Juvenile Delinquency - Exam 1 Study
Guide questions and answers
Chapter 1 - Childhood and Delinquency - correct answer ✔✔Key Terms, Concepts, &
Checkpoints
ego identity - correct answer ✔✔According to Erik Erikson, ego identity is formed when persons
develop a firm sense of who they are and what they stand for.
role diffusion - correct answer ✔✔According to Erik Erikson, role diffusion occurs when youths
spread themselves too thin, experience personal uncertainty, and place themselves at the
mercy of leaders who promise to give them a sense of identity they cannot develop for
themselves.
at-risk youths - correct answer ✔✔Young people who are extremely vulnerable to the negative
consequences of school failure, substance abuse, and early sexuality.
LO1 - Be familiar with the risks faced by youth in American culture. - correct answer ✔✔- The
problems of American youth have become a national concern and an important subject of
academic study.
- There are more than 75 million youths in the United States, and the number is expected to
rise.
- American youth are under a great deal of stress. They face poverty, family problems, urban
decay, inadequate education, teen pregnancy, and social conflict.
- Kids take risks that get them in trouble.
,juvenile delinquency - correct answer ✔✔Participation in illegal behavior by a minor who falls
under a statutory age limit.
chronic juvenile offenders - correct answer ✔✔Also known as chronic delinquent offenders,
chronic delinquents, or chronic recidivists;
Youths who have been arrested four or more times during their minority and perpetuate a
striking majority of serious criminal acts. This small group, known as the "chronic 6 percent," is
believed to engage in a significant portion of all delinquent behavior; these youths do not age
out of crime but continue their criminal behavior into adulthood.
juvenile justice system - correct answer ✔✔The segment of the justice system, including law
enforcement officers, the courts, and correctional agencies, that is designed to treat youthful
offenders.
paternalistic family - correct answer ✔✔A family style wherein the father is the final authority
on all family matters and exercises complete control over his wife and children.
Poor Laws - correct answer ✔✔English statutes that allowed the courts to appoint overseers for
destitute and neglected children, allowing placement of these children as servants in the homes
of the affluent.
chancery courts - correct answer ✔✔Court proceedings created in fifteenth-century England to
oversee the lives of highborn minors who were orphaned or otherwise could not care for
themselves.
parens patriae - correct answer ✔✔The power of the state to act on behalf of the child and
provide care and protection equivalent to that of a parent.
,LO2 - Develop an understanding of the history of childhood. - correct answer ✔✔- The concept
of a separate status of childhood has developed slowly over the centuries.
- Early family life was controlled by parents. Punishment was severe and children were expected
to take on adult roles early in their lives.
- With the start of the seventeenth century came greater recognition of the needs of children. In
Great Britain, the chancery court movement, the Poor Laws, and apprenticeship programs
greatly affected the lives of children.
- In colonial America, many of the characteristics of English family living were adopted.
- In the nineteenth century, neglected, delinquent, and dependent or runaway children were
treated no differently than criminal defendants. Children were often charged and convicted of
crimes.
child savers - correct answer ✔✔Nineteenth-century reformers who developed programs for
troubled youth and influenced legislation creating the juvenile justice system; today some critics
view them as being more concerned with control of the poor than with their welfare.
House of Refuge - correct answer ✔✔A care facility developed by the child savers to protect
potential criminal youths by taking them off the street and providing a family-like environment.
Children's Aid Society - correct answer ✔✔Child-saving organization that took children from the
streets of large cities and placed them with farm families on the prairie.
orphan trains - correct answer ✔✔A practice of the Children's Aid Society in which urban
youths were sent west for adoption with local farm couples.
, LO3 - Be able to discuss development of the juvenile justice system. - correct answer ✔✔- The
movement to treat children in trouble with the law as a separate category began in the
nineteenth century.
- Urbanization created a growing number of at-risk youth in the nation's cities.
- The child savers sought to control children of the lower classes.
- The House of Refuge was developed to care for unwanted or abandoned youth.
- Some critics now believe the child savers were motivated by self-interest and not benevolence.
- Charles Loring Brace created the Children's Aid Society to place urban kids with farm families.
Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) - correct answer ✔✔Unit in the U.S.
Department of Justice established by the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968
to administer grants and provide guidance for crime prevention policy and programs.
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) - correct answer ✔✔Branch of the
U.S. Justice Department charged with shaping national juvenile justice policy through
disbursement of federal aid and research funds.
LO4 - Trace the history and purpose of the juvenile court. - correct answer ✔✔- The juvenile
court movement spread rapidly around the nation.
- Separate courts and correctional systems were created for youths. However, children were not
given the same legal rights as adults.
- Reformers helped bring due process rights to minors and create specialized family courts.
