Deck 1: Adolescence and Delinquency

Question 1

A law violation by a young person is considered an act of juvenile delinquency only if the behavior meets which of the following criteria?

A) The act involved would be a criminal offense if it were committed by an adult.
B) The young person charged with committing the act is below the age at which the criminal court traditionally assumes jurisdiction.
C) The juvenile is charged with an offense that must be adjudicated in the juvenile court or the prosecution and the juvenile court judge exercise their discretion to lodge and retain jurisdiction in the juvenile court.
D) All of the above

Answer 1

All of the above

Question 2

By ________, every state but one had passed laws prohibiting the employment in industry of children under a certain age, generally 14.

A) 1884
B) 1914
C) 1934
D) 1954

Answer 2

1914

Question 3

The children's rights movement, which encompasses a spectrum of approaches, became popular in the 1970s as a means to compensate for ________.

A) the facilitated development of personal identity
B) an expedited search for a personal set of values
C) young people's lack of rights
D) the development of skills necessary for positive social interaction

Answer 3

young people's lack of rights

Question 4

The population of juveniles, according to a U.S. Census Bureau estimate, will increase ________ percent between 2000 and 2025.

A) 10
B) 14
C) 24
D) 30

Question 5

Which of the following acts of adolescents would NOT be considered a high-risk behavior?

A) break dancing
B) drunken driving
C) drug and alcohol abuse
D) carrying of weapons

Question 6

Which of the following behaviors is NOT a law violation when committed by a juvenile?

A) curfew violations
B) runaway behavior
C) incorrigibility
D) multiple body piercings

Question 7

Behaviors that would NOT be offenses when engaged in by adults are called ________.

A) victimless crimes
B) delinquent behaviors
C) serious offenses
D) status offenses

Question 8

Under parens patriae, the ________ assumed the parental role over juvenile lawbreakers.

A) state
B) parents
C) teachers
D) neighbors

Question 9

Juvenile court codes usually specific that the court has jurisdiction in relation to three categories of conditions. Which is NOT one of these categories of conditions?

A) delinquency
B) dependency
C) criminality
D) neglect

Question 10

In 41 states and the District of Columbia, persons under ________ years of age charged with a law violation are considered juveniles.

A) 15
B) 16
C) 17
D) 18

Question 11

The deinstitutionalization of status offenders movement refers to the ________.

A) confinement of status offenders in secure detention facilities
B) removal of status offenders from secure detention facilities
C) power struggle between parents and status offenders
D) discrimination against female status offenders

Question 12

Which of the following was NOT among the principal objectives of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974?

A) promote deinstitutionalization of status offenders
B) encourage elimination of the practice of jailing juveniles
C) encourage community-based alternatives to juvenile detention
D) promote the development of correctional facilities

Question 13

Which of the following is NOT a term used to describe crossover youth?

A) dually adjudicated youth
B) cross-system cases
C) human agency cases
D) dual-jurisdiction cases

Question 14

In the early 1990s, which of the following became a major impetus for the development and spread of drug-trafficking street gangs across the United States?

A) crack epidemic
B) parental control
C) deinstitutionalization of juveniles
D) unemployment epidemic

Question 15

The "get-tough" attitude in the 1990s led to enacting of legislation in nearly every state changing the way juvenile delinquents were handled. Which of the following is NOT among the state initiatives in juvenile justice that continues in force today?

A) expanded use of curfews
B) creation of juvenile boot camps
C) movement toward graduated sanctions
D) banning of violence in video games

Question 16

At the individual level, one of the most important concepts in the area of delinquency prevention is ________. That is, juveniles are able to persevere in the face of difficulty and become productive citizens of their communities.

A) stringency
B) rigidity
C) defeat
D) resiliency

Question 17

Which of the following is NOT an issue that the Developmental Life-Course theory is concerned with?

A) the development of offending and antisocial behavior
B) the risk of offending at different ages
C) the effects of life events on the course of a person's social and personal development
D) the legal basis of juvenile court decisions

Question 18

Which of the following themes examines risk factors that contribute to delinquent behavior and asks how such behavior affects subsequent life experiences?

