On Motivation To Juvenile 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.

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 decisionmaking 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. This timely release discusses patterns and trends in crimes by children and adolescentsâ€"trends revealed by arrest data, victim reports, and other sources; youth crime within general crime; and race and sex disparities. The book explores desistanceâ€"the probability that delinquency or criminal activities decrease with ageâ€"and evaluates different approaches to predicting future crime rates. Why do young people turn to delinquency? 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: 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. Role of the police. Processing and detention of youth offenders. Transferring youths to the adult judicial system. Residential placement of juveniles. The book includes background on the American juvenile court system, useful comparisons with the juvenile justice systems of other nations, and other important information for assessing this problem.

Hearings were held in St. Louis, Mo. Focuses on St. Louis, Mo. community youth programs to combat juvenile delinquency.

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.

Kaplan has outlined the fundamentals of the study of juvenile delinquency to provide a general model which serves as an introductory framework to the field. He has looked at five significant questions. What factors influence the social defining of certain behaviours as delinquent? What factors motivate youths to behave delinquently? When youths are motivated, what determines whether the delinquent acts will be carried out? What factors determine whether youths will continue to commit delinquent acts? And what are the consequences of juvenile delinquency for our society? His answers are clear, logical, and readable, providing an attractive alternative to weightier textbooks.

A great deal has been learned about serious child and adolescent conduct problems, but their causes are still not well understood. This book brings together an international group of leading authorities to advance specific, testable hypotheses about the causes of conduct disorder and juvenile delinquency. Four general causal models are delineated: the social learning model, the developmental pathways model, an integrative antisocial propensity model, and an integrative ecological/developmental model. Also provided are models focusing on specific aspects of the origins of conduct problems, including contextual, psychological, and biological influences. The authors present significant, original theoretical work and map out the kinds of further studies needed to confirm or disconfirm their new or revised hypotheses.