Will Diversion Reduce Recidivism?

1976 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 428-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Lundman
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Juvenile Justice System ◽  
Delinquent Behavior ◽  
Labeling Theory ◽  
Diversion Programs ◽  
Symbolic Interactionist ◽  
And Control

This paper describes diversion from the juvenile justice system, among the newest of the strategies adopted to prevent and control delinquent behavior; specifies the sociological origins of diversion programs, with special attention to the symbolic interactionist tradition, labeling theory, and labeling research; and considers certain problems and implications of diversion programs. The essential conclusion drawn is that diversion will probably not reduce recidivism or correct existing abuses.

Juvenile Diversion and the Family: How Youth and Parents Experience Diversion Programming

2021 ◽  
pp. 009385482110138
Author(s):  
Mark Magidson ◽  
Taylor Kidd
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Juvenile Justice System ◽  
Labeling Theory ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Diversion Programs ◽  
Diversion Program ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Parent Child

Despite extensive research into juvenile justice interventions, there is a limited focus on family engagement, including parent–child experiences in these various programs. Even less research explores how families, specifically youth and parents, are affected by diversion from the traditional juvenile justice system. The current study fills this gap by drawing from in-depth interviews with 19 parents and 19 youths participating in a juvenile pretrial diversion program in Southern California. This research highlights how a diversion program can influence how families understand the justice system and law-related behaviors. The themes discussed include how diversion programs shape parent–child bonds, how parents navigate negative indictments of youth and themselves for participating in diversion, and the influence of external challenges and social forces shaping youth and parent experiences. Findings support the theoretical contributions from social bond and labeling theory. Implications and future research will also be discussed.

Too Little Too Late

Dream Denied ◽  
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaela Soyer
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Inner City ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Juvenile Justice System ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Top Down ◽  
And Control

Chapter 3 focuses on the youths’ experiences of the punitive and rehabilitative aspects of juvenile justice. This chapter contextualizes depictions of inner-city men as being subject to top-down control mechanisms within a range of alternatives. Left without any support from the juvenile justice system, poverty and violence are as limiting as constant supervision and control.

The Impact of Victimization, Mental Health Problems, and Disabilities on Juvenile Justice Processing: Does Gender Matter?

2020 ◽  
pp. 001112872095002
Author(s):  
Allison T. Chappell ◽  
Scott R. Maggard
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Juvenile Justice System ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Delinquent Behavior ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
The Impact

Victimization, mental health problems, and disabilities are associated with an increased likelihood of delinquent behavior, and girls in the juvenile justice system report higher rates of past trauma and victimization, sexual abuse, and mental health issues than boys. However, the influence of these problems on juvenile justice processing remains understudied. This study investigated the impact of victimization, mental health problems, disabilities, and comorbidity on intake and adjudication decisions across gender. Data on 74,636 intake cases were obtained from the centralized database of the juvenile justice office in a mid-Atlantic state (FY 2011–2015). Findings suggest that mental health problems, victimization, and disabilities are associated with increased punitiveness at intake but few consistent gender differences emerged. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

scholarly journals Devenir adulte sous contrainte

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 58-73
Author(s):  
Marie Dumollard
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Transition To Adulthood ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Juvenile Justice System ◽  
And Control

This article examines the support provided by Quebec’s juvenile justice system for young people classified as offenders who transition to adulthood and who are in open custody. Analyzing life-course narratives of these young people, it highlights the paradoxical nature of penal interventions that, vacillating between support and control, simultaneously enable and constrain the development of autonomy. Faced with restrictive and contradictory institutional regulations, young people adapt their relationship to socio-judicial services by adopting three types of attitude.

Alcohol and Drug Offenders in the Juvenile Justice System: Are There Differentials in Handling?

1982 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles F. Frazier ◽  
Roberto Hugh Potter
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Offenders ◽  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Juvenile Justice System ◽  
Control Policy ◽  
Treatment Programs ◽  
Drug Offenders ◽  
Alcohol And Drug Use ◽  
And Control ◽  
Drug And Alcohol

The American stance on law and control policy relating to alcohol and drug use has been replete with vacillations. Decriminalization and treatment oriented responses have emerged alongside continued support for laws calling for stiffer penalties and stepped up enforcement. In this situation, concern has grown over the possibilities that liberal legislation is subverted in actual practice to serve other purposes. It is feared offenders may be coerced into alternative sentences in the name of treatment and that such treatments may ultimately be more restrictive than traditional punitive dispositions. The present study examines the dispositions of juvenile offenders at three levels in the justice system. Alcohol and drug of fenders are compared to other offender types. Our data show no significant differentials in the severity of disposition alcohol and drug offenders receive. Moreover, the data show that youths violating drug and alcohol statutes are no more likely than other offender types at the same level of offense seriousness of being coerced into treatment programs.