A) parens patriae
B) legal context of delinquency
C) deinstitutionalization of status offenders
D) Developmental Life-Course theory

Question 19

Which term recognizes that juveniles are influenced by social opportunities and structural constraints, and make personal choices from among the options that they believe they are facing?

A) delinquency
B) high-risk behavior
C) human agency
D) antisocial behavior

Question 20

The three themes in the study of delinquency are delinquency prevention, delinquency across the life course, and delinquency and ________.

A) historical policy
B) economic policy
C) social policy
D) legal policy

Question 21

________ identifies appropriate methods to collect data, helps to identify concepts to be studied, tests ideas for their impact on the subject under study, analyzes related concepts, and suggests new directions for theorizing.

A) Philosophy
B) Theory
C) Research
D) Policy

Question 22

Miller v. Alabama (2016) made retroactive the end of life without parole for those sentenced as juveniles.

Question 23

Adolescence is considered to be the years between ages 11 and 17.

Question 24

Until child labor laws were actually enforced, children as young as ages four and five worked in mines, mills, and factories.

Question 25

High-risk youths typically do not have educational and vocational skill deficits.

Question 26

The average American delinquent today is far more likely to commit a serious violent crime than to commit petty theft.

Question 27

Status offenses would be defined as criminal if adults committed them.

Question 28

Juvenile court codes exist in every state.

Question 29

The juvenile court may intervene in cases involving dependency and neglect.

Question 30

The age at which a youthful offender is no longer treated as a juvenile is consistent across the states.

Question 31

Status offenders frequently come from single-parent homes and often engage in verbal and physical abuse directed toward the parent(s).

Question 32

The deinstitutionalization of status offenders has received considerable pushback in the past few decades.

Question 33

Meda Chesney-Lind and Linda Pasko argue that the juvenile justice system discriminates against girls.

Question 34

Public whippings and expulsion from the community were common punishments for chronic offenders during the Reform Agenda era.

Question 35

The major purpose of the reform agenda of the late 1970s was to divert the handling of status offenses from a criminal to a noncriminal setting.

Question 36

By the early 2000s, the use of guns had spread from individuals involved in drug transactions to larger numbers of young people, and the availability and use of guns, the spread of the drug market, and the growth of street gangs all contributed to a dramatic rise in murder rates among young people.

Question 37

At the individual level, one of the most important concepts in the area of delinquency prevention is resiliency.

Question 38

Delinquency prevention asks what can be done to improve the quality of young people's lives and provides ideas for effectively treating and controlling youth crime.

Question 39

The life interval between childhood and adulthood, usually the period between the ages of twelve and eighteen years, is called ________.

Question 40

An act committed by a minor that violates the penal code of the government with authority over the area in which the act occurs is called juvenile ________.

Question 41

Of the 25 million adolescents in the United States, approximately one in ________ is at high risk for engaging in multiple problem behaviors.

Question 42

Beginning in the late 1980s and extending throughout the 1990s, adolescents participated widely in youth ________.

Question 43

Juvenile court codes specify the conditions under which states can ________ intervene in a juvenile's life.

Question 44

Juvenile court codes usually specify that the court has jurisdiction in relation to three categories of conditions: delinquency, ________, and neglect.

Question 45

Generally speaking, status offenders, many of whom come from ________ homes, place the blame for their problems on parental figures in the home and believe that fulfilling their need for a warm, accepting, and loving relationship with their parents is not possible.

Question 46

The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDA) of 1974 served as an impetus for the ________ of status offenders.

Question 47

The most severe form of treatment of juveniles is the belief that juveniles who commit serious crimes or continue to break the law are presumed to deserve punishment rather than treatment. These juveniles are punished more like ________ that juveniles.

Question 48

Beginning in the 1980s and continuing through today, young people became increasingly involved in various forms of ________ crimes, or crimes committed because of a victim's racial or ethnic characteristics, or religious or gender preferences.

