Serious, Chronic and Violent Juvenile Offenders

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Serious, Chronic and Violent Juvenile Offenders

• Chapter 6

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Definitions

• Serious Juvenile offender has been convicted of
  a Part I offense
• Serious child delinquent between the ages of 7
  and 12 and has committed one or more homicides,
  aggravated assaults, robberies, rapes or arson

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Definitions

• Chronic juvenile offender 5 or more separate
  charges of delinquency
• Violent juvenile offender convicted of a crime
  against a person and has a prior of a similar
  offense or murder

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Definitions

• Missouri Law

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Definitions

• Serious or chronic offenders
• Low income families
• Rates troublesome by teachers and peers
• Poor school performance by age 10
• Adjudicated delinquent by age 13
• Has a sibling convicted of a crime

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Chronic Juvenile Offenders

• Two dimensions
• Frequency of offending
• Length of time over which offending persists

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Chronic Juvenile Offenders

• Nonwhite males
• Chronic offending lower in females
• Early onset offender (10 and younger) have more
  serious and more violent careers in adolescence
  and young adult years

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Risk Factors

• Juvenile recidivism
• Demographics (low socio-economic)
• Offense history
• Family and social variables
• Physically and sexually abused
• Single parents family
• Out of home placements

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Risk Factors

• Significant family problems
• Delinquent peers
• Strongest predictors
• Age at first commitment
• Age at first contact with police
• History of nonsevere pathology

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Risk Factors

• Not significant predictors
• School attendance
• Academic achievement

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Violent Juvenile Offenders

• Youth who become violent before age 13 (before
  puberty) generally commit more crimes
• Often times, youth will stop committing violent
  crimes as they transition into adulthood (aging
  out)

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Serious Child Delinquents

• Most chronic juvenile offenders begin their
  careers by the age of 12
• Many start by age 10

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Serious Child Delinquents

• Risk Factors
• Individual
• Birth complications
• Hyperactivity
• Family related
• Parental substance abuse
• Poor childrearing practices

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Serious Child Delinquents

• We are seeing more young delinquents between the
  ages of 7 and 12
• Although juvenile crime is declining overall,
  young delinquents are becoming more serious and
  violent

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Violent Adolescent Females

• Most girls enter the JJ system as status
  offenders
• Often girls become perpetrators in response to
  their own victimization, substance abuse,
  economic conditions and dysfunctional family
  systems

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Predictors of Youth Violence

• Child abuse
• Difficult home life
• Exposure to crime (victims or witnesses)
• Aggression
• Dishonesty
• Conflict with authority figures

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Predictors of youth violence

• Juvenile victims are often involved in
  delinquency
• Early aggressive and disruptive behavior in
  preschool or elementary

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Predictors of youth violence

• Animal abuse
• Possible symptom of conduct disorder

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Myths

• Myths about Youth Violence
• Page 172

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Antisocial Personality Disorders

• Show evidence of conduct disorder before age 15
• Pattern of irresponsible and anti-social
  behavior since 15
• Drugs, alcohol, voluntary sexual intercourse
  unusually early for their peer group
• Read page 173

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Psychopathic/Sociopathic

• Chronic asocial behavior rooted in sever
  deficiencies in developing a conscience
• Failure to develop feelings of guilt
• Can originate with an overly dominant mother
• Psychopaths are charming in casual personal
  contacts

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• Psychopaths
• Very egocentric
• Never see their own responsibility for anything
  that goes wrong
• Normal intelligence
• Lack emotional intelligence
• Juveniles are viewed as incorrigible

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Conduct Disorders

• Anger exploding among teenagers
• Difficulty following rules
• Cant behave in a socially accepted way
• View as bad rather than mentally ill
• Page 175

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Guns and Juveniles

• 2001 Youth Risk Behavior Survey
• 17.4 of students had carried a weapon to school
• 6 had carried a gun
• Many state that they own and carry guns for
  protection or for committing crimes

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Guns and Juveniles

• Boys who own guns are more likely to be involved
  in delinquent behavior
• This is versus gun owners for sport
• More likely to sell drugs
• Parental responsibility laws
• Child Access Prevention laws (hold adults
  accountable)

