Summary

Praise for the previous edition:
"...provides a good general introduction to the topic of juvenile crime...recommended for academic and public libraries."—American Reference Books Annual

"A well-done and useful research guide...Recommended."—Choice

"Recommended for school and public libraries. Where high school students do regular research, this is a must add title."—Christian Library Journal

Crime committed by people under the age of 18 draws great public attention and concern. By highlighting the deficits of young people today, it confirms fears of a dangerous society and it stirs sympathies for youth gone astray. Policies and statutes regarding juvenile crime are evolving as Americans struggle with these rival concerns. In Roper v. Simmons (2005), the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to execute offenders for crimes committed when they were younger than 18, but the Court restricted students' free speech rights at public schools in Morse v. Frederick (2007). Meanwhile, U.S. states are calling for more juvenile offenses to be prosecuted in adult courts, a course of action that is condemned by many child psychologists. At the local level, more schools have installed full-time police officers and more jurisdictions are increasing punishments for crimes committed at school.

Juvenile Crime, Revised Edition examines juvenile offenders, their crimes, and the consequences they cause to themselves, their victims, and society. With up-to-date statistics and scholarship, this comprehensive revision gives an overview of the American juvenile justice system, how it works, and its impact on minors.

Coverage includes:

• Up-to-date statistics showing trends in status offenses, youth gangs, rates of drug and alcohol use, and crimes committed in public schools against students ages 12 to 18
• A recent Centers for Disease Control report detailing the effects of transferring youth to adult criminal court, an increasingly common practice
• Evolving scholarly explanations for the problem of delinquency, including female delinquency
• Safford Unified School District v. Redding, in which the Supreme Court ruled in favor of allowing school authorities to search the belongings and outer clothing of students but disallowed invasive strip searches
• Reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, now before Congress.

Specifications

Index. Appendixes. Bibliography. Glossary. Chronology.

About the Author(s)

Jeffrey Ferro received a B.A. from the University of Michigan and a certificate of litigation from the UCLA Extension Attorney Assistant Program, in association with the UCLA School of Law. Ferro is a senior paralegal with the Los Angeles County Office of the Public Defender, where his duties include providing legal assistance on capital cases. Author of Prisons and Sexual Misconduct and the Clergy in Facts On File's Library in a Book series, he has contributed to several works in the area of social issues, including crime, prisons and jails, and gun control.

Aaron Kupchik earned his Ph.D. in sociology from New York University and is associate professor of sociology and criminal justice at the University of Delaware. The winner of the American Society of Criminology's Ruth Shonle Cavan Young Scholar Award, he researches and teaches in the field of juvenile crime and juvenile justice. Kupchik is coeditor of Criminal Courts and the author of Homeroom Security: School Discipline in an Age of Fear as well as the award-winning Judging Juveniles: Prosecuting Adolescents in Adult and Juvenile Courts. His work has been published in respected sociology and criminology journals such as Social Problems, Justice Quarterly, Punishment & Society, Sociological Perspectives, and Criminology and Public Policy.