Verified Document

Social Identity Theory Relating To Juvenile Delinquency Term Paper

Juvenile Delinquency Theory Social identity theory

Postmodernist criminology theory

Underlying assumptions

Postmodernism is a relatively unique theory of criminology: rather than simply trying to understand why people commit crimes and explain such behavior, it questions the notion of what constitutes 'crime' altogether. The underlying assumption of postmodernism is that crime is a culturally constructed concept. [One sentence thesis] For example, in the 1950s, being gay was considered criminal -- today being gay is socially accepted behavior. White-collar crime is often considered less serious than violent crime. Postmodernist theories of criminology suggests that this is not because that white-collar crime is less serious, rather it is because the perpetrators are more apt to be socially powerful and wealthy individuals who can define how crime is constructed.

Similarly, postmodernism would suggest that the social construction of the identity of the juvenile delinquent is laden with class and historical assumptions. Once upon a time, a girl who engaged in sexual activity before marriage would be considered delinquent. Today, that is not the case. Conversely, bullying behavior of teens who are gay, members of religious minorities, or simply 'different' from their peers might have been tacitly condoned at one point. Now such behaviors are clearly labeled as delinquent. The labeling of the criminal thus has more to do with the social identity of the 'labeler' of the crime than the so-called delinquent him or herself.

Structure of theory

Postmodern theories of crime derive their origin not from the discipline of criminology itself, but from literary theory and philosophy. "Post-modernism had its roots in poststructuralist French thought in the late 1960s and 1970s. Its starting point is a disillusion with the modernist...

Implicit in even many liberal theories of criminal philosophy was the idea that society was progressively getting 'better' and more enlightened. Postmodernism suggests that this idea is tautological, a delusion. Things seem to be getting 'better' merely because we are judging them by our current standards. For example, while it may seem that society is growing more tolerant and diverse because we are seeing more examples of minorities in the popular media, a postmodernist might point to the growing economic discrepancies between the haves and the have-nots, the incarceration rate of young black men, and question how we judge what a valid definition of progress is as a society. The postmodernist's view of the world is characterized by chaos rather than "coherence and unity" and argues against the "notion of crime [which] at first appears to refer to clear and fixed forms of behavior but on closer interrogation slides away into a plethora of different activities and meanings which have nothing in common other than the fact that the criminal justice system treats them as crimes" (Walton & Young 1998). Even the question of who is assumed to be a criminal committing the same crime is socially constructed -- for example a judge may treat an African-American juvenile dealing drugs as a criminal while a white teen may be treated like an 'addict' and remitted to the care of his parents, provided they find him treatment.
Strengths

According to the report Critical Condition: African-American Youth in the Justice System, racial perceptions have a significant impact upon how individuals are treated in the justice system. African-American youth make up 30% of juvenile arrests even while they make up only 17% of the overall juvenile population. They make up 62% of the under-aged…

Sources used in this document:
References

Barak, Gregg Stuart Henry & Dragan Milovanovic. (2011). Constitutive criminology: An overview of an emerging postmodernist school. Red Feather Journal. Red Feather

Institute Postmodern Criminology Series. Volume 1. Retrieved October 17, 2011 at http://www.critcrim.org/redfeather/journal-pomocrim/vol-1-intro/001overview.html

Cowling, Mark. (2006). Postmodern policies. Internet Journal of Criminology.

Retrieved October 17, 2011 at http://www.internetjournalofcriminology.com/Cowling%20-%20Postmodern%20Policies.pdf
New American Media. Retrieved October 17, 2011 at http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=5ea659e8f4c6a52d0063d8cb61a2736e
Institute Postmodern Criminology Series. Volume 1. Retrieved October 17, 2011 at http://www.critcrim.org/redfeather/journal-pomocrim/vol-1-intro/003duellingparadigms.html
Revisited. London: Macmillan. Retrieved October 17, 2011 at http://www.bunker8.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/misc/pmod.htm
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Juvenile Delinquency Is a Socially
Words: 1168 Length: 3 Document Type: Term Paper

(Causal Theories of Juvenile Delinquency: Social Perspectives) Charles Cooley in his publication Human Nature and the Social Order analyzed the personal perception of juvenile delinquents by means of the studies of children and their imaginary friends. Cooley develops his theory around the imaginary concept of looking glass self, which is considered to be a type of imaginary sociability. People introspectively imagine through the eyes of others in their social circles

Juvenile Delinquency and Why They Commit Crimes
Words: 2242 Length: 8 Document Type: Term Paper

Juvenile delinquency: Why they happen and the possible remedies. Juvenile delinquency has been a dominant debate in various spheres and for a long time and this debate do not seem to disappear any time soon. There have been various attempts to explain the concept and sense behind juvenile delinquency but little has been of corrective measure to this problem within the society. Despite there being various theories behind the juvenile delinquency,

How Birth Order Affects Juvenile Delinquency
Words: 4203 Length: 16 Document Type: Term Paper

Birth Order and Juvenile Delinquency Psychologists have long studied the effects of birth order on a person's personality. Sigmund Freud, for example, believed that "the position of a child in the family order is a factor of extreme importance in determining the shape of his later life" (cited in Sulloway 1996: 468n). The rest of social sciences, however, have been slower to accept such a sociobiological approach, preferring instead to explain social

Labeling Theory and Juvenile Crime
Words: 826 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Labeling Theory and Juvenile Crime Do we perform to expectations? One study of gifted children suggested that this was the case: in an experiment, teachers were told that certain pupils in their classroom had tested as 'gifted.' Almost immediately, the teachers began to treat these children differently, and the children began to perform at a higher standard. However, the teachers had actually been intentionally misinformed -- the children had been selected

Juvenile Delinquent and Mental Disorders Analyze Empirical
Words: 3033 Length: 9 Document Type: Essay

Juvenile Delinquent and Mental Disorders Analyze Empirical Maltreated youth and delinquent behaviors Maltreatment, Family and Childhood Peers and Adolescence Aging into Early Adulthood Crime risk and out-of-home care youth Juvenile Delinquent and Mental Disorders The transition of youth from adolescence to adulthood is usually a difficult and painful period. This is an even more difficult time for the youth who are removed from the home of biological parents to be placed into out-of-home care. For them, they not

Juvenile Offenders and Rehabilitation
Words: 4448 Length: 12 Document Type: Research Proposal

Juvenile offenders have grown to become a serious problem in many countries, especially the United States. Like adult offenders, juvenile offenders are more likely to reoffend, especially without the proper guidance and assistance they need in order to live a law abiding life. Research within the last five years has led to identification of specific program models as well theory-based intervention approaches that not only assist juvenile offenders in leading

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now