Explaining Juvenile Delinquency as a Product of Personal Security
Panel Name
Inequality in the U.S. Today: Seeking Justice, Equality, Treatment, and Redemption
Location
Lecture Center 5
Start Date
3-5-2019 3:15 PM
End Date
3-5-2019 4:45 PM
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Academic Major
Criminal Justice
Abstract
This study seeks to understand the role that youths’ sense of personal security plays in their external engagement in deviant behavior. While there is some literature on the relationship between youth’s fear of crime or previous home environments and their involvement in gangs and to some extent violence, it is scant, and studies of youths’ feelings of safety within residential facilities and their in-residence behaviors is virtually non-existent. Therefore, in this study of youth in two residential treatment facilities, surveys administered to said youth and their caregivers are used to illustrate the potential for a link between youth’s perceived sense of personal security, how it evolves over time, and if it is consistent with deviant or antisocial behavior. It is hypothesized that youth’s perceived security increases with time in the institution and that security will be inversely correlated with negative behavioral incidents. Using statistical analyses, researchers identify the strength and consistency of these relationships and whether there is evidence to support changing the focus of residential programs to improve youth’s present mental and behavioral situations to increase likelihood of positive within and post treatment outcomes.
Select Where This Work Originated From
Departmental Honors Thesis
Award
Presidential Award
First Faculty Advisor
Dana Peterson
First Advisor Email
dpeterson@albany.edu
First Advisor Department
Criminal Justice
Second Faculty Advisor
Alan Lizotte
Second Faculty Advisor Email
alizotte@albany.edu
Second Advisor Department
Criminal Justice
The work you will be presenting can best be described as
Finished or mostly finished by conference date
Explaining Juvenile Delinquency as a Product of Personal Security
Lecture Center 5
This study seeks to understand the role that youths’ sense of personal security plays in their external engagement in deviant behavior. While there is some literature on the relationship between youth’s fear of crime or previous home environments and their involvement in gangs and to some extent violence, it is scant, and studies of youths’ feelings of safety within residential facilities and their in-residence behaviors is virtually non-existent. Therefore, in this study of youth in two residential treatment facilities, surveys administered to said youth and their caregivers are used to illustrate the potential for a link between youth’s perceived sense of personal security, how it evolves over time, and if it is consistent with deviant or antisocial behavior. It is hypothesized that youth’s perceived security increases with time in the institution and that security will be inversely correlated with negative behavioral incidents. Using statistical analyses, researchers identify the strength and consistency of these relationships and whether there is evidence to support changing the focus of residential programs to improve youth’s present mental and behavioral situations to increase likelihood of positive within and post treatment outcomes.