Environmental Conditions Associated With Youth Delinquency Events: A Temporal, Meteorological, and Contextual Perspective

Research on youth delinquency has been essential for gaining a deeper understanding of the etiology of delinquent behavior. Studies considering the environmental perspective have increased during the last decade, but relatively little attention has been paid to temporal patterns and weather conditions. The present study explores the seasonality of youth delinquency as well as the association between violent and non-violent youth offenses and temperature, rainfall, level of darkness, type of day, type of place, and companionship, using data gathered by the police along with data obtained from official weather agencies. To this end, we conducted ANOVA and contingency table analyses. Seasonality was found for non-violent crimes. Companionship, semi-public, and public places were all associated with a higher likelihood of non-violent crime, while darkness and public holidays raise the odds of violent crime to happen. No direct association was found between temperature and type of crime.

Explaining Latinx Youth Delinquency: A Gendered Test of Latinx General Strain Theory

Recently, scholars have reintroduced a Latinx general strain theory in which it is suggested that ethnic-specific strains, including acculturation, are driving forces for criminal and delinquent behaviors among the Latinx population. Using data collected from the Dating Violence Among Latino Adolescents (DAVILA) Study, this study investigated whether these ethnic strains influenced delinquency differently based on the respondent's gender. Results indicate that boys engaged in more delinquent behaviors than girls, whereas girls were more acculturated than boys. Depression, anxiety, and social support were more prevalent among girls than among boys. In addition, girls were more likely to be enculturated and perform better in school than boys. Acculturation did not significantly predict delinquency for either boys or girls. In contrast, polyvictimization was the only variable to consistently predict delinquency among boys and girls. Results provided partial support for the hypotheses, in that, while depression and anxiety varied by gender as predicted by the gendered general strain theory, the ethnic-specific strain of acculturation failed to predict delinquent behavior in this sample. Ultimately, this study highlights the need to examine other ethnic-specific strains to better understand delinquent behavior among Latinx youth.

Place of neuroscience in Indian juvenile justice

Youths are important assets of a country. To realise the full potential of youth, the law is an instrument. Youth delinquency impedes his development. The response of the law is both a carrot and stick approach so far. While a host of disciplines try to understand youths, their behaviours, science, more particularly neuroscience, has its relevance. This paper makes an exploration of normative position and recent scientific advancement to understand a juvenile and his delinquency. The paper adopts the exploratory method on the status of values on juvenile justice in Constitutional and legislative norms in India and cognitive and developmental neuroscience. The paper concludes with a perspective on the scientific orientation of juvenile’s responsibility and reform.

The Jack-Roller and the Life History Method: Notes on the Chicago School’s Clifford Shaw and Howard Becker’s Humanistic Narrative of Young Male and Female Delinquents in Different Ages

Clifford Shaw’s (1930) The Jack-Roller is a landmark study of naturalism, ethnography and crime. It is the ‘own story’ of Stanley—a young delinquent in Chicago. Shaw’s series of ethnographic studies on delinquency sought to humanize deviance in opposition to pathological understandings of delinquency. The article looks on the representation of crimes committed and punishment received by young male and female delinquents. Shaw’s argument focuses on structural inequalities and poverty as the cause of deviance; as a result, female delinquency was not explained by sexual promiscuity, although he failed to recognize young women’s vulnerabilities. The second edition of The Jack-Roller introduced by Howard Becker (1966, Introduction. The Jack-Roller: A delinquent boy’s own story, pp. v–xviii) redefined Shaw’s study within the symbolic interactionist tradition. From the 1950s, Shaw and Becker disagreed over the writing of the deviant’s ‘own story,’ the control of the narrative and the authorial voice. The article adds to the literature on narrative, female deviance and youth delinquency.

