Juvenile Delinquency in a Diverse Society

This engaging, student-friendly text takes a critical look at juvenile delinquency today. Authors Kristin Bates and Richelle Swan examine the phenomenon of juvenile delinquency in the context of real communities and social policies, integrating into the text the many social factors that shape juvenile delinquency and its control (including race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality). Offering a thorough mix of traditional and cutting-edge theories, research, and practices, this text helps students develop critical thinking skills and answer many of the difficult questions on juvenile delinquency that they will face in their careers and lives.

About the Author :
Kristin A. Bates is Professor of Sociology and Criminology and Justice Studies at California State University, San Marcos. She earned her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Washington where she concentrated in criminology and social control. She has been teaching juvenile delinquency in both large and small sections for more than 20 years. Her research is in the area of inequality and social justice, with a specific focus on issues of race and social control. Her current research project with Richelle Swan looks at gang injunctions' impact on the community in Southern California. She is the co-editor, with Richelle Swan, of Through the Eye of Katrina: Social Justice in the United States (2nd ed.) and co-author of Deviance and Social Control: A Sociological Perspective (2nd ed.) and Perspectives in Deviance and Social Control (with Michelle Inderbitzin and Randy Gainey). Richelle S. Swan is Professor of Sociology and Criminology and Justice Studies at California State University, San Marcos. She earned her Ph.D. in criminology, law, and society from the University of California, Irvine, and her M.S. in justice studies from Arizona State University. She teaches a number of classes related to delinquency, crime, law, and social justice. Her ongoing research projects focus on gang injunction laws in Southern California (with Kristin Bates) and the intersection between law, undocumented immigration, and society (with Marisol Clark-Ibanez). Past research has included problem-solving courts, welfare fraud diversion, restorative justice, and social justice movements. She is the co-editor of Through the Eye of Katrina: Social Justice in the United States (2nd ed.) and co-author of Spicing Up Sociology: The Use of Films in Sociology Courses.

Review :
By consistently devoting space to gender, race, and class in each chapter, Bates and Swan demonstrate the importance of these social identities in all facets of juvenile justice and delinquency.--Kimberly L. Barrett