CJ 240/Soc 210

                                Juvenile Delinquency

                                    summer 2007  

 

Instructor: Robert Sigler, 348-7781, 553-3897, rsigler@aol.com

                           Home page: bama.ua.edu/~rsigler/home

   Office hours: 11-12 Tuesday and Thursday

Text: Juvenile Delinquency, 9th Edition, Siegel and Senna, West Publlishing

 

Course Description  3 hours of credit

 

Extent and patterns of delinquency; its development in individuals and gangs, group therapy with juveniles; and juvenile courts, training schools, probation, and after care services.

 

Student Learning Outcomes

 

a.                become familiar with the operations of the juvenile justice system

b.                become familiar with the various theories which seek to explain delinquent behavior.

c.                become familiar with the impact of various social institutions on the development of children

 

June     5                      Introduction and overview

            6                      Chapter 1-2 nature of delinquency

            7                      Chapter 3 Individual views

            8                      review

            11                    Chapter 4 sociological views

            12                    Chapter  5 developmental views

            13                    Chapter  6 gender

            14                    Chapter 7 and 8 family and peers

            15                    review

            18                    Exam

            19                    Chapter 9 Schools

20                    Chapter 10 Drugs

            21                    Chapter 11 Prevention

            22                    Review

            25                    Chapter 12 History  Paper due

            26                    Chapter 13 Police

            27                    Chapter14 Juvenile Court

            28                    chapter 15 Corrections

            29                    Review

July      2                      Chapter 16 international

3                                            Review

5                      exam   

 

 

Course Description

 

This course examines the extent and patterns of delinquency; its development in individuals and gangs; group therapy with delinquents; and juvenile courts, training schools, probation, and aftercare supervision.

 

Course Requirements

        Midterm        35%

        Final Exam     35%

        Term Paper     30%

                      l00%

 

 

 

Term Paper

       

The term paper will be about 3,o00 words (l2-15 pages) in length.  It will focus on any issue in the processing of juveniles by the juvenile justice system.  The paper will have the following sections (headings: l) identification of the problem; 2) discussion of the alternative solutions proposed with a discussion of the merits of each; 3) choose or develop a preferred solution; 4) defend your solution.  The instructor will discuss possible topics on request.  No more than one half of the reference citations can come from non-refereed web sites. Due June 25.

A paper which does not follow the format with proper headings in the text will earn a C even if it is an excellent well written paper.

       

Class Format

       

        This class is a lecture/discussion class.  Specific chapters are assigned for each week.  Some of the material is difficult.  Students will ask questions about the reading assignments at the beginning of each class period.  When the questions have been discussed, enrichment material will be presented by the instructor and discussed.  You are required to read a newspaper and watch/listen one non-print media news program each day.

 

Grading Policy: Grades are not assigned on a "curve."  It is possible for all students to earn an A.  It is also possible for no one to earn an A.  I have specific expectations for your performance so you are working to achieve my expectations not competing with each other.

       

Attendance Policy:  There are no penalties for missing class.  I will take roll each class period.  You should be aware, however, that there is a direct relationship between attendance and grades.  Those who attend regularly consistently make higher grades then those who don’t.  This is probably caused by several factors including: some of the questions on the exams come directly from the lecture and professors generally talk about what is most important to them in lecture (you should not be too surprised to discover that these things also tend to appear on the exams).  You also may earn up to three additional points on your final grade (you loose one point for each day of class that you miss).

       

Academic Misconduct Policy: All acts of dishonesty in any work constitute academic misconduct.  This includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, fabrication of information, misrepresentation, and abetting any of the above.  The Academic Misconduct Disciplinary Policies will be followed in the event of academic misconduct, including the right to appeal any decision or action taken under this policy.

 

Challenged Students: To request disability accommodations, please contact Disabilities Services (348-4285).  After initial arrangements are made with Disabilities Services, please contact Bob Sigler at rsigler@cj.as.ua.edu, 348-7781, or 553-3897.

 

Office hours: Office hours dedicated to students taking my courses this semester (you have priority over all others who might want my time) are posted on my office door.  I will be pleased to talk with you any other time that I am in my office, by email, or by phone.

 

 

 

Criminal Justice 240, Sociology 210: Juvenile Justice

Final Exam

Spring 2004

 

1. __________________________________________________ refers to those individuals who do not achieve success in school at the level of their expectations.

 

2. ______________________________________ mandates specific consequences or punishments for delinquent acts and not allowing anyone to avoid those consequences.

 

3. _______________________________________ are substances that lead to the use of more serious drugs

 

4. ______________________________________________ refers to injecting drugs directly into the veins.

