The Jack Roller A Delinquent Boy S Own Story

The Jack-Roller tells the story of Stanley, a pseudonym Clifford Shaw gave to his informant and co-author, Michael Peter Majer. Stanley was sixteen years old when Shaw met him in 1923 and had recently been released from the Illinois State Reformatory at Pontiac, after serving a one-year sentence for burglary and jack-rolling (mugging), Vivid, authentic, this is the autobiography of a delinquent—his experiences, influences, attitudes, and values. The Jack-Roller helped to establish the life-history or "own story" as an important instrument of sociological research. The book remains as relevant today to the study and treatment of juvenile delinquency and maladjustment as it was when originally published in 1930.

The ability of terrorist groups to inflict death and destruction has markedly increased with technological advances in the areas of communication, transportation, and weapon capability. Using these new tools and networks, terrorists now seek to inflict mass casualties worldwide. Given these realities, it is essential to research the factors that underlie a terrorist group’s origins, grievances, and demands. Such insights might help others respond more effectively to insurgencies, especially when military campaigns to capture or kill every terrorist have proven unsuccessful. The Freedom Fighter: A Terrorist’s Own Story explores why so many Kurdish people—especially young adults—join the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and conduct terrorist acts. Inspired by the ground-breaking classic, The Jack-Roller: A Delinquent Boy’s Own Story, by Clifford R. Shaw, the author explores the issue of radicalization into terrorist organizations through the life-history method, enabling a PKK terrorist—or “freedom fighter”—to tell his story. Over a five-month period, the author interviewed “Deniz,” a high-level PKK terrorist in a Turkish prison, who during his time in the PKK rose from the lowest level to near the top in terms of terrorist operations. This riveting life history, told in Deniz’s own words, provides unique insights into why someone becomes a “freedom fighter” and what such a life entails. The account provides extensive information on the PKK, including the group’s recruitment, ideological and military training, armed strategies, internal structures and code of ethics, treatment of women, and goals for peace. Deniz’s story not only explains why more Kurdish “freedom fighters” will be recruited to engage in terrorist acts, but also facilitates understanding of how “normal people” can become involved in conflict and organizations that are designated as “terrorist groups.” A foreword by renowned criminologist Francis T. Cullen helps contextualize the material. This book will interest students of criminology, terrorism/counterterrorism, political violence, and security.

Dismissed by the police as mere adjuncts to or gofers for male gangs, girl gang members are in fact often as emotionally closed off and dangerous as their male counterparts. Carrying razor blades in their mouths and guns in their jackets for defense, they initiate drive-by shootings, carry out car jackings, stomp outsiders who stumble onto or dare to enter the neighborhood, viciously retaliate against other gangs and ferociously guard their home turf. But Sikes also captures the differences that distinguish girl gangs-abortion, teen pregnancy and teen motherhood, endless beatings and the humiliation of being forced to have sex with a lineup of male gangbangers during initiation, haphazardly raising kids in a household of drugs and guns with a part-time boyfriend off gangbanging himself. Veteran journalist Gini Sikes spends a year in the ghettos following the lives of several key gang members in South Central Los Angeles, San Antonio, and Milwaukee. In 8 Ball Chicks, we discover the fear and desperate desire for respect and status that drive girls into gangs in the first place--and the dreams and ambitions that occasionally help them to escape the catch-22 of their existence.

Why do individuals exposed to the same environment turn out so differently, with some engaging in crime and others abiding by societal rules and norms? Why are males involved in violent crime more often than females? And why do the precursors of serious pathological behavior typically emerge in childhood? This fascinating text addresses key questions surrounding criminal propensity by discussing studies of the life-course perspective—criminological research that links biological factors associated with criminality with the social and environmental agents thought to cause, facilitate, or otherwise influence a tendency towards criminal activity. The book provides comprehensive, interdisciplinary coverage of the current thinking in the field about criminal behavior over the course of a lifetime. Additionally, it highlights interventions proven effective and illustrates how the life-course perspective has contributed to a greater understanding of the causes of crime.

This fiery autobiographical novel captures a pivotal week or two in the life of fourteen-year-old Jack Gantos, as the author reveals the moment he began to slide off track as a kid who in just a few years would find himself locked up in a federal penitentiary for the crimes portrayed in the memoir Hole in My Life. Set in the Fort Lauderdale neighborhood of his family's latest rental home, The Trouble in Me opens with an explosive encounter in which Jack first meets his awesomely rebellious older neighbor, Gary Pagoda, just back from juvie for car theft. Instantly mesmerized, Jack decides he will do whatever it takes to be like Gary. As a follower, Jack is eager to leave his old self behind, and desperate for whatever crazy, hilarious, frightening thing might happen next. But he may not be as ready as he thinks when the trouble in him comes blazing to life. This title has Common Core connections.