Discrimination or Sex Differences? Criteria for Evaluating the Juvenile Justice System's Handling of Minor Offenses

1987 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josefina Figueira-McDonough
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Juvenile Justice System ◽  
Delinquent Behavior ◽  
School Attachment ◽  
Causal Factors ◽  
Gender Group ◽  
Group A ◽  
Males And Females

The overrepresentation of female minor offenders in the juvenile justice system and the more severe handling of them than of males committing the same type of offense have come under attack as evidence of discriminatory practices. Defenders of the system claim that official statistics reflect de facto differences in the delinquent behavior of boys and girls and that differences in treatment correspond to the different needs of each gender group. A review of recent research invalidates such justifications by showing that (1) there is no evidence of gender specialization in behavior classified as minor offenses, and (2) the causal factors explaining involvement in minor delinquency are much the same for boys and girls. Furthermore, school attachment, at the peak age of involvement in minor delinquency (15-16), appears to function equally for males and females as a stronger restraint than family attachments. It is concluded that schools should play a much more central role in prevention programs for both groups.

Young Offenders, ‘Secure Colleges’ and Reforming Criminals

2015 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zia Akhtar
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Juvenile Justice System ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Young Offenders ◽  
The Uk ◽  
And Control

The UK government has decided on a policy goal that is set out in the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill 2014. This goal is to invest in ‘Secure Colleges’, which are institutions planned to make young criminals ‘better citizens not better criminals’. The question is: What is the role of punishment: deterrence, incapacitation or rehabilitation? This article considers the juvenile justice system in Scotland with reference to the objectives set out in the Kilbrandon Report in 1964 and evaluates the perspective of early criminologists who state that offenders exercise a free choice in embarking on a life of crime. It is also evaluated in the light of those empirical studies that expose the harsh discipline and control in prisons as ‘oppressive’ and not likely to reform the offenders. The UK policy regarding young offenders underwent a change after the James Bulger murder in 1993 and became a deterrence-based approach. This has led to measures on both sides of the border which were retributive, such as the lowering of the age of criminal responsibility and the early intervention of probation services. This article considers the modern themes of juvenile justice and argues that the ‘Secure Colleges’ will be a corrective institution that should inculcate a more informed policy towards reintegration for the young offenders so that they emerge from the criminal justice system as improved citizens after completing their sentence.

Evaluatin the Impact of Juvenile Diversion Programs

1976 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 411-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Don C. Gibbons ◽  
Gerald F. Blake
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Juvenile Justice System ◽  
Evaluation Studies ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Diversion Programs ◽  
Hard Evidence ◽  
Juvenile Diversion ◽  
The Impact

One of the major current fads in criminal and juvenile justice programing is diversion of offenders. At the same time, little hard evidence exists in support of diversion policies. Nine studies of the outcomes of specific juvenile diversion programs are reviewed in this paper, along with an investigation of the impact of diversion programs upon the juvenile justice system in Los Angeles County. Most of these evaluation studies were flawed by small sample numbers and other methodological defects. As a result, it cannot yet be said that diversion arguments and proposals are buttressed by firm research support.

Girls' Crime and Woman's Place: Toward a Feminist Model of Female Delinquency

1989 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meda Chesney-Lind
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Young Women ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Juvenile Justice System ◽  
Delinquent Behavior ◽  
Survival Strategies ◽  
Female Delinquency ◽  
Women's Oppression ◽  
The Relationship

This article argues that existing delinquency theories are fundamentally inadequate to the task of explaining female delinquency and official reactions to girls' deviance. To establish this, the article first reviews the degree of the androcentric bias in the major theories of delinquent behavior. Then the need for a feminist model of female delinquency is explored by reviewing the available evidence on girls' offending. This review shows that the extensive focus on disadvantaged males in public settings has meant that girls' victimization and the relationship between that experience and girls' crime has been systematically ignored. Also missed has been the central role played by the juvenile justice system in the sexualization of female delinquency and the criminalization of girls' survival strategies. Finally, it will be suggested that the official actions of the juvenile justice system should be understood as major forces in women's oppression as they have historically served to reinforce the obedience of all young women to the demands of patriarchal authority no matter how abusive and arbitrary.

Official Intervention, Diversion from the Juvenile Justice System, and Dynamics of Human Services Work: Effects of a Reform Goal Based on Labeling Theory

1986 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles E. Frazier ◽  
John K. Cochran
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Human Services ◽  
Juvenile Justice System ◽  
Juvenile Court ◽  
Resistance To Change ◽  
Labeling Theory ◽  
Observation Data ◽  
Diversion Program ◽  
System Data

This study examines the relationship between the degree of official intervention in the lives of juveniles charged with delinquent offenses and their diversion status. We draw upon official justice system data, data from a large diversion project that operated in eight counties, and data collected through field observations of the diversion program under study. Our findings show that the official intervention process is as intrusive for youth diverted out of the juvenile justice system for services as it is for those youth who are not diverted. Some part of the failure of one program on this reform goal may be explained by a general resistance to change among juvenile court officials, but it is clear from field observation data that the practices and professional ideologies of human services workers also contribute substantially to the failure.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document