Individual and contextual influences on delinquency: the role of the single-parent family

Research indicates that children are at risk for delinquency if they live in a single-parent family and if they live in areas with high levels of family disruption. Although there is a substantial amount of research on both the individual and aggregate relationships, examining delinquency at either of these two levels alone is not appropriate. Specifically, families do not exist in isolation as individual-level research inherently assumes, and aggregate research is concerned with explaining rates of delinquency as opposed to explaining influences on individual behavior. The current research used data from thirty-five schools, an important adolescent context, to determine the individual- and school-level effects of single-parent families on delinquency. The results from an overdispersed Poisson HLM regression model suggest both individual and aggregate effects, with a potential buffering effect of intact families regardless of any adolescents' specific family structure.     

Evaluating contextual patterns of delinquency: Gender-based differences

The effects of legal and extralegal variables on sentences are compared for separate samples of male and female felony imprisonment cases from a state justice system. Although no gross sex differences in sentence severity were found, the variables that predict sentence severity were found to differ by sex. Race affected sentence length for men but not for women; employment status affected the sentences of women but not of men. The effect of offense seriousness on sentence length varied by sex. Family status variables were found to have weak and inconsistent effects on the sentences of female offenders. Qualitative analysis of the official narratives of the cases studied revealed some evidence that sex differences in legal processing reflect the influence of patriarchal values.     

A latent structure analysis of delinquency

This paper uses latent structure analysis to develop a construct of delinquency based on a set of frequently used indicators of illegal behavior. Other methods, such as Guttman scaling and factor analytic procedures, are briefly reviewed as similar attempts to identify manifest (observed) variables that may act as indicators of a latent (unobserved or unobservable) variable, delinquency. The basic mathematical properties of the latent structure model employed in this paper are presented and then applied to a set of six self-report measures. The issue of external validity is also examined in a comparative analysis of an additive scale of delinquency and the latent class measure of delinquency. The latent class measure provides a considerable increase in the magnitude of association with such commonly studied correlates as attachment, peer delinquency, and instrumental attitudes toward the law.     

Role of family factors in adolescent delinquency in an Elazig/Turkey reformatory

Family is one of the most important factors in the social and psychological progress of an adolescent. Social behavior disorders in childhood have been reported to be caused by many factors that may lead children to commit a crime. Our study included a total of 106 convicted adolescents from Eastern Turkey in a reformatory and 126 unconvicted adolescents with a similar socio-economic status. A survey form was completed during a face-to-face interview and a review of official records was undertaken. The role of family disruption, education levels of parents, the rate of imprisonment among first- and second-degree relatives, migration as a family from their place of birth, and the number of delinquent children in the family were evaluated. There was a significant difference between the conditions in the families of convicted and unconvicted adolescents. Family factors play an important role in the development of adolescent delinquency. To prevent or decrease this rate of childhood or adolescent delinquency, there needs to be an improvement in the socio-cultural conditions of families.     

Effects of early family/parent training programs on antisocial behavior and delinquency

Based on evidence that early antisocial behavior is a key risk factor for delinquency and crime throughout the life course, early family/parent training, among its many functions, has been advanced as an important intervention/prevention effort. There are several theories concerning why early family/parent training may cause a reduction in child behavior problems including antisocial behavior and delinquency (and have other ancillary benefits in non-crime domains over the life course). The prevention of behavior problems is one of the many objectives of early family/parent training, and it comprises the main focus of this review. Results indicate that early family/parent training is an effective intervention for reducing behavior problems among young children, and the weighted effect size was 0.35. The results from a series of analog to the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and weighted least squares regression models (with random effects) demonstrated that there were significant differences in the effect sizes of studies conducted in the USA versus those conducted in other countries and that studies that were based on samples smaller than 100 children had larger effect sizes. Sample size was also the strongest predictor of the variation in the effect sizes. Additional evidence indicated that early family/parent training was also effective in reducing delinquency and crime in later adolescence and adulthood. Overall, the findings lend support for the continued use of early family/parent training to prevent behavior problems. Future research should test the main theories of early family/parent training and detail more explicitly the causal mechanisms by which early family/parent training reduces delinquency and crime, and future evaluations should employ high quality designs with long-term follow-ups, including repeated measures of antisocial behavior, delinquency, and crime over the life course.

Examining the moderating role of family cohesion on the relationship between witnessed community violence and delinquency in a national sample of adolescents

Witnessed community violence has been linked to a number of internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescents. Guided by Cicchetti and Lynch's (1993) ecological-transactional model, this study aimed to examine the impact that family-level factors had on negative outcomes associated with witnessed community violence. Using a nationally representative sample, we explored the moderational role of family cohesion in the relationship between witnessing community violence and delinquent behavior while taking demographic variables into account. Results from the investigation suggested that low levels of family cohesion were predictive of delinquency after controlling for race, gender, past delinquency, and direct trauma. In addition, the findings suggested that family cohesion moderated the impact of witnessed community violence on future delinquent behavior. Future directions for research and implications for practice were also discussed.     

A meta-analysis update on the effects of early family/parent training programs on antisocial behavior and delinquency

Objective

To update Piquero et al.’s meta-analysis on early family/parent training programs.

Methods

Screening of eligible studies was carried out for the period between January 2008 and August 2015. An additional 23 studies were identified, which were added to the original database of 55 studies, totaling an overall sample of 78 eligible studies. A random-effects model was used to obtain an overall mean effect size estimate. Additional analyses were performed to assess publication bias and moderation.

Results

An overall average, positive, and significant effect size of 0.37 was calculated, which corresponds to 32 out of 100 in a treated group versus 50 out of 100 in a control group who offended. There was some evidence of publication bias and moderation.

