Suchergebnisse

Most criminal justice research on African Americans focuses on poor Blacks living in poor Black communities. Hassett-Walker expands this focus to middle class Blacks and empirically tests an assertion from Pattillo-McCoy (1999)'s Black Picket Fences--that little difference in delinquency exists between poor versus middle class Black youth. Variables included class status, parent-child interaction, and neighborhood poverty. Parenting behavior and marital disruption were both predictive of delinquency. Having delinquent peers predicted future arrest, suggesting support for differential associati

"The wrenching, and inspiring, story of a fourteen-year-old sentenced to life in prison, of the extraordinary relationship that developed between him and the woman he shot, and of his release after twenty-six years of imprisonment through the efforts of America's greatest contemporary legal activist, Bryan Stevenson. Here is the story of a poor black kid from the toughest neighborhood of Tampa, Florida, who at age eleven began "jacking" (stealing) cars with his friends. At age thirteen he shot a white woman in the jaw during a botched mugging. For that crime, and because of his earlier record as a juvenile delinquent, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole--essentially a death sentence. Forgotten by society, tortured by prison guards, held in solitary confinement for eighteen years, he was nonetheless able to accomplish a near-miraculous release from the unimaginable hell of the U.S. correctional system. Unable to afford legal help, through his own determination and strategic thinking, some serendipity, and the all-important help of complete strangers, including Bryan Stevenson and, perhaps most extraordinarily, the woman he shot, he was able eventually to gain his freedom. Full of unexpected twists and turns, the narrative is at times harrowing, disturbing, and painful, but, ultimately it is astoundingly evocative of the power of human will"--

The juvenile court as the major device for dealing with young offenders has roots in the English common law, which distinguished between adult offenders & the young, who could not sufficiently distinguish between right & wrong to be held responsible for their illegal actions. Even today, however, the definition of juvenile delinquency (JD) is tautological: the delinquent is he who has been adjudicated as such by a court of proper jurisdiction, & JD is any act, course of conduct, or situation which might be brought before a court & adjudicated as such. Many juvenile cases are settled by the police without going to court, & others are handled by the court unofficially. Court procedures resemble regular criminal proceedings, but there are a number of important diff's, some of which suggest constitutional questions. Guilt is not generally considered an issue; a greater effort is made to discover why the youth has come into the hands of the court, regardless of whether or not he is delinquent. In most juvenile court hearings, no counsel appears for the child, & case law holds that he is not entitled to counsel. In most states, the child cannot demand jury trial. Broadly, it can be said that due process is not strictly followed. Also, the validity of corrective measures can be questioned. The extent of JD & its recent growth suggest the desirability of a thorough & objective reconsideration of the means & the methods hitherto employed in dealing with young law violators. AA.