 

5. ______________ ______________ refers to intervening in young people’s lives by means of non-justice program or policy design to prevent future occurrences of delinquent acts.

 

 

6. The best known and largest job training program in the United States is _____________________

 

 ________________________________________, which was established in 1964 as a federal training program for disadvantaged, unemployed youth

 

7. Developed by prominent Quakers known as child savers, the _________________________________ protected criminal youth by taking them off of the street and providing a family-like environment

 

8. The primary focus of ___________________________________________________ is to provide treatment to youths accused of drug-related acts.

 

9. _________________________________________ involves strategies that emphasizes fear reduction, community organization and order maintenance as opposed to crime fighting.

 

10. Police officers often experience _________________________________________in their efforts to balance the requirement to perform their law enforcement duties and their desire to aid in the rehabilitation of youthful offenders.

 

11. The transfer of a juvenile offender from the jurisdiction of juvenile court to the adult criminal court is

 

 referred to as the __________________________________________________________________.

 

12. ______________________________________ specifies a fixed term of detention that must be served.

 

13. The ___________________________________________________ specifies the rules and regulations mandating the specific behavior of a juvenile while on probation.

 

14. _________________________________________ requires that an offender stay at home for a specified period of time and subjects the offender to monitoring by means of phone calls, home visits or by electronic device monitoring.

 

15. _______________ ______________ are crimes that are punishable under international law.

 

16. ________________ ______________ are countries that are viewed by the UN as countries that are showing signs of improvement, economic growth and making the transition from low to high income status.

 

17. According to the video shown in class, the youngest person to be sentenced to death in the United States was convicted of _____________.

 

 

18.       The best pure prevention program in the United States is in ____________________________

 

19.       When it comes to explaining crime, the difference between boys and girls is ________________

 

_____________________________________________________. 

 

20.       List two of the ways the Alabama State Legislature harmed the juvenile correctional system in Alabama

 

______________________________________________________________________________________

 

______________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

 

Name ___________________________

 

First Exam

Juvenile Justice

Spring 2004

 

1.                  ________________________________________________________________________ are young people who are extremely vulnerable to the negative consequences of school failure, substance abuse, and early sexuality. 

 

2.                  The three juvenile waiver processes are _________________________________________,

 

_____________________________________, ____________________________________.

 

3.                  The ____________________________________________________________________ are incidents of crime and delinquency that go unreported by police.

 

4.                  Each year the US department of Justice’s __________________________________________

Compiles information gathered by police departments on the number of criminal acts reported by citizens and the number of persons arrested.

 

5.                  _________________________________________________________ holds that decisions to violate the law are weighed against possible punishments, and to deter crime the pain of punishment must outweigh the benefit of illegal gain and led to graduated punishments.

 

6.                  In _______________________________________________________ theory, it is damage to the brain itself that causes antisocial behavior injurious to the individuals lifestyle and social adjustment.

 

 

7.                  According to William Julius Wilson, the __________________________________________ are those people who are left out of the economic mainstream and reduced to living in the most deteriorated inner-city areas.

 

8.                  ______________________________________________________ posits that delinquency is learned through close relationships with others and asserts that children are born “good” and learn to be “bad” from others.

 

 

9.                  ________________________________________________________ is the ability to control impulsive and often imprudent behaviors that offer immediate short-term gratification.

 

10.              Gottfredson and Hirschi”s ______________________________________________________ is probably the most prominent latent trait view.  It modifies and redefines some of the principles articulated in Hirschi’s social control theory by integrating the concepts of control with those of biosocial, psychological, routine activities, and rational choice theories.

 

 

11.              ____________________________________________________________, according to Sigmund Freud, occurs when women being envious of the male sex organ unconsciously wish that they were men.

 

12.              According to the book, the weight of the evidence is that males are more aggressive than

 

 females; however, ___________________________________________________________

 

 

 

13.              _________________________________________________________________ is the ability of parents to effectively raise their children in a non-coercive fashion.

 

14.              Evidence also exists that _______________________________________________________ can promote delinquency.   Nye found that mothers who  threatened discipline but failed to carry it out were more likely to have delinquent children than those who were consistent in their discipline.

 

15.              ____________________________________________________________ is committing criminal acts in groups.

 

16.              _______________________________________________________ are stealing or assaulting someone to gain prestige in the neighborhood; often part of gang initiation rites.

 

 

17.              If your value system is different than mine it does not mean that _______________________

 

____________________________________________.

 

18.              Most of the rules and principles that govern our behavior are __________________________ _____________.

 

19.              We must consider the principle of ___________________________________________ when deciding if a violent child should be held responsible for his or her behavior.

 

20.              The largest group of children processed by the juvenile court are _______________________

 

____________________________________.