Evidence for the crime drop: survey findings from two Finnish cities between 1992 and 2013

In this article, results from self-report studies in two Finnish cities, Helsinki and Turku, are presented. The aims are to compare the prevalence of youth crime between these cities and changes in delinquency during the observation period. In Helsinki, the surveys took place in 1992, 2006 and 2013, and in Turku, the surveys took place in 1992, 2001, and 2013. With the exception of the Turku 2001 survey, all datasets have been collected under the auspices of the International Self-Report Delinquency Study (ISRD). The most recent survey, ISRD3, targeted comprehensive school pupils from grades 7–9 (ages 13–16), while some of the former studies excluded 7th and/or 8th grades. The results show that (1) the delinquency rates are generally higher in Helsinki than in Turku and (2) the prevalence of both property- and violence-related crimes has decreased, while drug use manifested fluctuating or increasing trends. Overall, the findings are consistent with the observation that there has been a relatively general crime drop in the Western world since the 1990s.     

浅析未成年人犯罪的现状、原因及预防对策

近几年来,未成年人犯罪呈上升趋势,预防和防止未成年人犯罪,是一个非常紧迫和重要的任务。未成年人犯罪的现状是:1、在犯罪年龄上有愈来愈小的趋势。2、从犯罪行为来看具有贪利性,智能化的特点。3、从犯罪形式上看,共同犯罪人数增多,具有团伙性。4、具有反复性。     

论轻缓刑事政策对未成年人犯罪的适用

我国刑法中的未成年人犯罪是指已满14周岁不满18周岁的人犯罪。目前我国已满14周岁不满18周岁的未成年人约有近亿人,近年来未成年人犯罪一直呈上升趋势,这一现象已引起国家有关部门及全社会的重视。我国坚持并在世界上首先明确倡导了综合治理犯罪问题和整个社会治安问题的方针,针对由多种错综复杂的因素所制约和影响而产生和加剧的未成年人犯罪问题,我国更是强调应当采取综合治理的对策。对未成年人犯罪的综合治理,无疑是整个社会治安综合治理宏伟工程中非常重要的一个分支工程。在对未成年人犯罪的综合治理中,适用轻缓刑事政策,成为必不可少的一项十分重要的内容,它是构建和谐社会的一项重要内容之一。     

西宁各级法院对未成年犯罪人适用缓刑情况的调研

未成年人犯罪问题已成为当今困扰全球的一大难题,但未成年人作为民族的希望、国家的未来,是法律所保护的对象。随着行刑社会化、轻刑化和教育刑等理论的出现和飞速发展,缓刑制度顺应时代发展,得到了各国的重视和实践。我国一向重视对未成年人的关怀和爱护,随着新《刑法》的施行,其中新增对未成年犯罪人适用缓刑的规定引起了社会各界的广泛关注。新规定实施两年来,各地纷纷取得了一些实践经验和效果。西宁市地处中国西部,当地未成年人犯罪现状、特点及法院适用缓刑状况、效果、经验等都有其地域特点,可资借鉴。     

Defining Gender-Responsive Services in a Juvenile Court Setting

Scholars have documented the importance of developing gender-responsive services for girls in order to address their unique needs and reasons for entering the juvenile justice system. Although researchers have made progress in efforts to develop gender-responsive services, the research and policy literature does not provide a clear definition of what constitutes a gender-responsive approach. This study examined qualitative interviews with juvenile court staff (N?=?39). Court staff lacked familiarity with gender-responsivity and most used the term interchangeably with gender-specificity. However, multiple court staff expressed a need for programming for girls and more research on the effectiveness of gender-responsive services.     

Gender and Juvenile Drug Abuse: A General Strain Theory Perspective

This study is a partial test of Robert Agnew's (2006 Agnew , Robert. 2006 . “Pressured Into Crime: General Strain Theory.” Pp. 201 – 209 in Criminological Theory: Past to Present. , 3rd ed. , edited by F. T. Cullen and R. Agnew . Oxford , England : Oxford University Press . [Google Scholar]) general strain theory. The sample consists of 39,879 juveniles between the ages of 10 and 17 from a metropolitan area in Texas with more than 5 million people. Logistic regression is used to determine the effect of living situation on drug offenders, drug recidivists, and juvenile court case outcome when race, abuse, sex, and mental health problems are controlled. Gender-specific analysis is used to test L. Broidy and R. Agnew's (1997 Agnew , Robert and Timothy Brezina . 1997 . “Relational Problems With Peers, Gender, and Delinquency.” Youth & Society 84 – 111 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) hypothesis that girls and boys react differently to strain. Results show partial support for the influence of a strained living situation on drug offenders, drug recidivists, and case outcome. Support is found for the hypothesis that boys' and girls' experiences with strain differ.     

Focusing on Girls and Young Women

Abstract

As part of a nationally-funded effort to examine female delinquency, focus groups with girls and young women involved in the juvenile justice system were conducted in ten California counties. This article presents data from these focus groups and provides a detailed picture of the gendered perspective of these respondents in terms of the individual and social factors that contribute to risky behavior and delinquency among girls and young women. Family problems, including relationships with parents and communication problems, running away, abuse issues and substance use were factors most often discussed. Gang issues and violence were also identified as problems among a minority of girls and young women. Problems with school and the early onset of sexual behavior are also related to high-risk behaviors.     

Exploring community protection

This is an attempt to provide conceptual clarity to the community protection component of Pennsylvania’s restorative justice enterprise. After a brief background of the legislative changes to Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system and the theoretical development of restorative justice, data from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania are utilized to define and measure what is meant by community protection.     

Ethnic differences in the relationship between psychopathy and (re)offending in a sample of juvenile delinquents

The present study focused on the relationship between psychopathy and delinquency in a multiethnic sample of juvenile offenders (N=207, n=105 native Dutch, and n=102 immigrants) referred to a treatment program. Aims were (1) to examine the cross-ethnic equivalence of the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD); (2) to compare the mean levels of psychopathic traits in native Dutch and immigrant juvenile delinquents and (3) the strength of the associations between psychopathic traits and delinquency in both the native Dutch and immigrant samples. Measurement invariance was established for APSD factors assessing callous-unemotional (CU) traits and impulsivity. However, there were ethnic differences in the factor structure of narcissism. No differences were found between ethnic groups in mean levels of CU traits and impulsivity. Finally, the association between impulsivity and self-reported delinquency was stronger for native Dutch than for immigrant juveniles. Further research is needed in order to make the treatment of juvenile delinquents with psychopathic traits in ethnic minority groups more effective according to the specific needs of these juveniles.     

Feeling guilty to remain innocent: the moderating effect of sex on guilt responses to rule-violating behavior in adolescent legal socialization

Legal socialization researchers have ignored the role of emotions such as guilt to explain rule-violating behavior (RVB). The purpose of Study 1 was to determine if anticipated guilt or guilt proneness was a better predictor of RVB. Participants were 325 university students who completed an online questionnaire. Correlations indicated that both measures were related significantly to RVB; however, when both were entered into a multiple regression as predictors, only anticipated guilt was significant. This suggested that anticipated guilt was a stronger predictor of RVB than guilt proneness. The purpose of Study 2 was to investigate the effects of anticipated guilt on future RVB while controlling for the integrated legal socialization variables. Participants were 283 middle school and 187 high school students. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to predict students' future engagement in RVB. Anticipated guilt predicted RVB for middle school and high school students. However, sex moderated these effects. Male students low in anticipated guilt committed more RVBs than male students high in guilt. Female high school students showed a similar effect but not at the same magnitude as the male students. Guilt had no significant effect on RVB for female middle school students. Implications for the findings are discussed.