Motivation And Delinquency

Motivational concepts pervade the classic theories of delinquency. And yet, there has been little detailed analysis of the relationship between motivation and delinquency. In this 44th volume of the Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, a group of leading scholars in a broad range of fields make up for that scholarly negligence, giving explicit and systematic attention to the subject.øJoan McCord opens the volume by considering fundamental questions about relationships between motivation, explanation, blame, and free will, thereby developing a base from which she poses a theory of motivation for crime. Michael Rutter and colleagues review findings concerning factors ranging from social organization to behavioral genetics; throughout, they grapple with various forms of delinquency, from common misbehavior to persistent personality disorder. Gerald Patterson and Karen Yoeger?s chapter on late-onset delinquency extends their influential work and illustrates the application of behaviorist psychology that Patterson has been developing for over twenty years. James Tedeschi examines juvenile delinquency from the perspective of his social interactionist theory of violence; this theory, based on the social psychology of interdependence, construes violence as a coercive attempt at social influence. Finally, Karen Heimer and Ross Matsueda compare the study of delinquency by social psychologists in the fields of psychology and sociology and present their own symbolic interactionist theory of delinquency.

Designed for undergraduate juvenile delinquency courses, this book actively involves students in the literature of the discipline, presents the field in a format that is accessible, understandable, and enjoyable, and is edited by well-known scholars who are experienced researchers and teachers. * The readings in this anthology have been very carefully edited and pruned by the Editors so that undergraduate students can easily read them without getting bogged down or confused and lost in the technical, methodological details. * At no additional cost, we have included 5 substantial data analysis exercises spread throughout the book. These exercises not only teach students the basic of SPSS, the "standard" data analysis software in social science, but also show them how they can test the delinquency theories and propositions covered in the reader, using current delinquency data packaged with the book. This absolutely unique feature is structured into fill-in-the-blank exercise sets that are easy to grade for large numbers of students by a single instructor. * Over 150 very good questions have been put together for the readings so that instructors can easily test, even in large courses, whether or not their students are keeping up with the reading. * A separate instructor's manual (with more tests) is also available.

Opportunity theories of crime seek to explain the occurrence of crime rather than simply the existence of criminal dispositions. They emphasize the fundamental element in the criminal act of opportunity: how this arises, how it is perceived, evaluated and acted on by those with criminal dispositions. This volume brings together influential research articles on opportunity theories of crime by leading theorists such as Cohen and Felson on routine activity theory and Clarke and Cornish on the bounded rational choice perspective. The articles also include more recent theoretical developments and studies of situational crime prevention of specific twenty-first century crimes. These articles attest to the sheer volume as well to as the richness and the variety of work designed to reduce crime that has forever changed the face of criminology and criminal justice.

The Panel on Juvenile Crime: Prevention, Treatment, and Control convened a workshop on October 2, 1998, to explore issues related to educational performance, school climate, school practices, learning, student motivation and commitment to school, and their relationship to delinquency. The workshop was designed to bring together researchers and practitioners with a broad range of perspectives on the relationship between such specific issues as school safety and academic achievement and the development of delinquent behavior. Education and Delinquencyreviews recent research findings, identifies gaps in knowledge and promising areas of future research, and discusses the need for program evaluation and the integration of empirical research findings into program design.

In Causes of Delinquency, Hirschi attempts to state and test a theory of delinquency, seeing in the delinquent a person relatively free of the intimate attachments, the aspirations, and the moral beliefs that bind most people to a life within the law. In prominent alternative theories, the delinquent appears either as a frustrated striver forced into delinquency by his acceptance of the goals common to us all, or as an innocent foreigner attempting to obey the rules of a society that is not in position to make the law or define conduct as good or evil. Hirschi analyzes a large body of data on delinquency collected in Western Contra Costa County, California, contrasting throughout the assumptions of the strain, control, and cultural deviance theories. He outlines the assumptions of these theories and discusses the logical and empirical difficulties attributed to each of them. Then draws from sources an outline of social control theory, the theory that informs the subsequent analysis and which is advocated here. Often listed as a "Citation Classic," Causes of Delinquency retains its force and cogency with age. It is an important volume and a necessary addition to the libraries of sociologists, criminologists, scholars and students in the area of delinquency.

Juvenile Delinquency: An Integrated Approach, Second Edition offers a comprehensive introduction to juvenile delinquency. Now in a more concise and accessible format, this text cultivates an understanding of juvenile delinquency by examining and linking key sociological and criminological theories and research. Biological and psychological apporaches to delinquency are covered, as well as responses to deliquent behavior includuing prevention, early intervention, and contemporary juvenile justice.