Ferro, Jeffrey. Juvenile Crime. New York, NY: Facts on File, 2003. Print.
Jeffrey Ferro’s journal article “Juvenile Crime” gives a state by state description and analysis of juvenile or youth crime. Since my research focuses on California, it was the state that I tended to concentrate more on. He gives illustrations as to why the youth decide to become delinquent and also gives a brief history of youth criminals in California. The only negative quality that I would probably attribute to Ferro’s literature is that he tends to concentrate more on the reasons why the youth in California become criminals rather than what should be done to persuade the youth to distance and disassociate with criminal activities. Other than this small discrepancy, I believe that the information from this book will add a lot of value into my final project.
Muncie, John. Youth and Crime. New York, NY: Sage Publications. 2004.
John Muncie’s book “Youth and Crime” provides a refreshing overview of issue of youth crime in the society. The bulk of Youth Crime focuses on why the youth become criminals and the collective response activities that should be undertaken by both the community and the relevant authorities. Muncie gives points as to why the youth become criminals for example; it states that the main reasons are unemployment and peer pressure. There were not many negative qualities in Muncie’s work in relation to my project. The only negative quality that can probably be drawn Muncie’s text is that the he does not explore the issue form a regionalized perspective but rather gives a generalized view. In spite of the fact that Muncie’s literal piece does not give special preference to California, I however believe that it will give my final paper a more generalized touch which in this case will be a positive attribute.
Bryant, Dan. “Communitywide Responses Crucial for Dealing with Youth Gangs.” Juvenile
Justice Bulletin. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs,
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2009.
Dan Bryant’s journal article “Communitywide Responses Crucial for Dealing with Youth Gangs” describes several community oriented response strategies that can help to alleviate the problem of youth crime, particularly youths affiliated with criminal gangs. The most positive aspect of the literature in this text is that the author approaches the issue of youth crime from a community perspective. He shows how the community can solve this problem without involving the use of authorities. His major proposal is that the community should initiate several outreach programs aimed at helping the youth develop mentally and emotionally and keep them from bad habits like criminal activities. The only negative implication of Muncie’s work is that it approaches the issue from a national perspective and am therefore forced to also limit myself to the information that is relevant to the state of California. I plan this information in my final paper to provide a comprehensive description of proposed community response patterns towards youth crime in California.
Bjerregaard, Beth & Smith, Caroline. Rochester Youth Development Study: Patterns of Male
and Female Gang Membership. Albany, NY: Hindelang Criminal Justice Research Center, 2006.
Beth Bjerregaard and Carolyn Smith’s journal article “Patterns of Male and Female Gang Membership” examines the issue of youth criminals from a gender perspective and proposes several response measures. Another positive aspect of the work is that it gives a description of the factors that motivate the youth, both male and females to engage in criminal activities. However the other hand, the two authors do not provide a clear distinction between the factors motivating male youths to engage in criminal activities and those motivating female youth. I plan to use Beth Bjerregaard and Carolyn Smith’s information in my final paper to examine the issue of youth criminals from a gender perspective.
Tonry, Michael H. Youth Crime and Youth Justice: Comparative and Cross National Perspective. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.2010
Michael Tonry’s book “Youth Crime and Youth Justice: Comparative and Cross National Perspective” explores the issue of youth crime from a national perspective. Using several states including California, the author examines how youth crime has risen over the ranks to become a national menace. Tonry particularly focuses on the state of California, specifically the city of Los Angeles where he states that youth crime remains rampant despite constant efforts being initiated to curb this issue. The most positive aspect is that the author actually touches on a very sensitive aspect of this issue, which is the issue of race and its role in this menace. This is indeed very relevant due to the fact California is made up of very many people with different racial backgrounds. The material in this literature piece provides also provides descriptive statistics that seem to show that members of the minority races are the ones that are more involved in youth crime. However, one negative aspect Tonry’s work is that he does not explicitly state how this issue of race in California should be tackled when it comes to youth crime. I believe that Tonry’s information will be an integral part of my final paper as it will be used to provide different statistics regarding youth crime in California.
Works Cited
Ferro, Jeffrey. Juvenile Crime. New York, NY: Facts on File, 2003. Print
Muncie, John. Youth and Crime. New York, NY: Sage Publications. 2004.
Bryant, Dan. “Communitywide Responses Crucial for Dealing with Youth Gangs.” Juvenile
Justice Bulletin. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs,
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2009.
Bjerregaard, Beth, and Carolyn Smith. Rochester Youth Development Study: Patterns of Male
and Female Gang Membership. Albany, NY: Hindelang Criminal Justice Research Center, 2006.
Tonry, Michael H. Youth Crime and Youth Justice: Comparative and Cross National Perspective. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.2010