Question 49

The ________ of delinquency can be accomplished by effective social programs, or it may involve efforts to enhance the personal characteristics that shield young people from negative environmental influences as they are growing up.

Question 50

Youth are generally considered ________ when they are able to rely on apparently innate characteristics to fend off or recover from life's misfortunes.

Question 51

Match each juvenile delinquency with its description to historical era of societal response.

-Colonial Period

A) (late 1970s) The major purpose of this plan was to divert the handling of status offenses from a criminal to a noncriminal setting.
B) (1990-2010) The "get tough"
Attitude toward violent juveniles led to a number of juvenile justice initiatives in the 1990s and extending to the twenty-first century that went beyond those implemented in the 1980s.
C) (1980s) The major thrusts were to reassess the soft-line approach to minor offenders and status offenders and to "get tough"
On serious and violent juvenile crime.
D) (1967-1975) In several court decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court granted juveniles due process rights in the juvenile justice system.
E) (1636-1823) The family was the primary means of social control of children; recalcitrant children then suffered public whippings, dunking (partial drowning), and the stocks.
F) (1824-1898) Wayward children were placed in facilities intended to reform them.
G) (2010 to present) Increased understanding of juvenile behavior resulting from studies in neurobiology and developmental psychology that recognized significant differences between the minds of juveniles and adults.
H) (1899-1966) Created in Cook County, Illinois, and used parens patriae as a legal philosophy, this court handles all illegal behaviors among juveniles.

Question 52

Match each juvenile delinquency with its description to historical era of societal response.

-House of Refuge

A) (late 1970s) The major purpose of this plan was to divert the handling of status offenses from a criminal to a noncriminal setting.
B) (1990-2010) The "get tough"
Attitude toward violent juveniles led to a number of juvenile justice initiatives in the 1990s and extending to the twenty-first century that went beyond those implemented in the 1980s.
C) (1980s) The major thrusts were to reassess the soft-line approach to minor offenders and status offenders and to "get tough"
On serious and violent juvenile crime.
D) (1967-1975) In several court decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court granted juveniles due process rights in the juvenile justice system.
E) (1636-1823) The family was the primary means of social control of children; recalcitrant children then suffered public whippings, dunking (partial drowning), and the stocks.
F) (1824-1898) Wayward children were placed in facilities intended to reform them.
G) (2010 to present) Increased understanding of juvenile behavior resulting from studies in neurobiology and developmental psychology that recognized significant differences between the minds of juveniles and adults.
H) (1899-1966) Created in Cook County, Illinois, and used parens patriae as a legal philosophy, this court handles all illegal behaviors among juveniles.

Question 53

Match each juvenile delinquency with its description to historical era of societal response.

-Juvenile Courts

A) (late 1970s) The major purpose of this plan was to divert the handling of status offenses from a criminal to a noncriminal setting.
B) (1990-2010) The "get tough"
Attitude toward violent juveniles led to a number of juvenile justice initiatives in the 1990s and extending to the twenty-first century that went beyond those implemented in the 1980s.
C) (1980s) The major thrusts were to reassess the soft-line approach to minor offenders and status offenders and to "get tough"
On serious and violent juvenile crime.
D) (1967-1975) In several court decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court granted juveniles due process rights in the juvenile justice system.
E) (1636-1823) The family was the primary means of social control of children; recalcitrant children then suffered public whippings, dunking (partial drowning), and the stocks.
F) (1824-1898) Wayward children were placed in facilities intended to reform them.
G) (2010 to present) Increased understanding of juvenile behavior resulting from studies in neurobiology and developmental psychology that recognized significant differences between the minds of juveniles and adults.
H) (1899-1966) Created in Cook County, Illinois, and used parens patriae as a legal philosophy, this court handles all illegal behaviors among juveniles.

Question 54

Match each juvenile delinquency with its description to historical era of societal response.

