Full Description
This book addresses the social experiences of juvenile offenders in the correctional machinery and the career effects these experiences have on offenders. It follows offenders from apprehension through detention, court appearance, probation and institutionalization, showing how the organizations operate, the role definitions of the people who man them, and the views of the correctional organizations held by members of the public. It is a valuable supplement to courses in deviance, criminology, social problems and organizational analysis. The book begins with the delinquent population and endeavours to identify the major characteristics of juvenile lawbreaking. It separates youths who most often remain as "hidden" delinquents from those who are observed and apprehended. The text then moves through the major parts of the correctional machinery in much the same way as offenders are processed through it. Information on each topic is marshalled in accordance with five dimensions; the nature of the organization; the perspectives of the consumer (the public); the perspective of the employees; the perspectives of the offenders; and the impact of the agency upon offenders. Thus, a major focus of the book is an organizational analysis, a basic feature of the current sociological perspective. This work, on first publication in 1970, was one of the first to tackle the growing skepticism as to the beneficial aspects correctional institutions may have on the young offenders, and the analysis of those benefits. The readings attempt to show something of the impact of correctional experiences on juvenile delinquents, and suggest that the overall effect is to drive deviants further into deviant activities rather than attaining the desired goal of rehabilitation.
Contents
One: Introduction; 1: The Function of Social Definitions in the Development of Delinquent Careers; Two: Delinquency: Hidden and Observed; 2: Extent of Unrecorded Juvenile Delinquency: Tentative Conclusions; 3: The Incidence of Hidden Delinquency; Three: Delinquents and the Police; 4: Discrimination in the Handling of Juvenile Offenders by Social Control Agencies; 5: Police Encounters with Juveniles; 6: The Police and the Delinquent in Two Cities; Four: The Juvenile Court in Operation; 7: The Juvenile Court—Quest and Realities; 8: Juvenile Court Judges in the United States: Working Styles and Characteristics; 5: Probation and the Offender; 9: The Prehearing Juvenile Report: Probation Officers' Conceptions; 10: Criteria for the Probation Officer's Recommendation to the Juvenile Court Judge; 11: A Study of Probation Effectiveness; Six: Training Schools and Delinquents; 12: The Fricot Ranch Study; 13: The Boy's Perception of Himself in a State Training School for Delinquents; Seven: Conflicting Perspectives on Correctional Decisions; 14: Juvenile Court Actions and Public Response; 15: Attitudes of Probation Officers Toward Due Process for Juvenile Offenders; 16: Policy Questions in Delinquency Control: Perspectives of Police and Probation Officers