The Imperative Need for Criminological Research on the European Roma: A Narrative Review

Except for the knowledge that the Roma people endure harsh conditions and are victims of discrimination, scarce criminological research has given detailed attention to further victimisation or offending among the Romanies. Identifying articles in the browsers Web of Science, Google Scholar and Google, we reviewed European publications (1997–2020) in English, French, Romanian or Spanish that addressed the Roma’s victimisation or offending. The 44 studies that matched our criteria suggested that (1) Roma people are victims of hate crimes with devastating consequences; (2) Roma children and women are victims of domestic violence to a greater degree than other groups, although the Roma tend to oppose violence against women; (3) forced early marriages exist among some Romanies and may cause serious problems in adulthood; (4) youth delinquency among the Roma does not differ from that of the non-Roma, although Roma adolescents face more deprivation; (5) Roma men and women are overrepresented in prison and face many difficulties in re-entering society once they are released and (6) there are organised criminal activities in some Roma groups that are supported by their community. Further rigorous post-positivist research, particularly quantitative, is needed to generalise the findings and replicate former studies. Areas of special interest are the causes of anti-Roma discrimination other than ethnicity, the victimisation of children, the Roma’s lack of institutional trust and the relation between victimisation and offending. Conducting comparisons with the general population is essential, and we propose that victims’ surveys and self-reported delinquency studies include questions on ethnicity.

Nuorisorikollisuuden esiintyvyys ja tekomäärät Suomessa 1995-2020

Yksi kriminologian keskeisistä havainnoista viime vuosikymmeninä on ollut useiden perinteisten rikoslajien määrän melko systemaattinen väheneminen. Tutkimuskirjallisuudessa puhutaankin niin sanotusta ”crime drop” -ilmiöstä. Samaa kehitystä on havaittu myös suomalaisessa nuorisorikollisuudessa. Aiemman suomalaisen tutkimuksen mukaan nuoret tekevät ja kokevat historiallisen vähän rikoksia. Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkastelemme Kriminologian ja oikeuspolitiikan instituutin keräämien Nuorisorikollisuuskyselyiden avulla nuorten varkauksien, väkivaltarikosten ja kannabiksen käytön muutoksia aikavälillä 1995–2020. Esitämme seuraavat tutkimuskysymykset: 1) Miten nuorten rikoskäyttäytymisen esiintyvyys on kehittynyt vuosien 1995 ja 2020 välillä? 2) Miten rikoksia tekevien nuorten tekomäärät ovat kehittyneet vuosien 1995 ja 2020 välillä? Tulosten mukaan varkaus- ja väkivaltarikoksiin syyllistyvien nuorten määrä (esiintyvyys) on laskenut seurantajakson aikana, kun taas kannabista käyttävien nuorten osuus on hieman noussut. Vuosien 2016 ja 2020 välillä rikoskäyttäytymisessä ei ole enää tapahtunut merkitsevää muutosta. Yleisestä esiintyvyyden laskusta huolimatta, rikoksia tekevien nuorten tekomäärät eivät ole laskeneet aikavälillä 1995–2020. Väkivaltarikosten ja kannabiksen käytön kohdalla kaikkein rikosaktiivisimpien nuorten rikosmäärät ovat lisääntyneet seurantajakson aikana. Viime vuosikymmenien aikana rikoksia tekevien nuorten määrä on siis kehittynyt myönteisesti. Sen sijaan etenkin paljon rikoksia tekevien nuorten ryhmä näyttäisi vaativan erityisesti kohdennettuja toimia, jotta vastaavaa kehitystä nähtäisiin myös tekomäärien osalta. Markus Kaakinen and Matti Näsi: Prevalence of youth crime offending in Finland between 1995 and 2000. The crime drop, a systematic decline in crime rates in most Western countries, has been one of the key findings in criminology in recent decades. This development has also been observed in Finnish juvenile delinquency. In this study, we use Finnish Self-Report Delinquency Study surveys to analyze changes in youth theft, violent crime, and cannabis use between years 1995 and 2020. We ask the following research questions: 1) How has the prevalence of juvenile delinquency developed between 1995 and 2020? 2) How has the juvenile offenders’ offending frequency developed between 1995 and 2020? The results show that the prevalence theft and violent crime has decreased during the follow-up period, while the proportion of young people using cannabis has increased slightly. Between 2016 and 2020, there has been no significant change in criminal behavior. Despite the general decline in prevalence, the offending frequency has not decreased between 1995 and 2020. In the case of violent crime and cannabis use, offending frequency has increased among the most criminally active juveniles. We conclude that even though the number of Finnish adolescents committing crimes has developed positively in recent decades the most active offenders likely require additional targeted policies and interventions. Keywords: youth delinquency – crime drop – Finnish Self-Report Delinquency Study – prevalence – offending frequency