-Juvenile Rights

A) (late 1970s) The major purpose of this plan was to divert the handling of status offenses from a criminal to a noncriminal setting.
B) (1990-2010) The "get tough"
Attitude toward violent juveniles led to a number of juvenile justice initiatives in the 1990s and extending to the twenty-first century that went beyond those implemented in the 1980s.
C) (1980s) The major thrusts were to reassess the soft-line approach to minor offenders and status offenders and to "get tough"
On serious and violent juvenile crime.
D) (1967-1975) In several court decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court granted juveniles due process rights in the juvenile justice system.
E) (1636-1823) The family was the primary means of social control of children; recalcitrant children then suffered public whippings, dunking (partial drowning), and the stocks.
F) (1824-1898) Wayward children were placed in facilities intended to reform them.
G) (2010 to present) Increased understanding of juvenile behavior resulting from studies in neurobiology and developmental psychology that recognized significant differences between the minds of juveniles and adults.
H) (1899-1966) Created in Cook County, Illinois, and used parens patriae as a legal philosophy, this court handles all illegal behaviors among juveniles.

Question 55

Match each juvenile delinquency with its description to historical era of societal response.

-Reform Agenda

A) (late 1970s) The major purpose of this plan was to divert the handling of status offenses from a criminal to a noncriminal setting.
B) (1990-2010) The "get tough"
Attitude toward violent juveniles led to a number of juvenile justice initiatives in the 1990s and extending to the twenty-first century that went beyond those implemented in the 1980s.
C) (1980s) The major thrusts were to reassess the soft-line approach to minor offenders and status offenders and to "get tough"
On serious and violent juvenile crime.
D) (1967-1975) In several court decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court granted juveniles due process rights in the juvenile justice system.
E) (1636-1823) The family was the primary means of social control of children; recalcitrant children then suffered public whippings, dunking (partial drowning), and the stocks.
F) (1824-1898) Wayward children were placed in facilities intended to reform them.
G) (2010 to present) Increased understanding of juvenile behavior resulting from studies in neurobiology and developmental psychology that recognized significant differences between the minds of juveniles and adults.
H) (1899-1966) Created in Cook County, Illinois, and used parens patriae as a legal philosophy, this court handles all illegal behaviors among juveniles.

Question 56

Match each juvenile delinquency with its description to historical era of societal response.

-Social Control and Juvenile Crime

A) (late 1970s) The major purpose of this plan was to divert the handling of status offenses from a criminal to a noncriminal setting.
B) (1990-2010) The "get tough"
Attitude toward violent juveniles led to a number of juvenile justice initiatives in the 1990s and extending to the twenty-first century that went beyond those implemented in the 1980s.
C) (1980s) The major thrusts were to reassess the soft-line approach to minor offenders and status offenders and to "get tough"
On serious and violent juvenile crime.
D) (1967-1975) In several court decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court granted juveniles due process rights in the juvenile justice system.
E) (1636-1823) The family was the primary means of social control of children; recalcitrant children then suffered public whippings, dunking (partial drowning), and the stocks.
F) (1824-1898) Wayward children were placed in facilities intended to reform them.
G) (2010 to present) Increased understanding of juvenile behavior resulting from studies in neurobiology and developmental psychology that recognized significant differences between the minds of juveniles and adults.
H) (1899-1966) Created in Cook County, Illinois, and used parens patriae as a legal philosophy, this court handles all illegal behaviors among juveniles.

Question 57

Match each juvenile delinquency with its description to historical era of societal response.