Conclusions

Early family/parent training programs are an effective evidence-based strategy for preventing antisocial behavior and delinquency.

     

Take the car keys away: Metropolitan structure and the long road to delinquency

Purpose

This research fulfills a void in offender mobility discourse. Metropolitan socioeconomic and spatial structure, defined in crime pattern theory as the urban backcloth, plays a significant role in shaping travel behavior; and yet, current analysis of offender mobility continues to favor individual characteristics to account for travel range.

Methods

Using a large sample of juveniles, both delinquent and at-risk youth (N = 2,552), this study compared the predictive utility of individual characteristics against indicators of urban backcloth.

Results

Delinquent youth were found to be more sensitive to the environmental conditions exerted by community-level socioeconomic characteristics than their at-risk counterparts. However, two factors—intercity hierarchical structure and motor vehicle access—accounted for travel variability among all youth.

Conclusions

Offending behavior must be examined within the context of a dynamic environmental context formed by the metropolitan socioeconomic and spatial structure. Delinquents constitute an identifiable subgroup of youth.     

An investigation into the empirical relationship between time with peers,friendship, and delinquency

Purpose

Much of the research on peer influence has examined the relationship between peer associations and delinquency. Relatively little empirical research has addressed the effects of delinquent behavior on peer intimacy and time spent with peers. Our research attempts to fill these gaps in the literature as we hypothesize that, net of peer delinquency, delinquents spend more time with their peers but are less closely attached to their peers.

Methods

Using data from two waves of the National Youth Survey (NYS), we present two sets of regression models to account for selection bias resulting from whether respondents reported having friends. To assess the stability of our findings, we supplement our presented findings with extensive use of alternate estimation strategies.

Results

Conclusions regarding our hypotheses do not vary by estimation strategy. Delinquents spend more time with their peers, but delinquents and non-delinquents do not report differences in closeness to their peers.

Conclusions

Given our control variables, our finding introduces complexity in the causal priority between time spent with peers and delinquency. Prior delinquency may be a predictor of more time with peers, but partly as an avenue for opportunities for crime, not for the sake of friendship.     

The current state of gender-specific delinquency programming

Few attempts to identify “what works” in the crime prevention and offender rehabilitation research specifically address gender. The 1992 reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, however, called for new research that would improve the processing and treatment of delinquent girls. This article reviews the relevant theoretical and empirical research that both informed the new legislation and took place in response to it. This is followed by an empirical study conducted to: (1) identify gender-specific programs (GSPs), (2) determine the extent to which GSPs utilize applicable research in their design and implementation, and (3) assess the evidence of GSPs' impact on targeted outcomes. The findings from the current study suggested that, in addition to strengthening program evaluation methodology, gender-specific programs for girls need to more meaningfully incorporate relevant theories and gender-specific risk and protective factors into their curriculum.     

On the relationship of past to future involvement in crime and delinquency: A behavior genetic analysis

Purpose

Criminologists have devoted much attention to identifying the factors that drive stability in antisocial behavior. This body of research has, however, overlooked the contributions of behavior genetic research. This study sought to blend behavior genetics with the different perspectives used by criminologists to explain stability.

Methods

Employing a behavioral genetic research design, the current study analyzed the correlation between adolescent and adulthood crime (a 13 year time span was covered between the two time points) among a sample of sibling pairs drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health).

Results

The findings revealed that genetic factors accounted for nearly all of the stability in offending behavior from adolescence to adulthood. Environmental factors (particularly, of the nonshared variety) accounted for the majority of the changes in offending.

Conclusions

The implications of these results for criminological research and theory are discussed.     

Bibliographical update / The nature and foundations of rights

Edwin J. Delattre, Character and Cops: Ethics in Policing Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1989, xviii + 247 pp.     

论信托关系的法律构造

信托关系的定位应以合同为基础,通过信托财产的独立化与一定的公示机制相结合,使基于合同的信托内部机制得以外部化,为信托关系的对世效力提供法理依据.如此,信托制度才能够既满足信托当事人的各种需要,又能发挥保护第三人和交易安全的弹性功能.     

The relationship between violence in the family of origin and dating violence among college students

Prior research has established that violence in dating relationships is a serious social problem among adolescents and young adults. Exposure to violence during childhood has been linked to dating violence victimization and perpetration. Also known as the intergenerational transmission of violence, the link between violence during childhood and dating violence has traditionally focused on physical violence. This research examines the relationship between experiencing and perpetrating dating violence and exposure to violence in the family of origin. Specifically, the current research examines gender differences in the relationship between exposure to violence during childhood and physical and psychological abuse perpetration and victimization. Data were collected from a sample of approximately 2,500 college students at two southeastern universities. Findings indicate that childhood exposure to violence is a consistent predictor of involvement in relationships characterized by violence for males and females. The implications of the current research on policy are discussed.     

Longitudinal neighborhood profiles in delinquency: The decomposition of change

The methods that traditionally have been used to examine changing spatial distributions of crime and delinquency rates are not able to analyze parsimoniously the full range of within-community variation in these rates over time. In this paper, we present a variant of Bryk and Raudenbush's(Psychol. Bull. 101: 147–158, 1987) hierarchical linear model that can simultaneously examine the full range of within- and between-group variation contained in longitudinal data sets. The method is illustrated through an analysis of the delinquency rates characterizing Chicago's neighborhoods between 1930 and 1970.     

少年违法犯罪生成的社会学分析

少年违法犯罪现象的日益严重引起了全社会的共同关注,从理论上分析和理解少年犯罪的成因是应对和处理少年犯罪的基础。本文从社会学宏观的角度分析了少年社会化过程中社会文化、社会互动以及社会依恋与少年违法犯罪生成的关系,以期揭示少年违法犯罪形成的原因,从而有助于保护少年的健康成长。