Juvenile Crime ,Juvenile Justice

Even though youth crime rates have fallen since the mid-1990s, public fear and political rhetoric over the issue have heightened. The Columbine shootings and other sensational incidents add to the furor. Often overlooked are the underlying problems of child poverty, social disadvantage, and the pitfalls inherent to adolescent decision-making that contribute to youth crime. From a policy standpoint, adolescent offenders are caught in the crossfire between nurturance of youth and punishment of criminals, between rehabilitation and "get tough" pronouncements. In the midst of this emotional debate, the National Research Council's Panel on Juvenile Crime steps forward with an authoritative review of the best available data and analysis. Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice presents recommendations for addressing the many aspects of America's youth crime problem. The book explores desistance--the probability that delinquency or criminal activities decrease with age--and evaluates different approaches to predicting future crime rates.

Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice presents what we know and what we urgently need to find out about contributing factors, ranging from prenatal care, differences in temperament, and family influences to the role of peer relationships, the impact of the school policies toward delinquency, and the broader influences of the neighborhood and community. Equally important, this book examines a range of solutions to include, prevention and intervention efforts directed to individuals, peer groups, and families, as well as day care-, school- and community-based initiatives; intervention within the juvenile justice system; the role of the police; processing and detention of youth offenders; transferring youths to the adult judicial system; and residential placement of juveniles.

In response to the rise in juvenile violence and predictions of an upcoming wave of increasingly violent youth, most states have stiffened their laws relating to juvenile justice, including measures that mandate, youngsters to be transferred to the adult system at younger ages and for a greater variety of offenses. Research has begun to identify factors that may increase the risk of juvenile crime. Research has also led to the design and evaluation of programs to prevent it. These developments led the panel to examine what is known about juvenile crime and its prevention, treatment, and control.

The Panel on Juvenile Crime: Prevention, Treatment, and Control was asked to identify and analyze the full range of research studies and data sets that bear on the nature of juvenile crime, highlighting key issues and data sources that can provide evidence of prevalence and seriousness; race, gender, and class bias in the juvenile justice system; and impacts of deterrence, punishment, and prevention strategies. The panel was further asked to analyze the factors that contribute to delinquent behavior, including a review of the knowledge on child and adolescent development and its implications for prevention and control; to assess the current practices of the juvenile justice system, including the implementation of constitutional safeguards; to examine adjudication, detention, and waiver practices; to explore the role of community and institutional settings; to assess the quality of data sources on the clients of both public and private juvenile justice facilities; and to assess the impact of the deinstitutionalization mandates of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 on delinquency and community safety.

Risk factors for delinquency can be identified when studying individuals, social environments, and communities. The panel noted that predictions are no more accurate in identifying who will become a criminal than medical predictions are for identifying who will have a heart attack or develop lung cancer. In both domains, however, knowledge about risk factors can enhance preventive actions.

Early developmental factors have been shown to be related to adolescent delinquent behavior. Research suggests that prenatal and perinatal disadvantages (such as exposure to drugs, low birth weight, and trauma) become risks for delinquency. Studies suggest that poor language development and lack of empathy may be consequences of parental neglect. Deficiencies in language put a child at risk for school difficulties and delinquency. Children who do not learn to inhibit normal early physically aggressive behavior by about 3 years of age or who are highly physically aggressive are at high risk of becoming involved in juvenile crime, as are children with conduct disorder