This title was first published in 2003. Adolescence is popularly understood as a transitional phase of turbulence and extremes. It is also often associated with 'trouble'. Criminal justice statistics, however, reveal that youth criminality remains a relatively rare phenomenon, less than one percent of the total adolescent population in any given year. This exceptional book is based upon a major Australian research programme to consider the key social factors impacting upon the lives of young people. A sample of 1,300 young people was divided into three major subgroups: a 'control' group, drawn from state secondary schools and closely approximating the general population; a chronically marginalized cohort representing a 'vulnerable group', and a group of offenders, most of whom were incarcerated at the time of the research. With its rich data source and highly integrated structure, the book makes a major contribution to our understanding of adolescent criminality and associated policy both in Australia and internationally.

This book places youth violence within a Routine Activity Ecological Framework. Youth violence, specifically youth exposure to community violence and youth perpetration of violent behaviors, occur within various contexts. Ahlin and Antunes situate their discussion of youth violence within an ecological framework, identifying how it is nested within four mesosystem layers: community, family, peers and schools, and youth characteristics. Contextualized using an ecological framework, the Routine Activity Theory and Lifestyles perspective (RAT/LS) are well suited to guide an examination of youth violence risk and protective factors across the four layers. Drawing on scholarship that explores predictors and consequences of youth violence, the authors apply RAT/LS theory to explain how community, family, peers, schools, and youth characteristics influence youth behavior. Each layer of the ecological framework unfolds to reveal the latest scholarship and contextualizes how concepts of RAT/LS, specifically the motivated offender, target suitability, and guardianship, can be applied at each level. This book also highlights the mechanisms and processes that contribute to youth exposure to and involvement in violence by exploring factors examined in the literature as protective and risk factors of youth violence. Youth violence occurs in context, and, as such, the understanding of multilevel predictors and preventive measures against it can be situated within an RAT/LS ecological framework. This work links theory to extant research. Ahlin and Antunes demonstrate how knowledge of youth violence can be used to develop a robust theoretical foundation that can inform policy to improve neighborhoods and youth experiences within their communities, families, and peers and within their schools while acknowledging the importance of individual characteristics. This monograph is essential reading for those interested in youth violence, juvenile delinquency, and juvenile justice research and anyone dedicated to preventing crime among youths.

Youth violence is a pressing social concern and this book examines several elements of youth violence prevention. It offers state-of-the-art research on several different topics including: the relationship between bullying offending and victimization; the relationship between race and the code of the streets’ explanation for violent offending; and how differences in methodology affect the validity of the multiple marginality theory of gang membership. It also examines an understudied population: gay gang members as well as providing an analysis of the degree to which risk factors for gang membership and violent offending are sex-specific. The critical component of this text is the melding of research with practical implications for youth violence prevention specialists. As such, the book should be useful to both academic and practitioner audiences. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Crime & Justice.

This hearing focused on a bill to amend the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 to identify violent and hard core juvenile offenders and treat them as adults. Opening statements by four U.S. senators (the Honorable Fred Thompson, Herbert Kohl, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., and Orrin G. Hatch) present various perspectives on the role of the federal government in dealing with the problem of increasing youth violence. Following that are prepared statements by Senator John Ashcroft; Shay Bilchik, Administrator, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice; a panel consisting of Laurie E. Ekstrand, Associate Director, Administration of Justice Issues, General Government Division, U.S. General Accounting Office; Ira Schwartz, Dean, School of Social Work, University of Pennsylvania; and Lavonda Taylor, Chair, Coalition for Juvenile Justice, West Memphis, AR; and a panel consisting of Marvin E. Wolfgang, Professor of Criminology and of Law and Director, Selin Criminology Center, University of Pennsylvania; Delbert S. Elliott, Director, Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, University of Colorado, Boulder; and Terence P. Thornberry, Professor, School of Criminal Justice, State University of New York at Albany, NY. An appendix presents questions and answers. (SM)

The public believes that juveniles are to blame for the growth of violence in the United States that began in the mid-1980s. But, whoÆs really to blame for violent crime? Is youth gang involvement in trafficking crack cocaine in inner-cities a key factor? The Evolution of Juvenile Justice and Youth Violence in America explores how juvenile offenders have taken the brunt of crime policyÆs reaction to the high level and recent increase in violent crime in the United States. In the justice system today, juveniles are being tried with adults in criminal courts and incarcerated with them in adult prisons. Taking a historical approach and reviewing current research, author James C. Howell examines the shift in crime policy from an emphasis on treatment and rehabilitation to punishment and how that change is neither philosophically sound nor effective. Long-term solutions, Howell argues, lie in the development of more effective programs, better-matched offender treatment programs, and a more cost-effective juvenile justice system. Written with compassion yet methodologically sound, this volume creates a comprehensive framework that will help communities incorporate best practices and utilize knowledge of risk and protective factors for serious and violent delinquency. Author James C. Howell combines prevention and graduated sanctions in this sensible strategy for dealing with serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders. The Evolution of Juvenile Justice and Youth Violence in America is an outstanding resource and text for not only graduate students but also academics, researchers, practitioners, policymakers, professionals in the legal system, and educators.

This bibliography comprises a selection of Library of Congress catalog records for some 1,500 books, periodicals, and websites related to youth violence. Anyone wanting such a bibliography could probably compile it from the Library of Congress web site, and the deficiencies in conception and design of this "product" defy understanding. A brief preface sounds an alarm--"...no one should be surprised that youth violence lurks behind every school house door"--but sets forth no criteria for selection of citations (no indication of time frame, purpose, or audience). Entries are arranged alphabetically by title within chapters on school violence, guns and youth, gangs, campus violence, dating and violence, and periodicals and Web sites. Unforgivably primitive alphabetic sorting puts all titles beginning with The together (the same with other articles); and, in addition, those titles are indexed together! Though the title indicates the presence of "abstracts," there are none except the summaries supplied by Library of Congress for juvenile titles (of which there are many). Cross-referencing and indexing (except by title) are absent. The compiler's credentials, motivation, and orientation are not cited. Furthermore, with better design, the contents would have consumed half the number of pages, and a few typeface variations would have eased scanning. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This is a resource for dealing with both perpetrators and victims of violence and understanding the risk factors facing youth. Presenting an assessment of effects of exposure to violence and the continuity of aggression from early childhood to adulthood, it outlines an integration strategy for public policy towards prevention and treatment.

A field hearing on youth violence: local solutions, held in Memphis, and Nashville, TN, where the local residents and government have taken steps to stem the tide of youth violence. Witnesses include local officials, representatives of intervention and prevention programs, youth offenders, and a student who has formed an organization to attack youth violence.

Delinquency in Society, Eighth Edition provides a systematic introduction to the study of juvenile delinquency, criminal behavior, and status offending youths. This text examines the theories of juvenile crimes and the social context of delinquency including the relevance of families, schools, and peer groups. Reorganized and thoroughly updated to reflect the most current trends and developments in juvenile delinquency, the Eighth Edition includes discussions of the history, institutional context, and societal reactions to delinquent behavior. Delinquency prevention programs and basic coverage of delinquency as it relates to the criminal justice system are also included to add context and support student comprehension.