Guide questions and answers
Chapter 1 - Childhood and Delinquency - correct answer ✔✔Key Terms, Concepts, &
Checkpoints
ego identity - correct answer ✔✔According to Erik Erikson, ego identity is formed when persons
develop a firm sense of who they are and what they stand for.
role diffusion - correct answer ✔✔According to Erik Erikson, role diffusion occurs when youths
spread themselves too thin, experience personal uncertainty, and place themselves at the
mercy of leaders who promise to give them a sense of identity they cannot develop for
themselves.
at-risk youths - correct answer ✔✔Young people who are extremely vulnerable to the negative
consequences of school failure, substance abuse, and early sexuality.
LO1 - Be familiar with the risks faced by youth in American culture. - correct answer ✔✔- The
problems of American youth have become a national concern and an important subject of
academic study.
- There are more than 75 million youths in the United States, and the number is expected to
rise.
- American youth are under a great deal of stress. They face poverty, family problems, urban
decay, inadequate education, teen pregnancy, and social conflict.
- Kids take risks that get them in trouble.
,juvenile delinquency - correct answer ✔✔Participation in illegal behavior by a minor who falls
under a statutory age limit.
chronic juvenile offenders - correct answer ✔✔Also known as chronic delinquent offenders,
chronic delinquents, or chronic recidivists;
Youths who have been arrested four or more times during their minority and perpetuate a
striking majority of serious criminal acts. This small group, known as the "chronic 6 percent," is
believed to engage in a significant portion of all delinquent behavior; these youths do not age
out of crime but continue their criminal behavior into adulthood.
juvenile justice system - correct answer ✔✔The segment of the justice system, including law
enforcement officers, the courts, and correctional agencies, that is designed to treat youthful
offenders.
paternalistic family - correct answer ✔✔A family style wherein the father is the final authority
on all family matters and exercises complete control over his wife and children.
Poor Laws - correct answer ✔✔English statutes that allowed the courts to appoint overseers for
destitute and neglected children, allowing placement of these children as servants in the homes
of the affluent.
chancery courts - correct answer ✔✔Court proceedings created in fifteenth-century England to
oversee the lives of highborn minors who were orphaned or otherwise could not care for
themselves.
parens patriae - correct answer ✔✔The power of the state to act on behalf of the child and
provide care and protection equivalent to that of a parent.
,LO2 - Develop an understanding of the history of childhood. - correct answer ✔✔- The concept
of a separate status of childhood has developed slowly over the centuries.
- Early family life was controlled by parents. Punishment was severe and children were expected
to take on adult roles early in their lives.
- With the start of the seventeenth century came greater recognition of the needs of children. In
Great Britain, the chancery court movement, the Poor Laws, and apprenticeship programs
greatly affected the lives of children.
- In colonial America, many of the characteristics of English family living were adopted.
- In the nineteenth century, neglected, delinquent, and dependent or runaway children were
treated no differently than criminal defendants. Children were often charged and convicted of
crimes.
child savers - correct answer ✔✔Nineteenth-century reformers who developed programs for
troubled youth and influenced legislation creating the juvenile justice system; today some critics
view them as being more concerned with control of the poor than with their welfare.
House of Refuge - correct answer ✔✔A care facility developed by the child savers to protect
potential criminal youths by taking them off the street and providing a family-like environment.
Children's Aid Society - correct answer ✔✔Child-saving organization that took children from the
streets of large cities and placed them with farm families on the prairie.
orphan trains - correct answer ✔✔A practice of the Children's Aid Society in which urban
youths were sent west for adoption with local farm couples.
, LO3 - Be able to discuss development of the juvenile justice system. - correct answer ✔✔- The
movement to treat children in trouble with the law as a separate category began in the
nineteenth century.
- Urbanization created a growing number of at-risk youth in the nation's cities.
- The child savers sought to control children of the lower classes.
- The House of Refuge was developed to care for unwanted or abandoned youth.
- Some critics now believe the child savers were motivated by self-interest and not benevolence.
- Charles Loring Brace created the Children's Aid Society to place urban kids with farm families.
Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) - correct answer ✔✔Unit in the U.S.
Department of Justice established by the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968
to administer grants and provide guidance for crime prevention policy and programs.
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) - correct answer ✔✔Branch of the
U.S. Justice Department charged with shaping national juvenile justice policy through
disbursement of federal aid and research funds.
LO4 - Trace the history and purpose of the juvenile court. - correct answer ✔✔- The juvenile
court movement spread rapidly around the nation.
- Separate courts and correctional systems were created for youths. However, children were not
given the same legal rights as adults.
- Reformers helped bring due process rights to minors and create specialized family courts.
