output management have played a key role in generating goal displacement. In more general terms, the study shows the potential usefulness of a goal displacement perspective in investigating the effectiveness of enforcement agencies.     

HIERARCHICAL MANAGEMENT MONITORING: A Regional Data Collection System in Delinquency

We describe a systematic way of collecting and organizing information on juvenile delinquency. Monthly data are collected from agencies such as police, courts, and corrections, by county and city. These data are aggregated into figures for different levels of administrative responsibility (such as counties, districts, areas, states, and region as a whole). Trends in monthly values are automatically detected, and sudden changes in rates are signaled. Agencies at each administrative level receive appropriate feedback of data on rates, trends, and signals.     

THE ROLE OF ARREST IN DOMESTIC ASSAULT: THE OMAHA POLICE EXPERIMENT *

This paper reports on a replication of the Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment in Omaha, Nebraska. Suspects who were eligible for the experiment were randomly assigned to one of three police dispositions: mediation, separation, or arrest. No differences by disposition were found in prevalence or frequency of repeat offending, using jive measures of recidivism to assess outcome six months after police intervention. A survival analysis, using three of the measures for which dates of failure were available, also produced no differences by disposition