pt. I. The nature and extent of delinquency -- 1. Delinquency and juvenile justice in historical perspective -- The invention of childhood -- Little adults -- Literacy -- Schools -- Punishment of children in the colonies -- Parens patriae -- Defining a juvenile delinquent -- The house of refuge movement -- Changing conceptions of delinquency -- Ex Parte Crouse : court decisions and effects -- People v. Turner -- Mid-nineteenth century reforms -- Late-nineteenth century reforms -- The child saving movement and the juvenile court -- Delinquency, public schools, and industry -- Twentieth-century developments in juvenile justice -- Summary -- Notes -- 2. The extent of delinquency -- Measuring delinquency -- FBI Uniform Crime Reports -- Index crimes -- Part II crimes -- Critique of the FBI report -- How much delinquency is there? -- Arrest figures -- Racial and gender differences -- Juvenile court statistics -- Self-report studies -- Juveniles as victims -- Child abuse and neglect -- Juvenile victims of crime -- Victimization surveys -- Delinquent careers -- Summary -- Notes -- 3. The nature of delinquency -- Varieties of delinquent behavior -- Property crimes -- Shoplifting -- Vandalism -- Graffiti -- Joyriding -- Violent crimes -- The demographic fallacy : more kids does not equal more crime -- Gang violence : a special case -- The code of the streets -- Other assaults : a real or contrived increase -- Public order offenses -- Status offenses -- Runaways -- Summary -- Notes -- 4. Youth gangs -- A brief history -- What is a gang? -- How many gangs and gang members are there? -- Gangs and crime -- Gang and gang member typologies -- Types of gangs -- Types of gang members -- Gang classifications -- The supergangs of Chicago : people and folks -- Hybrid gangs -- Chicano gangs -- Asian gangs -- African-American gangs -- White gangs -- Summary -- Notes -- 5. Female delinquency -- The extent of female delinquency -- Recent trends : national arrest data -- Self-report surveys -- The nature of female delinquency -- Shoplifting : the prototypical girls' crime? -- Status offenses -- Runaways -- Prostitution -- Girls and violence -- Relabeling status offenses -- Aggression and gender -- Girls and robbery -- Summary -- Notes --
pt. II. Explaining delinquency -- 6. Individualistic theories of delinquency -- The classical school -- Deterrence theory -- Rational choice theory -- The crime control and due process models -- The positivist school -- Biological theories -- Criminality as an inherited trait -- Gene warfare -- Psychological theories -- Feeblemindedness and crime -- Psychoanalytic theories -- Personality trait theories -- Mental illness and crime -- Summary -- Notes -- 7. Sociological theories of delinquency -- Social disorganization/social ecology theory -- Strain theory -- Crime and the American dream -- Differential opportunity structures -- Social embeddedness -- Cultural deviance theories -- Cohen's culture of the gang -- Lower-class focal concerns -- Control theory -- Social learning theory -- The labeling perspective -- Critical/Marxist perspectives -- Summary -- Notes -- 8. Delinquency in context : inequality in U.S. society -- The capitalist economic system -- Recent changes in the U.S. economy -- The development of the underclass -- Poverty and family structure -- Effects of economic changes on delinquency -- The death of childhood in the inner cities -- Summary -- Notes -- 9. Delinquency and the family -- The family in contemporary society -- Family breakdown as a cause of delinquency -- Broken homes -- Family relationships -- Parenting styles -- The social context of the family -- Girl offenders and their families -- Gang members and their families -- Children with parents in prison -- Summary -- Notes -- 10. Schools and delinquency -- Schooling in a class society -- Schools as "day prisons" and "zero tolerance" policies -- How safe are schools? -- Statistics versus fears -- Suspension and expulsion -- Reinforcing class and race inequality : follow the money -- Tracking -- School failure and delinquency -- Falling behind and dropping out -- Contributing factors -- Crime in the schools -- Gangs and schools -- Summary -- Notes --
pt. III. Responses to delinquency
11. Processing offenders through the juvenile justice system : the police and juvenile court
Juvenile court : the structure
Juvenile justice : the process
Initial contact : the police
Police discretion and juveniles
Juvenile court processing
Race, the "war on drugs," and referrals to juvenile court
The importance of social class : the "saints" and the "roughnecks"
The intake process and the decision to detain
Keeping offenders from further penetration
Widening the net or true alternatives?
Giving up on delinquent youth : transfer to adult court
12. Prisons or "correctional" institutions : what's in a name?
Commitment to an institution
Girls and boys town : a unique case
Reception and diagnostic centers
Ranches and forestry camps
Institutional populations
Racial composition of juvenile institutions
Some effects of incarceration : the inmate social system and victimization
The social system of institutions for girls
The California Youth Authority : a notorious example
A failed treatment program
High recidivism rates plague juvenile prisons
Aftercare/parole for ex-juvenile offenders
Intensive aftercare programs
13. The double standard of juvenile justice
The child-saving movement and the juvenile court
The juvenile court and the double standard of juvenile justice
Deinstitutionalization and judicial paternalism
The conservative backlash
The 1992 reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act
Continuing evidence of gender bias
Gender and delinquency referrals
Comparing girls and boys in court
Girls, race, and the new double standard of juvenile justice
14. Recent trends : getting tough on juveniles
The formal punishment of children
The cycle of juvenile delinquency and justice
Juveniles incarcerated in adult penitentiaries
The case of Roper v. Simmons
Why have we become so punitive?
The conservative philosophy and religious fundamentalism
Social and political factors
Getting tough on youth gangs
15. Some sensible solutions
Reclaiming youth at risk : an alternative way of framing the problem
Resurrecting an old perspective
An assessment of Schur's ideas
A model program : the Detention Diversion Advocacy Project
A new paradigm : restorative justice
Components of successful programs
The effectiveness of diversion
Foster care and group homes
Broad-based national strategies
National Programs of Girls, Incorporated