Examination of the SUPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale among Male and Female Youth: Psychometrics and Invariance

The UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale is one of the most used and easily administered self-report measures of impulsive traits. The main objective of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the shorter SUPPS-P scale among a school sample of 470 youth (Mage = 15.89 years, SD = 1.00) from Portugal, subdivided into males (n = 257, Mage = 15.97 years, SD = 0.98) and females (n = 213, Mage = 15.79 years, SD = 1.03). Confirmatory factor analysis results revealed that the latent five-factor structure (i.e., Negative urgency, Lack of perseverance, Lack of premeditation, Sensation seeking, and Positive urgency) obtained adequate fit and strong measurement invariance demonstrated across sex. The SUPPS-P scale also demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties in terms of internal consistency, discriminant and convergent (e.g., with measures of youth delinquency, aggression) validities, and criterion-related validity (e.g., with crime seriousness). Findings support the use of the SUPPS-P scale in youth. Given the importance of adolescence as a critical period characterized by increases in impulsive behaviors, having a short, valid, reliable, and easily administered assessment of impulsive tendencies is important and clinically impactful.

Gender Differences in the Accumulation, Timing, and Duration of Childhood Adverse Experiences and Youth Delinquency in Fragile Families

Objective: The purposes of this study are twofold. First, we explore how the accumulation, timing, and duration of ACEs influences youth delinquency. Second, because few studies to date have examined how the effect of ACEs may vary among different groups, we explore how these patterns may vary by gender. Methods: Analyses were based on data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCW), which employs a national sample of urban-born, at-risk youth. Results: The results showed that as the number of early ACEs experienced incrementally increases, the likelihood of youth reporting delinquent behavior also increases, even after adjusting for recent adversity. Moreover, exposure to early ACEs that are high but late, intermittent, or chronically high significantly increase the risk of youth participating in delinquency. Our results also indicate that ACEs are significantly related to delinquency for girls, but not for boys. Conclusions: Prevention and intervention efforts should screen for ACEs—especially in early childhood. Given that the accumulation, timing, and duration of ACE exposure is linked to youth delinquency, interventions that target ACEs early may have greater success at reducing delinquency. Moreover, prevention programs need to consider gender-specific responses to ACEs and gender-specific intervention strategies.

Prevention and Prophylaxis of Youth Delinquency and Peculiarities of Appointing Punishment to Minors during a Pandemic

Significant work is currently being done around the world to protect the rights of the child, pay special attention to the upbringing of minors, create the necessary conditions for them to organize their time properly, take measures to prevent them from interfering in crime and to impose penalties and impunity on juvenile offenders. In this article analyzed features of inflicting of penalties to a juvenile, peculiarities of criminal prosecution of minors, improving institutions which discharge from liability and penalty based on international experience, in particular, convicting other noncustodial penalties and other legal measures at the period of COVID-19 and further development, introducing special principles for juvenile in criminal law, the impact of punishments imposed on juvenile offenders, As well as, issues of prevention and prophylaxis of youth delinquency, measures should be taken to prevent youth delinquency, problems and solutions on this field, reforms, the forms and methods of work of government agencies involved in the prevention of delinquency among young people, causes and conditions of juvenile systemic crime, domestic legislation on prevention and prophylaxis of youth delinquency and peculiarities of appointing punishment to minors are studied. The following article expresses a number of suggestions for improving the legislation system of juvenile delinquency, features of imposing them punishment and release of them from punishment.