Juvenile Delinquency: Causes and Control

The Third Edition of Agnew's popular juvenile delinquency text has been thoroughly updated. Statistics and data through the end of 2007 are included, and the Teaching Aids section at the end of each chapter has been revised and expanded. The four sections of this text examine: 1. The nature and extent of delinquency. Includes chapters on the nature and origins of the juvenile justice system; the extent of and trends in delinquency, including reasons for the recent decline in delinquency; and the characteristics of delinquents. 2. Major theories of delinquency. Discusses strain, social learning, control, and labeling theories, as well as efforts to use these theories to explain patterns of offending over the life course, why delinquency is more likely in some situations than others, and why some groups and communities have higher rates of delinquency than others. 3. Major research on the causes of delinquency. Includes research on the relationship between delinquency and biological factors, individual traits, family factors, school experiences, delinquent peer groups and gangs, the media, religion, work, drugs, and guns. 4. Efforts of the police, juvenile court, and juvenile correctional agencies to control delinquency. Examines the effectiveness of these agencies, ways to increase their effectiveness, and the extent to which they discriminate against certain groups. Also, examines four general strategies for controlling delinquency--the "get tough" strategies of deterrence and incapacitation, and the strategies of rehabilitation and prevention.

Table of Contents:
PART I: THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF DELINQUENCY; 1. What Is Delinquency and How Does It Differ From Adult Crime?; 2. How Is Delinquency Measured?; 3. How Much Delinquency Is There and Is Delinquency Increasing?; 4. Who Is Most Likely to Engage in Delinquency?; PART II: THE CAUSES OF DELINQUENCY: THEORIES; 5. What Is a Theory and How Do We Test Theories?; 6. Strain Theory; 7. Social Learning Theory: Do Individuals Learn to Be Delinquent From Others?; 8. Control Theory: Do Weak Controls Result in Delinquency?; 9. Labeling Theory: Does the Reaction to Delinquency Lead to Further Delinquency?; 10. How Do We Explain Different Patterns of Offending Over the Life Course?; 11. Is Delinquency More Likely in Certain Types of Situations?; 12. How Can We Explain Group Differences in Delinquency, Particularly Community Differences in Rates of Delinquency?; PART III: THE CAUSES OF DELINQUENCY: RESEARCH; 13. Individual Traits: What Impact Do Individual Traits Have on Delinquency?; 14. The Family: What Impact Does the Family Have on Delinquency?; 15. The School: What Impact Does the School Have on Delinquency?; 16. Delinquent Peers and Gangs: What Impact Do Delinquent Peer Groups and Gangs Have on Delinquency?; 17. What Effects Do Religion, Work, the Mass Media, Drugs, and Guns Have on Delinquency?; 18. Pulling It All Together: Is It Possible to Construct a General Theory of Delinquency?; PART IV: THE CONTROL AND PREVENTION OF DELINQUENCY; 19. How Is It Determined if a Policy or Program Is Effective in Controlling or Preventing Delinquency?; 20. The Police: What Do the Police Do to Control Delinquency?; 21. Juvenile Court and Corrections: What Do the Juvenile Court and Juvenile Correctional Agencies Do to Control Delinquency?; 22. Does the Juvenile Justice System Discriminate Against Certain Groups in Its Efforts to Control Delinquency?; 23. Is It Possible to Control Delinquency by Punishing More Offenders and Punishing Them More Severely? The Strategies of Deterrence and Incapacitation; 24. Is It Possible to Prevent Delinquency and to Rehabilitate Delinquents? The Strategies of Prevention and Rehabilitation; 25. What Should We Do to Reduce Delinquency?

About the Author :
Robert Agnew is Professor of Sociology at Emory University and a fellow of the American Society of Criminology. He is author of Pressured Into Crime: An Overview of General Strain Theory (OUP, 2006) and Why Do They Do It? A General Theory of Crime and Delinquency (OUP, 2005) and coeditor, with Francis T. Cullen, of Criminological Theory: Past to Present (OUP, 2005).

Review :
"This is the best-written juvenile delinquency text I have read. It is written in a manner that is easily accessible to undergraduate students. The use of the question format for subsections of chapters makes it seem more relevant to students than the same material presented in other texts."--Marvin Krohn, University of Florida "A fascinating journey into Enlightenment thought...Agnew's book not only makes an innovative contribution to research on alterity, the Enlightenment, and the cultural history of music, it also can be profitably read by a non-specialist audience with an interest in music."--H-Net