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Violent Juvenile Crime

• Juvenile arrests for violence in 2000 were the
  lowest since 1988

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Violent Crimes

• Murder
• Murder rate in 2000 was the lowest since 1965
• Arrest rate for murder peaked in 1993
• Since 1993 the arrest rates for murder dropped to
  the lowest level in more than 2 decades

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Violent crimes

• Forcible rape
• Arrests for forcible rape declined 26 from 1991
  to 2000
• Females made up 1 of those arrests
• Juvenile sex offenders begin deviant behaviors at
  a young age
• Victims are usually younger children that the
  offenders know

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Violent crimes

• Robbery
• Arrest rate declined during the 1980s
• Peaked between 1994 and 1995

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Decline in Juvenile Arrests

• Juvenile crime peaked around 1994/1995 and began
  to decline. Why?
• Strong economy
• Changing demographics
• Changes in the market for illegal drugs and use
  of firearms
• Expanded imprisonment
• Policing innovations
• Cultural intolerance for violence

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School crime and violence

• School violence gets lots of media attention
• Generates widespread fear
• Incidents are declining
• School shootings are RARE!

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School crime

• Between 1998 and 1999, only 47 deaths at schools
  related to violence
• Students who carry weapons to school has declined
  from 1993 to 2001.

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School crime

• Threats
• Bullying
• Extortion

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Bullying

• People dismiss bullying as a rite of passage
• Some feel it is a cycle that kids go through
• intentional, repeated hurtful acts, words or
  other behaviors
• Physical
• Verbal
• Psychological
• sexual

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bullying

• Two components
• Repeated harmful acts
• Imbalance of power

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Bullying

• 1.6 million children in grades 6 through 10 are
  bullied at least once a week
• Long last impact
• Leads to anti-social behavior
• Vandalism, shoplifting, skipping or dropping out
  of school, fighting, use of drugs and alcohol

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Bullying

• Victims
• Low self esteem
• Depression
• Problems can reach into adulthood

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School Shootings

• Discuss the table on page 185
• Secret Service
• National Threat Assessment Center
• 2/3 of the 37 school shootings over the last 25
  years, the attackers felt
• Persecuted
• Bullied threatened
• Attacked
• injured

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School shootings

• Violence is evolutionary
• Signposts or clues
• Students will talk about or let out clues in the
  weeks or months before attack
• Subtle threats
• Boasts
• Innuendos
• Predictions
• Stories, diaries, songs, poems, drawings

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School Shooting Myths

• School violence is an epidemic
• All school shooters are alike
• The school shooter is always a loner
• School shootings are exclusively revenge
  motivated
• Easy access to weapons is the most significant
  risk factor
• Unusual behaviors, hobbies or interests are
  common and are destined for violence

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Gang Violence

• Gang violence is not a new phenomenon
• Gangs often attract who men who enjoy violence
• By the late 1990s every state has reported gang
  activity

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Gang violence

• 24,500 reported gangs
• Beginning to decline
• Female gang members commit few violent crimes
  than males

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Gangs

• Gang
• Common name or symbol
• Form for a common purpose, usually to engage in
  criminal acitivity
• Street gang claim territory
• Youth gang subset of a street gang

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Gangs

• Reputation is important
• LA and Chicago report the highest rates of gang
  homicide

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Why youth join gangs?

• Structure
• Sense of belonging
• Nurturing
• Economic opportunity
• Excitement
• Security, love, acceptance, food, shelter, power,
  money

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Why youth join gangs

• Family structure
• Dont get structure and parental attention at
  home
• Want a sense of belonging
• A family containing gang members is often of a
  racial minority and on some form of government
  assistance
• Lack a male figure or if he is present he is a
  criminal or drug addict

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• Family structure
• Mother may make excuses for the child
  accusations against society
• Children are taught not to take responsibility
  for their actions
• Many parents may have been members of gangs
• Some join gangs who are of immigrant groups and
  lose respect for their parents and culture

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• Peer Pressure
• Seek approval from peers
• Want prestige and power
• Fulfill an egotistical need
• Thrive on adrenaline rush
• Can be a chemical/biological makeup

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• Socio-economic pressure
• Want money and power
• Dont have legitimate means to getting money
• Want clothes, cars, drugs

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• Gang membership
• Page 195 and 196
• Socialized delinquency sanctioned by their
  culture
• Feel no guilt for the unlawful acitivites

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• Gang Myths
• Page 198 and 199