Meda Chesney-Lind

Randall G. Shelden

This revision of an award-winning text is the first book devoted solely to the topic of female delinquency and the treatment of young girls by the juvenile justice system. It sheds new light on the special problems of delinquent girls by taking into account what it is like to grow up female in a patriarchal society. Based on extensive and original research, the text provides compelling firsthand accounts from girls as well as solid research and theory.

Girls, Delinquency, and Juvenile Justice

Problems and Prospects

Juvenile Justice in America

Delinquency and Juvenile Justice in American Society

Richard Quinney

Originally published thirty years ago, Critique of the Legal Order remains highly relevant for the twenty-first century. Here Richard Quinney provides a critical look at the legal order in capitalist society. Using a traditional Marxist perspective, he argues that the legal order is not intended to reduce crime and suffering, but to maintain class differences and a social order that mainly benefits the ruling class. Quinney challenges modern criminologists to examine their own positions. As "ancillary agents of power," criminologists provide information that governing elites use to manipulate and control those who threaten the system. Quinney's original and thorough analysis of "crime control bureaucracies" and the class basis of such bureaucracies anticipates subsequent research and theorizing about the "crime control industry," a system that aims at social control of marginalized populations, rather than elimination of the social conditions that give rise to crime. He forcefully argues that technology applied to a "war against crime," together with academic scholarship, is used to help maintain social order to benefit a ruling class. Quinney also suggests alternatives. Anticipating the work of Noam Chomsky, he suggests we must first overcome a powerful media that provides a "general framework" that serves as the "boundary of expression." Chomsky calls this the manufacture of consent by providing necessary illusions. Quinney calls for a critical philosophy that enables us to transcend the current order and seek an egalitarian socialist order based upon true democratic principles. This core study for criminologists should interest those with a critical perspective on contemporary society.

Crime Control in Capitalist Society

Critique of Legal Order

Emily I. Troshynski

What is delinquency? What are the pathways to offending? What prevention strategies exist? To understand delinquency, we need to overcome stereotypical thinking and implicit biases. This engaging, affordable text explores the impact of gendered, racial, and class attitudes on decisions to arrest, detain, adjudicate, and place youths in the juvenile justice system. Shelden and Troshynski highlight the social, legal, and political influences on how the public perceives juveniles. They look at the influences of family and schools on delinquency, as well as the impact of gender, trauma, and mental health issues. Discussions of topics such as the school-to-prison pipeline, disproportionate minority contact, and inequality provide a nuanced perspective on delinquency—a critical examination of social policies intended to control delinquency and the populations most likely to enter the juvenile justice system. The authors also examine the dramatically declining juvenile crime rate and advances in neuroscience that have fostered substantive reforms. These alternatives to confinement are replacing the institutions that have repeatedly produced failure with rehabilitative programs that offer hope for a more promising future.

Third Edition

Extensively revised, the second edition blends theory, research, and applications into a superb overview of the complex issues surrounding juvenile delinquency and societys attempts to address juvenile crime. After providing an excellent historical foundation, Shelden presents the theories essential to understanding crime and delinquency. He then explores the system and its effects on juveniles and society, including comprehensive coverage of female delinquency. The social, legal, and political influences on how the public perceives juveniles and the inequality in U.S. society that affects families, communities, and schools are highlighted throughout the book. The concluding chapter looks at solutions that have worked and identifies trends in treating juvenile delinquency. The authors almost four decades of teaching about and researching juveniles and the system make him eminently qualified to offer readers the tools necessary to think critically about delinquency and to evaluate the policies enacted to manage the juveniles who violate the laws. Delinquency and Juvenile Justice in American Society, 2/E provides affordable, up-to-date, easily accessible, and thorough analysis of a significant topic.

Second Edition

William B. Brown

Sharon K. Tracy

This comprehensive and widely respected survey of the literature on gangs and gang activities in America includes theoretical perspectives on why gangs exist, gang typologies, descriptions of gang activities, and various intervention strategies for dealing with gangs. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

Youth Gangs in American Society

Karen S. Miller

Randal B. Fritzler

Today’s headlines vividly illustrate the importance of understanding aspects of the criminal justice system too often ignored. While the second edition of Crime and Criminal Justice in American Society includes the most recent statistics on the police, courts, and corrections, its provocative, current examples also spur critical thinking about justice in the United States. The authors offer an alternative interpretation of criminal justice rarely presented in traditional textbooks or by the media. They encourage readers to examine their beliefs about crime, punishment, and the law. Discussions in the chapters about how African Americans, Hispanics, whites, women, juveniles, the rich, and the poor experience crime and the criminal justice system contribute context for understanding different viewpoints. The poor and minorities are the most likely to be caught in the net of criminal justice—but inequities have consequences for everyone. Reflection on various perspectives provides helpful input for assessing attitudes and for becoming actively involved with issues that have significant consequences. Eighteen thoroughly revised chapters present historical backgrounds, theories, and emerging issues. New to the second edition is a chapter on veterans involved in the criminal justice system. Affordable, succinct, and engaging, this textbook presents the key concepts of the criminal justice system at less than half the cost of many competing textbooks.

Randall G. Shelden

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