-Delinquency and the Growing Fear of Crime

A) (late 1970s) The major purpose of this plan was to divert the handling of status offenses from a criminal to a noncriminal setting.
B) (1990-2010) The "get tough"
Attitude toward violent juveniles led to a number of juvenile justice initiatives in the 1990s and extending to the twenty-first century that went beyond those implemented in the 1980s.
C) (1980s) The major thrusts were to reassess the soft-line approach to minor offenders and status offenders and to "get tough"
On serious and violent juvenile crime.
D) (1967-1975) In several court decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court granted juveniles due process rights in the juvenile justice system.
E) (1636-1823) The family was the primary means of social control of children; recalcitrant children then suffered public whippings, dunking (partial drowning), and the stocks.
F) (1824-1898) Wayward children were placed in facilities intended to reform them.
G) (2010 to present) Increased understanding of juvenile behavior resulting from studies in neurobiology and developmental psychology that recognized significant differences between the minds of juveniles and adults.
H) (1899-1966) Created in Cook County, Illinois, and used parens patriae as a legal philosophy, this court handles all illegal behaviors among juveniles.

Question 58

Match each juvenile delinquency with its description to historical era of societal response.

-A New Understanding of Juvenile Behavior Emerges

A) (late 1970s) The major purpose of this plan was to divert the handling of status offenses from a criminal to a noncriminal setting.
B) (1990-2010) The "get tough"
Attitude toward violent juveniles led to a number of juvenile justice initiatives in the 1990s and extending to the twenty-first century that went beyond those implemented in the 1980s.
C) (1980s) The major thrusts were to reassess the soft-line approach to minor offenders and status offenders and to "get tough"
On serious and violent juvenile crime.
D) (1967-1975) In several court decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court granted juveniles due process rights in the juvenile justice system.
E) (1636-1823) The family was the primary means of social control of children; recalcitrant children then suffered public whippings, dunking (partial drowning), and the stocks.
F) (1824-1898) Wayward children were placed in facilities intended to reform them.
G) (2010 to present) Increased understanding of juvenile behavior resulting from studies in neurobiology and developmental psychology that recognized significant differences between the minds of juveniles and adults.
H) (1899-1966) Created in Cook County, Illinois, and used parens patriae as a legal philosophy, this court handles all illegal behaviors among juveniles.

Question 59

Match each theme of the text with each theme of the text description.

-Delinquency prevention

A) Examines risk factors that contribute to delinquent behavior and asks how such behavior affects subsequent life experiences.
B) Asks what can be done to improve the quality of young people's lives and provides ideas for effectively treating and controlling youth crime.
C) Can be accomplished by effective social programs, or it may involve efforts to enhance the personal characteristics that shield young people from negative environmental influences as they are growing up.

Question 60

Match each theme of the text with each theme of the text description.

-Delinquency across the life course

A) Examines risk factors that contribute to delinquent behavior and asks how such behavior affects subsequent life experiences.
B) Asks what can be done to improve the quality of young people's lives and provides ideas for effectively treating and controlling youth crime.
C) Can be accomplished by effective social programs, or it may involve efforts to enhance the personal characteristics that shield young people from negative environmental influences as they are growing up.

Question 61

Match each theme of the text with each theme of the text description.

-Delinquency and social policy

A) Examines risk factors that contribute to delinquent behavior and asks how such behavior affects subsequent life experiences.
B) Asks what can be done to improve the quality of young people's lives and provides ideas for effectively treating and controlling youth crime.
C) Can be accomplished by effective social programs, or it may involve efforts to enhance the personal characteristics that shield young people from negative environmental influences as they are growing up.

Question 62

What is a "youth culture"and what does it involve?

Question 63

Identify the difficulties many high-risk youth often experience.

Question 64

Discuss the three categories of juvenile behavior in which the juvenile court has jurisdiction

Question 65

Summarize the six arguments given for the removal of status offenders from the jurisdiction of the juvenile court.

Question 66

Several interrelated social trends have recently emerged that have influenced delinquency in U.S. society in rather dramatic ways. Discuss these trends and how they have influenced delinquency.

Question 67

What are the four key elements of the Developmental Life-Course theory? Explain them in context of the theory.

Question 68

What factors do you think might propel a status offender into more severe kinds of offenses?

Question 69

A status offense is a nondelinquent/noncriminal offense; an offense that is illegal for underage persons but not for adults. Status offenses include curfew violations, incorrigibility, running away, truancy, and underage drinking. Why might underage persons commit these various offenses?